I so enjoy the Christmas season, when the baking is done, the presents are wrapped and given, the run of church services is over, and we can enjoy time together as a family. As here in the northern hemisphere we’ve passed the shortest day of the year and look forward to the light, more importantly, we celebrate the Light of the world who has come to distill our darkness.
I’m grateful for you all, and appreciate the many of you who get in touch with me. Your encouragement, prayers, and comments so hearten me – thank you.
May you know joy and peace during the Christmas season; may you be renewed in body and spirit as you stop to wonder and marvel at the God who became Man and lived among us.
Thinking of queuing at Wimbledon? Here’s what I learned from our experience last year…
We left the house at 3.45 am to reach Wimbledon by 4.30, traveling through an Uber. What’s your view of Uber? That was only the second time I’ve used it, and our driver was safe and courteous. All very easy.
When we arrived, we were numbers 2073 and 2074, which are too far back for show court tickets (tickets for centre court, court 1 and court 2 go to the first 500 or so). That means we’d be buying grounds passes for £25 each, and court 3, which has mainly unreserved seating, would be our first choice chance for seeing good matches live, especially as an American was playing there third.
When to get to the queue
Do you need to arrive so early as we did? I don’t think so. You can check @ViewfromtheQ and see what sort of numbers people are posting at which time. As we didn’t score show court tickets, and as there were still plenty of seats on court 3 later, we could have arrived at 6am, when someone got number 3263. Of course all of this depends on who is playing and what day it is. We were there for Manic Monday – the magical time when every remaining player plays, so I think traffic was pretty high. But a Saturday would be crazy busy too. Today, when it’s the women’s quarter finals, I see that someone got number 921 at 5.45am! Not as much demand for women’s tennis in this country, I’m afraid.
I talked with some women on the Tube coming home who had
camped. They arrived Sunday morning and were something like 1800 I think. They
did actually get onto court 1. They said ear plugs were a must as the tents are
right next to each other and you can
hear everything, and that sleep is hard to find as the hours of daylight are
many at this time of year, and the queue officials start to wake people up
around 5am to clear the tents away.
What’s the queue like?
It’s a convivial place, with people to chat with either side. We talked a bit with the Aussies in front of us, but mainly talked with two friends who met while doing their physics PhDs in Switzerland, one Swiss and one from Argentina! My son and I had loads of fun in the queue and even sat with the guys behind us for a while.
I don’t know that we’ll be able to queue this year, but next
year when my son has finished his GCSEs, we’ll be there!
One of my all-time favorite paintings by my dad, Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.
Happy Epiphany!
The wise men have made their journey to the toddler Jesus, bringing their gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. I learned a few things today from our youth worker’s sermon – the Western Church believes there were three wise men (because of the three gifts they brought), but the Eastern Church says there were twelve. Our preacher also made the good point that these visitors were the first outsiders to visit Jesus, thus marking the God-Made-Man’s mission to reach everyone in the world with his message of love, grace, and forgiveness.
Thank you for journeying with me through the twelve days of
Christmas! I pray you’ll have a blessed and joyous Ephipanytide.
The last day for Christmas decorations, unless you leave yours up until Candlemas (February 2). Painting by Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.
We’ve reached the end of the Christmas season, the twelfth
day of Christmas! Tomorrow is Epiphany, when we mark the arrival of the wise
men bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn King.
I’ve been reading about the Twelfth Night parties in England
in years past, finding the practices fascinating. Often servants and their
masters would change places for the evening, with the master serving the
servant. A dried bean or pea would be baked into a spice fruitcake, and whoever
found it in their portion would be crowned king or queen of the party. Some of
the revelry would include games with eggs – the egg and spoon race, and one
that I’d like to try, a “toss the egg” game where a raw egg is thrown between
two people at ever increasing lengths between them.
Spiritually, we can consider what gifts we’d like to give to
Jesus this year. Perhaps a new emphasis on hospitality, or intercession, or
keeping our temper, or increasing our tithing.
Will you celebrate Twelfth Night? If yes, how? What about an Epiphany party? And what gifts would you like to seek to give this year?
I wonder what sorts of scenes Simeon saw in the desert. Maybe some moody sunsets, such as this one by my dad, Leo Boucher (used with permission; all rights reserved).
The eleventh day of Christmas coincides with the feast day of Simeon Stylites (c. 390? – 2 September 459). No, I hadn’t heard of him either. He was zealous for Christ, entering a monastery before he 16 years old. So committed was he to acts of extreme austerity that the other monks asked him to leave.
He decided to live in solitude, fasting completely for Lent and somehow surviving. Crowds of pilgrims searched him out, seeking advice and, I guess, wanting to “catch” some of his holiness. As he tried to escape the attention, he moved on top of a pillar. He went from stone to stone over the years, moving higher and higher as he sought solitude for his prayers and practices, living the rest of his years on a cold stone platform. Thirty-seven years all together.
As Edward Gibbon remarked in History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
In this last and lofty station, the Syrian Anachoret resisted the heat of thirty summers, and the cold of as many winters. Habit and exercise instructed him to maintain his dangerous situation without fear or giddiness, and successively to assume the different postures of devotion. He sometimes prayed in an erect attitude, with his outstretched arms in the figure of a cross, but his most familiar practice was that of bending his meagre skeleton from the forehead to the feet…
Before I started my MA in Christian spirituality, I wondered about levels mysticism and these extreme forms of austerity and spiritual practice. Had these anchorites reached the pinnacle of spiritual life? I concluded through my MA readings a strong “no.” Although we can learn from those who withdraw from the world, I don’t believe they have a higher status than those who live in community. Transformation of one’s life – not extreme practices of penance or solitude – is what reveals God at work.
But I don’t want to dismiss Simeon all together. The crowds sought him for his wisdom, meaning that even in the desert he couldn’t escape from engagement with others. And he remained humble and obedient to his fellow monks, for when they wondered if he lived on the pillar out of pride or obedience, they demanded that he come down. He obeyed, and so they decided that he was following God – and they let him stay.
Over to you – what do you think of these extreme practices? Have you ever embraced something like a long fast or a time of solitude? If yes, how did you fare? Did you grow in your faith?
By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.
On the tenth day of Christmas, some Christian traditions celebrate
the naming of Jesus in the temple (other traditions celebrate this on January
1). When the angel appeared to Joseph, he learned what to name the boy, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit:
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21, NIV).
The very name of Jesus shows his calling – to save us from our
sins.
What names come to mind when you think of Jesus? Here are a few you might want to ponder today, as you celebrate during this season of Christmas:
Emmanuel (God with us)
Son of God
Son of man
Son of David
New Adam
The Word
Morning star
Light of the world
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Lamb of God
Teacher
Bread of life
Advocate
Messiah
Redeemer
Risen Lord
Savior
Rock
True Vine
Lord
Which names of Jesus speak to you most powerfully?
By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.
Today, on the ninth day of Christmas, it feels countercultural to celebrate the season. Part of me would like to take down the Christmas decorations while cleaning and doing some decluttering. The newness of the year feels like a push toward embracing all things clean and fresh.
So sometimes it feels like a discipline to celebrate and feast. I’m keenly aware of those who are grieving or going through other difficulties, who need God’s grace to get through this season, and are probably finding it hard to celebrate. They may be echoing Psalm 137:4: “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” If that’s you, I pray you’ll find a hint of celebration through rest and recovery.
For me, as we only have twelve days of Christmas, I’m going to seek to embrace the gift that they are – while doing a bit of decluttering and vacuuming by the Christmas tree.
How are you approaching celebrating on this ninth day?
May you find unexpected beauty if your landscape is stark. Painting by Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We enter 2019 with hopes and dreams, and perhaps some fears.
May we know God’s loving presence as we journey through the seasons, that he might
strengthen our faith and dispel the fears.
Here’s a prayer inspired by George Dawson, the English nonconformist (1821–1876), that you might want to join me in praying:
Almighty God, have mercy on us, who, when troubled with the things that are past, lose faith, life, courage, and hope.
So have mercy on us, and uphold us.
Sustain us with a true faith, knowing that you are merciful and forgiving.
Help us to live according to your word, to rejoice in your goodness, to trust in your mercy, and to hope in life with you that never ends.
Help us, whatever we’re going through, to remember that you guide us and lead us.
And in the darkest days, may we know your presence so that we will have courage to go on, faith to endure, patience to bear, and hopefulness to hold out, even unto the end.
Amen.
(Original found in Great
Souls at Prayer, compiled by Mary W. Tileston, [Cambridge: James Clark &
Co., 1898]).
