COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
‘in the stillness / Between two waves of the sea’ (TS Eliot, ‘Little Gidding’) … waves on the beach at Damai on the South China Sea, near Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
…
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
— TS Eliot, Little Gidding
‘Through the unknown, unremembered gate’ … the gate at a restaurant garden in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
‘Little Gidding’ is the last poem in TS Eliot’s Four Quartets.
Moving from last year’s words and language to the voice of this new year provides most of us with opportunities to reflect on the meaning of time, the past, the present and the future.
I had expected to reflect on some aspects of the past at the Vintage Car Rally in Stony Stratford today. This would have been the 50th anniversary of the rally, but the rains and storms that ushered in with the New Year forced the organisers’ hands, and they decided yesterday to postpone the rally.
Although I have never learned to drive, those rallies have been a reminder of childhood days, with cars from the past that I still associate with family holidays, visits and outings.
Instead, on this New Year’s Day, I found myself being lazy and thoughtful at one and the same time throughout the day, watching old films on television, including Mary Poppins, and pondering on the ways time plays unexpected games with us as we move between one place and the next, from one year to the next.
Although we have suffered very little in these storms so far here in Stony Stratford, I am sure there are heart-breaking reports of floods and losses in many places.
I was reminiscing in very comprehensive ways yesterday on the past year, wondering how I might have responded with more sensitivity, gentleness and generosity to events in the past, and wondering with not a little trepidation what the New Year may yet bring in.
But ‘what might have been … is always present,’ as TS Eliot reminds us in ‘Burnt Norton,’ his first poem in the Four Quartets. Perhaps I shall get back to Ireland, to Crete and to Kuching during the coming year. Without making any New Year resolutions today, I have promised myself more time this year for walks by rivers and the sea, in gardens and in the countryside.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
— TS Eliot, Burnt Norton
‘Footfalls echo in the memory / Down the passage which we did not take / Towards the door we never opened / Into the rose-garden’ (TS Eliot, ‘Burnt Norton’) … roses and a gate in the gardens between Darwin House and Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
‘On the Eighth Day of Christmas … eight maids a milking’ … traditionally they represent the eight Beatitudes
Patrick Comerford
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.
We have come to the beginning of January, the beginning of a New Year, the beginning of 2025. This is New Year’s Day, the eighth day of Christmas and the Hanukkah holiday continues today.
Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus. In many parts of the Roman Catholic tradition, 1 January is marked as the Feast of the Holy Family. In the Orthodox tradition, 1 January is the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. But this day is also the feast day of Saint Basil the Great, and so the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil is served on this day, and in Greece it is customary to bake a bread or cake called Vassilopita (βασιλόπιτα).
I was looking forward to the Vintage Stony Car and Motorcycle Festival on the streets of Stony Stratford today, including High Street, Market Square and Cofferidge Close. The festival was planning to celebrate its 50th anniversary this yearstormy, wet weather that the New Year has brought in with it has cancelled all those plans.
Meanwhile, before today begins, before I even begin to look forward to this New Year or to start thinking of those New Year’s resolutions I have yet to make, before I even put my head out the door and face into this stormy weather, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Elijah’s Chair, used at the circumcision of a Jewish boy when he is eight days old (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Luke 2: 15-21 (NRSVA):
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
The instruments used by a mohel at circumcision … an exhibit in the Jewish Museum in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the eight maids a-milking as figurative representations of the eight Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 5: 2-10).
The eighth day of Christmas is also the day we remember the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus.
This feast has been observed in the Church since at least the sixth century, and the circumcision of Christ has been a common subject in Christian art since the tenth century. A popular 14th century work, the Golden Legend, explains the Circumcision as the first time the Blood of Christ is shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption, and a demonstration too that Christ is fully human.
This feast day is also a reminder that the Christ Child is born into a family of faith. He is truly God and truly human, and in his humanity he is also born a Jew, into a faithful and observant Jewish family.
Saint Luke does not say where the Christ Child was circumcised, although great artists – Rembrandt in particular – often place the ritual in the Temple, linking the Circumcision and the Presentation, so that Christ’s suffering begins and ends in Jerusalem.
A display in the Jewish Museum in Bratislava includes a typical example of Elijah’s Chair, used during the Circumcision of a new-born Jewish boy. The godfather (sandek) sits on the chair and holds the child on his knees.
Typically, the Hebrew text on the right-hand upper backrest reads: ‘This is the chair of Elijah, angel of the Covenant.’
The Hebrew text on the left-hand upper backrest reads: ‘Remembering the good (that he did), let him bring salvation quickly in our time.’
In a prayer that has been used at circumcisions since the 14th century but that may be much earlier, God is asked to ‘sustain this child, and let him be known in the house of Israel as … As he has entered into the Covenant of Abraham, so may he enter into the study of Torah, the blessing of marriage, and the practice of goodness.’
The prayer continues: ‘May he who blessed our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless this child who has been circumcised, and grant him a perfect healing. May his parents rear him to have a heart receptive to Torah, to learn and to teach, to keep and to observe your laws.’
The service concludes with the priestly blessing (see Numbers 6: 23-26):
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
The festival of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus provides a much-needed opportunity to challenge antisemitism in the world today, remembering that Christ was born into a practicing, pious Jewish family, and that January 2025 also marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Birkenau.
The railway tracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau … January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, and the Circumcision and Naming of Christ is a challenge antisemitism (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 1 January 2025, New Year’s Day, the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘We Believe, We Belong: Nicene Creed’. This theme was introduced on Sunday by Dr Paulo Ueti, Theological Advisor and Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 1 January 2025) invites us to pray:
Father, this new year we declare together that: ‘We Believe’ in one God, one Lord and Holy Spirit. May we also remember that ‘We Belong’ –to you, to one another, and to a global Church.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose incarnate Son was given the Name of Saviour:
grant that we who have shared
in this sacrament of our salvation
may live out our years in the power
of the Name above all other names,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
‘Circoncision’ (1740) … a painting by Marco Marcuola depicting Jewish life in Venice now in the Jewish Museum of Art and History (mahJ) in Paris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
