Notes from St. Mary’s
Holidays
August is a month synonymous with holidays. We often joke that the French seem to take the whole month off. Having spent very little time in France I have no idea if it is true. But it is true that August does often gives many people time for a bit of a break and a recharge. As I write I hope you do get some time to spend with friends and loved ones in the coming weeks.
If my life is anything like yours, the incessant frenzy of business is hard to keep up with. There are deadlines (and the editor of Parish News will tell you I struggle to keep those). There are things you just must do. We seem to squeeze the pips out of ourselves, meet ourselves coming back, and burn the candle at both ends. And often it feels like we get no further forward and only add to the list of things to do. So, rest seems like a luxury.
When there is so much to do, so many pressing needs, rest is impossible, isn’t it?
The Bible speaks of sabbath, a day of rest.
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shall you labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male servant or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11
It is an extraordinary command to a community that was essentially a subsistence community. In a culture like that (and 80% of the world still live like this) if you don’t work, you don’t eat and if you don’t eat, you starve. Working and living are intrinsically linked, so a day of rest is hardly practical. So why does the bible insist on it as a practice for those following God?
Well, it seems to me that we are supposed to recognise our limits. We are not God no matter how hard we try. We need rest to remind us that in truth we rely on Him and not on what we do. I hope that if you get a break in the coming weeks and that it prompts you to see your limits and trust God to do what you can’t.
