December’s the month of ends,
and beginnings: the old year’s about to be left behind, a new one awaits.
Christmas itself is of course a celebration of the arrival of a new life – a
particularly special one for many, but then all new life’s nothing short of
miraculous.
Pause for thought.
But where did it come from?
What happened before?
And where if anywhere does it go
to?
The story told by Bede
which responds to these questions is well-known. We hear that an unknown seventh
century nobleman related it to king Edwin of Northumbria, when he was
considering whether to convert to Christianity.
Illustrating the
brevity and transience of life with a before and after existence, it seems to
have convinced Edwin of the validity of the new religion. For me however, the description of the bird’s
flight through the brightly lit and noisy hall from darkness, silence and
solitude into the same at the far end, the effect is equally powerful, though different.
But this is no time
for dwelling on darkness – it’s the season for celebration.
How wonderful to live in
warmth and light, to feast and laugh and to be with those we love!
May we all fly and sing with
that little bird while we can.
The Bird's
Flight through the Hall
This is how it starts –
quiet
in the dark, all by yourself
unknowing
and unknown.
Now
feel the movement
drawing
you on till all explodes
into light and warmth of company.
Hear
the laughter, shouts and song
while
flames of friendship flash and leap
and
smoke ascends through which you pass
unnoticed
towards the waiting night
beyond
the brightness into that silence
of
solitude once more.
Fly on my bird to where you came from
leaving
us here the while, until
we
follow too. For this is how it's always been
and
how it always ends.
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