Reepham Benefice

Well I hope you had a very good Christmas, a peaceful Christmas. It is rather strange, I always think, this period between Christmas and New Year. It’s rather strange because sometimes we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Some people use it for a time for visiting family; others use it for time to catch up with old films on television with a box of chocolates... or even more than one box of chocolates. Some people use this time of the year to have an early spring clean in their house - others even go and hit the sales, which for some shops, I believe, at 6am on Boxing Day.

Well, you will have noticed this morning that the Gospel reading this morning is different from the Gospel reading on your sheet. And I hold my hands up and apologise for that - it’s one of those things that fell of the list of things to do before Christmas. This is the first Sunday after Christmas and the readings on your sheet are for the first Sunday after Christmas, but it is also the day when we remember the ‘Holy Innocents’. Those children that Herod went and killed in the vein hope that he could do away with Jesus.

But I always think that the feast of the Holy Innocents's, when we reflect of those readings, when we are in the midst of the season, when we have just had Christmas and the New Year is on its way - we are still in this celebratory season, brings us down to earth with a bump. And looking on the Internet as I did a few weeks ago at what other people had, or were going to say today, there are many sermons that are going to be preached about man’s hostility to man - about the travesty of abortion - the family breakdown - the vulnerability of children - and no doubt there are those that will talk about what is going on on the Gaza strip...

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