Over the last 10 years or more there has been the rise in what I might call a spiritual age. In my many conversations with people they are happy to admit to having a spiritual side, even a spiritual hunger. The search for meaning and purpose is replacing the drive for possession which was the hallmark of the extreme capitalism and consumerism of 80’s. People are searching, but the problem is that they don’t know what it is they are searching for. Wandering through the different “fields” of thoughts and beliefs people have picked up a mixed bag of little connected and incoherent beliefs which often conflict with other beliefs which they switch between as it suits them. The Magi or wise men of the nativity were people outside the mainstream of Jewish thought and belief, they too were seeking, but at least their searching was structured and focused. They checked what they knew, they looked at what had been written, they put their enquiry into action by going to see. But the other side of this image was that there was something to see.

For too long the church has wrestled with its internal debates and reflections in public and so when those who come seeking and searching find nothing but empty and irrelevant arguments stripping away the mystery of the moment a lack of humility in all of us to be able to go down on bended knee and worship God. This is not an argument for blind religious observance, but if we are so busy shouting questions, how can we hear the answers. The wise men of the nativity journey for a long time and I’m sure there were times of continued silence, perhaps a night around the fireside gazing at the stars and wondering – who will we find. Still a good question and habit to cultivate.