Letter from our Minister
Dear Friends,
We are now into Advent, and our Christmas preparations will be well underway, both in church and in our homes. Much of what we do and plan will help to make the miracle of the Bethlehem birth and God coming to us more real in our lives and in the lives of our community. However there may a tendency to get so caught up in the activities and occasions that at times we forget what it is we are celebrating and marking, or that the excitement or drama mean we overlook the holy that is present in our lives, perhaps in simple and unexpected ways.
At a recent meeting of church leaders in Sutton, we considered a painting by Pieter Aertsen, entitled 'The Butcher's Stall (with the Flight into Egypt)'. Beyond a marvellous display of the elements for a feast other things are happening in the background, including a glimpse into what appears to be a tavern or inn and a distant view of a church. Through another window, people dressed in contemporary Netherlands attire head towards the church, whilst a woman with a baby riding on a donkey, led by a man, puts something in the bowl or hat of a begging child. It is, of course, Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus fleeing from Herod.
There are many things that could be said about this painting, but a key thing is Aertsen is stressing that God's intervention in our
lives happens whilst 'normal' life carries on around us with the intervention unnoticed by many - or even by the majority. It can be a
reminder that you may have all the ingredients of a most sumptuous feast but if you miss out on the presence of Christ you have missed an invitation to the best banquet of all!
I pray that you may all recognise the presence of Christ this Christmas in the special and in the every-day, in the magnificent and in the humble, in the busyness and in the stillness.
Rev Craig Bowman
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