Tag: gift

Sunday 3rd January 2021

This week’s reflection for The Epiphany comes from our Assistant Priest.

Reflection

One of the things I really appreciate about living where I do is how clear the sky can be at night. Towards the end of this past year people’s attention was drawn to the night sky because of the possibility of witnessing the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on 21st December. Unfortunately, for us that evening was overcast and wet with no chance of seeing the event. However, people in other parts of the world did witness the single bright object that was created by these planets passing close together in the night sky. Because it happened so close to Christmas it has been called the Christmas or Bethlehem star. In fact, some scholars have theorized that the original Christmas star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, might also have been a great conjunction although other theories say it may have been a supernova explosion or comet. Whatever it was, it was so spectacular that it led the wise men to leave their homes and make what must have been a treacherous journey to where it led – a simple manger in Bethlehem and the Christ child.

Who were these people who abandoned everything to follow a star not knowing where it would lead?

Matthew tells us very little about them. We don’t actually know their names – it was the Venerable Bede who named them Caspar, Melchior & Balthasar. They are most usually described as wise men or Magi, the Magi being the Zoroastrian priests of the ancient Medes and Persians; men who studied the heavens and explored astrology.

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the Magi but what it does tell us is important. It tells us that they were from foreign lands – Gentiles. Jesus came to save not just Israel but the world and here is the first evidence of that. We don’t even know how many Magi there actually were, Matthew only states that ‘wise men from the east came to Jerusalem’, but we know exactly what they gave to Jesus – gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Why does Matthew go to the trouble of identifying these specific gifts? One possibility is to demonstrate that this event fulfils Isaiah’s prophecy:   

A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Midian and Ephah;

all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

However, if this was Matthew’s only reason for mentioning the gifts, why include myrrh? It’s not mentioned in any prophecy so why didn’t he just say gold, frankincense and other gifts?

Each is mentioned because each of these gifts has a very special significance.

Each of the gifts the wise men brought revealed something about who Jesus was and what he came to do. The gold shows that Jesus came to rule the hearts of people as the King of kings. The frankincense speaks of Jesus’ role as our great high priest making offerings for the faithful and that Jesus came as God in the flesh – the object of our worship. The myrrh reminds us that Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. All three of the gifts foreshadowed both Jesus’ life and death.

But this was not all that the wise sages brought to the manger, for they came to give, not just their treasures to the infant Christ, but to give of themselves. They made no requests, plied him with no questions, and bombarded him with no woes, troubles or complaints. They asked nothing of him – nothing that a child couldn’t give. Yet they left content. Their journey, harsh though it must have been, had been everything for which they had hoped.

Christina Rossetti, in that beautiful hymn, In the Bleak Midwinter, wrote:

What can I give him poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb

If I were a wise man I would do my part

Yet what can I give him, give my heart.

How often do we simply bring our love and our treasures to God? Part of our spiritual maturing is to learn to relax in God’s presence, to enjoy the company and fellowship he gives and to experience the intimate joy of silence that exists between really close friends. That’s when he will speak and we’ll be able to hear because we won’t be cluttering up the airwaves with an interminable monologue of petitions and pleas.

God is present to support and guide all those who listen to his word and who look for the light he gives in the lives of his saints and in the stars of the heavens themselves.

The challenge in front of each of us is to make each breathing moment a gift worth giving to the King.

The Magi have shown in what spirit we must take up our own personal pilgrimage. By their humility, their willing obedience, they encourage us all to worship in spirit and in truth.

God gave himself to us because he loves us. May his love be reflected in our lives as we worship him with all that we have and in all that we say and do; that’s our gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Amen.

Sunday 11th October 2020

Simon’s Reflection for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost

“Rejoice in the Lord always!” says St Paul. We might feel that that’s easier said than done with all that is going on nowadays but we can’t very well say to St Paul: “that’s easy for you to say!” St Paul is saying those words from prison. He is on lockdown. He probably doesn’t know how long he will be in prison. He lives under the shadow of a possible flogging or perhaps even death. He doesn’t, on the face of it, seem to have much to rejoice about.

So what sustains his rejoicing? Are there things in this that can help us or is this just positive thinking taken to insane extremes?

The kind of rejoicing in the Lord and the prayerful renunciation of anxiety that goes with it is not something that comes naturally to the situation that Paul is in nor to ours at the present. It is easy not to be anxious when things are going well. But not so when things are a struggle.

Paul’s peace comes out of loving and trusting God. It comes out of prioritising the things of God. In the other readings we read of the classic image of the fullness of the Kingdom of God as a great feast. St Paul knows he has an invitation to that feast. We have an invitation too. We have to make sure the invitation is a priority in our lives and not let the distractions of life help us forget it.

But as well as the future hope of the results of what God is doing in the world, Paul knows he has present help from God as well. He is immersed in prayer. In the beautiful letter to the Philippians, he invites people to ponder what is good. Actually, this is a great antidote to anxiety for all of us. We have to work at putting into our minds all the positive things of God’s good world. All good things come from God, if we dwell on those good things, then they can help us and hopefully lead us into thanksgiving from God. We have to work at it but there is help in that direction and a favourable wind that will carry us if we turn into it.

So Paul is rooted in trust of God and prayer but also in action to join in with building this wonderful future kingdom which is God’s plan for the world. Paul, for all his troubles, has a purpose. He is active in mission. He turns his sufferings and his imprisonment into something to help others. He urges the Philippians to see their adversity as something that brings them closer to Christ who suffered for them. He urges them to be united and not to argue among themselves. He urges them to “let their gentleness be known” to everyone.

This Sunday is kept by many churches as “Homeless Sunday.” I know in the past year, there have been times when I’ve felt a bit restricted about being confined to home but at least I have a home to be confined to and rather a nice one, with a garden.

In Scotland in 2019 5300 adults slept rough at least once a year and those sleeping rough regularly are 17 times more likely to be a victim of violence and die 30 years younger on average than the rest of us. While the Governments have made efforts to put people into temporary accommodation during the COVID crisis the nature of that accommodation with small bedsits, shared toilets made it more difficult for people to keep safe and to bear with the restrictions earlier in the year than the rest of us. There are also worries about what will happen in the coming months and church night shelters will not be able to help the homeless in the way they normally do this winter because of the hygiene restrictions. For many of us, it’s quite a leap if imagination to imagine what it’s like to have to live in these ways.

I have only occasionally heard of people sleeping rough in North Berwick, Gullane, Aberlady and Dirleton, but we do of course have many people struggling to pay their rents or their mortgages. We have many young people who can’t afford a home of their own and have to stay in their parental home and a lack of affordable housing for those on low incomes.

So how can we as Christians “let our gentleness be known”? Well, perhaps we can be more aware of the situation that others may be in.  We can pray. We can speak out and campaign more for housing justice on our committees and our forums. We can give.

Our two churches have traditionally supported the Bethany Christian Trust, which has an excellent video on their website, and Scottish Churches Housing Action. We had also started collecting items for HomeStart Edinburgh but they have had to suspend their operations in the present crisis. There are many other housing charities, of course, that we might want to support like Shelter Scotland.

Jesus said: “Foxes have their holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” As we think of the homeless today, may we be drawn closer to Our Lord who was homeless: May we find that in trusting God, in prayer, in giving thanks and in helping others we find the gift that God gives of his peace that passes all understanding. Amen.