Jack Frost and the Sabbath

This is not about the winter of all winters in the Northeast, but about a drive-in eatery here in town called Jack Frost. It has hamburgers like I haven't tasted since the first Carrols set up shop in my hometown in the early 1960s, later usurped by Ray Kroc's golden arches. Jack Frost cuts their own French fries, has wholesome, open-faced teenaged servers, and happy waiting lines in the summer. But you won't find them open on Sundays.

My mother met the owners at a party. She told me they're Christians and very nice people.

A new Chick-fil-A opened up in town, and you had better not go there on the Lord's Day either. Their founder S. Truett Cathy put in his official statement of corporate purpose:

"Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and directing our attention to things more important than our business. If it took seven days to make a living with a restaurant, then we needed to be in some other line of work. Through the years, I have never wavered from that position."

I read in the Westminster Larger Catechism:

"The fourth commandment requireth of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven . . . so to continue to the end of the world. . . . The Sabbath or Lord's Day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all the day. . ."

My great-grandfather started a business in Woonsocket, R.I., which he handed down to my grandfather, and he to his sons. It was never open on Sundays all those years. I remember distinctly when my parents' generation decided they had to offer Sunday hours because the other big furniture stores in town were doing that. I mark that decision as the beginning of the decline. Today, not only is the business gone, but the building is torn down and is a parking lot. Enjoying its Sabbaths, I presume.

"Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Samuel 2:30).

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