Bruce Munro’s Star of Bethlehem

At about this time every December I suffer from an affliction familiar to many preachers: familiarity overload. I find myself with numerous occasions to tell the same story to largely the same group of people. How does one pursue originality without tipping over into novelty? When encouraging other preachers to maintain their communicative health, I encourage them to drink deeply of other people’s creativity to feed their own.

Today, I am indebted to artist Bruce Munro. Charged with creating a Christmas installation at Salisbury Cathedral, he decided to use the existing feature of the ‘Living Font’ and combine it with light. The story of the Magi’s journey is now projected down onto the gently flowing water in morse code. On and on the story cascades, ever reflected in different water as it flows. I am inspired…