Take a Leap of Faith into Salem’s Future
Posted on Feb 26, 2020 by Shari Van Baale
Did you know that there are not really 365 days in a year? There are actually 365.242 days, or about 365¼. Leap years occur every four years on Feb. 29, making those years 366 days. This Saturday is Leap Day, and we get a whole extra day to enjoy.
Julius Caesar was the one who started leap year. The early Romans had 355 days in their calendar, with a 22 or 23 day month every second year. That sounds kind of confusing, doesn’t it? Julius Caesar decided to simplify it and added days to different months of the year to create the 365 day calendar, which we still use today. Caesar’s astronomer added the extra day every fourth year.
It takes the Earth that 365¼ days to orbit around the sun. However, our calendar doesn’t add in that extra quarter-day. So, it is necessary to add in the extra day every 4 years to make up for that extra quarter-day. If we have four quarter-days, that is equal to one whole day. February was chosen for the extra day because it is the shortest month of the year.
Now that the scientific explanation is out of the way, what do you plan to do with your extra day? This year it is on a Saturday, which give us even more opportunity to put that day to good use.
One recommendation I have is to attend the "Leap into Salem’s Future: We’re All In This Together " Council/Staff/Ministry teams workshop. It is this Saturday morning (on Feb. 29, Leap Day, of course) from 9:00 a.m. to noon in Koinonia Fellowship Hall. Anyone on a ministry team (or who would like to be) is welcome to attend! We’ll be discussing and planning for programming and events for the coming year. After the meeting we will walk over to Jerry’s Bait Shop for lunch, so be sure to bring some money for that. It is a great way to get involved at Salem, get to know others, and have input on what we will be doing in 2020.
Salem has a great future ahead of it, so take a “leap of faith” and come explore what Salem has planned this Leap Day.
Shari Van Baale
Communications Coordinator