Thinking About Easter Already?

I've just popped to Sainsbury's and spotted that they already have hot cross buns in the bakery.  It seems that the moment Christmas ends, Easter - at least in the retail world - begins.  I even remember my brother buying a Creme Egg one year on Boxing Day.

 

This rushing to the next big event usually bothers me: why can't we just enjoy the moment?

 

But this evening, it got me thinking.

 

This weekend, we have celebrated Epiphany and have remembered the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus. 

 

They brought gifts for Jesus which were symbols of great importance: gold, to reflect and acknowledge His Kingship; frankincense to show His purity and holiness and to reflect His role as a Priest, interceding on our behalf; and myrrh, an oil used to anoint dead bodies and a sign of what would happen to Jesus.

 

I always wonder how Mary and Joseph reacted to these gifts, especially to the myrrh.  They must have known what it was usually used for.

 

They knew that their Son was the Son of God and that He had come to fulfil what had been foretold about bringing peace and restoration to mankind.  But did they know that the way that this peace and restoration would be achieved was through the death of their child?

 

And if they did, would they really want to think of it, so soon after His birth?

 

Whether or not they thought about it, it is the reason that Jesus was born: to reconcile man to God, through His own death on the cross. 

 

 

        "Surely he took up our pain

        and bore our suffering,

        [...] he was pierced for our transgressions,

        he was crushed for our iniquities;

        the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

        and by his wounds we are healed."

 

        [Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV]

 

I am fully aware that Easter eggs and hot cross buns are appearing in supermarkets for financial reasons.  But perhaps, rather than complaining about them, we should use them to remind us what Christmas was all about.

 

Perhaps it's not wrong to turn our attention to Easter so soon after Christmas.  After all, there is no Easter without Christmas.

 

 

 

Mulled Wine

Ah, 'tis the season for mulling things.  Mulled wine - both red and white* - mulled cider, mulled juices ...

 

I love mulled wine.  I love the beautiful, rich smell as all of the spices and flavours mingle and merge together.  And, of course, I love drinking it and feeling the warmth spread through me.

 

I like that it's a drink for sipping slowly and enjoying all of the different flavours.

 

I think that the Christmas story is a bit like mulled wine.  We so often gulp it down in one or two big mouthfuls: Mary and Joseph.  Engaged.  Pregnant by the power of God's Spirit.  No room at the inn.  Stable.  Baby born.  Shepherds.  Wise men.  Gifts.  Throw in a few classic farmyard animals and a few angels and you have got yourself a nativity play.

 

It's a story which we have all heard hundreds of times before.  It's a story which is woven into the fabric of our culture.  But it's also a story which we often don't pay much attention to, because we think we know it already .  And we think that we know all of the details already too.

 

But, like mulled wine, there are subtle flavours to be discovered, if we sip the story slowly and spend time mulling it over.

 

Even before Jesus' birth, God was at work in the Christmas story.  Rereading the book of Luke the other day, I came across this passage where Zachariah (Mary's cousin's husband and the father of John the Baptist), praises God:

 

      "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
      he came and set his people free.
      He set the power of salvation in the centre of our lives [...]

      a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
      So we can worship him without a care in the world,
      made holy before him as long as we live."

 

       [Luke 1:67, 70 MSG]

 

We are set free and rescued, through Jesus.  We need not have a care in the world, if we put our trust in Him.  We are holy and pure and beautiful in His eyes the moment we turn to Him and start to trust Him. 

 

This is just a tiny part of what Zachariah says, but there is so much to take in.  So much to sip and savour. 

 

Rather than 'downing' the Christmas story in one big gulp this year, let's take the time to sip it slowly and savour every flavour.

 

 

  

 

* I thoroughly enjoyed some mulled white wine last year as a seasonal twist on a classic and would highly recommend it.

 

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin ...

 

And so begins any good story.

 

I have been sitting very uncomfortably in a remarkably uncomfortable chair for the last four hours and am now enjoying the luxury of a soft, cushioned, squidgy sofa.

 

When we're listening to, or reading stories, we want to be comfortable.  We want to snuggle down and lose ourselves in the stories.

 

I love stories.  I love hearing them, I love reading them, I love re-telling them, I love writing them.

 

I love (almost) nothing more than completely losing myself for a few hours in a good book.

 

I recently heard someone say,

 

Story is the essential human language and the earliest art form.

 

There is something about stories which draws us in and invites us into the tale.  A good story will stay with us long after the happily ever after.  Good stories get beneath the skin.  They sink into our hearts and become a part of us.  Stories resonate within us and connect us with others.  They draw us into a grand narrative.

 

Jesus was forever telling stories.  He told stories which drew people in and which stayed in their minds, long after the stories ended.

 

But we don't always listen to His stories.  In the Bible, Luke recalls how two sisters reacted differently to his stories:

"Mary [...] sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said.  But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do."

 

[Luke 10:39 MSG]

 

We have the same choice when it comes to Jesus' words and stories.  We can sit down and make ourselves comfortable and hang on every word He says, or we can get pulled away by all we have to do.  Too often I know that I am pulled away by my never-ending to-do list.  But how refreshing and relaxing it is to sink down into His words and make myself comfortable in His stories.

 

His story invites me and draws me in.  For He has the words of life.