Candlemas window

This is the window in St Michael's which illustrates the Bible story we'll explore on 1st February. The prophet Simeon (he describes Jesus as the glory of God's people Israel, and his words round the picture also name Jesus as a light for all non-Jews as well) holds the forty day old Jesus. Mary kneels. The prophetess Anna stoops. A small boy holds Joseph and Mary's offering (but where is Joseph?). You might like to think of it as the first official Christian service of all age worship!

Ready for a second go

We’ve now got our plans in place for 1st February.

After refreshments when people arrive, we will again be able to join in different activities in different parts of the church. People will be able to join a group or move about between them. This time one of these will be provided by St Nicolas’ Handbell Ringing Group. Another will be available for those who want to learn something about the Bible reading for the day. Others will be preparing some music, preparing to present the Bible reading, and preparing a large sign post, all of which we’ll need for the short act of worship with which we’ll finish.

We will be keeping Candlemas - the celebration of Jesus being taken to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after he was born. There happens also to be a picture of the story in one of the two stained glass windows in the church.

Reacting to the presence of Jesus

Some people were able to express things about their faith in a moving way on 4th January. Some people made the crowns illustrated above indicating what sorts of gifts they would bring Jesus today. Others (in the group which was looking at the Bible reading for the day) pointed out that the efficiently cruel way Herod reacted was the way in which modern dictators react to any possible threat today (we thought about both Burma and Zimbabwe); it seemed to us that this showed how very insecure they really are. Watching how people react to finding Jesus close among them tells us a huge amount about them.

Our first go

After so much planning and publicity, we were glad to worship this way this morning for the first time. The planning group is meeting again on Tuesday evening so that we can debrief while things are fresh in our minds, and plan the services for February and March in ways which improve on our first go. Feed back is very welcome to help us in this process.

Each of the participatory activities (art, drama, music and prayers) was presented beautifully, but it turned out that the group exploring the link with Ecuador was the one which more people wanted to join and on which more commented as they left; it helped that two of the people who came happened to know Ecuador already and could make extra contributions, and this aspect of the life of our churches clearly touched some people.

Three Wise Men?

We'd like the First Sunday Thing to be for all ages, and we'd like to include serious adult reflection as well as children's activities, so one of the groups on 4th January will be exploring the Bible story for the day. Here is some background thinking (from the sermon at Midnight Communion last year).

"... Well, there were not three of them. All St Matthew’s Gospel says is that they brought three sorts of gifts - which has led artists to represent them being carried by three men. And they were not Kings. They are called Magi - priests from what today is Iran who acted as court astrologers.

Magi appear in two other stories at this time. One comes later in the Bible. Paul was travelling through Cyprus and met the Proconsul there, a man called Sergius Paulus. Sergius’ retinue doesn’t include a Chaplain or a jester but does include a Magos, who is called Elymas. Elymas tells Sergius just what a bad idea Christianity is and tries to persuade him not to listen to Paul. The other story comes more than once in other contemporary writing. In AD 66 (two years after the Great Fire of Rome and the persecution of Christians which followed) a Magos called Tiridates is among those who come to worship Nero as a God.

So, just imagine that you are a Christian in Rome in about AD 70, keeping your head down to avoid persecution, and you receive a new book. It is the first time you have had a book which tells the full story of Jesus. You find that it begins by telling you about Jesus’ ancestry and his birth; Jesus is both of human descent and comes from God. You look to see what the very first story will be. It tells you that Magi came to worship Jesus and lay gifts at his feet.

It is hard to think of a story which would surprise you more. These Magi - the ones who try to prevent Christian preaching as awful and who honour the worst persecutor of Christians as God-like - they are the first to recognise that Jesus has been sent by God. I’ve tried to think what the modern equivalent would be and the best I could come up with would be being told today that the first three worshippers were an evolutionary biologist, a psychic, and a member of Al’Qaeda..."

A child in Ecuador

Bishop Edward King Church (BEK) on the Willows sponsored a child in Ecuador through Tear Fund, and St Michael’s has continued to do so since BEK closed and its members joined St Michael’s. This isn’t as well known in the parish as it might be, although letters arrive and are sent via Tear Fund quite regularly. So discovering something about this link will be one of the things available to those who come to the first First Sunday Thing. Keeping the church facing outwards to the concerns of the world (rather than inwards on itself) seems an imporant aim, and it is good to build this into the First Sunday Thing from the start. Her name is Delia, she is a farmer’s daughter, and she is now 13.

Prayer requests

Requests for prayers to be hung on the Christmas tree at St Michael's on 4th January can be brought on the day. But they could also be left openly as Comments on this Blog, or e-mailed confidentially (p dot m dot mullins at virgin dot net). The picture is the Walnut tree at St Nicolas' in the early morning sun yesterday; nothing at all hangs on it yet, but its limbs are lifted to the Sun expectantly.