A message from Jeremy Rensford, chair of the Shepparton Ministers’ Association
I love holidays – dreaming of the next place I can go exploring; learning about other cultures, sampling new food, and searching for new sights to see. While there’s nothing wrong with my intent here, I hope I haven’t got too far away from what a holiday is – a holy day. (The word holiday came from the old English “holy day” – referring to special religious days). This publication has recently highlighted the deeper meaning beyond the superficial of our local community’s holy days. Ramadan (Islam) and Easter (Christianity) have been celebrated in recent weeks by our local citizens.
Whilst we are always at risk of seeing a holiday from a selfish perspective; the origin of these holy days holds much deeper meaning and is worthy of contemplation. For example, Good Friday is a day that our entire nation takes a day off work. Typically, this day sees many not eating red meat, giving to the Children’s hospital appeal and maybe an opportunity to watch the footy or have family and friends over.
The original Good Friday certainly wasn’t recreational for those present – especially Jesus. He endured a trail of horrific emotional, spiritual, and physical harm culminating in a gruesome execution on a Roman cross. Christians believe this all took place as God’s way of saving we humans – having His son take the punishment for sins we’ve committed, past, present, and future. It’s with this context we can see why something so horrible could be considered good – we win!
All of this is very sobering; I hope that the next holy holiday we celebrate, we can pause and consider the deeper meaning behind it. This Christmas will be a good time to start!
Blessings, Jeremy
