Dear Friends,

      As many of you know, I’m a great lover of words. English is a glorious mish-mash of bits pinched from Latin, French and anywhere else that’s ever taken our fancy. Shakespeare is a key figure in the history of the English language, his creativity giving us such beauties as ‘bedroom’, ‘eyeball’ and ‘gossip’. A.A. Milne, whose beloved Winnie-the-Pooh celebrates his 100^th birthday this year contributed ‘Eeyore’ and ‘Tiggerish’ to the Oxford English Dictionary. The English language, both written and spoken, is constantly evolving and changing along with the world around us.

The word ‘holiday’ as we now know it has only been in use since the 1400s. It comes, as you may well know or can probably guess, from the Old English word for ‘Holy Day’.

Until relatively recently, a holy day was a time to rest from the day-to-day cycle of work and recreation to focus specifically on God. There are at least 8 holy days or periods mentioned in the Bible, and down the centuries the Christian church has introduced many others including Lent, Advent, Good Friday and Pentecost, as well as the more commonly known ones like Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. For many of us these particular holy days (or festivals as we’re probably more used to calling them) provide fabulous opportunities to relax and focus on God. They have, after all, been practiced for centuries and when we celebrate them, we join our prayers with folk from down the ages and across the world.

By now, I imagine you’re thinking something along the lines of “That’s nice, Laura, but what does it have to do with the summer newsletter?!”

At a first glance July and August may appear to be the absolute opposite of a traditional festival period. August in particular has a reputation for being a quiet month in the life of the church. We don’t celebrate any major holy days this month, although some other denominations do. However, for that very reason August (or if not August then whichever month or period has the least dates in the diary!) holds a vital role in our lives both as individuals and as a church.

Remember the prophet Elijah, who sat in the mouth of a cave waiting to hear God’s voice? He listened hard through wind and earthquake and fire, but it wasn’t until the silence came that he finally heard the Lord speak (1 Kings 19: 11-13). Sometimes it’s in quieter times, when the noise and busy-ness of everyday life stops for a moment, that our minds and hearts are able to focus all the more on God.

Holy days indeed. I hope and pray that, however you spend your August, you will have time to rest and relax in the love of God.

Enjoy your holy days!     

Love and blessings,  

 Laura