Description
Holy Innocents
This day, this very day, has always been special to me, it’s my birthday. My parents explained as soon as I could understand that this day was Holy Innocents. They gave it no more than the name. I heard it as innocence, the day of those who are innocent. I knew, as I grew, that I wasn’t, but it felt good. My day.
Only much, much later did I become aware of the slaughter and mayhem associated with this festival. Christmas is just too pretty to be spoiled by such a day, hardly a feast. But if we‘ve seen beyond the tinsel at all we will have seen a child, born in the night, a long way from home. And the air is chill in a way that no Yule log can touch.
Remember it began like this, in a stable. And for us the story is so often compressed, in days we must jump perhaps two years. And the rumours of a birth have circulated. People who know about these things have come from another place. They are seeking one named Joshua? Or could it be Jesus? At any rate a small child, still here in Bethlehem. And a kindly king welcomes them in for clearly they are of some importance and such invitation would be expedient, even diplomatic.
Continues…
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk.
Please include any reproduction for local church and school use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.