I hope you all had a lovely, peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Year. Hopefully the turkey is finished, the presents given and received, and some form of normality restored. Some of you will have taken your decorations down immediately after Christmas day but others will have kept them up until January 6th as traditionally suggested. January 6th is Epiphany which is the day the Magi (the wise men) were said to have visited the stable. The Orthodox churches using the Julian Calendar celebrate Christmas on either January 6th or 7th. I think because the shops and television start the Christmas advertising so early that we get a bit over Christmassed if there is such a word. I do enjoy the bon-homie that is more around at this time of year. I like the way people you don’t know stop and speak and open doors for you and all sorts of things. With all that in mind I am all for celebrating Christmas at least until Epiphany and in fact as long afterwards as we can. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all love each other all year long. It would be even better if countries and their leaders could do the same. It seems much easier to talk about peace than to work towards it. It is easy to blame the other person or country for things not being peaceful but often it is a bit on both sides. I know when I was a child and fell out with my sister it was always her fault. At least that is what I told my mum. My sister said the same! I am not sure whether we came to some agreement as to how we were both to blame or whether we just forgot and carried on playing. Perhaps that would work for us as adults. Not the running to our mums with complaints, but the forgetting and getting back to doing what we were doing without focusing on the difference of opinions. It is what Jesus advocates and each week in the church services we pass God’s peace on to those around us.
This month’s book is “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom. This is the story of an ex-pupil and his professor meeting up each week and bringing each other peace.
God Bless
Maureen Kendall