Brightest and Best
15 Dec 2018 • Articles
A favourite Christmas carol, which is also a New Year song and an Epiphany hymn, is 'Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid.'
No one knows the exact date of the birth of Jesus, but Christians naturally want to celebrate the day that God came into our world as a human being. Early on, the Church chose to remember the birth of God's Son on 25th December because this date was just long enough after the winter solstice for the longed-for lengthening of the daylight hours to be seen. The winter weather may still be cold, but thinking of our Saviour, born in a stable, escaping from Herod's jealous rage, then spending his early years as a refugee, we can be glad of our comfortable homes and our opportunities to help other people.
The Collect for Morning Prayer is often adapted for the New Year. 'Eternal Father, we thank you for bringing us safely to the beginning of this new year; defend us by your power; keep us from falling into sin or running into danger, govern our actions and guide us to do what is right, for Jesus Christ's sake.'
During the coming year there will be many questions for each one of us to consider. Personal decisions about our lives and livelihoods or families and friends may need our prayers and patience to work out God's will. Community choices need our prayers, too; how do we find the best way of sharing with others and showing them God's love? When we know that many children are being orphaned by war, famine or disease, how can we prove that we value all people as children of God?
May God fill your Christmas with the brightness of Christ's light, and fill your New Year with the blessings of his bounty,
Ann Tarper