Welcome to St Mary's the Virgin
We are halfway through the Epiphany season as I write this. It is a curious season I think; we tend to forget it is happening after the initial festive day – the wise men arrive, Herod is troubled, the star shines on Bethlehem, the gifts are given and having found the Messiah, the Magi return in a different way. All this is celebrated in a single day, yet the season is three weeks long – sometimes four.
Domestically meanwhile, the weeks after Christmas’s twelve days are the great down time. Cards come down from shelves, after their decorations come down, trees come down (I realise some trees go up, back into the loft, but you get what I mean, I’m sure). After all the parties and celebrations, often people’s moods come down too.
Which is a shame. How long the Magi searched for Jesus is not clear, but the Gospel text implies they journeyed (traversed afar as we sing it) for around two years – a substantially long trek. Ponder this though: what we do know is that they were following a star – therefore, given we all know where stars appear, they spent a significant proportion of that time looking not down, but up.
“Lift up your eyes” is a peculiarly Scriptural phrase – I have never heard it uttered on the 89 bus – and it is one that is very much worth cultivating in ourselves. It speaks of looking outwards from ourselves and considering the world around us. When we lift our eyes to look at the stars or our next door neighbour, we are confronted with mysteries which are beyond us, yet our faith calls us to engage with them both. More prosaically, lifting our eyes will always mean looking up from the phone screen.
By the time you read this, Epiphany will be finished, but do keep hold of its message and lift up your eyes – seek those things which point you towards Jesus; the different way he would direct us into is always one towards the love of God.
Fr Neil.
