Ministry Team Letter for the Month

Dear Friends,

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News from the Ministry Team … 

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Befana was very house proud and could usually be found cleaning or polishing or sweeping or tidying in her house.  Befana also loved to welcome visitors to her home - despite the extra cleaning and tidying it meant she would have to do afterwards. So one morning early when three strangers rode into the village looking for somewhere to stay everyone directed them to Befana’s house.

 

Befana was surprised when she found on her doorstep men wearing fine robes, and looking almost as though they might be Kings. They told her that they were travelling by night, following a star, and that they needed somewhere to sleep the day away. Befana invited them in.  She sat them around her scrubbed wooden table, served them a meal and as they ate the men told her more about their journey; how they were following a star in the hope that it would lead them to a baby King who would one day be the saviour of the whole world. The men finished their meal, Befana showed them to their bedrooms, and as she cleaned and tidied the mess of the meal, she thought about what they had said. “Who was this king?” “Why was he so important?”

 

The men slept the day away. They woke as it started to get dark. Befana served them another meal, asking them the questions that had come to her mind, and then she waved them on their way. Just as they were leaving one of the men turned to Befana and said “You seemed very interested in our journey, why don't you come with us?”

 

Befana thought. It was a very tempting offer. But then she remembered the messy bedrooms upstairs that needed tidying, the laundry that needed doing, and the mess of the meal to tidy once again. “Thank you” she said, “but no - I have too much to do here I can't come with you.” And so the men left.  

 

Befana spent the evening cleaning her house and took herself to bed. But she couldn't sleep. By the time daylight arrived she had decided.  And so, putting a few small gifts in her pockets, she set off after the three men in the hope of also finding the baby king.                   

 

Befana never did catch up with the wise men or find the baby Jesus; and to this day on January 5th children in Italy will put their empty shoes at the end of their beds because Befana, still looking for the baby, leaves a few sweets at every house where there is a child, in case they are the one that she is looking for.

 

Jesus still offers all of us the chance to meet with him. Let's not be like Befana and miss that chance when it presents itself.

 

Wishing you all a new year that is filled with hope.  Hilary