Rise within us like the star
And make us restless
Till we journey on
To seek our peace in you
Song “Every star shall sing a Carol”
.
Confession- a time of silence
Jesus says "I am the Way", and so we come to follow Christ.
Jesus says "I am the Truth", and so we come to dwell in the light of
that Truth.
Jesus says "I am the Light", and so we come, leaving all else
behind, to which we cling. Amen.
The Lords Prayer in our own language
Song “Like a candle flame”
Reading Mathew 2v1-12
Reflection
The word Epiphany means "showing" and the season begins with the story of the visit of the wise men, the magi. They are astrologers. There is a strong Christian tradition especially among evangelicals, that would see astrology as suspect. But here are astrologers from the East, thought to be from Persia (Iran) visiting the baby Jewish Messiah because their stargazing has foretold of a very significant birth. They embark on a long and dangerous journey to find the reason for this large star. They believed that the star depicted the birth of the King of the Jews, and they went to the palace to find the king-because kings live in palaces. But jealousy and rivalry are as old as the hills and so Herod is troubled greatly by the arrival of the magi. But he pretends that he is interested and encourages them on their way to Bethlehem, the House of Bread, to where the prophet Micah has foretold that the Messiah will come from.
They give the infant Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and pay homage to him: Myrrh for a kings anointing, gold symbolising costly worship and frankincense for prayer. And they departed another way having been warned in a dream of impending trouble, if they went back to Herod. The importance of dreams in the gospel stories of the nativity are striking. Do we take notice of our dreams?
Where would we find such wise men or wise women today? I think they are a rare breed and as such should have protected status! Wisdom is much lacking in our society though revered by other cultures, like ageing. We have much to learn about wisdom and wise guides to help us across desert wastes.
These travellers were so convinced by their astrology that they, non-Jews, went to find the star and the baby Jewish Messiah. To do so they had to physically travel, mentally adjust to cross cultural differences and religiously adopt another set of beliefs or at least some of them. They had to journey. They had to leave behind the safety of their homes, their occupations, and in great danger follow their hunch. In doing so they also willingly gave materially, such was their devotion and so they gave expensive gifts to the new king. And lastly they listened to their dreams.
Real lasting satisfaction for you and for me comes when we listen to our dreams. Without a vision, a dream we become as dead people. So any resolutions we make for the coming year should be fired with real belly felt dreams. Gods Spirit is at its most powerful in what inspires our imaginations and our dreams and these dreams drive us to think and act in ways that can change us, those around us and our world. But of such stuff are dreams made of and of such stuff is the journey as Christians we embark on when we decide to truly follow this Christ, this Light in our own darkness or the darkness of our world. Amen
Song “Longing for Light”
Prayer of Commitment
Loving God, though I am fickle and full of doubt
In you I place our trust for the year ahead.
I commit ourselves again to serve you as best I can,
To serve those around me,
To seek justice and peace and care for the earth,
To forgive others and to be used by your Spirit
To bring more love to my corner of the world
And so to be one of your people on earth
For Christ's sake. Amen.
Blessing
When the star in the sky has gone
And the wise men have gone back to their homes
The real work of Christmas begins
To find the lost, heal the broken, feed the hungry and release the prisoner.
