There were perhaps others on the look-out for kings that day, scouring the glossy mags, checking out the trendy spots, tracking every star on the rise. It was easy enough with the census on and everyone back to their homes, easy to know who would be where (and no-one who was anyone would ever beContinue reading “Christmas 1: “A little child shall lead them…””
Tag Archives: nativity
Broken Epiphanies
Save me, O God: for the waters are entered even to my soul. I stick fast in the deep mire, where no stay is: I am come into deep waters, and the streams run over me. (Psalm 69:1-2, 1599 Geneva Bible) Is it, as Bosch would have it, a sinking scene, hut scarcely erect, while in the background knights andContinue reading “Broken Epiphanies”
Christmas 10: Sit at my right hand
“The LORD says to my Lord…” (Psalm 110:1). These are surely some of the more mysterious words to appear in the Bible. Who is the second Lord to whom the writer, King David, is referring? Who could even be understood to be David’s Lord apart from God, the LORD? David, after all, was king ofContinue reading “Christmas 10: Sit at my right hand”
Christmas 9: Join the dancing
On the ninth day of Christmas, apparently, someone’s true love once gave them nine ladies dancing. Impractical though this is as a Christmas present (not to mention hard to wrap), it suits today’s carol well: the majestic “In dulci jubilo”, set by the seventeenth-century German Lutheran composer Michael Praetorius. The story of the text, originallyContinue reading “Christmas 9: Join the dancing”
Christmas 5: Heaven’s Eternal Christmas
Today’s reading tells the story of Jesus being presented to Simeon, the faithful follower of God who had waited in expectation of the “consolation of Israel” for all of his life and could now be “dismissed in peace”. In keeping with this theme of “consolation” – a favourite of mine at this blog! – today’sContinue reading “Christmas 5: Heaven’s Eternal Christmas”
Advent 4: Correction
So now: as we wait in rapt expectancy, will we unwrap our dreams? Our loves? Or unravel with the pressure, the hallowed table proving to be full of holes. When the day and its gestures disappoint, what will tell us, You matter? Frantic to complete the list, we quickly pass the simple scene: a teenageContinue reading “Advent 4: Correction”
Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 4
…without the First-born no-one is able to approach Being, for he alone is capable of it. (Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Hymns of the Nativity) Do we forget who we are? Clamouring for prizes, for profit, for land, The spaces we contest constrain us. Who was Herod when he feared a baby? Who was the babyContinue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 4”
The Consolations of Writing 