When it comes to holidays, there’s a great divide. I hear adverts for luxury cruises and wonder who they’re talking to! But the conflict is nearer home.

While the well-organised are signed up for clubs and ventures and the prosperous are jetting off to find the sun, there are many families where there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ time out, affordable treat, or much-needed getaway. I remember our family, over-heated and scratchy, trying to find a place cheap enough to eat. It seemed like hell at the time, but, ironically, the photos show us quite cheerful!

I suppose ‘holidays’ come from ‘holy days’ when a whole community celebrated a religious festival, a time of year, or a founding hero. Such occasions would include everyone in worship, feasting and fun, expressing the joy of God in the local community.

It’s perhaps a surprise that God wants us to take regular breaks. The Jewish ‘Sabbath’ means ‘Stop!’: a command to keep work in its place and not live like a slave. The Christian Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, so could hardly be more joyful. And I was delighted to note, on the door of a Muslim business, that it was closed for Friday prayers.

There’s no need to envy other people their holidays. God calls us all, individually and together, to take time and make space for rest and recreation. God’s holiday is wherever we are, spacious enough to share, and free at the point of delivery.

Written by Andrew Knowles of St George’s Church in Kendal.

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