Holy-Days
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Everett Piper Everett Piper's Blog
- Updated Dec 27, 2010
I've
said over and over again… ideas matter, as do the words used to express them.
During
this holiday season here's another word for you to consider: Holiday. What is its etymology - its origin
and purpose. What does it mean?
Well
at first glance you might recognize that its pretty obvious. The word holiday is actually the combination
of two words: Holy and Day.
Holy. A religious word: Something that is sacred
and set apart for God. Something that
must be preserved and kept whole, untransgressed, inseparable, and
unviolated. Holy - sanctified and
righteous, pure and right and real. Holy -uncompromised, sanctified, sanctioned
and worthy of respect and worship. Holy,
Holy, Holy, for the Lord God, alone, is Holy!
Day. A reference to a 24 hour period of time. The
acknowledgement of past, present and future.
The awareness of the clock; that the minutes and hours are passing and
that ultimately they are God's to give and to take and that humans have nothing
to say about their longevity or brevity.
Day -self-limitation: knowing that our days are numbered. Yesterday
memories. Today's responsibilities. Tomorrow's dreams. Made in the image of God, we stand alone in
our awareness of time and the divine dictate that this is the Day the Lord has
made let us rejoice and be glad in it, honor it and that we alone of all God's
creatures are obligated to keep it holy.
Isn't
it ironic that the wise who wish to secularize our culture actually do so by
demanding that we abandon "religious
words" like Christmas while at the same time arguing in favor of even more
religious words like "holiday"?!
The
Holy one - the creator of Holy-Days - literally laughs at such wisdom?