I enjoy taking some time away from the office each summer, and one of the little habits I have developed to help make the break from routine even more complete is to take a vacation from our church as well-not from church per se; just from my church.

The basic rationale goes something like this: I take a break from our church because I tend to be pretty faithful and involved throughout the year, and there are times when my wife and I want to go to church without a shred of responsibility attached. Another somewhat more saintly reason is a simple desire to savour worship in different settings.

This year Margaret and I attended the summer opening of "Old" St. James Anglican Church in Winnipeg, the oldest wooden church structure in Western Canada. Although the congregation of St. James normally meets in a newer edifice, they do conduct wonderful "Prayer Book" services in the old oak timber building with beautiful stained glass windows throughout the summer. This is a quite a change from the informal and non-liturgical style we’ve become accustomed to.

We skipped church in early July, but we didn’t miss worship. We were at a reunion in Ontario along with other former students and teachers of Bingham Academy, a school for children of missionaries in Ethiopia I attended in more than 30 years ago. Not all of us are Christian, but we took some time on Sunday morning to sing some of the old, familiar songs from our youth and to remember those who have already died. Tears flowed freely as we lost ourselves in the lovely harmonies of "The Lord’s Prayer" and "Amazing Grace." It was an experience of grace; it was an act of worship.

After we returned to Winnipeg we stayed away from Central Baptist for another Sunday and went instead to Elim Chapel, a church we attended together for nearly 17 years before leaving for our current congregation in 1995. Despite many changes and new faces, walking in for the service at Elim was like slipping into an old pair of shoes-a comfortable sense of familiarity and the knowledge that we’ve walked many miles together.

Worship is the very essence of life: it’s what human beings were created to do. Worship is the interactive network connecting God and His people, and our delightful challenge-even when on holiday-is to keep these communication channels open. Whenever we neglect the call of our hearts to worship, we unplug our souls from their power source.