Bishop Peter Maurice, Bishop of Taunton, guides us into the New Year

“Christmas is being put away

The Kings in a cardboard box

Mary stashed in tissue paper

Joseph wrapped in a silly hat

And the infant Christ in a nylon sock

All tucked away under the stairs

We'll climb another year

Up to bed and down to breakfast

And somewhere in the pantry of my thoughts

A wistful coil of questions

Goes unanswered.”

James Purnell’s poem always seems so poignant at the beginning of the New Year.

We have had our fill of Christmas celebrations and now it is time to get back to the routine of every day and to get on with life as best we can. It is as if we really do not think that what we have celebrated at Christmas will make any real difference to who and how we will be in the days and weeks that follow.

I am told that the American novelist Henry James once said to his son: “Three things are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.”

As we begin a new year we cannot help but remember

‘This time last year….’As you remember the gift of last year, give yourself a moment to ask: ‘What was the kindest thing someone did for me last year, and what was the kindest thing I did for someone else?’

Please do not put your Christmas away in a cardboard box until next year.

God’s gift of life and hope and love in Jesus does not come with either a ‘sell by’ or a ‘best before’ date. Rather, it is a gift to be unwrapped afresh each and every day.

Three things are important. The first is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.

May God give you the grace and courage you need for whatever the New Year brings. 

+Peter

Taunton

The Palace, Wells, Somerset.  BA5 2PD