29 December 2025

Although we call the foreign visitors from the East ‘wise men’, they are called magoi in Greek. We translate it sometimes as magi. It’s not difficult to see that this gives us the English word magic and magician. These wise men were also considered to be magicians. They journey from the East. They appear and they disappear. They are nameless and leave no trace.

They offer the Christchild their worship and give him exotic gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were gifts offered to kings but what was Mary going to do with them? What did she do with them? They have woven a magical tale which enthrals us every Christmas in the assorted productions of Nativity Plays which often feature the lines, ‘Gold for a kIng. Frankincense for a priest and myrrh for one who is going to die.’

Here  the Easter Gospel is revealed in the celebration of Christmas. The baby laid in the manger grows up to become the Suffering Servant, despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The magi magic is the stimulation of our imagination not only to plot their scientific enquiry, their long journey and the presentation of exotic gifts but to reimagine our own journey to the Christchild laid in a manger.

At the Christmas Eve service in Crail, everyone had a candle and we lit them  during the service. The lights were put out and the darkness dis-spelled. Having been charged in the Benediction to ‘Take the candle-light from the kirk to dispel the darkness of our divided world’, most people literally did this.

At the kirk door, I saw them carry their lit tapers out into the darkness of the night. It was so moving. Some crossed the threshold further than others but the flames were too fragile to withstand the chill air. The light went out but not the faith which carried the fragile flame into the darkness of an unknown future. It was magical!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  17 October 2025 I was making a purchase on the internet. The item was no longer in the shop. The shop-keeper had failed to remove it from the   internet but was able to source   another. I discovered it was coming by ship from New Zealand. I wondered whether to continue with the purchase? It turned out that the shop was in   Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Somehow that made a difference. It had become part of our corporate history. I confirmed my willingness to   wait and said how we remembered the courage of the people at Enniskillen. She thanked   me for my encouraging words. I remember the town well. The bombing immediately came to mind. It was at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 1987. An IRA bomb exploded killing 11 civilians and a policeman. 68 were injured. The IRA made a mistake. Their target was a parade of   soldiers marching to the war memorial. Among the dead was a young nurse Marie Wilson. She and her dad, Gordon, a local dra...
Read more
  23 October 2025 Sunday is going to be a day of reckoning. There are   seven crucial votes taking place in two corners of the Presbytery. The first   two are in the North Fife Cluster where I have been working as Facilitator. Balmerino and Wormit and Creich, Flisk and Kilmany are voting to unite. Balmerino and Wormit have already united. Once this union takes place, there is a third to negotiate with Newport.   Newport has a minister in post and so any union will be dependent on more than the agreement of the two Kirk Sessions. The second five votes are taking place in three congregations – Crail, Pittenweem and St. Ayle (Cellardyke and Anstruther). St. Ayle is already a union and it is voting to unite with neighbouring Pittenweem where I am Interim-moderator . If the union goes ahead, they will each be voting to link with Crail. The linked charge will be an appealing   prospect for a minister. It is a hugely attractive parish – four villages   se...
Read more
  4 November 2025 Two months before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero   wrote in a Mexican newspaper, ‘ As a shepherd I am obliged by Divine Law to give my life for those I love, for the entire Salvadoran people, including those who threaten to assassinate me. If they should go as far as to carry out their threats, I want you to know that I now offer my blood to God for justice and the resurrection of El Salvador.’   A   death squad was ready. On 24 March 1980, the Archbishop was celebrating mass in a hospital chapel. He had just finished preaching his sermon.   He had come to the Liturgy of   the Sacrament. He picked up the bread, ‘ This is the body of Christ which is broken for you!’ he said. Suddenly, a   man with a pistol aimed his gun at Romero. A shot rang out.   The Archbishop fell down at the altar with the broken bread in his hands. The gunman ran off to a waiting car. People rushed to the Archbishop’s assistance but he was dead!...
Read more