Lack of blogging

Ah yes well, dear followers you may be frankly disappointed about the current radio silence on the blog.

The fact of the matter is I'm rather wonderfully and creatively busy in the new parish which is a lot of fun but means that there ain't much time for the blogosphere.

For those of you for whom this has left a painful hole in your lives, I can refer you to my twitter feed for edited highlights or- should you be passing Cheltenham fell free to pop into St Philip and St James, Leckhampton (off the Bath Road).

Weekdays (Mon, Wed & Thurs)
9am: Morning prayer
5pm: Evening prayer

Wednesday:
12 noon Holy Communion and meditation

Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP)
10am Family Communion with young people's groups
6pm Evensong

See weekly notice sheet on website for details!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Risk, joy, hope and five Kings

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year for a journey,
and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted----
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.

At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

With these words TS Elliot began his account of the journey of the Magi- the wise men from the East.  Their journey to Bethlehem is the last act in our Christmas story and is the last time that we will visit the stable.

These Magi or astrologers find Jesus by interpreting Scripture and following a star.  Their journey from an unnamed eastern Kingdom fulfils the prophecy we hear in Isaiah that all of the nations, the peoples who have lived in darkness will come from far away to worship the one true God, offering gifts fit for a King.

These exotic individuals have fired the imagination of many great artists down the centuries.  And as the Church has reflected on this story, traditions have developed around it.  So the three gifts were carried by three individuals.  And these individuals were thought of as Kings, fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah and the Psalms.  And as early as the year 500 there are traditions that the Kings were named Capsar, Melchior and Balthasar.  Eastern names that have their roots in Babylon, Persia and Arabia.

However many Magi there were and whatever their names, there are several things that Matthew makes clear about them.  Firstly these Magi are risk takers.  To travel across deserts and borders was a dangerous activity.  No airports and travel agents for them, they chose to go it alone risking robbery and exposure to the harsh desert climate.  The second thing we know about them is that they were hopeful.  You don’t decide on a whim or vague hunch to leave everything behind.  You need to have commitment and hope to sustain you through such a pilgrimage. And lastly, we know they were joyful.  For we read that they were filled with joy, and probably hugely relieved, when the star eventually stopped over Bethlehem.  

I think that such joyful, hopeful risk-takers, would make for good travelling companions.  But they are not the only Kings in our story, for there is also Herod. 

Herod the Great was a very different King.  He had been installed by the Rome as ‘King of the Jews’ to keep the peace in this troublesome corner of the Empire.  According to historians He was a paranoid and murderous tyrant who killed his wife and two of his children in order to secure his throne.  To display his power and wealth he built huge palaces and an even bigger Temple in Jerusalem. 

This is the King that Matthew tells us feared the birth of Christ, who quizzed the wise men and slaughtered the innocents.  Unlike the Magi, Herod took no risks.  Rather he enjoyed the luxuries of his Palaces and ruled by the exercise of cruel power.  He was everything the Magi were not.  Which is why he could never find his way to the stable.

But there is of course one more King in our story.  The King whom the Magi came to worship.  The true King of the Jews born into poverty, in a small provincial village.  In His Kingdom the hungry are fed, the stranger welcomed and the oppressed go free.  His is a Kingdom ruled by love and not by fear.

So maybe this morning we should be singing not of three Kings but of five?  One hiding in his palace a prisoner of his fears, three heading west following their dreams and one born in a stable to save the world.

Now I’m not very wise and I’m certainly no King but I am heading west- following a call.  And this morning as I set out on that journey and as you here look forward to all that 2012 will bring, I would like to commend to you the example of the Magi;

May you take risks and break rules.

May you travel hopefully and with joy.

May you be generous in the gifts which you offer.
So that, come the end of your days, 

you may find your way to Christ
To kneel with the wise men before the King of Kings. 

Amen.

Join the choir...

“Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.”

That was the song of the choir of angels on that first Christmas night and this morning we too have sung those self same words.  Maybe not to such angelic perfection but we’ve belted it out anyway!  Singing-up and sing out has become quite pop this year

I don’t know if you’ve been watching Gareth Malone and the military wives choir. But I’ve loved it as he has gathered a choir from scratch, taken them to the Albert Hall and if the bookies are right this afternoon they will be the Christmas number one.

But it is not only military wives and Choirs of angels singing today because we heard in our Gospel reading the shepherds also are getting in on the act, ‘glorifying and praising God’. 

Now Shepherds you need to understand are not the world’s most natural singers.  They would even be a challenge for Marvellous Mr Malone.  Indeed, shepherds had a reputation for being cheats and thieves, making use of other people’s land and moving on if they got into trouble.  And yet here they are at the heart of our story, watching their flock by night when suddenly the glory of the Lord shines around them. 

Well- being a feckless bunch they dive for cover, possibly worried that they are in trouble again.  But the angel tells them not to be afraid and brings them good news of great joy that today a saviour is borne who is Christ the Lord.  And as the angels sing his praises and the shepherds look on dumbstruck, watching heaven come close to earth.

And so the shepherds, go to see if it could be true.  To see if there really is a child in a manger as they have been told.  To see if God’s heavenly glory has really come down to earth?

I imagine them rushing to get there and then hesitating outside the stable, and pushing on one another peering through gaps to see if it true, whispering to one another as they catch sight of the manger and finally tumbling headlong into the stable- to see it all as the angel said.  And in their excitement they cannot help but sing praises glorifying God.

As we hear this story, so we too we travel with them. We also have heard the words of the angels, have come to a crib and now look upon a child lying in a manger.  And like the Shepherds- we too wonder what it all means.

We have heard the words of the prophet Isaiah praying for a prince who will bring an end to war and oppression.  A ruler who will bring justice to a troubled world.  We have heard the angels proclaiming this child as Lord and Saviour.  And now here before us, we find God in human form.

And in this vulnerable child, in the birth of this Prince of Peace we find comfort for our war torn world.  In this birth which unites shepherds and Kings and proclaims that we are all children of God we find an alternative to the divisions within our society and our city.  And as this child reaches out to us, and holds our finger in his tiny hand we find that we too are accepted by this holy child and that he will not let us go.

Now I may lack Gareth Malone’s boyish good looks and charm.  I may not have his specky glasses and tweed jackets.  But this morning, I want to invite all of you to join the choir.  And I don’t mean the shepherd’s choir, frankly they’re as bit ropey!  And I don’t mean St Stephen’s choir- they’re better but there’s better yet.  For this morning- I want you to join the choir of angels.  In the words of the hymn, I want us to be joyful and triumphant.

For that which the angels sang is true, that which the shepherds heard is true for on this happy morning heaven and earth have indeed become one for our God is in our midst. Amen.