VICAR'S LETTER
17
Sundon Road
Streatley
February 2008
Dear
All
By the time you read this the Christmas / Epiphany season will be coming to an end (Candlemas - February 3rd), and Lent will be about to begin (Ash Wednesday - February 6th.) This letter seeks to bridge the gap by looking at ways in which our understanding of the journey of the wise men can prepare us for the season of Lent.
The journey of the wise men can be understood as a journey from the first world to the third world. The wise men belong to the first world. They belong to an advanced society up to speed with the science of the day. They enjoy a high standard of living. They may not have enjoyed the ‘summer palaces' and the ‘silken girls serving sherbet' that the poet TS Eliot imagines, but the costliness of their gifts makes it clear that they were not hard up. The stable in Bethlehem represents the third world. It shows us a family far from well-to-do living, albeit temporarily, in a stable which they have to share with the animals. The kings do what people in the first world should do for people in the third world. They bring gifts.
But the journey of the wise men can also be understood as a journey from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God. The wise men belong to the kingdom of this world. Whether they are kings or not, they plainly enjoy a respected and high place in their society. It is a hierarchical society, shaped by power which flows down from the king at the top to the subjects at the bottom. That this is the world they were used to is shown by the fact that when looking for a new king they automatically assume that he will be found in a palace.
The kingdom that the star leads the wise men to is the kingdom of God. This kingdom is shaped not by power flowing down from above but by love flowing up from below. Instead of a king in a palace we have God lying in a manger. What they find in this kingdom, thanks to this turning upside down of worldly values, is the broken communion between God, man, and God's creatures restored. Overwhelmed, they sink to their knees.
Both these understandings can serve to shape our actions and observation of Lent. We can reach out to help those in need. In particular we can support this year's Lent Appeal. One is local. LAMP - Luton Accommodation and Move-on Project - helps local folk seeking to re-build their broken lives. The Children's Trust operates nationally. It works to help severely-handicapped children in the process of rehabilitation. We can also take a fresh look at our own lives and attitudes by seeking to harmonise them with the values not of the kingdom of this world but of the kingdom of God. This aspect of Lent will be explored in this year's ecumenical Lent Groups run in conjunction with St. John's Methodist; St. Augustine's, Limbury; Limbury Baptist, and St. Joseph's Roman Catholic churches, which will be looking at the Beatitudes.
The kings journeyed from the first world to the third world and from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God. In Lent we are invited in our own way to make the same journeys.
All best wishes,
Roger