Weekly Reflection – A Topical Text

You’ll probably miss it when we get to the Carol Service, there are too many frightened shepherds and blazing angels and full inns and shining stars, but St Luke tells us the first Christmas happened when Quirinus was governor of Syria.  This topical verse is in my mind as we hear the news about the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.  We pray for all in that country, for a more peaceful and more just future for all who live there.  In particular, we might pray for the small and often beleaguered Christian communities in that part of the world, who are often marginalised or even persecuted for their belief in the God who comes to us at Christmas.

St Luke, alone of the four gospels, is particularly concerned to tell us exactly when and where things happened, and exactly who was around and what was going at the time.  For Luke, it’s really important that God acts in specific and particular times, places, and people: it is this place, at this time, with these people, while these events going on.

One risk of Christian faith is it all becomes a bit general.  We should be kind to people, in general.  We should pray, in general.  God communicates to people, in general.  God promises a future, in general.  That’s all true, of course.  But the detail in Luke’s account reminds us that Christian faith isn’t just about things in general, or God communicating in general, or about the past or the future in general.  It is a reminder that we should always be looking for God here and now, in the particular place we are, with the particular people around us.  So as well as praying for peace and justice in general, maybe the news prompts us to pray specifically for Syria, for persecuted Christians, particularly.  So maybe we can ask: what is God trying to say to me, in the present?  Who is God bringing me to my attention, who I should pray for or reach out to, here and now?  What tasks or challenges does God want me to make a start on today?

With prayers and best wishes,
Philip