Recreation.

Well, here I am – safely back from my long holiday!  It was definitely a time of rest, relaxation, and recreation, greatly enjoyed by both my wife and myself.  We had some lovely weather conditions (although we also had our fair share of rain!); we saw some new sights; we made some new friends.  I trust that many of you have also had the opportunity to enjoy some holiday time over these past weeks.

That word ‘recreation’ is an interesting one.  Maybe I’m just naturally slow, but I was well on in years before I caught on that it is actually ‘re-creation’.  Now, if I re-create something, I am making it all over again; making it like new; restoring it to its original state and condition.  And that is what real recreation should surely do for each one of us – it should leave us refreshed, restored, and ready to face the coming winter months (I am, of course, thinking in terms of the northern hemisphere - I know that my antipodean friends are just coming out of their winter season!).

Actually, the Christian Gospel speaks in those same terms.  There are many, even among those who would not class themselves as ‘Christians’ in even a nominal sense who, if not familiar with, will have a nodding acquaintance with, the words of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”    Those words come at the end of a conversation that Jesus of Nazareth had with a very religious man named Nicodemus, and in which the Saviour tells him that he must be “born again” or, we might say, re-created!

The basic message of the Christian Gospel is that all who wish may have such a life; one that is so different it’s like being born all over again.  Now, that, I would suggest, is real re-creation!