SERMON - JANUARY 2007
VICAR: The Revd. Martin Fredriksen Tel: 694109
PARISH OFFICE (Mondays to Fridays 9.30am – Noon) Tel: 697641
FROM THE VICAR: Despite rumours to the contrary, Christmas does not begin until the celebration of Midnight Mass and the Twelve Days of Christmas are complete by the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany - which is on 6th January. This commemorates the visit of the Wise Men to the young Jesus and many of our Orthodox brothers and sisters celebrate the Birth of Jesus on that day.
According to the Gospel account, they do not simply turn up and join the queue behind the shepherds, as is portrayed in many story books and almost invariably, in nativity plays. Herod orders the slaying not only of babies, but of all male children, two years old and under. This would imply that our Lord may well have been old enough to be running about by then. The text speaks of the visit being to the 'house' and does not mention a stable at all.
Mary and Joseph undoubtedly were moved by the presentation of 'sacred gifts of mystic meaning' - items of unbelievable extravagance to an ordinary working-class family and I am intrigued to know where they kept them and what actually happened to them!
Who these enigmatic characters were, we shall never know, but somehow they knew that they had fulfilled their quest for the deepest purposes of their lives — and their response was, to bow down and worship.
What is your response and mine?
Martin Fredriksen
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