Letter for January

Dear friends,

We’re nearly ready to pack the decorations away for another year! For some shops ‘Christmas’ has been offered since September, but traditionally Christmas begins after mid-night Mass on Christmas Morning and ends on Twelfth Night – Jan 6th -- that’s where the carol ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ comes from; twelve days of presents! We find it difficult enough these days to find one for some of our relatives!

In Church on January 6th Epiphany, we remember the visit of the Wise Men, Magi or sages from the East, [Arabia or perhaps Babylon]. They were a priestly caste who studied the stars in their courses and they were alerted to a matter of worldwide importance, when they discovered a new heavenly body had appeared. Its position in the sky told them that a new king of the Jews was born and so they travelled many miles to investigate an event that was important enough to be announced by the arrival of a new star – or perhaps a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. That meant that the wise men didn’t arrive with the shepherds and but sometime later when the Holy family where in a ‘house’ [Matt.2:11]

In the 6th century the Magi were first talked of as ‘kings’ but nothing in the Bible supports that – they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, very costly gifts suitable to worship the divine infant king whose life and death would bring healing to many. They brought 3 gifts but we don’t know how many ‘wisemen’ there were.

The ‘Epiphany’ - Is a story which shows that the birth of the Christ was for all – from ordinary working shepherds looking after sheep in the dark fields of Bethlehem, to the wise and scholarly followers of a foreign religion from a far away culture; from an angelic heavenly host to village livestock sheltering in a ‘stable’ cave of an Inn, this child was destined for the good of the world, born as one of us and dying for all of us. Born as a light in our darkness to show us the way back to God.

The ‘Kings’ are always a fascinating part of the Christmas story and this year we will be holding a special ‘Messy church’ in Gilston and Eastwick village hall at 4.30 pm – 6.00 on Sunday January 6th . As usual there will be crafts and ‘messy stuff’; some cool technology , a story and a prayer and hot food to share together – pizza and a pudding! All are welcome wherever you live, but children bring at least one adult please! Come and discover more about ‘Epiphany’ and the ‘Three Kings’.

God Bless you and yours Rev Wendy