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THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

Canon Jeremy Davies, Precentor (Monday 1st February 2010)

Christmas is long past - though I write this on the twelfth day of Christmas, the day when traditionally Christmas decorations come down and the tree is disposed of - but in the Cathedral at least, the presence of the crib until Candlemas (2 February) reminds us that the feast of our Lord's birth triggers forty days of celebration, giving us time not only to celebrate God's gift of himself - the Word made flesh and dwelling among us - but also to reflect on the implications of this mystery for our sense of God and the conduct of our lives.

Candlemas is the feast which formally brings the Christmas season to a close and as we recall the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the old man Simeon's prophecy that the new Messiah would be a light to lighten the Gentiles and that his mother would share the pain of his Passion, so our thoughts move from incarnation to redemption, from Christ's birth to his death.

Most of you will know that the story of Jesus' Passion, his journey towards death and resurrection, will be retold in dramatic form on Good Friday, 2 April. Then the Churches in Salisbury, together with thousands of others from near and far, take to the streets as daylight fades to act out the greatest story ever told. At eleven stations around the city and the Close, the events of Jesus' Via Dolorosa will unfold and with Bishop Stephen Conway to guide us, we will remember the brutality and the courage of our human condition - both themes relevant in our world today. But the Christian claim is that the God who pitches his tent among us remains faithfully alongside in every painful exigency of human living and through his very presence transforms our experience of life and of what it means to be human.

This Way of the Cross - the fourth time it has been performed in Salisbury - is an opportunity for all of us to move out of the relative comfort of our Churches and with our fellow Christians of different traditions to get involved in proclaiming the reality of God's love for his world on the streets of our city. Everyone, of whatever age, can be involved and we will be very grateful for your help. And I think that you, despite the effort that will be required of all of us, will be glad to have been part of this great community drama.

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