Pilgrim

When you think of Jesus at Christmas, what image come to mind?  The truth is that we are surrounded by images at this time of year. Card shops, retail outlets of all sorts, social media posts bombard us with images of a stable, a star, 3 Kings etc that the image of the baby in the manger (somehow spotlessly clean!) alongside a surprisingly alert Mary and a deferential Joseph hovering in the background, that some of this has somehow become embedded in what we think of as a traditional Christmas.  We have seen this morning a lovely presentation of that story by members of the Junior Church, thank you to all involved.   Of course, there is still discussion about whether the stable really was a stable, and whether there was an innkeeper at all. It seems that Luke may have actually meant the upper room in a house, so no room in the inn, becomes no room upstairs so the baby was put on the ledge between upstairs and downstairs (where the animals were kept).  The animals exu...

Readings:   Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-25 It’s one week to go until Christmas.    In the words of Corporal Jones; Don’t Panic!! In the last minute rush when we suddenly get a card or a present from someone we haven’t provided for, or when we might be forced into sudden changes of plans; it is easy to forget that the Christmas that we celebrate these days bears little in relation to the first Christmas.   In other words we say we remember the birth of Jesus, but really we run about buying presents and have we done this, have we done that?? Our readings today from Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew contain some points that if we take the time to look at them with a fresh set of eyes, may help in leading us to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the so-called Christmas Story.   I’ll come back to the manner in which we call it a story later, but just for the moment, that phrase, how does it make you feel?   Do you feel uncomfortable wit...