Dear Friends and Parishioners
The excitement, noise and bustle of the TT races is behind us. Despite the downturn in the weather bringing more rain and mist than sunshine and dry spells, the bikers that I spoke to who visited Marown Church for hospitality were pleased to be here on their holidays. For some people visiting the Island for the TT is more of a pilgrimage than a holiday; it is the experience of the racing that they come for, along with the opportunity to see all the bikes and to swap stories with old and new friends.
Their thoughts made me think of my own holidays that are coming up. Hubby and I have been planning our trip away for 18 months. We researched where we wanted to go, the best way to get there, what we need to take with us and how we are going to pack it all into 3 suitcases! Our excitement has built up and we can hardly believe that it is almost time for us to embark on our cruise to Norway. We are looking forward to 12 days of warm and dry weather with wonderful scenery, sumptuous food and good company.
When we think of holidays or vacations what do we have in mind? ‘Vacatio’ is a Latin word meaning freedom, exemption or privilege. When we apply this to our leisure time, we probably think of the freedom to do as we wish, to be released from our daily routine and to enjoy time off from work.
A very similar looking word is ‘vocatio’ meaning ‘divine call’. Hearing the voice of God is a call to freedom from the falsehoods of this world, it releases us from the bondage of sin and places us back into the privileged position of being in a right relationship with God, if, of course, we heed the call! This is far more important than planning our holidays and lasts much longer too, into eternity in fact. If only we put as much effort into our ‘vocatio’ as we do our ‘vacations’.
In the Church calendar we are moving into the weeks of Trinity, hearing again of the wondrous words and works of Jesus, as God calls to us through His Son. As you enjoy the summer, I pray that you make time for both ‘vacatio’ and ‘vocatio’, that as you experience the delights of July and August you also experience the presence of God and answer His call on your life.
Prayers and blessings
Canon Janice
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