Weekly Pastoral Message prepared by Rev. Murray Adamthwaite
for Sunday 3rd January 1999

From the Pastor: Holiday or Holy Day? I

"On the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest ... it is a sabbath to the LORD."Leviticus 23:3 It is holiday time again! School is out, the rat race of Christmas shopping is over, and many businesses are in recess. It's time for relaxation, holidays, and "getting away from it all". "Off to the beach, to the mountains, or perhaps, if finances permit(!), off to the south seas for an idyllic adventure holiday in among the palm trees and the crystal blue waters of Vanuatu or Tonga." Well, it's nice to dream, especially if we watch a TV program like "Getaway". But where did this term "holiday" come from? It actually means "holy day", and stems from the Middle Ages when the whole year was choked with saints' days, festival days and seasons. However, these in turn were intended as a Church counterpart of the Old Testament festivals, now abolished under the Gospel. The rest are man-made though some, like Christmas and Easter, are of great value and utility for remembering the important facts of redemption through Christ. Hence during this new month of the new year we will examine the old Jewish feasts and their value for Gospel understanding. The first to be mentioned in Leviticus 23 is not really a festival at all, but is the regular weekly Sabbath, enshrined in the Ten Commandments. Many Christians believe that this carries over to the Lord's Day of the New Testament (Revelation 1:10), and there are good arguments for that position. Here in particular "holy day" has now become "holiday": a day for fairs, sales, swap meets, sporting fixtures and the like, has replaced the sanctity of a day devoted to the Lord and His Word. Even secular people at times reflect on the change: whereas once many or even most would go to church and then go for a Sunday walk in the afternoon, they now no longer do so. What has happened? The fact is that Christians are responsible in large measure for bartering the sacred inheritance of their fathers for a mess of commercial pottage. The way to recovery must start at our doorstep by honouring the Lord on His Day.