Friday, Saturday, Sunday: the weekly day and the sermon

In a minute

A Muslim prays together on Friday and hears two short talks before the prayer. A Jew keeps Shabbat from Friday evening to Saturday night. The Torah is read aloud, and in many synagogues someone gives a talk. A Christian gathers on Sunday, hears scripture read and a sermon or homily, and in many churches shares the bread and wine. Three days of the week, one idea: stop, gather, listen.

This page is about the gathering and the voice. For the day of rest itself, see A day of rest.

Judaism: Shabbat and the derashah

On Shabbat morning the Torah scroll is carried through the synagogue and read aloud. In many synagogues the rabbi, or another member, gives a talk (a derashah or dvar Torah) after the reading. It is a long-standing custom rather than a fixed part of the prayers, and practice differs between communities.

Its root is in Ezra. He read the Law "from early morning until midday", and the Levites "caused the people to understand the Law" and "gave the sense" (Nehemiah 8:3, 7–8, JPS 1917). The people bowed with their faces to the ground (8:6). Britannica describes the derasha as a "speech of exhortation and instruction based on a particular text from the Scriptures".

Christianity: Sunday and the homily

Acts shows Sunday gathering already in the first generation, and a talk with it (Acts 20:7). Around AD 155, Justin Martyr described a Sunday gathering: "the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts" (First Apology 67). Jesus himself, in the synagogue on the Sabbath, read from the scroll, "sat down" and spoke (Luke 4:16-21).

Churches differ in the shape of the day. The Catholic Church teaches that Sunday is "the first of all days" (Catechism 2174), and the homily is part of the Mass. In the Church of England and in Free and Protestant churches the sermon is often the centre of the service, and Quakers gather in silent waiting with no set sermon. In Orthodox churches the homily comes after the Gospel reading.

Islam: Jumu'ah and the khutbah

The Friday prayer (salat al-jumu'ah) takes the place of the midday prayer. Before it, the imam gives the khutbah from the pulpit (minbar): two short talks with a short sitting between. "The Apostle of Allah gave two sermons between which he sat, recited the Qur'an and exhorted the people" (Sahih Muslim 862a). "The Prophet used to deliver two Khutbas and sit in between them" (Sahih al-Bukhari 928). The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) encouraged bathing and going early (Sahih al-Bukhari 881) and spoke of an hour on Friday when a prayer is accepted (Sahih al-Bukhari 935). The language of the khutbah varies by mosque and tradition.

After the prayer, people are free to return to work: "when the prayer is ended, then disperse in the land and seek of Allah's bounty, and remember Allah much, that ye may be successful" (Qur'an 62:10, Pickthall). The step-by-step of the prayer itself is on the Salah page.

Common ground

• A weekly, public, set-apart day of worship, with scripture read aloud.
• Someone who explains the text and urges people to live by it.
• Prayer with community: rows of people, a congregation, a faith made together.

Back to the start of the set: Prayer and worship.