The Magi - some questions for Epiphany

Now that Christmas is over we can look ahead to Epiphany - the time when the wise men arrived to pay homage to the baby Jesus. I know that some churches refuse to allow the wise men to be put in the nativity crib for Christmas as it is a separate feast and occurs later. But in the popular imagination and in much of the church it is all bundled into the great winter festival!

So what do we actually know about the Magi.

1) The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t say how many Magi there were. Three became the most popular answer because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

2) Early Christians didn’t agree on where the Magi were from. The most popular answer was Persia (modern Iran), but others thought they were from Babylon or Arabia. East could really be any where exotic if you look at the map

3) Nobody knows what the Star of Bethlehem really was. Some recent theories say it was a comet but many early Christians thought it was an angel or the Holy Spirit.

4) Opinions differ about how long it took the Magi to reach Bethlehem. It could have been two years based on Herods questions or it could be twelve days based on the number of days between 25th December and 6th January.

And what was a magi anyway - a wise man? a magician? an astronomer? an astrologer? a leader of an eastern esoteric religious group? (but remember this is long before the prophet Mohamed was born!)

It is a feast with more questions than answers! And just to confuse things further I remember when I was in southern Spain last January I saw plastic models (sometimes almost life size) of the wise men decoratively climbing up the front of many houses and apartments. In local folk-law it is the wise men who bring the seasonal gifts for childrens stockings! I must have skipped that bit of the bible!

Christmas Eve midnight service

I was in a strange church. I was there for the first time. I did not know the minister. I find that such a situation awakens ones sensitivity to what is going on. You worship and look and listen to learn and all the while you are hoping that this one will say something interesting and useful for you... You don't have any personal relationships to cloud your interaction with the worship leader which makes for a different experience.

But having led services at midnight Christmas eve for so many years I recognise all he does, for I have done it myself many times. It is one of my favourite services - there is one script and an expectation of universal good cheer.

The hymns were good but you would have to be a real moron to muck up a carol service!

The prayers are OK - perhaps a little too self centred. I am disappointed that there is scant recognition the wider world beyond the personal life of the believer.

But the sermon - oh dear. The preacher has fallen into the trap that enslaves many evangelicals - he preaches to a congregation that exists in his imagination rather than to the real people who are there! On Christmas eve these folk are all church regulars. They are not drunks lost on the way home from the pub as the pubs are still open! They will have heard more Christmas sermons on this night that the young preacher and yet he assumes that we all need to hear the simple message about the gift of Christmas - receive the present of Jesus - and it is a free gift that we can do nothing to earn! Usual evo message that causes non-evos like me to think "here we go again" as I mentally switch to some more interesting thoughts. Sadly, it can also causes the evangelicals (and others for whom being saved is the a priori factor in their Christian experience) to look around judgementally to see which of the backsliders in the church this message is for! I would find it very difficult to have to listen to a message like that regularly - it would drive me crazy!

I forgot to mention that the preacher also read his script verbatim - but he hadn't written it in a style for reading out loud! There were long complicated sentences with sub clauses. It was so obvious he was reading and so rendered it a lifeless performance.

But it was Christmas and strangers greeted each other ignoring the preachers shortcomings and enjoyed the magic of the night. The joy of the season couldn't be quelled and the organist struck up the closing voluntary "Santa Claus is coming to town" as the minister left the church!

It is time to get rid of the white witch

C S Lewis wrote the famous children's book "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" in 1950. Narnia was a frozen waste with winter but no spring (or Christmas). As the adventure progresses the cause of the everlasting winter is discovered to be the wicked witch (The Snow Queen). Once she is defeated, and Aslan returns, the winter ends.

After December 2010 I now know how the little Narnia folk felt as they keep looking for a sign of a thaw but can see nothing but continuing ice.

It seems to me significant that Lewis wrote the book with the winter of 1948 in recent living memory - probably the worst winter of the 20th century. The difference between 1948 and today is that people were more resilient, having lived through the hard years of war and rationing. It was colder and more prolonged than 2010. (Though we are not finished yet!)

I haven't seen green on my lawn for over a month and days with constant sub-zero temperatures are becoming rather tiresome. I love snow. But it has gone on long enough. Its time to end the reign of the white witch of the north! Aslan come!

A Prayer of Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton was a monk who wrote many books on spirituality. As such his personal devotional life must have contained many hours of prayer and contemplation. Those of us who struggle with the complexities of modern life often feel guilty that time for our spiritual devotions can get squeezed out. I certainly expected a wise spiritual monk to have a clear vision of what God wanted from him.

How reassuring then to find that he wrote the following prayer. This indicates that he could feel as unclear regarding the direction that God wanted for his life as the rest of us sometimes feel. Yet it also is full of a confident, trusting faith. Holding together faith and uncertainty is central to my Christian journey.

The Prayer of Thomas Merton
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.

THINK before you press the send button

Some people treat their keyboard as an extension of the subconscious - they do not filter what they write and send it unfiltered to others. Hence the way people on e-groups express far more extreme views and verbally attack others in a way that they would never do in real life. Perhaps this is because we do not see the other person at the other end of cyberspace as a real person? We know that we will never have to look them in the eye.

I read the following advice today that would help to keep the "flame wars", as online arguments are called, within acceptable boundaries. It would also help us to consider very carefully before we commit to send that angry email. Once sent into the ether, that message exists for all time and could be something that will come back and haunt us!

So here is the advice for times when we feel obliged to make our feelings known, especially if we intend to put them in writing:

Remember each letter of the word think.....
THINK!
Is it True?
Is it Helpful?
Is it Inspiring?
Is it Necessary?
Is it Kind?

If we paused and considered THINK before we pressed the send button, the Internet and all electronic communication would be transformed. A new community built on values we could be proud to be associated with would be built. Perhaps we could even practice such a review in all our face to face interactions too! Now that would have a transformative effect!

Planned Spontaneity

When is spontaneity really spontaneous?

I am puzzling about spontaneity following my experiences yesterday.

I sang in a "flash mob" hallelujah chorus at the Kelvingrove in Glasgow. It was a fantastic experience - the acoustics in the hall were superb and the organ must be one of the grandest in all Scotland.

But was it spontaneous as there was careful planning. The organist knew he was finishing the daily recital with this particular piece of Handel. The programme was published. Many local choirs had been emailed and the word spread virally on the web. And people like me travelled by cycle, train and underground with a total journey time of over an hour to be there. Nothing spontaneous then?

But it felt spontaneous. There had been no rehearsal. (so perhaps we were a bit out of time/tune!) It was a fun and rewarding thing to be part of. I suppose that I'll have to wait for the inevitable you-tube video to see how it actually sounded!

But there was also something yesterday that was completely spontaneous. In the evening I went to an excellent pantomime at the macrobert. (Snow White and the seven De Wharffs) In one of the big scenes "Prince Charming Darling" is lying dead in the arms of Snow White after having bitten the poisoned apple ( It is panto so the traditional story gets amended ) and she is wailing along the lines "Oh my beloved is dead - what shall I do".

At this point of dramatic tension a wee boy in the audience shouts out helpfully "He's dead - get over it!"

She carried on bravely and sang her song but that sort of true spontaneity perhaps she could have done without!!!!