You may wish to light a candle before you begin.
May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.
Collect
Creator of the heavens, who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ-child: guide and sustain us, that we may find our journey's end in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Confession
Christ the Light has come to bring light and peace to all the world. In his sight let us examine our hearts and make confession of our sins.
Christ came to bring good news to every nation. When we fail to recognise our sister and brother, and instead raise up barriers - Lord, have mercy:
Lord, have mercy.
Christ came to show the gracious love of God in a human life. When we fail to care as we should, and place our own selves first - Christ, have mercy:
Christ, have mercy.
Christ came to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin. When we fail in our giving, and instead demand the service of others - Lord, have mercy:
Lord, have mercy.
May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God’s Word - Isaiah, chapter 60, verses 1 to 6 :-
Arise, shine, Jerusalem, for your light has come; and over you the glory of the LORD has dawned. Though darkness covers the earth and dark night the nations, on you the LORD shines and over you his glory will appear; nations will journey towards your light and kings to your radiance. Raise your eyes and look around: they are all assembling, flocking back to you; your sons are coming from afar, your daughters walking beside them. You will see it, and be radiant with joy, and your heart will thrill with gladness; sea-borne riches will be lavished on you and the wealth of nations will be yours. Camels in droves will cover the land, young camels from Midian and Ephah, all coming from Sheba laden with gold and frankincense, heralds of the LORD’s praise.
Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1 to 12 :-
Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of Herod. After his birth astrologers from the east arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the new-born king of the Jews? We observed the rising of his star, and we have come to pay him homage.’ King Herod was greatly perturbed when he heard this, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together the chief priests and scribes of the Jews, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet wrote: “Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler to be the shepherd of my people Israel.”’
Then Herod summoned the astrologers to meet him secretly, and ascertained from them the exact time when the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, ‘Go and make a careful search for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, so that I may go myself and pay him homage.’
After hearing what the king had to say they set out; there before them was the star they had seen rising, and it went ahead of them until it stopped above the place where the child lay. They were overjoyed at the sight of it and, entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and bowed low in homage to him; they opened their treasure chests and presented gifts to him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then they returned to their own country by another route, for they had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod.
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
Reflection on the Readings
My Christmas sermons this year have mostly grown out of the crib service just before Christmas at Middleton, and my reflection on the lovely crib figures that local children and families make each year afresh for that crib. Kings are among them, and what splendid kings they often are! Tall and with flowing robes, very out of place, one would think, in a stable.
So - spoiler alert - Matthew never says they are kings. They are, rather, magi, astrologers who from their study of the heavens have decided that the star they have seen, a new and different and especially bright light in the sky, must be the sign of the birth of someone very special. So they travel - not, I think, to a stable, for Matthew makes no mention of a stable, and you’d think he would, if that’s where they ended up, but certainly to little Bethlehem, and not to anything as grand as a palace - though of course that is where they went to start off with.
Well, why wouldn’t you? When a star tells you someone great has been born, you’re unlikely to suppose that the parents are going to be a small town carpenter and his not-quite-married-yet betrothed. No, important babies are the children of kings, so they head for Herod, who is alarmed and outraged to hear of the birth of yet another possible claimant to his throne. And he would have been even more alarmed when his advisers mentioned Bethlehem. Bethlehem was David’s city, and Herod, though a king called “great” even in his own lifetime, was not a descendant of David, and therefore very vulnerable to anyone who might be.
Anyway, another thing Matthew doesn’t tell us is how many magi there were, and though the carol “We three kings” has verses for Melchior, Balthazar and Casper, those names are legendary rather than Biblical. Matthew does tell us they brought three gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh. Each one is the sort of costly present one might present to a king. But each has something to say about this king, too.
First, though, the magi themselves. Who were they, and where had they arrived from? We don’t know. Persia is a reasonable guess, though the three figures in the large and ornate crib in a previous parish were clearly African, Indian and Chinese. Though again not Biblical, that does express one important detail of the story - that they weren’t Jews. The prophet Isaiah makes great play of the fact that what the Lord will do will bring people in from foreign lands to recognise his greatness and bow down in worship. And fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy is an important theme in Matthew’s Gospel. So, in what is arguably the most Jewish of the Gospels, non-Jews are among the first to kneel before the Christ-child.
Epiphany means revelation, and the season that begins this Sunday will include many events and situations in which Jesus is revealed for who he is, the Saviour, God’s anointed, God’s Son, until at Candlemas we hear Simeon describe him as “The light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel”. The gentiles, the people of the wider world, are represented here by the Magi.
And what God’s anointed one will do is foreshadowed in the gifts they bring, the gold and incense and myrrh: gold, because he will speak and act with authority, with the authority of a king; incense because he will be the bridge between humanity and the God he teaches us to call “Our Father”; and myrrh because the road he travels is the Way of the Cross. He is here to give all of himself, for us, for love.
And perhaps those gifts can also stand for what God calls from us. Gold stands for obedience, that with purity of heart we place ourselves in God’s service. Incense is a sign of holiness and of prayer: we should seek God’s presence regularly, not just on special days, but in every part of our lives. Myrrh - it won’t always be easy, sacrifice is part of the deal. But if we follow Jesus, he also walks with us.
Statement of faith -
We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayers - We pray at Epiphany for the mission of the Church throughout the world, giving thanks that the message of his love has crossed all kinds of human boundaries and continues to do so. Within the Anglican communion we pray for the Province of Alexandria, in Egypt and North Africa. We pray for our own Diocese and Bishop Richard, and for all that encourages prayer and spiritual awareness and commitment.
We continue to pray for peace, wherever in the world there is conflict or division. In the week in which World Braille Day falls, we pray for all who live with blindness and severe sight problems, and for that helps them play a full part in society. We pray for co-operation among nations in the struggle to counter the Covid virus, and for vaccines to be widely available.
We pray for all who are ill, and especially for all who have started this New Year with health issues. We pray for our hospitals and health service, and for the safety of staff. And we pray for all whose wait for diagnosis and treatment has been made longer by the present crisis.
We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. We pray for all who are starting this New Year with a desire to make changes in their lives, and for the keeping of resolutions. And may we look out for each other through this testing time, and keep safe ourselves.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing -
ay Christ the Light of the nations bring love and peace into every dark place; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
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