大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Fr Dermot Preston, part of the Jesuit Mission to St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Newcastle

Good morning.

In the days of easier travel, my cousin decided to visit Florida.

It was cheaper to go via Germany and thence to Memphis, before heading down to Orlando, so he left Manchester and headed to the US via Frankfurt.
In Germany some people disembarked, and some came on for the flight across the Atlantic.

The seat next to my cousin was empty until a shadow loomed. He looked up. it was Elvis! Well, not quite: an Elvis impersonator! Indeed, a GERMAN Elvis impersonator 鈥� and he was going to Gracelands, Gracelands Memphis, Tennessee.

Now, he might have sung like a duck, but he looked the part - the sequinned jump-suit, the white boots, the sun glasses, the raven black-hair with the matching side-burns. And he would only address the stewardess in Elvis-speak.

鈥淲ould you like something to drink?鈥�

鈥淎-丑补丑鈥�

All the way over to the States, Elvis was sitting next to my cousin鈥� and my cousin was deeply embarrassed, presuming that people might think they were travelling together.

The Christmas story is full of characters 鈥� the Wise Men, the Shepherds, Angels, Mary & Joseph, Herod, and the Baby Jesus. We react to them in complex different ways 鈥� be it reverence or scepticism, with fear, incomprehension, delight, indifference, dread or joy.

But these characters are offered to us by the Gospel writers to point out the meaning of the God-Child. They are our fellow travellers at Christmas 鈥� and although, like my cousin with Herr Elvis, we might be uncomfortable to journey with them, by the grace of God each really does shines a light for our path if we choose to look.
Lord, open our eyes to the different perspectives of those who we read about in the Christmas story, and help us to see you afresh.

Amen.

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