But the word ‘holiday’ comes from ‘holy day’. Holy Days, the great festivals of the church’s year, were days free from work in order, to join the religious festivities, sing, celebrate, and feast. The connection of holidays to holiness has become lost, leaving behind only the sense of holidays as ‘time off’.
But I think it is worth recovering the meaning of holidays as holy days in a slightly different sense: the reminder that rest and leisure are sacred. We tend to invest our work – paid and voluntary – with meaning, and treat our rest times as the gaps in between. But rest, recreation, and enjoyment of life are things that feed our humanity and ensure we are not only useful but capable of love.
Deep within the Jewish and Christian traditions is the practice of sabbath. These two religions treat sabbath differently from one another, interpreting the sabbath commandment in various ways, but still there a sense that setting a day aside to rest matters. Or not only matters, but is the day that fulfils us, that represents the completion of activity and being – and, in the Christian tradition, celebrates the resurrection, life renewed and hope restored.
Learning to rest well has become harder in a society dominated by stimuli, in which every moment needs to be filled with distraction, activity, and entertainment. We can be afflicted with FOMO – fear of missing out – and so fill our free time with engagements. But sometimes we would be better to do nothing – deliberately ‘missing out’ in order to discover a true rest and the freedom to know ourselves. The alternative to FOMO is JOMO – joy of missing out.
One thing the Cathedral offers is space to be, to wander, rest, linger, and pray: space to do nothing. Of course, our guided tours, exhibitions, and worship all engage our senses, stimulate our minds, and offer chance to meet others. But sometimes we just need to stop, or wander slowly, not trying to learn or understand, but simply to be.
I said that rest feeds our humanity: we are ‘human beings’. But too often we become merely ‘human doings’. Holidays are ways to rediscover the holiness of being. Who I am matters more than what I do. In God’s eyes, I am much more than my accomplishments. I am the beloved child of God – and you are too.
