Rector's Letter July 2006

Dear Friends,

‘I need a holiday’. How many times do you hear that said – how many times do you say it? I always find that as the summer term approaches its finale I’m longing for a break. Is it that I really need it, or is it just that I’m looking forward to it and so my mind becomes fixed on it? Presumably I wouldn’t collapse if I couldn’t get away for a couple of weeks. Nowadays many people seem to have lots of holidays. I always say I could take a map of the world and at any given time fill it with pins to mark where St Mary's folk are.

When I was young (get the violin out) I, and most folk I knew, had a week away at the seaside or wherever, or stayed at home and went out for ‘days’. It was a big occasion, a holiday. In previous ages, a week’s holiday would have been unheard-of for ordinary folk – they had to make do with the Holy Days. Right enough, the better-off classes had their Grand Tours or left the countryside for Bath or London for weeks at a time – perhaps we are all, or think we should all be, in the better-off classes now! Social history is a fascinating subject; it’s not just the changes in people’s lifestyles that are so interesting but the mental shifts that go with them.

Have you noticed how often the words ‘leisure’, ‘recreation’ and ‘relaxation’ are used nowadays? We’re told we need to learn relaxation techniques. I wonder what our ancestors would have made of that? Not that I’ve anything against such things; after all, I organise a Meditation Group, but it intrigues me as to whether we’ve got ourselves into such a constant state of activity that we’ve just forgotten how to relax as a normal part of our lives. Our social diaries can be as exhausting as our work ones. Somehow, the rhythm of our lives is often off step. Most workplaces are driven by the need to perform, to produce. If the workforce is driven too hard, this is self-defeating – production goes down not up.

When the Bible says we should labour for six days and on the seventh, rest, it is saying something very practical. We are made that way. Our bodies, and indeed our brains, suffer if we never stop or stop too infrequently – six days is our natural limit. Having been away for a lovely weekend retreat with the sisters at Whitby and ten other St Mary's folk, I’m drawn to the idea of retreats in one’s daily life, when one can’t have the luxury of getting away. The idea of declaring, a ‘non-achievement day’ every so often appeals to me in theory. I say ‘in theory’ as in practice, I haven’t yet mastered the ‘technique’.   

Sometimes holidays can be very stressful and I’m one of those people who get to a new place and immediately want to do all there is to do and see all there is to see. I need a rest when I come back. I’m not good at ‘switching off’. Perhaps that’s why to really relax I don’t need to switch off but to switch on – to switch on to God. Prayer is not just about asking for things or telling God about things but just ‘being’ in God’s presence. This is to be ‘at peace’ – the best relaxation there is.

So whether you are spending your holi-days at home or away, I pray you will find peace in switching off from your business and switching on to God. Then we all return refreshed spiritually as well as physically.

Janice

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