A few days into January - Keep buggering on!

A few days into January and we are dominated by snow and now ice and Elon Musk. We aren’t even into a Trump presidency yet. How do we change the narrative that can easily make us fall? 

Lord Vishnu sat on Mount Chomolungma and wept. Along came Hanuman, the monkey god, and he said, 'What are you crying at? And what are all those ants down there shouting for?'

'They're not ants,' said Vishnu. 'They're people. I was holding the Jewel of Absolute Wisdom; and I dropped it; and it fell into the World and broke. Everybody has a splinter; but they each think they've got the whole thing, and they run around, screaming at each other; and no one listens.'

We need a different narrative seven days into 2025!

“A cold coming we had of it,
just the worst time of year
for a journey and such a journey.
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
the very dead of Winter”

“They came a long journey, and they came an uneasy journey. They came now, at the worst season of the year. And all but to do worship at Christ’s birth. They stayed not their coming till the opening of the year*, till they might have better weather and way, and have longer days, and so more seasonable and fit to travel in. So desirous were they to come with the first, and to be there as soon as possibly they might; broke through all these difficulties, and behold they did come.”

Lancelot Andrewes and T S Eliot communicate the urgency and immediacy of responding to the birth of Jesus for the Magi, despite all the difficulties. With snow and war and threats and worries 2025 hasn’t started well for some people. We need a story that will break in to people’s madness. It’s dangerous out there, not just with ice underfoot and temperatures tomorrow night of minus seven degrees, but there is a narrative that is threatening. 

In the week of Epiphany, let’s remember the magi were brave enough to follow a star and ignore the power mad Herod. They returned home by another road. In a world where people are screaming at each other to be top dog (or top ant as in the story) we need, like them to keep focussed on where God is calling us to journey. I have developed a pain in my right foot. The doctor calls it plantar fasciitis. Apparently rolling a tin of beans under my foot might alleviate the pain! I am struggling to walk long distances. It’s hard to keep going. But despite the discomfort of my foot and the ice under it I do keep going. Even though it’s hard. 

We are called to be faithful and to keep going and to seek help when it’s painful or we don’t know which way to go. I was very moved last night catching up with i player television watching John Betjeman’s 1974 programme A Passion for Churches, exploring the Diocese of Norwich. There was one bit showing a priest saying morning prayer and there was no one but him in the church. But, said Betjeman, the village knew the parson was interceding for them. 

My Superintendent, Gareth, in staff meeting devotions this morning asked us what biblical character we identify with at the beginning of a new year. I said Moses. There are ups and downs. There are times of wilderness wandering, exasperation and upset but a vision to journey on. We may not see the destination but we are called to follow. My prayer with so much uncertainty as 2025 is in its infancy is that we simply have enough in us to cope and keep on the path safely.

As Churchill famously put it: “Keep buggering on”! I wonder if the Magi were given that advice??!