Chilwell Road Methodist Church

Today is one of the few Special Sundays in our church calendar when a particular concern takes precedence over the common lectionary in determining the theme of our main worship service. This is the Sunday that falls within the octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionally observed in mid-January between the Feasts of the Confession of St Peter and the Conversion of St Paul. So we have a visiting preacher from one of the local Anglican churches and our own minister is reciprocating elsewhere.

The particular flavour of the international celebration this year is the hope of transforming unity. “Change is at the heart of the ecumenical movement. When we pray for the unity of the church we are praying that the churches that we know and which are so familiar to us will change as they conform more closely to Christ. This is an exciting vision, but also a challenging one. Furthermore, when we pray for this transforming unity we are also praying for change in the world.”

You can read a summary of our Ecumenical activities here, but I don’t believe that we can take particular pride in our efforts in this sphere. We are struggling rather to put flesh on last year’s Church Council resolution to work towards closer ties with neighbouring Methodist churches. How much harder will it be to work effectively with clergy and congregations of other denominations, especially when there appears to be little more enthusiasm there than we ourselves show?

One ray of hope is the grass-roots level work with the Hope Café in Beeston, a joint enterprise between the churches, which is providing care for homeless and hungry people in the town. Another example of actions speaking louder than words?

 I was somewhat surprised to receive, on January 6, a “gift from the Three Kings.” In our household we normally mark the twelfth day of Christmas only by packing away the decorations and sweeping up the needles from the drooping tree. No reading of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, no touring Sternsinger or other mumming and wassailing.

Methodists should not, however, neglect the insights written into Matthew’s nativity narrative [ch. 2] of the visit of the magi to the infant Christ in Bethlehem. Making a long journey from the east following some celestial sign, they brought treasured gifts and offered homage fit for a king. These eastern Gentiles, like Luke’s Jewish shepherds, had somehow divined the special character of Jesus. Christ’s incarnation was not just for the Jews, but for the world: for us all.

In continental Europe, January 6 is celebrated nationally and even politically. After David Cameron’s recent defence of Britain as a Christian country, we might hear even more about Epiphany in future years. The card manufacturers might catch on to it too!