The Editor, Sir:

In his article 'Sabbath thinking - gimme a break' (The Gleaner, May 20, 2003) - the final instalment on a 'Sabbath' theme which ran for three consecutive Tuesdays - I find it noteworthy and ironic, against a certain backdrop of similarities and contrasts, that your columnist Devon Dick launched the finale to his trilogy with the following observation: "On Saturday (May 17) , while at the competitive one-day international cricket match between West Indies and Australia, a spectator commented that she felt sick and thought that God was punishing her because she missed church and was present at the cricket match on that day. It would not surprise me if persons felt that God was displeased with the match being held on Saturday."

Well, for one, it is more than noteworthy to point out that immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus on 'Good Friday', the Bible reveals that "the women who came with him from Galilee ... rest on the Sabbath day according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56), showing a healthy attitude to Sabbath keeping versus the Easter exclusive 'Holy Saturday' that is treated as semi-special if not ordinary - just like the other weekly Saturdays!

Many, on the other side of this major coin, have similar concerns. "Sunday Christians suffered their first major casualty when the Jamaican Cricket Association agreed to the playing of its cricket competitions on Sunday" wrote Hartley Neita in his stirring column dubbed 'Sex, like cricket, is also a Sunday Sport' (The Sunday Gleaner, May 27, 2001). "Stores and supermarkets are now open on Sundays," he wrote in the final paragraph, immediately followed by this ante-penultimate line that punches through to a sarcastic finish which would probably make even Pastor Dick jump, "So too are the go-go clubs and brothels. After all, why not? Sex, like cricket and football, is both a spectator as well as a participatory sport."

Will Sunday keepers eventually ban with vengeance all sporting and trading on their man-made holy days? With palm leaves waving during the Windies April Fools' Day-Palm Sunday beating, penalty-incurring Sunday match - "How's daaat?! Time will tell - aye mate?

Ryan O'Neil Seaton, cell8763132444@gmail.com, Kingston 8