Summertime – holiday time. I remember how I longed as a child for the summer holidays. That was the best season of the year. Just the thought of holidays lifted my spirits. Holidays meant freedom. There you could do what you wanted to do.
It’s interesting to look at the origin of the word holiday. It is directly derived from the Old English word “haligdæg”
which translates to “holy day”. In the past “holy days” were primarily religious festivals where people would gather for worship and often take a break from their usual work. But what is a “holy” day? In the Bible only God is holy. He is the Holy One. The seraphim in Isaiah’s vision of God on the throne proclaim: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
The opposite of holy is profane. Whereas the profane world is the world in where we live, “holy” refers to God’s world that is set apart from this world. That what is holy is not in our control and out of reach. s mortals to touch what is holy means to die. In “holiness” eternity encounters mortality.
A “holy” day is therefore a day that does not belong to us, but to God. Accordingly, humans never “have” holy days, these are only set apart by God from the working days to give the time to praise and worship him. You could say, on a working day we love God through what we do for our neighbour and on a holy day we love our
neighbour through what we do for God. Would that not give our holidays a new meaning? To see holidays not primarily as days for us but for our relationship with God. And should not even every day be lived in God’s presence and in this sense should have a holy aura?
Our morning prayer on every day from Monday to Saturday in church at 9.30am is an invitation to transform a normal day into a holy day by starting the day in God’s presence together with others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The morning prayer determines the day. Squandered time of which we are ashamed, temptations to which we succumb, weaknesses and lack of courage in work, disorganization and lack of discipline in our thoughts and in our conversation . . . all have their origin most often in the neglect of morning prayer.” To start a day with a morning prayer – either in church or at home – brings a change of perspective. Normally we look at a day as an opportunity to do what we want to do or what others expect us to do. But to look at it as a holy day means to become aware that God is looking at us and that everything we do – or not do – is done before God and that
in the end we have to account for everything we have done or neglected to do. To begin a day as a holiday in the sense of a holy day means to begin the day in the presence of our eternal judge – and saviour.In God’s kingdom there are only holy days. When we pray “thy kingdom come” then that means that we pray that God transform the day into a holy day where his name will be hallowed. On a holy day eternity meets our “flesh” so that as Jesus who became flesh for us we may become like him seeing his glory in our frailty and weakness.
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
in the end we have to account for everything we have done or neglected to do. To begin a day as a holiday in the sense of a holy day means to begin the day in the presence of our eternal judge – and saviour.In God’s kingdom there are only holy days. When we pray “thy kingdom come” then that means that we pray that God transform the day into a holy day where his name will be hallowed. On a holy day eternity meets our “flesh” so that as Jesus who became flesh for us we may become like him seeing his glory in our frailty and weakness.
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”