Reepham Benefice

 

The sun has been shining for the past two days. The bees are busy on the lavender and the 2nd lot of blackbird chicks have fledged. Has summer come at last? Yes! Let's hope so! Its high June- …..time for Wimbledon and strawberries; school exams are over and many of us are waiting feverishly for those special  two weeks ahead of us, just around the corner. Hooray! Its nearly holiday time!! Holidays!

 

Our American cousins call the break a VACATION!. Our MPs call it a RECESS; my missionary cousin uses the name FURLOUGH; my soldier father used to call it LEAVE!!

 

But I prefer to call it my HOLIDAY. The word, quite simply means what it says, 'HOLY days' deriving from the time 500 years ago when most of England was Catholic, and life stopped when we came in the Calendar to a Religious Festival…..A HOLY DAY.

Of course many of our traditional breaks in the year still happen near the important Christian Festivals…Christmas; Easter; and Whitsun..

 

But our Summer Holiday is the exception….no obvious religious festival./..just the sun [or so we hope!]

No obvious Religious Festival! But going back to Holy day, I think that the best sort of Holidays have about them an aspect of holiness.

 

First we 'COME APART'….set off somewhere different…are in a different place…that’s the essential meaning of HOLINESS…BEING APART.

2ndonly..we're searching for REFRESHMENT and RENEWAL….enjoying ourselves as we do something essentially different from our normal toil; whether its crabbing in rock-pools; lying in the sun on a beach; or exploring museums and old towns.

 

But there's one extra bit of the holiday that we also need….and that's doing  NOTHING but being STILL…perhaps reflecting on the beauty of our surroundings….perhaps pondering on our good fortune in having loyal friends and loving family…perhaps just breathing in time to nature!!

Its in moments like these that Christians start to pray…start to practise the 'PRESENCE OF GOD'…it's when we are still.

 

It's when we are still  that we know more of God..and He comes even closer to Him as we come closer to Him.

 

That's why I like these words of Graham Kings

 

I leave aside my shoes—my ambitions,

Undo my watch—my timetable,

Take off my glasses—my views,

Unclip my pen—my work,

Put down my keys—my security,

To be alone with You, the only true God.

 

After being with You,

I take up my shoes—to talk in Your ways,

Strap on my watch--- to live in Your time,

Put on my glasses—to look at Your world,

Clip on my pen—to write up Your thoughts,

Pick up my keys---to open Your doors.

 

Graham Kings

 

Have a great holiday!!