epiphany – The Raynville Rambler

The Gifts and the Giver

A sermon for Epiphany, 8 January 2022 at St Peter’s, Bramley

Text: Matthew 2:1-12 (The gifts of the magi)

What did you get for Christmas? People often ask us that at this time of year. The gifts that our family and friends give us vary so much, don’t they? Let’s see what I was given this year:

Penguin cycling shirt railway book dates

Starting with the trivial – this little penguin Christmas tree decoration. Scott, I’ve called him: Scott of the Antarctic. Then there are the useful presents: a thick, close-fitting cycling top for the cold weather. The specialist hobby things: a book with the technical details of all the trains in Britain. And the tasty treats: for the last few years one of my sisters has given us a home-made hamper of gluten-free goodies to share.

Does your family have a tradition of how and when gifts are given, perhaps in what order? When my sisters and I were children, the rule was that the youngest started giving their presents out first, followed by the next youngest, and parents or grandparents last of all. That was a useful life lesson: the emphasis was on giving rather than receiving: as Jesus said, “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. We can’t expect to receive gifts unless we are also prepared to give them. I’ll come back to that idea later.

One of the origins of this tradition of giving Christmas gifts is the Epiphany story of the magi from the east and their gifts. What were the three things they gave? (call out!) I don’t think I would have known about frankincense or myrrh without this story, would you? Let’s look at what their gifts to Jesus might say about what we can give to him now.

Gold has the same meaning now as always: something valuable, something worth keeping, something special. If someone is ‘worth their weight in gold’ it means their friendship is too valuable to measure. But in the days before banks, it was also a practical way of keeping your treasure with you when you travelled. The magi gave away something very costly, and Mary and Joseph may well have needed to spend the gold during their years of exile in Egypt.

So, if you or I have possessions, can we offer them to Jesus? I’m not just talking about giving money to the church: it might be supporting a Christian charity, opening our homes for church meetings, using a car to offer a lift, lending tools to a neighbour, and so on. That is your gift to the Church’s resources.

The second gift was incense. It had a very practical use as an early form of air freshener – can you imagine how smelly life was in those days, when taking a bath was rare, deodorants and toilets unknown and houses were shared with animals? But incense was also used in the Temple, as it still is in some churches today. The smoke from the incense symbolises prayer rising to God. More than that, the gift of incense to Jesus was a symbol of him becoming our high priest, praying to God the Father for us in heaven.

So, I suggest that we might think of it representing our ministry in the church. That might be helping to lead worship, but there is so much more to Christian service than that. It might equally well be helping with our church’s activity groups, being on the tea rota, doing odd jobs to help the Churchwardens look after the building, offering fundraising skills, or helping with any work we do in the community. It might be praying – for some people, praying for the Church’s work is their unseen but important gift to the Church’s ministry.

And then there was myrrh, the oddest gift of all. It was a spice used in embalming a body after death. Given by the Magi it was a symbol in particular of Jesus’ death on the cross in which he sacrificed his own life to reconcile us to God. His sacrifice was unrepeatable, but the myrrh reminds us that Jesus calls us all to live a selfless life.

We might therefore see it as the gift of ourselves in putting others’ needs before our own. Again, there are many ways of doing that. It might be a pastoral ministry within the church, volunteering with one of the local community groups, welcoming a refugee, or helping with the care of children or elderly people within your own extended family.

It may be that you think you haven’t got money to spare, or a particular talent to use within the church, or spare time to offer as a volunteer. If so, just remember that the Shepherds had already come to Jesus with nothing at all to give him. What mattered most was that they, and the magi after them, came to kneel at the manger and worship Jesus.

I’ll come back to that point I made earlier about it being more blessed to give than to receive. There’s one exception to that: when God is the giver and we are the recipients. God, let us not forget, is the greatest giver. It’s in God’s very nature to give. He is the giver of life itself. The giver of his living word made flesh to reconcile us to himself, and the giver of the Holy Spirit, who himself gives us the gifts that we need to serve him in the world. A verse from the Old Testament often used in church worship is this: “all things come from you [O Lord], and of your own have we given you.”

So, at the start of this new year when we are still thankful for the Christmas presents we received, we can think about what we bring as a gift to Jesus. Starting with our worship, for when we come to worship, we open ourselves to the greatest gift of all. As Jesus also said, “give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Then we will be able to ask what we can give to Jesus in return for all that he has given us. What can I spare of my money for the work of the church? How can I use the things that I have for the benefit of others? What talents and skills do I have that will be of use in the ministry of the Church? And how can I best give my time to help others?

I will finish with that lovely verse of a well known carol: ‘What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part, yet what I can I give him – give my heart’.

wooden heart

Another of the gifts that I got at Christmas, a ‘little something extra’ from Linda. It’s this heart, hand carved from olive wood grown in Bethlehem. It now sits on the windowsill of my study as a symbol of her love for me, but also a symbol of the love that Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem, has for all of us. May his love, and his gifts, be with you always. Amen.

Come see the Lord in his breathtaking splendour

Ascension window, Easby St Agatha, Richmond (N.Yorks)
image (c) Tiger licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is ‘Come, see the Lord in his breathtaking splendour’ by Martin Leckebusch, several of whose hymns we have sung this year. This one is the first of just two hymns set in the book for Ascension Day (tomorrow, 13 May), but as only one verse of it is specifically about the Ascension it could be sung at any time of year as a statement of faith in Jesus.

It comes with its own tune ‘Barnard Gate’ but John picked the tune Epiphany usually associated with the words ‘Brightest and best of the sons of the morning’. As both hymns are worship songs about Jesus, that seems a good choice. But whereas ‘Brightest and best’ is in the second person, addressed to Jesus, these words are in the slightly more distant third person form, making it a hymn about Jesus.

The first and last verses have the same two opening lines: “come, see the Lord in his breathtaking splendour: gaze at his majesty, bow and adore!” which point us metaphorically upwards to the heaven to which he ascended. In between are three contrasting verses about his birth and earthly ministry, death on the cross (from which he “emerged as victor, [but] still from the nails and the spear he is scarred”), and the ascension that we will be celebrating tomorrow. This fourth verse ends with a series of honorific titles: “Hail him the First and the Last, the Almighty, Jesus our Prophet, our Priest and our King”.

That last phrase takes us back to Epiphany, when the magi (in legend, the ‘Three Kings’) gave gifts that foretold this threefold calling of Jesus as religious teacher, representative of humanity before God (which is what ‘priest’ means in this context) and rightful ruler of the earth. The ‘good teacher’, the miracle worker who was crucified, and the reigning Christ are one and the same, a truth at the heart of our faith but one about which we keep needing to remind ourselves.

Christ is our light, the bright and morning star

On the three Sundays after Epiphany, Catholic tradition retells three stories from different times in the life of Jesus, which together are considered to reveal his identity. The three verses of this hymn pick up on those stories. The first is the nativity itself, the coming of light into the world. It’s often associated with the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem and the star (i.e. source of light) that they followed, although they are not referenced here. Rather the emphasis is on Christ’s light or ‘radiance’ which we ask to shine into our hearts and into our world – a world which at this present time needs God’s light more than ever.

The second is his baptism (as an adult), associated here with the love of God (who is recorded as speaking at the time, the heavenly voice declaring Jesus to be God’s son, in whom God was ‘well pleased’ even before his public ministry started). The reference in the words to God’s love ‘swooping low’ is to the form of a dove in which Saint John says the Holy Spirit appeared to accompany the voice of God.

The third story is that of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding, which is seen as much more than a gift to those present at the feast, rather a sign of the transformation that Jesus can bring to the life of anyone who follows him – from the plain water of life without him, to the joyful wine of knowing his presence. It is that presence, that joy, that we constantly must seek, because once given, like wine, it doesn’t stay fresh for long.

Light, love and joy – the three aspects of the presence of Jesus Christ, revealed at his birth, his baptism, and in his presence among us. That is the Epiphany, the revelation of God in our lives.

Wise men, they came to look for wisdom

Today’s Epiphany hymn is ‘Wise men, they came to look for wisdom’. The story of the ‘wise men’, otherwise known as ‘magi’ or ‘the three kings’ is well known, though tales of their journey from the East are much embellished. The hymn points out in verses 1, 3 and 4 that the baby they found was greater than themselves in various ways: wiser (as the son of God) than the wisest of men, a better light for their lives than that of the star they had been following, and a ‘gift beyond price’ more valuable than any amount of gold they could bring.

The second of the four verses takes a different approach. It contrasts the magi, ‘pilgrims from unknown countries’ travelling through lands strange to them to an unknown destination, with Jesus who already ‘knows the world’ because as the Word of God he was responsible for its creation in the first place (this is another of those unprovable acts of faith that Christians are asked to participate in: that although born of woman, Jesus was in a unique sense ‘born before all worlds’).

One of the claims of Christianity is that while people may think they are seeking God, it is in reality God, always present by his spirit, who is always seeking people and our task is to let ourselves be found. There are several reference in the Bible to God calling people by their names, from Adam in the Garden of Eden to Saul on the Damascus road, but this second verse also makes a point that we don’t know the names of the magi from the Biblical story (the names Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar are later inventions). This point is reinforced in the last lines of the verse: “Jesus, in you the lost are claimed, strangers are found, and known, and named”. The question I have to ask myself is, when did I last hear God call my name (probably a long time ago) and how can I listen out this year to hear him calling me, finding me, and claiming me again?

Arise, shine out, your light has come

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany when we celebrate the revelation of God in the birth of Jesus. It’s also a festival of light, both in the spiritual sense of enlightenment, of seeing the world in a new way in the ‘light’ of God’s presence, but also (in the northern hemisphere) marking the latest time of sunrise – 08.40 this morning where I live – after which the days get lighter again.

The hymn I have chosen appears in the ‘Epiphany’ section of the hymn book, although it doesn’t directly address either of those uses of the idea of of light – the literal sunrise, or the birth of Jesus. Instead it takes another way in which the Bible uses the idea of light, when it speaks of the new creation (or ‘New Jerusalem”) to come at the fulfilment of time, a creation in which there will be no violence, no pain, no tears, no death, and also no darkness: “the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” [i.e. the sacrifice of Jesus] Rrevelation 21:23).

This looking forward to a time of perfection is an attractive proposition at a time of pain, isolation and death from the Coronavirus, and a national lockdown in England occurring in the middle of winter. To some people it may be seen as just wishful thinking, but as we saw yesterday with the divinity of Christ and the Communion of Saints, these are very much matters of faith. If we have faith in Jesus as the human incarnation of the eternal father, and in everlasting life with him for those who have died in that faith, then the idea of a whole new creation with Jesus as its light makes sense. And if you ask “what does faith look like?”, I refer you to my earlier blog post in December “Advent Faith” which you will find by scrolling down the recent posts.

Bring to God your new, best songs

Because for most of the year I’m not including Saturdays, today is day two of this project to sing through the hymn book (see the pinned introductory post for details). It’s the second Sunday of Christmas, the one nearest to the Epiphany when we celebrate God’s presence in Jesus being revealed to the world through the visit of the magi. The hymn I have selected is a modern one, “Bring to God your new, best songs”. It doesn’t have a tune of its own but of the available tunes that fit it, I sing it to the tune of an older hymn, “King of glory, King of peace”.

The words are an adaptation by an acquaintance of mine, Martin Leckebusch, of Psalm 96. This psalm has a long history of being adapted to sung worship. In the Book of Common Prayer it is known as the Venite (from the first word of the Latin version – Come!), and is still set as one of the canticles to be read or chanted at Morning Prayer. God is praised as the creator of all the world and its peoples. Some verses of it also inspired the Epiphany hymn sung in many churches on this day, “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, bow down before him, his glory proclaim!”

Whichever version of the psalm you prefer, the common themes are that after Epiphany the whole world, not just the people of Bethlehem, get to hear about the birth of Jesus, the presence of God among us. And that there is no longer any excuse for idolatry – in Martin’s words, “Earth and heaven, revere the Lord your Creator: Why exalt some other god? He is greater!”

At the end of the twelve days of Christmas, the challenge is to do as the magi did, return home with a message of good new to tell the world. We can’t do that much in person at present, but this song calls us to “Bring to God our new songs” – we have other ways of communicating these days. In your phone calls, video conferences, tweets and other online interactions, how can you tell of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?

The Bible in a Year – 1 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

1 September. Daniel chapters 9-10

The prayer of Daniel in chapter 9, following the revelation that the Jewish exile would last seventy years, resembles those of King David or one of the other prophets. It is a prayer of penitence not so much on his own behalf as on behalf of the nation. It is dated in the reign of Ahasuereus (who according to the commentaries is probably not the ruler of the same name in the story of Esther).

It is interesting that this intense prayer of penitence is followed by the appearance of the archangel Gabriel, while in chapter 10 three weeks of fasting is followed by an even greater epiphany. Whether it is the laying aside of self-centredness in such religious practices, or the physical changes in the body due to emotion or hunger, that make someone open to such spiritual experiences, is difficult to say. But the association is a strong one.

The second appearance is of a shining figure who inspires both worship and fear. Christians might identify him as the Christ, or (since it seems this figure was not all-powerful against the ‘prince’ or guardian spirit of Persia without the aid of the archangel Michael) it might be another archangel. But since the classification of spiritual beings is at best a subjective matter, let us just call him an angel (messenger) of God.

I will not attempt to analyse or explain the “prophecy of seventy weeks” in Chapter 9 as much greater Biblical scholars have failed in the attempt (just google it!) I will just pick on one phrase, the “abomination that desolates” (9:27). This too has had numerous explanations, most of which relate to the “desecration” of the Temple in Jerusalem. This does not necessarily mean physical destruction – desecration is an extreme form of disrespect.

I refer you to an essay by the late Isaac Asimov titled “Pompey and Circumstance”. There is a copy of it online. Read it and see what you think.

The Bible in a Year – 30 May

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

30 May. Ezekiel chapters 1-3

What a dramatic start! Unlike some of the other prophets of the Old Testament, we hear nothing of Ezekiel’s past, but are presented with both a first-person and third-person accounts of his earth-shaking vision. Full of vivid imagery of light, noise and motion – wheels, eyes, flashes of lightning, the faces and feet of humans and animals, angels’ wings – clearly Ezekiel was struggling to put into words what could not really be described. This was the ‘shekinah’ or glory of God, a privilege which few people have ever had (Moses, Jesus and his disciples Peter, James and John among them).

The whole of the first three chapters is taken up with his two encounters (or ‘epiphanies’) with this glory. Before we get to read the details of God’s prophecy through Ezekiel to his captive people in Babylonia, we have to understand the instructions given to Ezekiel by God in this vision. Eight times the Jewish exiles are called a “rebellious house”, and it is clear that they are unlikely to act on whatever God’s instructions to them are going to be. It is also clear that they would oppose Ezekiel, and would be like “briers, thorns and scorpions” to him (those things that prick, scratch and sting). Nevertheless, Ezekiel would be failing in his calling and duty, and held guilty by God, if he did not pass the instruction on.

In a much smaller way, that is the challenge facing all people of faith. If we believe we have a message for the world from God then we must deliver it, however much opposition we might face. This week the Archbishops of England have asked all the churches to pray for their communities, and in particular for the spreading of the Christian message among them, under the title “Thy kingdom come” (words taken, of course, from the Lord’s Prayer as taught by Jesus). Unlike Ezekiel who had no support for his one-man ministry, church members can come together for mutual support in prayer, speaking and action.