Twelfth Night, the twelfth day of Christmas, whatever you choose to call it... is today.

Last night I packed away all my decorations and took down the cards.  I have to confess that much as I enjoy having them up, I enjoy even more the 'quieter' feel that emerges once I take then down again!

So, today we mark the moment when, according to Matthew, gentiles of a totally 'other' worldview encountered the Christ-child, paradigm-shiftingly significant for the readers of this gospel, even if essentially the fulfillment of ancient expectations.

I'm not about to waste any energy on historicity debates, they are adventures in missing the point whichever side of the argument people take.  Myth, mystery, marvel - all of these and more in a tale so ridiculous it makes Eastenders look plausible.  A tale richly embroidered through time, with, each addition reflecting some insight into the complex hermeneutic that is midrash (or at least that's how it seems to me today!)

Whatever you may be doing today, have a good day.  A Happy Christmas to any readers who follow the Orthodox calendar (and to any on other calendars, it's not long now!)

Whilst looking for images online I found this one, among many, I hope you enjoy it and find something to ponder in it:

... do not return home on Thursday evening and think you will have time to create a decent service between Friday and Sunday!  I have just wrestled into submission a sermon of sorts after several attempts... annoying I had some good ideas but they wouldn't flow when I tried to express them.

A way back when, I would have prepared this sermon before I went away, so that all I had to do was read it over, tweak and deliver.  Experience told me that didn't work very well, so I usually try not to preach the Sunday at the end of a week off... Christmas landing as it did, and wanting to see lots of family and friends, I forgot my own wisdom and came back to a blank 'sheet' of computer 'paper'.

Daftly I thought Epiphany would be one where I could get away with it... nope.  I then discovered that I seem not to have my best ever Epiphany service (title: To Epiphany and Beyond' preached 2003 (I know this cos I know where I preached it)) so I couldn't even pinch the prayers!

Thankfully I do trust that God's Sophia is active even in my very flawed endeavours, so we'll get there!

I had lovely week (or thereabouts) visiting family and friends, although to be honest the amount of driving was more than I feel up for these days... never less than fifty a day and typically a couple of hundred.  Now I am back home, have thrown on my old jeans and a tee-shirt, eaten porridge and am back to work - albeit working from home today as I have a gazillion emails on my laptop to work through.

Lots of good things to enjoy whilst I was away.  Highlights inlcuded one last birthday party organised by my Mum for close family, complete with a lovely cake decorated by my sister, and then a visit to Dibley which had echoes of Geraldine Granger as I tottered from coffee at house A to lunch at house B to tea at house C.

Really lovely to see so many friends and relations, really good to eat lovely food, fun to play games such as Hummbug and Scrabble at various homes... and lovely at the end of it to sleep in my own bed and be woken by my gorgeous pussy cat!  As the song says, it is so nice to go travelling, but it's so much nicer to come home!

Just the small matter of creating an Epiphany service ex nihilo now!!

Seen in a motorway service station (I've seen it umpteen times before, as it's been a favourite stopping place for over twenty years (eek!) but I decided to copy it down this time)

"The landscape we see is not a picture frozen in time only to be cherished and protected.

"Rather it is the continuing story of the earth itself when man, in concert with the hills and other living things, shapes and reshapes the changing picture we now see.

"And in it we may read the hopes and priorities, the ambitions and errors, the craft and creatviity of those who went before us.

"We must never forget that tomorrow it will reflect with brutal honesty the vision, values and endeavours of our own lives, to those who will follow us."

Do you recognise it?  Have you seen it as you supped your beverage or munched a meal?  Does it resonate at all?

Wishing all my readers a very Happy New Year, and praying that 2013 will be peaceful, enjoyable, healthy and hope-filled.

Normal posting will be resumed shortly!!