February begins with Candlemas, remembering the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Traditionally, church candles for the coming year are blessed, Christmas decorations left up after twelfth night taken down and candles lit in the windows of people’s homes. Midway between the winter and spring solstice, we long for the coming of the light, looking for signs of new life. Green shoots begin to emerge from the barren earth. Buds sprout on bare tree branches. Gradually beautiful landscapes of snow drops, crocuses and blossom form once more.And just when we think Spring is finally coming, our Bible readings take us into the wilderness remembering Jesus’s temptation in the desert. We will eat Shrove Tuesday pancakes before embarking on a Lenten season of self-discipline, denial, prayer and study aiming to deepen our relationship with God.This year Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine’s Day when people across our diocese will think about love in all its different shapes and forms. Cards will be written, gifts exchanged, chocolates eaten, flowers bought, romantic surprises planned, commitments remembered, renewed and begun as people hope and dream and long for a fairy tale happy ever after.And what can we as Christians offer to those we accompany on their journey through this spiritually significant month?We have the light of Christ shining in the darkness and the promise that the darkness will never overcome it. We have the gift of hope and new possibilities - life in all its fullness freely available to all who will receive it.We have opportunities to wipe the slate clean, start afresh and know in the depths of our being what it is to be forgiven, accepted and loved by God.We have communities of believers across the whole of the diocese. Fellow travellers who can strengthen our resolve to grow in discipline and self-denial and help us draw closer to God.We have the best news and greatest gift to share with all who will receive it. The gift of God’s friendship and covenantal love revealed in Jesus.So, as we move through these Christian and secular celebrations, may we make the most of the opportunities they bring to deepen our relationship with God and make new Christians as we serve our local communities and journey together through winter into the newness of Spring. The Ven. Nicky FentonArchdeacon of Derbyshire Peak and Dales
Epiphany is my favourite season of the Christian year. There is a richness to the season and some powerful themes emerging from the incarnation of the Word of God that the church is able to proclaim effectively in the public square. The word ‘epiphany’, which we have adopted from the Greek language, means ‘revealing’ and ‘unveiling’. When we have an encounter with someone or something we call it a ‘manifestation’. In the Western Church we most often associate the Epiphany with the story of the wise men, the Magi, arriving in Jerusalem to greet the young Christ-king. God is being ‘unveiled’, ‘made manifest’, to Gentiles from a land far away from Judea.In the Eastern Church the Epiphany has a much wider story base. It’s as much about the revealing of the Son of God at his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, and also the wedding at Cana in Galilee where Jesus is declared as having ‘first manifested his glory’.In Epiphany we relate the evident unity of the whole of humanity through our shared experience across the globe to the call for peace and justice and the equity of all nations. This is why the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is in the season of Epiphany. This is why we preach about and pray for the missionary task of the church which ultimately is about bring humanity together as one in all its diversity. This is why it’s a good opportunity in Epiphany to pray regularly for the church’s interfaith work and also for our local colleagues who lead the other faiths in their many responsibilities.There are some lovely Epiphany hymns that we can recall. One is by Christopher Wordsworth who draws the baptism and the wedding at Cana into our Epiphany orbit:Manifest at Jordan’s stream,Prophet, Priest, and king supreme;And at Cana wedding-guestIn thy Godhead manifest. The early Victorian hymn writer James Montgomery captured the universal dimension of Epiphany in some of the word from his carol, Angels from the Realms of Glory:Though an infant now we view him,He shall fill his Father's throne,Gather all the nations to him,Every knee shall then bow down:This sums up the Epiphany vision that we will enter into on the twelfth day after Christmas and which will continue to root our worship right up until the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple on 2nd February. We have an opportunity with all the troubles the world faces at this time to make the universal vision of Epiphany meaningful for ourselves and our communities.The Very Revd Peter RobinsonThe Dean of Derby
During Advent, in the run up to Christmas, we pray: ‘even so, come Lord Jesus’.Our prayer longs for the fulfilment of God’s promise that the risen Jesus will come again in glory and, at last, death shall have no more dominion, every tear shall be wiped away, sword will be turned into ploughshare, and, by God’s merciful judgement, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.Our prayer also hopes, in the meantime, for the fulfilment of God’s promise that the risen Jesus will be with us always to the end of time. ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ is a prayer not just for the end of all things but for today. It is a prayer that remembers that Jesus first came to ordinary people in the midst of their everyday life.I’ve been having conversation, in the run up to Christmas, with people in Derby and Derbyshire whose everyday today echoes the ordinary lives of those in the first Christmas story. I’ve heard stories of sheep farming, chatted with a hotel owner, learnt about midwifery, talked to a broadcaster, met with an educator and listened to a child. (You can hear these Christmas Conversations through Advent via the diocesan website www.derby.anglican.org or my Bishop Libby Lane Facebook page).God chose to become part of everyday people’s ordinary lives when Jesus was born. Those we read about in the gospels weren’t particularly special people, weren’t especially good or religious, wouldn’t have made history except that God chose to share their lives. God chooses that still. And so, we glimpse heaven in the ordinary, as I did through my conversations.As I pray this Advent, in the run up to Christmas, ‘even so, come Lord Jesus’, I’m hoping to catch sight of God in the everyday lives of people around me, people like you – the ordinary people of Derby and Derbyshire. Not because we’re particularly special or especially good but because this is how God chooses to be known. And until the end, when Jesus comes in glory, we find the Kingdom of God among us.The Rt Revd Libby LaneBishop of Derby
