A taste of things to come...

"After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Revelation 4.1

Is e seo Latha Fhèill an Taisbeanaidh! Welcome to Epiphany Sunday. This was my favourite Sunday when we served at Holy Trinity in St Andrews. One of the staff in the University's English department wrote a play around TS Eliot's classic poem 'The Visit of the Magi - with costumes to boot! There was the Holy Family, shepherds, angels, a two-person pantomime donkey and, the pièce de resistance, a camel - which made its ungainly down the central aisle to complete the picture.

None of this was intended to trivialise the occasion. Rather it emphasised the all-encompassing message at the heart of the Bible. God's concern is for all of us and I mean every part of each one of us - as individuals and collectively. This Epiphany Sunday in Skye excites me even more than those previous cherished occasions in St Andrews because we are embarking on an adventure through The Apocalypse of St John, otherwise known as Revelation, the culminating book of the Bible.

Revelation was written to stiffen the resolve of Christians being seduced and/ or compelled to compromise their faith. God spoke through the apostle John to reveal the deeper truth and transcendent reality of what was currently happening and its significance for their, and our, ultimate future. Like all books of the Bible, Revelation is rooted in history yet with a universal application, making it relevant for every generation in every age, including us and ours today.