#503 New Year’s resolve
A light dusting of snow outside makes me very glad to be a Church Mouse not a Field Mouse this morning. But with my toes warm and my heart still singing Christmas carols, I thought I would share my New Year’s Resolutions with you all:
- Reduce waste. I will collect all crumbs and assorted materials left in church and eat them.
- Live modestly. I will abandon my crown and will no longer demand to be addressed as “Your Excellent Mouseness”.
- Prioritise well-being. I will double my daily nap quota.
I hope your 2026 has started well!
Fr Sam writes
This Sunday is the feast of the Epiphany. This is commonly seen as “when the Wise Men came”, but the history of the feast is actually more complicated. Early church history is a little murky, but it is at least possible that the Epiphany was celebrated before Christmas was, and its name means “appearing”.
The feast was about the theology of God appearing to people on earth, and as well as the visit of the Wise Men, it also celebrated Jesus’ baptism (when the Heavens opened and proclaimed who he was), and the Wedding at Cana (when he first displayed his power).
So at Epiphany, watch out! Not just for the “solemn gifts of mystic meaning”, but for God appearing in our midst.
This Sunday: the Epiphany
This Sunday we are told “Arise, shine, for your light has come” in the prophecy of Isaiah. And then we hear of who that light is, with the visit of the Wise Men from the Gospel of Matthew.
Image: The Wise Men and the Star from a mosaic in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna.
Services this Sunday
| 8am | St Paul’s | BCP Mass | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
| 9.30am | St Paul’s | Parish Mass | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
| Organ prelude: Prelude on ‘Af høiheden oprunden er’ – Gade Anthem: Nativity Carol – Rutter Voluntary: March of the Magi – Varley Roberts | |||
| 10am | Woosehill Church | Morning Worship | Revd Cara Smart |
| 11am | St Nicholas’s | Community Eucharist | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
Parish Lunch
Our parish lunch will take place on Sunday 11 January at 12.30 for 1pm start. Adult £14, child £6, family £35. Please book your place by signing up at the back of church.
BACS: Account Name: PCC St. Pauls, Ref: Lunch, Sort Code: 20-11-74, Account no: 80683752. We also need volunteers to set up the tables after morning coffee: please let Trish or Alan know if you are able to help.
Image: ‘The Hunters in the Snow’ by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
This week’s calendar: saints and friends
Today, 2 January, is the feast day of St Basil the Great and St Gregory of Nazianzus, two of the Cappadocian Fathers. These were a group of theologians from Cappadocia in modern-day Turkey, whose writing and theology were of immense importance in the early Church.
They are celebrated together today, though, not because of their theology or power in the Church, but because they were friends.
Friendship might seem like an everyday kind of thing. But in it, as Basil and Gregory discovered, the love of God is found.
Image: Basil and Gregory with their contemporary, John Chrysostom.
