1 January 2012

As I sit and write this particular letter, I am minded of a tale of a young boy who desperately seeks to play the part of Joseph in the school nativity play so that he can show others his acting talent. When the time comes for the parts to be allocated though, the young boy finds he is disappointed when given the part of the Innkeeper. He perseveres though, intent on sharing his thespian skills with the world. During the performance, in front of a packed school hall, when Joseph and Mary ask him if there is any room for them in his inn, the disappointed little boy chooses to abandon the script and, in a moment of inspiration, opens the inn door wide and says in a loud voice : ‘of course there’s room for you here; come on in!’ 

One of my most treasured photographs is one of my two children taken some fifteen years ago when they were dressed for a nativity play; Hannah is dressed as an angel with a halo of golden tinsel adorning her head, while Jonny wears a splendid golden crown on his head and a cloak of deep red about his shoulders, as befits one of the magi. Whenever I gaze upon this photograph, aside from smiling at the sight of my excited children, I find myself thinking of Matthew’s magi. I don’t know about you, but I have always been fascinated by those characters that seem to appear just the once in the Bible, and Matthew’s magi are just such characters. We are told very little about them, apart from that they came from the East; we are not told how many of them there were and there is certainly no mention of any names or gender. Interestingly, the characters say nothing apart from asking one question : “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” The magi feel called to make a complicated journey, crossing boundaries and cultures: it must have been of major importance to their lives since they persevered on an incredibly difficult journey. 

T.S. Elliot’s poem “The Journey of the Magi” written in 1927, the year he was baptised, seems to capture effortlessly the essence of a spiritual journey. Indeed, many believe that the poem chronicles Elliot’s own journey to faith. What is fascinating is that Elliot in 1927 was working on a book on the Anglican preacher Lancelot Andrewes. In crafting his ‘Journey of the Magi’ Elliot ‘borrows’ from one of Andrewes’ sermons; the first five lines of the poem are slightly altered poetically from Lancelot Andrewes’ Nativity Sermon, preached for King James on Christmas Day 1622 :

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

Andrewes preached that the Magi readily undertook “a wearisome, irksome, troublesome, dangerous, unseasonable journey” to follow the star to the Christ child, before going on to lament that the people of his day were so complacent in their faith that they were highly unlikely to venture to the manger even it was situated some half a mile away from them, let alone travel across lands to worship the new born Messiah.

It is widely acknowledged that travel broadens the mind. In experiencing other cultures, we hopefully grow to understand and respect diversity; this certainly seems to be the experience of the magi. God speaks to the magi, after which they journeyed home by a different route, so affected were they by their experience. T. S. Elliot’s words say it all :                                                         

Above all else, the story of the magi is about a journey of discovery to God; the meaning of the journey is revealed: ‘Emmanuel, God in Christ among us, our hope of glory’ (Col. 1: 27) and the magi are forever changed. The end of the poem is a new beginning; the traveller is home again and seeking more.

At this point we might well find ourselves asking this question : what relevance does this story have to our life as Devon parishoners at the beginning of a New Year over 2000 years later? Well, I would respectfully suggest that like Elliot, our faith is a journey to God – a journey that changes us. It is important though for us all to realise that one person’s personal trek towards God is very different to another’s; Luke’s shepherds’ journey to Christ is very different to Matthew’s magi’s journey to Christ; there are many ways to God.  As we celebrate Epiphany and contemplate the New Year ahead of us, what I draw from the story of the magi is this : as the people of God in Devon, we are each and every one of us called to think of spreading the Gospel that is Jesus Christ to all people as we seek to fulfil that commission of making disciples. 

People today, perhaps more than ever before, are looking in all kinds of places for spiritual answers - and many have never really considered Jesus. We need to continue to pray for God to call some to look in our direction and discover more of our Christian faith. And, rather than simply giving people information, if we are really serious about the business of growing our church families, we need to, like the boy in the school nativity play, be ready and willing to say to people : “there’s room for you here - come on in!” and be ready to walk alongside them. Just as the star lit the way to Jesus for the magi, so we need to strive to light the way to Jesus for others. The words of Isaiah : “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you” seem particularly relevant to us at this time and in this place, don’t you think ?  So, as we look forward to this New Year, may we all have courage to respond to whatever God asks of us, knowing that with God, anything and everything is possible.

 

A Happy and Blessed New Year One and All!                  With love, from Wendy x