Church Shaftesbury Quakers (Society of Friends) We meet for one hour each Sunday from 10.30am at the Quaker Meeting House, Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury SP7 8BB. All are welcome St Gregory’s Church, Marnhull You are invited to “Coffee, Cake and Company”, at St Gregory’s Church, every Thurs morning from 10am to 11:30am re-starting on Jan 20. Everyone is welcome, so why not come along and join us for delicious home-made cake, great coffee and a selection of teas. No charge! Blandford Methodist Church You are warmly invited to our Sunday Services starting at 10.45am. The over 60s are also invited to our Lunch Club on
Tues and Fri at £4 per person. Please request your reservation by phone. Everyone is welcome to our coffee morning for refreshments on Thurs from 10am till noon. We are anxious to offer help to those in need. Please leave your message on the phone and we will return your call within 24 hours. Benefice of Hazelbury Bryan and the Hillside Parishes Jan 9 Baptism of Christ 10.30am Mappowder Morning Praise 10.30am Fifehead Neville Holy Communion 6.30pm Hazelbury Bryan Evening Prayer St Mary’s, Stalbridge Please join us for any of the following services: Jan 9 Evensong 4pm
Jan 16 Morning Worship 10am Jan 27 Holy Communion 10am www.facebook.com/ StalbridgeChurch Sherborne Abbey Morning Prayer Mon-Sat 8.30am Wed, Holy Communion 10.30am Sun, BCP Holy Communion 8am Sun, Parish Eucharist 9.30am Sun, Choral Evensong 6pm Holy Communion Mondays 9am St Paul’s Church, Sherborne Jan 9am Holy Communion 10.30am Jan 16 Morning Worship 10.30am Jan 23 All Age Worship 10.30am Sun, Jan 30 All Age Communion 10.30am
Our Loose Cannon…
St Mary Magdalene, Castleton Jan 9 BCP Holy Communion 11am Jan 16 Mattins 11am Jan 23 Mattins 11am Jan 30 BCP Holy Communion 11am St Martin of Tours, Lillington Jan 9 BCP Holy Communion 10am Jan 16 Morning Service 10am Jan 23 Morning Service 10am Jan 30 Morning Service 10am St James the Great, Longburton Jan 9 Family Communion 10am Jan 16 Family Communion 10am Jan 23 Said Holy Communion10am Jan 30 Songs of Praise 6pm
with Cannon Eric Woods DL
Be wise, be guided by the star Today, Friday, 7 January, it is Christmas Day for Eastern Orthodox Christians. But in the Christian West we are nearly a fortnight ahead: yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany. The difference is because the Orthodox use the Julian calendar, while the West uses the later, Gregorian, calendar. So now you know! Epiphany celebrates the coming of the Wise Men to worship the infant Jesus. A chartered accountant friend once showed me a cartoon in his professional journal. It was of the Wise Men presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. One of them said to Mary and Joseph, “We wanted to bring cuddly toys, but our accountants advised substantial donations.” Nevertheless, these weren’t the first Epiphany gifts. That was a star. As the old carol puts it: Star of wonder, star of light Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect light We often forget about the star, perhaps
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because of a healthy scepticism about matters astrological. Yet it’s not the only reference to a star in the New Testament. In the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of St John the Divine, the Lord uses it of himself, “I am the bright and the morning star”. In other words, the Star to guide us is the Lord himself, made known in Jesus. When we put our trust in him, he is the kindly light who leads us on, and he never leads us astray. Of course, guidance based on trust can be harder to follow than the clear-cut directions provided by some creeds and philosophies. But we walk by faith, not by sight, and sometimes we only realise how carefully we have been guided by God when we look back and see how we have been led through the maze of life. Time and time again we discover the truth in these words, written about 1500 years ago by the Christian philosopher Boethius: “To see Thee is the End and the Beginning. Thou carriest me and
New Blackmore Vale, 7th January 2022
thou goest before. Thou art the Journey and the journey’s End.” Christ is our Morning Star, and he leads us on. Sometimes clouds get in the way, and we get horribly lost. Sometimes on our journey we get things wrong too. The Wise Men did. They arrived in Palestine asking the right question – “Where is the new-born King?” – but they asked the wrong people, who told King Herod who, as a result, had all the infant boys in the Bethlehem area put to the sword. But nevertheless, by following the star, the Wise Men found Jesus first, and their gifts were accepted. In Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”, Feste the Jester sings “Journeys end in lovers’ meeting, every wise man’s son doth know.” You and I are called to be wise men’s sons and daughters, and like the Magi of old to follow the star. And one day when our journey through life comes to an end, there we shall meet him face to face. The journey will indeed end in lovers’ meeting. That is God’s promise.
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