The Saturday Message, this week with the REV JOHN CREE, of Immanuel Church, Feniscowles, Blackburn

I HAVE just returned from my summer break. My wife and I have been fortunate in being able to have ten days in a cottage in Scotland followed by four in Florence.

I enjoyed the Scottish part of the holiday more than the four days in Florence, which proves that my wife is probably right in asserting that I am a philistine when it comes to art appreciation.

Not that I was immune to the genius of the art and skill of the craftsmanship which I experienced. Florence was at the heart of the explosion of human intellect and artistic endeavour we call the Renaissance which has affected European culture to this very day.

I was not insensitive to its achievement, nor the debt of gratitude I owe to the spirit of adventure and exploration of thought unleashed in Florence five centuries ago. I was impressed by and marvelled at the Palaces, Churches and Museums.

I noted the central place which religion played in the very fabric of life which, in fifteenth century Florence, gave birth to the Renaissance.

But the brief four days in Florence raced by, providing me with a mere kaleidoscope of hasty impressions. The Scottish cottage gave me greater pleasure in that it provided me with time and space to read and think.

I took to the holiday cottage a variety of books which, in my busy routine life, I had not previously had time to read.

They were books to enlighten and encourage me in the living faith of Christ today. The Christian faith has inspired and enriched the world for 2001 years. It continues to inspire and challenge me.

Wherever your holiday has taken you, I hope you too have had the opportunity to read, think and experience something of human interaction with God. In the process I pray that you have been enriched and brought a little closer to God.