Happy holiday

I trust you're having a good bank holiday, assuming you're in the UK. It's nice, isn't it, not getting the usual delivery of junk mail? Jane and I had a delightfully relaxed timetable getting up this morning, just enjoying being in each other's company and then having a continental breakfast. A friend of mine wrote to me yesterday about her summer break: "I have had a lovely summer being with friends. Relationships are so important. I realise now that they are one of God’s rich gifts to us."


I agree, and so, I think, are days off. The story of creation doesn't end on Day 6 with the creation of humans, but on Day 7 - with the creation of time off, or God's down time. It's almost as if this is what the preceding creation has been for: his leisurely enjoyment of "everything he had made". I've come across two contemporary thinkers this month who have been saying something on the same sort of lines. 


One was in the blog of fellow student of mine, when I was in Oxford, Graham Tomlin, who's now Dean of St Mellitus' College in London. It's a post called Leisure: what we're here for. He says: "Leisure in a sense, therefore, is what we are here for. It is not just 'time off' however. Leisure gives the opportunity for 'contemplation', a more passive and receptive mode of being than 'thinking'. It gives an opportunity for wonder at the nature of things, a realisation again of the miracle that there is anything here at all, and that what is here, despite riots, economic crises and tyrants struggling to hold onto power, is good. It also gives opportunity for 'celebration': the reminder and enjoyment of life as something not earned by our work and productivity, but freely given. So, if eating too much isn't the point, long, leisurely, relaxed meals with friends or family is." 


The other was in Friday Night Theology and was by Marijke Hoek and is simply entitled Sabbath. Perhaps because she's Dutch she's looking forward to cycling of this weekend, but is a bit heated about the invention of combined bus and cycle lanes! She writes about the value system (narrative) that most of us live by: "The benefits to the individual, family, employers and the environment are overshadowed by the dominant narrative; the economy. . . .

In the Old Testament the Sabbath instructions are placed in the context that God is the Creator and that He released us from a former slavery. Quite important stipulations - for observing the Sabbath is not only a celebration of our relationship with Him and others, it is also an act of obedience and trust. He is the one who is still creating and liberating.

Prior to Jesus' interpretation of the Sabbath, He gives an invitation to the weary and burdened: "Come to me … and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30). Ultimately, shalom is found in a person.

So, as you light the BBQ, meet friends, read a book, or even, as you are stuck in traffic, may there be balm for your soul and a restoring of the equilibrium."

And if you, like me, when today is over will be wondering what on earth use you are, whether you're feeling your age or your incapacity or illness, take comfort from the fact that leisure is what we're here for. Enjoying Sabbath is not a reason for guilt. In fact, not doing so is a better reason for feeling guilty. God doesn't value you for what you do; he values your company. He's interested in you - incredible as it may seem. His eye is on the sparrow.... Which is one reason you can be sure he loves you - just being you.