St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Refreshment of Purpose

August is a time when churches go quiet, as you can see from our diary. People go away on holiday, and maybe we get the impression that God is put on hold while we're enjoying ourselves.

But actually, the very word “holiday” comes from the time when breaks from work were on holy days and they were a chance for people to recharge their spiritual batteries as well as their physical ones. And maybe what we most need nowadays is to recover the idea that a holiday is there for us to take a step back from our lives, and ask ourselves what it’s all about and what we want to throw our efforts into during the next year?

In R E Delderfield’s trilogy of novels about the establishment of a national haulage firm, his third book (“Give us this day” - but it isn’t about the Lord’s Prayer!) tells (among other bits) the (made-up) story of Hugo, a nationally-acclaimed and famous athlete who goes to fight in the Boer War, gets shot in the head and loses his sight. So now what is he supposed to do with his life? You can’t run sprints, hurdles or marathons if you can’t see where you’re supposed to be going!

Hugo goes back to hospital for tests on his sight (which basically say that seeing as he has a severed optic nerve he has no hope), and while there comes across other war victims who have suffered injuries to limbs. One has had a bone broken in five places, and although the breaks have healed the muscle damage in the injury and operations plus the endless weeks of lying around has reduced him to immobility. He won’t listen to pep-talks by doctors, because they’re preaching out of health - they haven’t suffered injuries like his. But Hugo arouses his pity and therefore his attention. As an athlete Hugo knows about muscle tone, exercises, massage and all the rest, and finds the work that he can do: helping others and also finding a purpose for his own life.

The novel isn’t about “spiritual” things at all - and yet, on another level, it is all about that very thing. Perhaps the greatest thing people need in our society is to recover a sense of vocation and purpose - a realization that there’s a task which we and we only are ideally suited to do and which we’re called to fulfil. “Vocation” isn’t just a word to apply to Christian ministry (in the sense of becoming a vicar or lay reader or something similar). It’s a word about discovering what God wants us to do with our lives, catching his vision, and finding what particular gifts he’s equipped us with.

On holiday this year, try a few new things. Ask yourself if you have a hidden talent, and what God is calling you to do with it? Happy holy-days!

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. August 2006, Page 1.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (August 2006) Vicar's letter, Question, Foundations, Marriage, Song. Other vicar's letters.	Refreshment of Purpose August is a time when churches go quiet, as you can see from our diary. People go away on holiday, and maybe we get the impression that God is put on hold while we're enjoying ourselves. But actually, the very word “holiday” comes from the time when breaks from work were on holy days and they were a chance for people to recharge their spiritual batteries as well as their physical ones. And maybe what we most need nowadays is to recover the idea that a holiday is there for us to take a step back from our lives, and ask ourselves what it’s all about and what we want to throw our efforts into during the next year? In R E Delderfield’s trilogy of novels about the establishment of a national haulage firm, his third book (“Give us this day” - but it isn’t about the Lord’s Prayer!) tells (among other bits) the (made-up) story of Hugo, a nationally-acclaimed and famous athlete who goes to fight in the Boer War, gets shot in the head and loses his sight. So now what is he supposed to do with his life? You can’t run sprints, hurdles or marathons if you can’t see where you’re supposed to be going! Hugo goes back to hospital for tests on his sight (which basically say that seeing as he has a severed optic nerve he has no hope), and while there comes across other war victims who have suffered injuries to limbs. One has had a bone broken in five places, and although the breaks have healed the muscle damage in the injury and operations plus the endless weeks of lying around has reduced him to immobility. He won’t listen to pep-talks by doctors, because they’re preaching out of health - they haven’t suffered injuries like his. But Hugo arouses his pity and therefore his attention. As an athlete Hugo knows about muscle tone, exercises, massage and all the rest, and finds the work that he can do: helping others and also finding a purpose for his own life. The novel isn’t about “spiritual” things at all - and yet, on another level, it is all about that very thing. Perhaps the greatest thing people need in our society is to recover a sense of vocation and purpose - a realization that there’s a task which we and we only are ideally suited to do and which we’re called to fulfil. “Vocation” isn’t just a word to apply to Christian ministry (in the sense of becoming a vicar or lay reader or something similar). It’s a word about discovering what God wants us to do with our lives, catching his vision, and finding what particular gifts he’s equipped us with. On holiday this year, try a few new things. Ask yourself if you have a hidden talent, and what God is calling you to do with it? Happy holy-days! John Hartley
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