Wise men2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:1-3)Once we start our new year, in Church, we remember the coming of the wise men, the Magi, or star gazers who saw a change in the heavens and understood it to have spiritual meaning. They set off on a long journey to discover what it meant. It is the first time non-Jewish people come into the Christian story. I like seeing the bumper sticker in cars “Wise men still seek Jesus”However the story of the wise men has a villain – King Herod the Great. Whose character is shaped by stronger forces around him. Emperor Augustus ruled the Roman Empire and God caused him to want to tax everyone in order to move the insignificant Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to the prophesied town of Bethlehem, Herod was merely one of Augustus’ “puppet” rulers who was useful in the Empire as a buffer for the Emperor dealing with the detail of ruling his smaller part, but totally dependent on Augustus for his power. Herod was half Jewish and half Arabian, being made governor of Galilee aged 16, and Mark Anthony made Herod “Tetrarch of Galilee” after he proved able to pick his way through the minefield of imperial politics after the assassination of Julius Ceasar. So Herod ruled because the Roman Army backed him, and Herod tried to prove himself to the Jewish people by grandiose building projects. His ten marriages didn’t help with how the Jews saw him (interestingly his first wife was named “Doris”. Make a note for next year’s nativity play!)Towards the end of his life, he had an extremely unpleasant gangrenous disease and became paranoid – trying to influence the future succession he had two of his sons executed. It was into this unstable situation that the wise men blundered with their request to find the “King of the Jews”. We know the story – how the wise men found Jesus, and how Herod had all the little boys of Bethlehem murdered in his attempt to stop the future King from coming to the throne. There is a dangerous side to the Christmas story. Not the expected nativity scene, but a violent destruction as the world fights against the arrival of the Saviour. Perhaps a healthy reality check as we realise our Saviour was born into the real world of politics and violence, as well as children suffering from poverty and abuse. Jesus came to save the world from all the ills we see in the news each day. God is deeply affected by human pain and inhumanity; He feels injustice much more than we do. And He did something, He came to earth to bear our suffering, to win a way through. In sharing our suffering, and dying for us, He began an intervention that leads, slowly and inexorably to the promised time where there will be no more tears or death. There were tears because of that first Christmas, all those babies murdered by Herod, as some kind of evil response to God’s act of love. It should reinforce in us all our efforts to safeguard the vulnerable of our society. Christmas is not supposed to be a time when we pretend that all is well with the world for a few days. We should never let the celebration drown the sound of the mothers crying for their children. Christmas has a purpose – the arrival of a much-needed Saviour of the world.21 Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (Revelation 21:1-4) Brian Leathers December 2025
Give us today our daily bread9 ‘This, then, is how you should pray: ‘“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. (Matthew 6:9-11)As we approach the season of Christmas our stores of food seem to expand with more and more lovely things to eat, so that we might celebrate. The celebration is that the Saviour has been given to the world and that we can come into the presence of Almighty God. In the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray – we are trained to ask for our daily bread. Let’s think what that means. Bread is not Bread Sauce for your turkey. It is just the bread. Jesus tells us to ask God for our necessities. But in England of 2025 why do we need to do this? We have local shops, and money, do we need to ask the Almighty for this tiny thing?Look at the Lord’s prayer “Our Father” tells us He is in a relationship with us. Asking for his name to be hallowed is telling our own soul that we want to respect and treat Him as holy – reminding ourselves of his holiness and therefore to honour Him throughout our lives. Asking for his kingdom to come tells us that regardless of our preferences and upbringing, we look to the Bible to see how God looks at the world, and we seek to bring about this kingdom. Asking for his will to be done tells our souls that what He wants comes first in our priorities – think of the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ (Matthew 26:39). Now we have put our mind in order – God provides for us, we agree that He is the source of all we need. True food, wealth and happiness come from Him. In the book of Proverbs, we are taught “give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” (Proverbs 30:8) Note that poverty might make us resent God, and that riches might mean we could forget God.So, Jesus in the prayer is teaching us how to get our mind properly arranged instead of flatly presenting God with a shopping list of requests that we seek. We can now ask for things without being anxious as we are confident that God wants our best – He will not give us things that are not good for us. There is a social element to the prayer too – for all to have daily bread we need a thriving economy, good employment and a just society. “Give us…” is not just me – it is for all of us. This is a prayer against wanton exploitation in business.Those who would crush the poor for their own gain are effectively being warned to beware the intercession of the Church, because in answering us, God brings down condemnation on those who exploit others. So, as you prepare for your celebration, remember you depend on God for all things, and that you are part of the wider movement for Global change which is the Church of God. For completeness I include the last part of the Lord’s prayer12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:12-13) Brian Leathers November 2025
Meeting held 4pm on 18th Nov 2025Churchyard: A party of local people have made a wonderful difference by strimming the Churchyard extension on Sat 8th Nov. Thank you if you were involved.Alton Advent Calendar is out – do get a copy and support many of the eventsBoiler Saga is ongoing. There are no spare parts for the old boiler that has worked well for years and new government rules mean the ventilation is not considered adequate. We will need to make a hole in the Church wall once a replacement is obtained. We have a temporary grill in the West door as we cope with the changes – this will be reinstated as it was as soon as we can. We had to consider electric heating for the Church but have decided to stay with Gas, but now are finding quotes for the work hard to source. Please be patient with us. There has been minor progress as we have been advised to get one industrial boiler instead of two domestic boilers. But we are still waiting for quote for the work. They look like being in the region of £22,000 which would wipe out our savings so we might not be able to pay the Common Fund to the Diocese in full.Fundraising: - Bingo went well – Lent Lunches are planned for next year – and there will be an organ concert on 25th April at 6pm in the Church – donations in aid of Church funds.Eco-Church: We are making progress. New LED lights in Church – change to Octopus energy which is 100% renewable energy. We were reminded that we have the silver award and we will look at how we stand with applying for a gold award. Quinquennial report: (This is the architect’s 5 year maintenance schedule) We have achieved some of the work (the boiler is the big part of this) and the list of other jobs will be on the PCC agenda until they are done.
https://www.youneedtotalkaboutgod.com/filmsFollow the link to five short films
