Do you consistently refrain from non-Lord's Day activities from sundown every Saturday?
No, do you? I've had to labor every Lord's Day for 30 years. My point about the sundown issue is, if we are going to apply the law, let us be specific about when it applies. If the strict observance of the Sabbath is to be observed, I think it is important to know
when it is to be observed.
Midnight to midnight, first day of the week.
My point, if one has a different definition of the Sabbath, at least be consistent in that definition. If your objection is an honest one as to the time the Sabbath begins and ends, sundown to sundown, don't be out late celebrating Saturday night. Don't change from week to week to suit whatever recreation is available. Let those claiming another time or day be consistent in their observation.
You know works of necessity and mercy are permitted. Public worship is commanded by God. Those things making this worship possible are necessary and merciful. So, if one needs to shovel snow or plow the parking lot to make entry possible for public worship on the Lord’s Day, it is the Lord’s work.
It is really a matter of whether the Fourth Commandment is abrogated or not.
Matthew 5:19a-
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven...."
The misunderstanding of confessional Lord’s Day observance in this thread demonstrates the importance of discussing it. I understand this makes some uncomfortable, but the excuses for not considering what was believed and taught by the Puritans, Westminster Presbyterians, and London Confession Baptists doesn’t wash:
1) What day? When does it start?
2) What about works of necessity and mercy?
3) But this is recreation, not work.
4) I took an exception.
5) I hold the continental view.
None of these are sufficient reason for justifying participation in or watching professional or organized sports on the Lord’s Day, at least for an officer in a denomination where one’s ordination vows required subscription to the Westminster Standards.
I don’t mean to be harsh, judgmental, or close off discussion. For too many years, I had a deficient understanding of these matters myself. In spite of some effort to keep the Lord’s Day holy, one of the things I regret most is my not consistently communicating to my children (all adults now) the full confessional view of this issue. This is one matter to which our American Evangelical culture blinds us. Yet, this may also be one way in which Christians can set themselves apart from the culture and provide a witness to our society.
Better to think of the Lord’s Day as an opportunity rather than as a list of restrictions. It is a gift of God’s grace for the nourishment of our souls, not a legalistic ordeal. What are all the means of grace given by God for the spiritual good of ourselves and others– public, family and private worship, reading of scripture, prayer, fellowship, time with family, shared meals, hospitality to strangers and sojourners (visitors at church), rest, time or discuss sermons, church history, theology, devotional subjects, works of mercy? In our crowded, complicated and confusing lives, one day in seven is given for our resting in the Lord, Christ’s finished work, and enjoyment of his graciousness without competition with other concerns.
The Lord’s Day should not be about legalism. The needs of children must be considered, though they should be taught the specialness of the day from an early age. Their attention span and ability should be considered. Enjoyment of God’s creation with a walk in the park may be for their spiritual good. Special videos dealing with nature or certain aspects of history may be God glorifying. A video about the history of Christianity is little different from reading a book, and may be more helpful to those who can’t read. Parents might reserve appropriate games just for Lord's Day enjoyment. Children will spontaneously play; so their throwing a football or frisbee, even with their parents, is different than playing or watching organized sports, amateur or professional.
We don’t earn salvation; it is bought with the perfect and completed obedience and sacrifice of Christ. We break the Sabbath and worship imperfectly in thought, word and deed every Lord’s Day. Unless even unintentional sins are covered by Christ’s redeeming blood, we deserve eternal torment in hell. It is not with self-righteous legalism or perfectionism we approach Lord’s Day observance. It is with a sense of our inadequacy and inability to do ourselves any spiritual good, resting in the God’s saving work in Jesus Christ alone.
One can not justify the national obsession among Christians celebrating millionaire’s at work breaking the Sabbath, punctuated with the world marketing their wares with high priced though entertaining commercials, and the network making huge profits from wide-scale disobedience of God's commandment.
This is no way to use “the market day of the soul” of which the Puritans spoke. People who don’t like the biblical Lord’s Day will not like heaven.
Few things would mark a Christian as set apart from the world more than faithful Lord’s Day oobservance. Yet, we who call Christ “Lord,” meaning “master,” “owner,” “absolute ruler,” find it inconvenient to abstain from the general preoccupation with mass marketed sin.
or 
at this all too typical example of how churches split. Some measure of both is probably appropriate. 
