I’m indebted to Paul for allocating Sunday 31st to me for a reflection. It allows me to indulge in two of my great loves. My faith and history. At my time of life, it seems that those two are not very far apart!

A few verses from Ecclesiastes: Ch 3. v1. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. v3b. A time to tear down and a time to build. V5b. A time to embrace and a time to refrain (That is bang up to date!) Thanks to Simon who brought this scripture to mind during the morning devotion he led on Tues 12th!

Sunday 31st January is the nearest Sunday to Feb 2nd. ‘So, what’ I hear some say! Well, Feb 2nd actually heralds the close of Christmas 2020! Nothing to do with 12th night, which celebrates the ‘Feast of Epiphany’ which is celebrating the wise men arriving at where Jesus was. Latest thinking is that the wise men were indeed learned scholars. Possibly Jews, after the end of the Jewish exile in Babylon, about 538 BC they remained in Babylon and maintained their business interests. Their descendants being well versed in scripture would have kept a watch in the night sky and saw the Bethlehem star! By this time they were wealthy and could afford the gifts they brought to the Christ Child.

I think Christmas Carols have actually supplanted scripture as factual detail! For example, there is no donkey in the gospel accounts of the nativity. In one carol we have Silent night, in another ‘the cattle are lowing’, doesn’t sound too quiet to me! Modern scholars conclude that Jesus was probably born in early September and between 6.15 and 7.45pm (in that part of the world it would probably have been dark at that time of evening!) Nobody really knows. My submission is, if our queen can have two birthdays, then the King of Kings can have as many as He likes. It’s just great that He allows us to celebrate His birthday at all!

I never actually received an advent calendar as a child. During a TV quiz recently, I realized why. They were not introduced into the UK until 1956. By the time they were accepted, and realizing that confectionery was rationed until 1953, I had probably started work by the time they became popular, but then money was too short for such frippery! In this I was not alone!

To get back to Feb 2nd, In Luke Ch 2 vv25-28 we read:
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord as you have promised you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people”.
(The consolation here means ‘the comfort the Messiah would bring to his people at His coming’,)

Simeon recognized Jesus as the Christ! (the anointed or chosen one.) This was a divine revelation. Jesus was not introduced nor announced!

I consider these to be very powerful few verses. Our Anglican friends celebrate Feb 2nd with a service called Candlemas. This is when Jesus was taken to the temple by Mary and Joseph. Mary would have completed 40 days purification. Having given birth Mary was ritually unclean for 40 days. This would have been when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Lord! December 25 + 40 days = Feb 2nd. This was separate from Joseph taking the child to be circumcised after eight days and named!

Getting back to carols, I was struck by one verse of ‘In the bleak mid-winter’. A poem written by the English poet Christina Rossetti, set to music by a couple of composers. In the last verse it asks:
What can I give Him poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man I would do my part, Yet what can I bring Him? Give my heart.
That last line had a resounding affect on me. I’ve heard it sung it for many years yet, it was as if for the first time it came to me. Bear Grills, the Chief Scout once said, “There are two things that are important in life, your faith and your family, the rest is fluff! Having come through Christmas, is he wrong?

If we could ask Jesus to write a Christmas List, another thing that never existed when I was a lad, what would you expect to be on it? I think I can say with some certainly the list would have just one person’s name on it. YOURS!!
The Hymn I have chosen below is a favourite of mine, but I find it difficult to fit into a particular sermon. However, this is where it fits, hand-in-glove! Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem moves on to fulfil His mission. Praise God, Hallelujah!!