Dear Friends,
Occasionally you see things in a new way.
Earlier in the year a couple of our congregation attended a guest speaker event for Café Théologique, the public theology series I have been hosting for over a decade in Reading.
The guest was speaking about the topic of ‘child-centred’ ways of reading the Bible. That is: reading the Bible from a child’s perspective. The speaker highlighted various ways in which children have been accidentally removed from Bible stories by adult readers and their assumptions.
One of these assumptions is that the Shepherds mentioned in the story of the birth of Jesus were old men. (Just think of all the nativity plays in which they are given grey beards.)
But not so: shepherding was a thankless, hard, and relatively unskilled job performed by older children. Does that change our perspective on the Christmas story?
What this realisation might allow us to realise more clearly are God’s priorities. King Herod has to wait to hear the news (and famously responds in entirely the wrong way). But to the poor, overlooked, apparently unimportant young urchin shepherds comes the news first, and off they skip straight away with fresh hope and faith.
However many times you have heard the Christmas story, I hope that it will be able to touch you once again in a fresh way and to rekindle good news in your life.
May the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the obedience of Joseph and Mary and the peace of the Christ-child be with you, and all those you love. Amen.
Wishing you a very happy Christmas!
Mark
Revd Dr Mark Laynesmith
Vicar, Earley St Nicolas