So what did you do for Christmas?
Remember last December, a number of papers covered the story about astronomers calculating the actual date of the birth of Jesus, as per the story of the star in Matthew's gospel? Well, supposing that the star was a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the constellation of Leo, according to their calculations it was 17th June 2BC. So that makes yesterday Christmas and today Boxing Day. So I hope you didn't overdo it on the turkey, stuffing and pudding.
But if we DID move the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth to 17th June, then perhaps that would throw off the scent of the hedonists and capitalists who have completely trashed the current one, and stop the endless bleating about "Putting Christ back into Xmas". Let them have their Winterval... it was only ever a pagan festival with a little Christianity sprinkled over the top anyway...
However, even that might be sunk by an event being run in an office where a member of my congregation is the catering manager. Today they are having a "Halfway to Christmas" event, complete with tree, mistletoe, turkey and all the trimmings.
There's no escape...
ps. the story also made it onto the "One Show" last night, but it clearly fits into the "missable" category because it is unavailable on BBC iPlayer.
pps. perhaps the greatest Christmas present the people of Northern Ireland could have recieved in this week of bad news, is the welcome suggestion that Loyalist groupings have, at last, begun to verifiably decommission their weapons.
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