麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Steve Williams

Good morning.

And on the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.... eleven pipers piping. I'm not sure I trust any of the many symbolic explanations of this great traditional Christmas carol - but there are some who believe that the eleven pipers piping represent the eleven faithful apostles of Jesus. The Five Gold Rings are the first five books of the Old Testament, by this reckoning, and the three French hens Faith, Hope and Charity.

There are some people who calculate each year how much it would cost to buy each item in the carol. PNC Asset Management in Pittsburgh in the United States have done this for 38 years to measure any changes in the economy. .. and calculate the total cost at nearly 拢31,000 at current rates of exchange... if you're just buying one set of everything you've sung about. Buy the whole lot afresh each day, and that'll set you back 拢135,000. The price of ten lords a-leaping has really rocketed up this year.

But I can't place a price on the gifts I truly value. They engage my heart in a way that the market-place can't measure... a wooden box my son made at the age of eight, a painting my sister did of a view that mattered to us all...

The Hebrew scriptures remind us of the dangers of placing a price on beauty that really belongs to God its creator - the Psalm says, "To ransom a soul is too costly: there is no price one could pay for it."

Generous God, you show the value you place on each one of us by sending us your Son - that we may value one another with the love and respect that is beyond price.
Amen