Looking outside the square

Today they arrived.

When I set up the tree and placed the crib beneath it, they were on top of the window sill, on the other side of the room.

Day by day, through the 12 nights of Christmas, the 'Kings' journeyed across my living room till this morning (January 6th) when they reached their destination.

The stable in Bethlehem

Each year, as we approach the Christmas season, our preparations include revisiting the events surrounding the birth of Our Lord. Bethlehem, the shepherds, and the angels are familiar to us all. But not much is generally known about the mysterious "Magi" who came to worship the infant Jesus.

By tradition we refer to them as 'Wize Men from the East' or 'The Three Kings', though general opinion is that they were priests from Persia. Probably the Kurdish area of what is now modern day Iraq.

Their visiting Jesus in Bethleham, referred to as the Epiphany, a word meaning sudden realisation, is important because it illustrates the openness of these men to see the importance of something outside of their cultural expectation.

To find 'an answer' somewhere they would never have thought of looking.

We celebrate this every year. But how often to we take their example into our daily life?

How often do we have the courage to step outside of the comfort of our own western world view to discover truth hidden in the lives and practices of people who may not talk, dress or believe as we do?

Understand them rather than war against them?

Perhaps the significance of the Epiphany is that we need to make that journey.

To quote Neil Armstrong, it would be one small step got man, but a giant leap forward for mankind.