Weekly Thoughts

The month of August means holidays for many people. Schools and universities closedown for the whole month (except perhaps to give out exam results) and perhaps that sets the tone for the rest of country. Nevertheless, the church calendar for August contains at least 17 Holy Days more if recent additions to the calendar such as John Henry Newman and Maximillian Kolbe are included. Two of them are major holy days: the Transfiguration of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. And of course, the daily and Sunday lectionaries make the same provision for August as they do for all the other months. 

So, what should churches do during August? Clearly attendances will be reduced, especially children’s activities. But today few families can afford to go away for the whole month so there will always be some people around, if not quite as many as usual. Again the importance of holidays has long been recognized, most people are now entitled to paid holidays but that was the result of a long and bitter struggle. Many people with connexions to the north of England will familiar with wakes weeks when factories and mills would close down so whole communities were free to go on holiday at the same time. Many people could not afford to spend much on their holiday and this gave rise to the spectacle of the seaside landlady who would run a bed and breakfast establishment on a shoe string and who laid down rigid rules requiring her guests to leave immediately after breakfast and forbidding their return before bedtime however bad the weather. In a week of typically British summer this could make a holiday more of an endurance test than relaxing break. 

There were exceptions to the rule that everything should close down in August, notably the Promenade Concerts which were started by Sir Henry Wood to provide inexpensive music during “off” season when the normal concert patrons would have departed for their country estates. Now sponsored by the BBC these concerts have been run very successfully for over a hundred years and are now billed as one the greatest classical music festivals in the world. Which leads me to my main point: God never goes on holiday. God is the “strength and stay upholding all creation” and God does that continually without any let up. Therefore, there can be no let up in our duty to praise and worship God. We may have to put up with some reductions but every effort should be made to keep things going in the usual way. To do that means we recognise the constancy of God’s love and care for us and for the whole of creation. 

READINGS AND PRAYERS

2 AUGUST – NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY – Matthew 14.31-21 – the feeding of the 5,000 – all working to relieve hunger and malnutrition

3 AUGUST – Monday – Matthew 14.22-end – Peter walks on water – that we may have confidence in our faith

4 AUGUST – Jean-Baptiste Vianney, Curé d’Ars, spiritual guide, 1859 – 1 Peter 4.7-11 – whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies – Fr Younis, our parish priest

5 AUGUST- Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642 – John 16.29-end – glorify God because you bear this name – Charles, our King

6 AUGUST-THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD – Matthew 17.1-9 – Jesus is transfigured before his disciples – all retreat houses and those who conduct retreats and quiet days

7 AUGUST – Friday – Matthew 16.24-28 – take up your cross and follow me – for perseverance in our discipleship

8 AUGUST – Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221 -  Ecclesiasticus 39.1-10 – he will pour forth words of wisdom - All who preach the faith