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May God bless you and yours this coming year.

I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see

If I was to ask you from what hymn the above line comes from, I expect that you would immediately and confidently tell me it was from “Amazing Grace” written by John Newton (1725-1807).  Perhaps not so well known is that Sunday 1^st January 2023, marks the 250^th anniversary of that much loved hymn. John Newton penned the famous words “Amazing Grace” for a sermon for his 1773 New Year’s Service at the Church of St Peter and St Paul,  Olney, some 60 miles north of London.  It has been sung around the world at so many different occasions and reflects so much of our own humanity over the years.  It identifies with our personal experiences which many of us can relate to. Of being lost; of being blind; of being fearful; of facing many dangers, toils and snares as well as offering us hope for living, not only now, but also for eternity.

In his letter to the Archdiocese of Munich written on 8^th February 2022, Pope Benedict XVI wrote “quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life. Even though, as I look back, I can have great reason for fear and trembling, I am nonetheless of good cheer for I trust firmly that the Lord is not only the just judge, but also the friend and brother who himself has already suffered for my shortcomings, and is thus also my advocate. It grants me knowledge and indeed friendship, with the judge of my life, and thus allows me to pass confidently through the dark door of death”.

In his book of reflections and poetry entitled “Barefoot Ways” for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Stephen Cherry the Dean of King’s College, Cambridge writes about time which is very pertinent for today. He comments that “Waiting is a fundamental aspect of Christian living. Indeed, you might even say that the whole of Christian spirituality and ethics is about what you do while you wait. But waiting is not about being passive. It is about acting in a way that is realistic about the actual capacity we have to made a difference.  Waiting is always a reminder of the extent to which we cannot control things as much as we would like. The Christian calendar exists to make the point that all time belongs to God. It is to say that whatever else we think we can do, we cannot hasten or shorten God’s timing. Accepting our limits is the first lesson in Christian spirituality. It’s not the last word, but it is a word of Advent. The message is that time, like power, is in God’s hands. Our task is to learn not how to take control, but how to tell God’s time and to respond to God’s power and grace”.

As we step out into this New Year, may we, like John Newton, be able to say “Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home”.

In the story book; ‘Jesus’ Christmas Party’, a particular favourite of mine, the main character is a somewhat harassed and grumpy inn keeper.He keeps getting woken up in the middle of the night by various visitors who are either seeking a room in the already over filled inn or who come to visit the folk in the stable. The inn keeper has a catch phrase of ‘round the back’ which he shouts at those who disturb his sleep. When the heavenly host appear and start singing it drives the inn keeper to distraction and his anger boils over and he storms off ‘ round the back’ to see what is going on. He is loud and noisy and is ‘ssshhed’ by those present as he will wake the baby. This revelation takes the wind our of the inn keeper’s sails as he peers into the manger. In an instant he is transformed and is delighted by the wee child lying on the straw and so excited that he rushes into the inn and wakes everyone up so that they can come and see the baby.

Nicholas Allan’s story is simple and witty but I also think powerful as it tells us of the transformative power of Jesus Christ.

Whether Jesus’ birth happened in the way the Gospel accounts tells us is less important to the fact that Jesus was actually born. Only in Luke and Matthew do we have birth narratives. In Mark there is no birth story at all - it begins with Jesus’ baptism by John as an adult. In John the story is mystical and refers to ‘The Word becoming incarnate’ without any reference to how that happened. And the two accounts by Matthew and Luke differ! In Matthew there are no shepherds on magi and in Luke no magi only shepherds. In no one account do we have the full story as we know it and if we only had one Gospel account our view of Jesus’ birth might be very different.

Because we actually have four accounts our nativity story is like a jigsaw, made up from various bits from each account that together give us an understanding greater than the sum of the various parts.

I have always quite liked that fact, once I realised that no one account has the full story. I like it because it says to me that we can’t contain God or ever fully understand God’s ways and that when we encounter Jesus - the Word made flesh, God on Earth, the human face of God (or whatever) we will like the inn keeper in the story be transformed by the meeting. Why?Because quite simply encountering God will always change one. We might not realise quite how but it does and always will.

Often, many of us struggle to get an understanding of who God is and why the world is the way it is and what our rôle in Creation actually is. But, in Jesus, we see someone like ourselves. A human being, no matter how divine he was, who lived a life like we do. Had all the pains and successes we do and loved and lost. he knew happiness and sadness and as such I think makes God easier to comprehend as we can begin the journey of revelation from a staring point we understand, being ourselves. As that exploration develops throughout our lives we daily get glimpses of the Divine in the encounters with others and God’s Creation. Those little almost unnoticeable things that can take our breath away or cheer our hearts. Things that transform who we are and how we see the world and our fellow beings.

For all of us with a faith, that transformation begins when we first encounter Jesus, be it in worship, in stories, in other people of faith. Those things which helped us to begin the journey or nourish us on the way. It is never an easy journey and at times we might doubt it all but if we continue to question and try to remain open minded Jesus will encounter us as much as we will encounter him. And, we effect those encounters when we interact with each other and spark that image of God within each of us that we are made with.

Jesus was both human and divine and we if we believe that we are all made in the image of God contain and essence of God and thus Jesus as well. An essence that we discover more and more as we explore that journey we call life.

On this Christmas Day we meet Jesus face to face as a helpless child in the manger. A could full of potential waiting to be discovered. We know his story but we can never fully know it or him, unless we journey with him and open ourselves up to be transformed by the journey we make in his presence. As the poet Wendy Cope says inter open 'Lantern Carol' :

“Ours if we will have Him.

Ours to love and keep.”

Enjoy this Christmas Day and look out for the ways in which you will be transformed in the coming year as you journey with Jesus the incarnated face of God.

Happy Christmas

ADVENT IV  Year A

Sunday  18th December 2022

I have realised, that I have my mother’s hands. Not literally, but the older I get the more my fingers and skin look like hers. They are not particularly big hands, they are quite slender for a man and reasonably regular, (despite the arthritis) like my Mum’s but it is especially, the way the veins stand proud on the surface of my hands and the texture of the skin that remind me of my mum. If you compare our hands, there is definitely no mistaking whose son I am.

I wonder what Joseph thought as he gazed upon the infant Jesus? Yes! He’s got his mother’s nose or eye colour, shape of head or hands but what’s he got of me? Nothing at all - so Scripture would tell us. Jesus was the combination of God and Mary, the Word made flesh, both divine and human at the same time. Jesus may have inherited his human genetic make up from his mother and his divine creator but he probably inherited other important and life defining characteristics from his foster father or adoptive father, Joseph as well.

Joseph, was obviously a good man, a man of principle and love - a  gentle-man in the true sense of the word. Joseph believed what Mary told him and what the angel told him too:

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”                        Matthew 1:20b-21

Joseph, did not abandon his betrothed, as he was legally able to do, instead he wrapped her in love and accepted her son as his own. (The whole paternity debate surrounding Jesus has been long argued over and I do not intend to rehearse the arguments, theologies and heresies here this morning - except to state that whatever relationship Joseph had to Jesus it was obviously one based on love and that really is all that matters).

Many people love their children, regardless of the fact that they may not be their  natural  offspring. My stepsons are my boys  regardless of their genetic parentage and my love for them is no less valid or real than the love they receive from their father or mother. It may be different, I cannot tell, not having any natural children but I love them and would do anything for them, including constantly worrying about them. I suspect that Joseph has similar feelings.

I may not have been in my stepsons lives from their birth as Joseph was with Jesus but I have been a part of their growing up for the past 31 years. As such, I hope my reflections on the relationship I have with them can help me begin to comprehend what Joseph might have felt towards Jesus. Joseph was there right from the start, acting as partner and midwife at Jesus birth, so how could he not love the boy that he helped to bring into the world?

To all intents and purposes we can assume, Joseph acknowledged Jesus as his first born son and there are hints in the Gospels that he and Mary may have had other children:

“A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him,  Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.”   Mark 3:33

Whether Mary was ever virgin as some proclaim, is not, I believe, as important as the fact that she was our Saviour’s mother. The one from whom he got his humanity but it was from both Mary and Joseph that he got his human nature. Both Mary and Joseph raised Jesus to maturity and as such nurtured him into the man he was to become. Joseph showed him what unconditional love and acceptance could look like in action. He accepted him right from his conception, totally and utterly, no questions asked once it had been explained to him. To the world 2000 odd years ago Jesus was known as the  Carpenter’s Son from Nazareth. Even Scripture tells us that.

‘That’s my boy.'  Joseph could say and I believe, rightly so. For Jesus was not only entrusted to Mary but to Joseph as well and I am saddened that as a father, Joseph often gets left out or portrayed as an impotent old man, rather than the youthful, dynamic force and example to his foster son that he was. As a step-parent I want to hear it for Joseph and I want to give thanks for the rôle model he offers.

It is not easy being a step-parent because you are always conscious that you are one-step removed and must never seek to usurp the natural parent in their rightful role, should they claim it. You can, however, offer parental support and love, unconditionally as the  other trusted adult. Perhaps the one who is never seen to judge but who can  be there   when relationships with the natural parents may be strained by adolescent angst.

I have learned much from my boys as their step-father and I constantly give thanks for them and the love we share. It truly is a gift from God. Joseph too, I like to think and hope also gave thanks for Jesus  his son  and loved and worried about him just as much as his mother did. So although Jesus may (or may not) have shared Joseph s genetic make-up he truly did share in the father/son bond with his earthly dad, just as much as he shared in the father/son bond with his divine parent.

I share genetic traits with both my parents and I have shared in their parental love. So although I see my mother in my hands, I see my father in other ways. I don’t share genes with my step-sons but they do share some of my characteristics and personality traits because I have been one of the lucky people  to raise them. At the end of the day you do not have to have you own natural children to love any more or less than the children you do have, love is not dictated by genetics alone. I can think of three families well known to me who have adopted their children and what loving parents and family life I see in them.

Joseph, I truly believe, was one of the  good guys. Someone we should value and admire for the rôle he played in the incarnation and in our salvation. It is all too easy, to forget the  adoptive-father in the Christmas Story but without him quite what might the story have been and quite what would Jesus life and ministry have been without the rôle model of the loving man, Joseph, his father in all but biology.

I am Joseph, carpenter

Of David s kingly line,

I wanted an heir; discovered

My wife's son wasn’t mine.

I am an obstinate lover,

Loved Mary for better or worse.

Wouldn t stop loving when I found

Someone else came first.

Mine was the likeness I hoped for

When the first-born man-child came.

But nothing of him was me. I couldn’t

Even choose his name.

I am Joseph, who wanted

To teach my own boy how to live.

My lesson for my foster son:

Endure. Love. Give.

UA Fan Thorpe   ‘Joseph’

Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? (Matthew 11:3)

How many times would we have liked to have asked someone who they are – who they really are – but modern etiquette and increasingly political correctness dictates our social interaction with others.  Some might take offence or even worse post something on social media for all to see. One party feels entirely justified by their actions; the other is publicly humiliated and even vilified.  John the Baptist felt no such restraints. He was bold, abrasive and at times more than direct in how he spoke truth to those in power regardless of its consequences.

Some years ago I unexpectedly sat next to a former Lord Chancellor at lunch in London. I knew right away who he was by what I had heard, read and seen on television and in the national newspapers. He had never before met or seen me. What would I say?  I began by saying that I was a lawyer and I lived in Edinburgh. That automatically opened up the conversation. Afterwards I felt that I had learnt something personal about him including his upbringing in Scotland, his love of art and his fine wine collection.   You can tell me later if you recognise him.   

In all our readings today we have abundant images of nature. Did you  notice them? They range from the wilderness and the dry land through to the blossoming of the crocus.  Of burning sand becoming a pool and thirsty ground becoming springs of water.   Of the farmer waiting patiently for the precious crops to appear from the earth. Think for a moment what these images convey to you.

John wonders who Jesus really is, and Jesus notes that the crowd wonders who John really is. Jesus alone can bring clarity. John who spent so much of his life in the wilderness is now cruelly confined to prison. He is being treated like chaff while Herod’s power grows and flourishes.

As is so often the case Jesus responds to John’s question indirectly. He enlarges the scope of the question with echoes from Isaiah with glimpses of a new age in which the wounds of Israel will be healed. John is now no longer the predecessor and preparer, no longer the messenger who goes before. Rather the one who now testifies to Christ is no less than Christ himself. John must hear for himself that in Christ the blind hear, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the poor have good news preached to them. He too, like us, must become a disciple.

In his book “The mystery of the incarnation” the late Cardinal Hume comments that “It is in the passing of the years that I now look back and realise the significance of what, in themselves, may seem trivial experiences. It is often through such things that God speaks to individuals. So with hindsight I believe that through such experiences God was giving me a hint to look beyond myself and the preoccupations of the world to discover something – indeed, someone”.

As we continue our journey through Advent with its watching and waiting, may we too ask that question “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?”

I look from afar and lo, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth.

Go ye out to meet him and say: tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?