Readings:
Isaiah 58: 1-9a
Psalm 112: 1-9
1 Corinthians 2: 1-12
Matthew 5: 13-20

Collect:
Eternal God, whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

I was travelling on the A14 a week or so ago and was overtaken by a white van. The business blurb on the side told me it was a company dealing in ‘Opening Solutions.’ Can you guess what that was? It was doors. Hmmmm. 

Well, I don’t know about solutions to my opening problems, (do I have any?!), but, in fairness, a door does always speak to me of possibility. What’s on the other side? Who is on the other side? Where might it lead me? How high is the threshold, is there a trip hazard, a step maybe? Do I push or pull, or ring the bell and wait? 

I know we often talk about the New Year being a threshold of some sort. The famous painting by Holman Hunt, The Light of the World, often pops up on social media around January 1^st, depicting as it does Jesus standing outside a door and knocking. But I wonder if that painting and that concept isn’t more appropriate at this time of year, as the festivities of Christmas and Epiphany come to a close at Candlemas and we begin to look ahead to Lent and Easter. This season feels to me like a doorway: a change, and yes, an opportunity. 

It’s a change because we are now encouraged to examine ourselves. To examine ourselves and our lives and our motivations and our direction. Now the light which has been shining on the infant Jesus, and all his promise and glory, is swivelled round to focus on us; a spotlight, like those wretched security lights on some doors that blind you when you set them off! 

But it’s an opportunity too, because, in this new season, we’re once again reminded that the infant Jesus grew up. He grew up and taught his followers how to live a life of fullness and grace, despite the mess they often made of things. He grew up and experienced many of the difficult, troubling, challenging things that we face in our lives. He taught and experienced those things and reaches out to us, in all our mess and trouble, and says, ‘Follow me. Here, take my hand.’ 

Will you? Will you take his hand? Will you follow him? Will you step over the threshold from safety and cosiness and warmth and travel the rocky road with Jesus? Will you trust that he will lead you to something greater? Will you, this year, take this opportunity to go through the doorway into the fuller life Christ promises? 

Stepping from Christmas to Easter isn’t always easy to do. We all love a sweet baby. A direct and passionate man who has some hard things to say and meets a brutal end is more challenging. There’s not even a promise of a ‘solution’, at least not in this life. But that door stands open, our Friend is waiting to greet us, and together we can travel. 

Sharon Grenham-Thompson