MESSENGERTHE CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIS T 

 January 2009

 85 

When you think about it, Balthazar, Melchior, and Gaspar do

have a lot to answer or! Ater all, they were the rst bring-

ers o gits at Christmas and conceivably could be blamed or the

excesses o spending which each o us negotiates at Christmas.

The retail trade, shopkeepers everywhere, o course, are perectly

happy about the whole process and will never criticize or slow

the activity on which so many o them rely. It is their “reason or

the season”! And who can ault them? How many o us waste a

thought worrying about the how or why o the gits stacked under

the tree? Business is business, as they say, so perhaps it is unair

to point a nger at three men willing to travel many miles in search

o a baby, born, guratively and literally, under a star .

The magi probably crossed the Syrian desert lying between the

Euphrates River and Syria, then moved on to Damascus and

southward along what is today called the Great Mecca trail. This

means Jordan and the Sea o Galilee was to their west. I they came

rom Persia, this journey would have covered a distance o 1,200

miles and would have taken a year by camel, a daunting prospect

in the best o circumstances.

Today, we set o on a trip, having advised our GPS co-pilot o

the destination, who then sits, winks and talks to us rom the

dashboard o our hundred horse-power camel all the way to the

motel – which, o course, we have had the oresight to book ahead!

 As would still be the case today, however, the journey o those

early travellers was a journey through territory marked by unrest

and danger, whose destination, purpose and outcome could never

have been certain. Ater all, they had nothing but a star to guide

them through the desert – with no Google advisory in advance; yet

they journeyed on, these three wise men.

The Gospel o Matthew does not call them three kings or wise

 men, but just “Magi rom the East,” neither does the Bible attach

names or a number to them. The word magi is associated with

wisdom and secret knowledge so we can speculate that such sages 

included alchemists, philosophers, scholars, physicians or astrono-

mers and the like. Many have linked the Magi with the royal court

o the king o Persia, where they may have served as priests.

Whoever these three men were, ater a harrowing journey, they

reached the inn. They ound the baby and ell to their knees,

presenting three gits – which may have led to our belie that they

were indeed three in number. The rst git was gold, the second,

rankincense, and the third, myrrh. These gits were prophetic. Gold

speaks o Jesus’ kingship, rankincense was a spice or perume

used in the priesthood, and myrrh was an embalming ointment

anticipating His death.

 Eastern sages at his cradle make oblations rich and rare;

see them give, in deep devotion,

 gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Sacred gifts of mystic meaning: incense doth their God disclose,

 gold the King of kings proclaimeth,

myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.

I you believe the pageant version o the Nativity, the Wise Men

showed up at the stable the same night as Jesus’ birth. However,

it has been suggested that they came weeks, perhaps months,

aterward. One theory holds that they may have visited Jesus two

years ater his birth, as there is mention in ancient texts o Herod

ordering the deaths o children two years old and younger. It is also

plausible that when the Magi visited, Joseph, Mary and Jesus were

no longer in Bethlehem. The amily may have moved to Jerusalem

orty days ater the birth and were staying with Zacharius or Eliza-

beth when the Magi came knocking. Such speculation is the stu

o historical fact lost in a conusion o inconclusive evidence and

dubious documentation.

Ultimately, what we choose to believe has little to do with proven

realities. The journey o the magi lives on as a spiritual journey.

It is mankind’s search or hope amid despair, or truth even when it

is surrounded by deceit. It oers light – and encouragement to keep

on. As we make our way, we bring our gits humbly beore God,

knowing that whatever we have to oer must pale by comparison

to His git to us. This is the true legacy o Balthazar, Melchior, and

Gaspar. What we really owe to the three wise men will not be ound

under a r tree or in the shopping mall but in the mysterious dis-

covery that we too have to make a journey just like theirs.David L. Paterson, Editor

    S   t   i   l   l   f   r   o   m

    T   h   e   N   a   t   i   v   i   t   y

    S   t   o   r   y   :   N   e   w

   L   i   n   e

    C   i   n   e   m   a

 Bless us, Lord, this New Year with quietness of mind;

Teach us to be patient and always kind.

Show us in quietness we can feel your presence near,

 Filling us with joy and peace thoughout the coming year!

With thanks to Doreen Asbil, Grenville-sur-la-Rouge

 

On the frst Sunday in January, the Servers presented a seasonal reading entitled 

The Reason for the Season. Seen with Canon Glencross above are Connor Thouret,

 Nicholas Vonniessen, Andrew Lowther, Andreas, Christian and Angela Deslauriers,

 Liane Vonniessen and Stephanie Cowan.

The Rev. Alan CameronDuring the rst week o January, the res-

ignation o the Rev. Alan Cameron as an

 Anglican priest was announced. Sadly,

concomitant to that, he cannot continue as

Honorary Assistant here at Saint John the

Baptist. He has served us well with great

personal conviction since his retirement,

taking occasional services and perorming

other pastoral duties. We wish him well as

he moves on to service elsewhere.

R.I.P.For those who may remember the Taylor

amily, parishioners in years past, the ol-

lowing piece o news was received rom

Ray Smith in B.C. recently. Irene Taylor,

Norman’s wie, died in their home in Florida

on 23rd December. Norman was Treasurer

o St. J. the B. or a long time and they

were aithul attenders. They have been in

Florida or many years now, moving there

in the 1980’s.

 Annual Vestry 2009The Annual Vestry meeting o the parish will

be held on Sunday, February 8th. As we

anticipate this event, perhaps it would be a

useul exercise to consider what St. J. the

B. means to each o us.

 At the beginning o this new calendar year,

what direction do we see or this church

in the next twelve months? I we take a

moment to think about this, how many

and what are the questions which come

to mind?

Send your thoughts to the MESSENGER.

TAP tips – or not the news

from The Anglican Planet

 Anglicans who feel they can no longer in

 good conscience worship in the Anglican

Church of Canada or the Episcopal Church

 in the USA have formed a new faith com-

 munity – which they hope will be recognized

 by the global Anglican community.TAP, January 2009

There is nothing so compelling about the

new NA province (Anglican Church in North

 America), however, as spending time in the

old ones: the smugness o the leadership;

the determination to push orward the very

agenda that is dividing the church whilst si-

multaneously giving lip service or the need

or diverse voices; and the absolute reusal

to recognise that there is a major problem,

even when large parishes and entire dio-

ceses in ECUSA have broken away.

The groundswell o support to establish a

new province, along with declining atten-

dance, declining nancial support and de-

clining ability or even desire or evangelism

within the existing provinces is a sign that

the two (ACC, ACNA) have strayed ar rom

their calling and need to repent.Excerpted from an editorial (Harris / Molloy),

The Anglican Planet, January 2009

The emerging province accepts, as a stan-

dard for its doctrine and discipline: the

 Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds,

the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and

 accompanying Ordinal and the 39 Articles

from 1562.Editorial, Sue Careless, The Anglican Planet, January 2009

We need as a Church to work out the dier-

ences that make a dierence and the dier-

ences that don’t make a dierence.Bishop N. T. Wright (Durham), TAP, January 2009

Breaking

news!(special to the MESSENGER)

GOD CHANGES HIS MIND!  

  Joppa, 15th Adar, AD35: In a startling

restatement o a major part o the Holi-

ness Laws o centuries past, God today,

in conversation with Simon Peter, de-

clared the prohibition against sea ood,

pork, and other ood items null and

void, instructing the Apostle to “take

and eat” what was set beore him. In

the well-established tradition o argu-

ing with God, Peter pointed out that he

had never eaten anything “common or

unclean” to which God retorted, “What

God has cleansed, that you shall not

call common.”

It does not appear that God gave any

reason or abrogating the ood laws. One

commentator suggests that it might have

been related to the cultural shit rom

a primitive, nomadic and agrarian lie

style to a modern, cosmopolitan, highly

diversied urban culture. “Perhaps God

thought it was time to bring the church

up-to-date” he said.Q

No religion accepts us as the person we

know ourselves to be. Rather, we are

told that we are inadequate, unsatisactory

and helpless. We ear that this is so, and to

give us hope we construct a antasy about

how we are superior to those who do not

share our views.

On these grounds we eel entitled to orce

our views on non-believers, and, i they

resist, to persecute them. I was taught that

we Presbyterians were innitely superior to

Catholics and all the rest, while Aboriginals

were not even human. I thought that the

man Jesus wouldn’t have approved o such

views, and this set me on the path o un-

derstanding that, although people dier as

individuals and in terms o culture, basically

all human beings are the same.

No one is better than anyone else by

virtue o their belies. We all want to be

the person we know ourselves to be, and

or others to recognise this and treat us with

respect. We want to live without being domi-

nated by ear, to enjoy good relationships,

and to have a secure place in our society.

When we are able to be the person we know

ourselves to be, without vanity or sel-pity,

we have the wonderul experience o eeling

at home with everything that exists. Some

people describe this in religious terms,

some in terms o nature, but, whatever, we

do not eel the need to have a religion tell

us what we should believe.From ‘What Should I Believe?’: Dr Dorothy Rowe, October 2008

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   Q

  :  m  a  r   b  e   t   @  v   i   d  e  o   t  r  o  n .  c  a

 

 A Journey on Foot

Last month’s MESSENGER presented Part 1 of Lyn Priestley’s de-

 scription of a pilgrimage which she has undertaken, a walk from St.

 Jean Pied de Port, in the foothills of the French Pyrenees to Santiago

de Compostela in the north-west tip of Spain. Part 2 of Lyn’s camino,

which appears below, was written after she returned from Spain last

 summer. (Lyn’s walk will be completed next year so Part 3 will appear 

 at some point in the future.)

Lyn’s camino, Part Two

Last summer, I returned home having walked more o the pilgrim

way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. My journey had picked

up where it let o the previous year.

 Ater a week o very fat terrain with wheat elds as ar as the eye

could see, I was happy to start walking up the oothills o the next

mountain range west o Leon. I stopped or the night in the tiny

stone walled village o Rabanal del Camino. The Knights Templar are

thought to have had a presence here as early as the twelth century

ensuring the sae passage o pilgrims over this remote land. The

tiny church o Santa Maria was possibly built by them.

The hospitaller mentioned that Vespers was held at seven that eve-

ning. I had read that today an order o Benedictine monks originating

rom Germany have taken up residence in the church. The Latin

Gregorian chant o Vespers was something I could not miss.

This tiny crumbling church, cold, damp and sparsely lit, welcomed

us as pilgrims rom all over the world. We squeezed in. The stone

foor on which the benches were arranged, was very uneven and

it was not hard to imagine over eight hundred years o eet tramping over the

rough fagstones. The walls were o peeling plaster and old whitewash, the ew

windows o plain glass. Two large candlesticks and a pot o dahlias were on the

foor in ront o the tablecloth–covered altar, on which the only objects were a

silver host holder and a brass bowl billowing with burning incense.

Three monks came in and the short service, ollowed by a pilgrim blessing,

started. Four young people rom our dierent countries had been chosen be-

orehand by the hospitaller to read a passage in their own language. We heard

readings in Spanish, French, German and English, only a representative selection

since I knew that there were pilgrims there rom other places. The eect was as

i we all spoke the same language, as i we all had the same intent.

It was beautiul and very moving. I closed my eyes and elt as i, once again,

the aith and sae passage vouchsaed by the Knights Templar was mine again.

I nish with this little medieval prayer or the saety o pilgrims.LP

Pilgrim bridge built in medieval times 

Hostel, Rabanal del Camino 

‘Oh God, Who didst bring Abraham, Thy servant, out of Ur of the Chaldeas,

 and did preserve him unhurt through all the paths of his pilgrimage ...

 Be unto us a covering in the rain and cold, a staff in slippery places’ 

Rabanal del Camino 

 

Sights and Sounds of Christmas 2008

Q Ur S

 z z H k

“The Christmas Alphabet”  as performed by 

Stephanie and Tristan Cowan, Adrienne and Robbie De Castris, Aurora and Jaime

Girard, Danielle, Anna, Peter, Mark, Lily and Cole Richard and Jonah Smith

 aided and abetted by Brenda and Ted Richard, Carol Glencross, Sue

Hammond, Lenore and Rod Smith, Mary Ellen De

Castris, Martha Hogg and the Rev.

Canon Bruce Glencross

Music and munchies

Members of the choir and guest accompanist, Ian Smith, enjoyed some refreshment after

rehearsing music for Christmas, all provided by Choirmaster, Barbara MacPherson