Seeker

I am not a cat lover, partly because of a slight allergy to them, especially the long-haired variety. That doesn't stop me admiring their beauty or their easy ability to completely relax. Many years ago, I heard a Christian speaker refer to a 'pussy cat experience' as a way to describe relaxing into the sabbath rest of God. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28) The cat in the photo at the head of this post, seems truly at rest. I love D.H. Lawrence's poem called 'Pax' which uses the analogy of a sleeping cat in relation to the experience of being at home with 'the living God'. PAX All that matters is to be at one with the living God to be a creature in the house of the God of Life. Like a cat asleep on a chair at peace, in peace and at one with the master of the house, with the mistress, at home, at home in the house of the living, sleeping on the hearth, and ...

What is a holiday?  What do holidays mean for you?  A change of scene or routine?  An escape from work or study?  A chance to spend more time with family and friends or retreat to be alone? What is a holiday? Your answer may not be the same as mine. We are all different. What is common to all is the human need to balance work with regular recreation and rest. What does the word 'holiday' mean? The origin of the English word ‘holiday’ is the Old English ‘halig daeg’ (holy day). ‘Holy’ means ‘set apart’. So a day of holiday is a day that is different from other days. A ‘holy day’ is a day set apart from ordinary days . On a 'holy day' the usual demands of work are suspended to free up time for celebrating an aspect of faith. For example, for Christians, the 'holy day' of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. In the Hebrew Scriptures the 4 th  of the '10 commandments' is to remember to keep a regular sabbath day. This is an...

30 December 2011 is a day the people of Samoa have decided to skip. They are going straight from Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 December - but only this year. Those with a birthday on 30 December can look forward to a proper celebration on the right day on 30 December 2012. The nation is close to the International Dateline and since 1892 it has been officially east of the line in order to facilitate commerce with trading partners in the US and Europe. This made the line a strange shape around the Samoan islands. When persuaded by the US to change from west to east of the line in 1892 they did this by repeating a Monday. Samoa now does far more trade with countries like Australia, New Zealand, China and the Pacific rim so (calendar wise) Samoa is moving west. They will now be 1 hour ahead of Wellington, New Zealand instead of 23 hours behind.  This change has created a dilemma for the 7th Day Adventist Church which observes the sabbath on Saturday. Samoan 7th day Adventist ...

I've recently returned from a holiday with my husband in the Austrian Alps. For us, walking in the mountains restores a sense of proportion and ‘joy of being’. On the one hand is the awesome scale of the landscape. On the other is the beauty, seen on the tiniest scale in the anemones, gentians and edelweiss opening in rock crevices above the tree line. We like to start each day by rising as high as possible, using the chair or gondola lifts. The day’s activity then becomes a homeward walk, assisted by sticks, anticipating a superb evening meal and warm Tyrolean welcome. We follow well-trodden hiking paths, from one mountain alm to the next. At each stage of the journey we look forward to the next beaker of milk straight from the cow or the beer kept chilled in the icy water of the mountain brooks. It feels like a foretaste of heaven. In the fourth commandment (Exodus 20 vv. 8-11) God gives the Sabbath principle to stop work at least one day in seven. A regular ‘holy day’ is...