The Bishop’s Chaplain writes...

Holidays are Holy Days

One of the delights of working with young children - either in school or on visits to church - was explaining to them that many of the words that we use every day have a Christian origin. It would sometimes come as a surprise to long-term church members as well. Red letter days, moveable feasts, the list is endless.

We are entering the holiday season again, and what better time to remind ourselves that holidays are Holy Days - the derivation is quite clear after a moment’s thought. But how did the occasional special day (and not always that occasional - it has been calculated that a mediaeval peasant had 100 days off a year) become a week in Blackpool or Cleethorpes by the beginning of the 20th century, and a fortnight somewhere much more exotic these days? Well, we can blame the Industrial Revolution for that. Whilst in an agricultural economy the odd day off was quite acceptable and in fact far preferable to long stretches away, industrial close-downs had to be in nice defined lumps. In mediaeval times a Saint’s Day, a Holy Day, would be a break from normal labour, with a church service followed by a party or a fair, and so Holy Day became holiday.

Let’s start a campaign for real holidays. Can we make our holidays a series of Holy Days? A time of relaxation for mind and body, a time to gain a fuller perspective on life and to spend some quality time with those we love, not least God. A walk on a beach on a sunlit day, or even in a howling gale, is a wonderful opportunity to just glory in God’s creation and reflect on the many gifts for which we need to be thankful. And you don’t have to travel a thousand miles to see the glories of God’s creation, it’s sitting all around us in our own county.

Can I wish you a good and happy series of Holy Days; whenever you plan to take them.

Alan Harper