Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome
Welcome to worship as today we mark the Epiphany; the feast falls on Tuesday but many churches will mark it today, drawing to a close our Christmas celebrations. “Epiphany” means manifestation and remembers the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus; the revelation of God to humanity represented by pagan astrologers. We reflect on the light of Christ which helps us see more clearly in the gloom of our world. My name is Andy Braunston and I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship; I live up in Orkney, a glorious, if rather dark at this time of the year, island country off Scotland’s far north coast. Let’s worship God together.
Call To Worship
Long ago, a defeated despondent people were roused from their gloom by a glorious light, and found again the strength to worship God. Long ago, pagan priests discerned meaning in the movement of the stars and, in the manger, found their yearnings stilled, as they worshipped Christ. Now, that same light is shining, exposing the gloomy places of our world and our lives, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. So come to worship, see that glorious light, worship at that humble manger, and be lit by the light of God’s love. We come and worship!
Hymn O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness
John S. B. Monsell (1863) Public Domain BBC Songs of Praise
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
bow down before him, his glory proclaim;
with gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness,
kneel and adore him: the Lord is his name.
Low at his feet lay thy burden of carefulness:
high on his heart he will bear it for thee,
comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness,
guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.
Fear not to enter his courts in the slenderness
of the poor wealth thou wouldst reckon as thine:
truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness,
these are the offerings to lay on his shrine.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
bow down before him, his glory proclaim;
with gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness,
kneel and adore him: the Lord is his name.
Prayers of Adoration, Confession, and Grace
We come before You, O Most High,
bowing and bringing our gifts of love, praise, and adoration.
May our obedience to Your word be as gold,
and our humility in the face of Your glory, be as incense.
We praise You for Your light which dispels the gloom of our world,
and allows us to see things as they really are.
Yet we can be fearful in Your light, Lord Jesus,
as our lives and actions can be as bitter as myrrh,
bringing tears not joy, trembling fear not steadfast love.
Forgive us, good Lord, and give us time to change.
Most Holy Spirit, You draw us to Yourself,
enfold us in love and light,
lead us to worship in beauty and truth,
remind us of the forgiveness You bring,
the new life You offer, and the strength You give,
to live always in the light. Amen.
We are told in Scripture: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” So rejoice as people of the light, live as forgiven people who give others, and forgive themselves!
Prayer for Illumination
Eternal One, You led magi by a star to find Jesus, Your anointed One,
not in a palace but a stable,
not in splendour and wealth but in poverty and squalor,
help us now find Jesus as we hear Your word read and proclaimed
to both powerful and powerless,
that in Your light we may see more clearly. Amen.
Reading Isaiah 60: 1-6
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together; they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you; the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.
Reading Matthew 2: 1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Sermon
Since moving to Orkney we’ve been more aware of the changing patterns of light and dark, day and night. In high Summer we don’t get very dark and you can see fairly well outside between midnight and 2am when dawn comes. In the depths of winter, however, dawn is late and dusk very early indeed. Personally, I love the way the hours of daylight change with the seasons, and, at this point of the year, everything is twinkly and sparkly with Christmas decorations, the Northern Lights and, on clear nights, the most amazing views of the stars. Like the wise folk of old we gaze at the stars with wonder; of course, now we know we’re moving not them and most of us don’t try and discern meaning from those movements. Like the ancients, however, we gaze with awe. Darker nights mean we can appreciate the heavenly bodies and, when the moon is out we’re glad of its light.
Epiphany is a feast that speaks of light; paintings often depict the light coming from the baby Jesus lighting up the room. Pagans, represented by the Magi, find the light whereas the Jewish king Herod, who should, doesn’t; the light allowed unexpected people to see unexpected things. The light allowed a forsaken people to find itself again and rebuild from the rubble of its history. The light allowed mysterious magi to find, in Jesus, the fulfilment of ancient yearnings.
Our first reading from Isaiah envisions the great homecoming of the Jewish people from exile in Babylon. The opening verses seek to rouse the people from a time of slumber and inactivity. Of course, exile would not have been a restful sleep but a time when the national mission of the Jewish people to be a light to the nations had been dimmed through disaster and defeat. The return to Jerusalem is seen not only as important but as a globally significant event – with nations travelling to revel in the light and celebrate bringing rich gifts – no doubt these verses were in the mind of the editor of Matthew’s Gospel when he collated his sources. Isaiah’s text is full of hope, an end to war, defeat, exile and bondage. Those who heard Isaiah’s original message were trying to rebuild their lives after the dislocation of exile and are told a new world would dawn in which God’s glory breaks through, shining brightly. The Lectionary, of course, offers us these verses so we think of the birth of Christ and the visit of the Magi as we are invited to ponder the symbolism of the wisdom of paganism coming to worship at the Manger. We should, however, also take care at how else these verses have been used.
All those images of the pagans bringing their wealth to God’s chosen people can easily lead to notions of imperial pillage being blessed by God. Christians who embarked on imperial projects were interested, after all, in God, gold and glory; Adam Smith’s seminal work on capitalism and free markets took its title “The Wealth of Nations” from this passage. Did those provinces and other nations give up their wealth willingly in Isaiah’s vision? They clearly didn’t in later empires – despite the propaganda so many grew up with about an imperial family of nations. At empire’s end we see how hollow such sentiments actually were. Passages like this remind us that the books of the Bible were written in an imperial shadow; the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans are ever in the background of the writers as difficult neighbours, overbearing enemies or hated occupiers. In an ironic twist such passages were used by later empires for their own ideological ends. It was all too easy for imperial masters to imagine the flow of loot from the colonies to the metropole to be a fulfilment of Isaiah’s vision of “the wealth of nations shall come to you” by taking the passage out of context and working with it for one’s own ends.
The glory of the Bible, however, is we are not stuck with the same interpretations. We could see this passage, instead, as one which offers hope to a small conquered insignificant people. These were words to inspire joy in a group of survivors coming back to the rubble of their lives and nation to rebuild. The vision is a prophecy of what may be. Imagine it spoken now in the rubble to the people of Gaza, Ukraine, or Sudan as a hopeful dream of a different future rather than as a mandate for yet more war and aggression. That was the context of this passage of hope, joy and light.
Thanks to the imagery of the Isaiah passage, and an echo in the Psalm, we always tend to think of the Magi as kings wearing their crowns visiting the infant Jesus. Our crib figures portray them like this, and present – as fact – there were three of them, yet a closer reading of the Matthew text – the only account of this episode – shows things are rather less clear.
Matthew describes the visitors as Magi from the Greek word magos meaning astrologer or magician. Scholars think the word originally meant a priestly caste in Zoroastrianism. They would study the movement of stars and try to discern meaning from those movements. The assumption there were three comes from the number of gifts they bought; tradition even named them and gave them origin stories: Melchoir from Persia, Gaspar from India, and Balthazar from Arabia. Tradition even has them in Cologne Cathedral in a very elaborate casket but I’m not sure how they ended up there unless they got very lost on their way home! An Iranian friend of mine who converted from Islam to Christianity loved the idea of an Iranian (Persian) being in the story; I’m sure the same will be true for Indian and Arabic Christians.
In the ancient world it was customary to honour a new ruler with delegations bearing gifts – maybe these magi were court officials and, if so, it makes sense they’d first go to Herod. Matthew’s point, however, is to teach us some truths in this story; pagan kings are compared to Herod the supposedly Jewish king – pagans honour Christ, Herod conspires to kill him. (Herod had already killed a wife and three of his own sons). Matthew tells us, if we follow the Greek literally “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” which sounds clumsy in English but makes the point. Their homage became worship.
The light of Christ made the magi see things more clearly; they realised Herod was a snake and slipped away without altering him to Jesus’ location. In the light they saw not a new war lord or potentate, but God made vulnerable flesh.
What does the light allow us to see?
In an age of hatred and hostility the light allows us to love.
In an age where the powers that be are content for us to stumble around in the, well-constructed and maintained, gloom of our world, the light allows us to see where to spoke evil’s engines – if we just open our eyes.
Hymn The First Nowell
Anonymous 1833 Public Domain sung by the Village Chapel
The first Nowell the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay,
in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
on a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.
They looked up and saw a star
shining in the east beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.
Then let us all with one accord
sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
that hath made heaven and earth of nought,
and with his blood our life hath bought.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.
Affirmation of Faith
Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible.
All things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the Church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his Cross.
Intercessions
Let us praise God for the manifestation of Jesus Christ in his mission on earth.
Let us praise God for the Magi from the east, who were sent to Bethlehem to teach us to honour him and to offer our gifts. We praise you, O God.
Let us praise God for the multitudes around the world who are today using the resources of their customs and cultures in developing new forms of worshiping Christ. We praise you, O God.
Let us praise God for all those who are presenting themselves to be baptized in the name of Christ and for all the parents who are bringing their children to baptism. We praise you, O God.
Let us praise God for the manifestation of Christ in our own time when the thirsty are given something to drink and the hungry are fed. We praise you, O God.
Let us pray for Christ’s continuing epiphany among all who long for his presence.
For your manifestation among all who long for truth and are educated and wise in this world, for those who conduct research and those who teach, for those who study the stars and those who give counsel to kings and rulers, we seek your grace, O wisdom of God.
For your epiphany among all who are open to your presence in the water and the wine, and especially among those who have seen your star but have not yet heard your name, we seek your grace, O Saviour of the nations.
For your epiphany among all who are suffering for the cause of righteousness, for all who are in prison, for those who are oppressed, and for those who are hungry, thirsty, and homeless, we seek your grace, O Son of God.
For your manifestation of your glory in the course of our daily lives, in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, and our facilities for play and entertainment, we seek your grace, O Lamb of God.
For those we love and worry about, For those in the news whom we do not know, and for those unknown to us who suffer this day And are held in the silence of Your heart, Lord Jesus, we pray
Silence
We seek your grace, Loving Saviour.
And we bring all our prayers together as we say, as Jesus taught, Our Father…
Offertory
The magi bought gifts to the infant Jesus, gifts which were full of meaning, gold for a king, incense for a priest, myrrh for a sacrifice. These gifts must have helped the Holy Family during their time as asylum seekers in Egypt. We know from Christmas that there is joy not only in receiving gifts, but in giving; the careful choosing, the delight in faces that receive, and in the love the gift embodies. In the Church we give of our time, our talents and our money, we give with love and carefully consider the needs that these gifts meet. So we give thanks for all that is given, let us pray:
God of every good gift,
we thank you for the gifts of time, talent and treasure
given here in this place.
We thank you for gifts seen and unseen,
given in church or direct to the bank,
the quiet gifts of love, solidarity and friendship,
the background gifts of talents,
the financial gifts that help sustain our life together,
and we ask that You use all these gifts,
to be signs of Your coming Kingdom, Amen.
Hymn Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
James Montgomery (1771-1854) Public Domain, sung by Lythan and Phil Nevard and used with their kind permission.
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, great David’s greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free,
To take away transgression, and rule in equity.
He comes, with succour speedy, to those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light,
Whose souls, condemned & dying, were precious in his sight.
He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth;
Love, joy, and hope, like flowers, Spring in his path to birth;
Before him, on the mountains, shall peace the herald go;
And righteousness, in fountains, from hill to valley flow.
Kings shall fall down before him, and gold and incense bring;
And nations shall adore him, His praise all people sing;
For he shall have dominion o’er river, sea, and shore,
Far as the eagle’s pinion or dove’s light wing can soar.
O’er every foe victorious, He on his throne shall rest;
From age to age more glorious, all-blessing and all-blest.
The tide of time shall never His covenant remove;
His name shall stand for ever, His changeless name of Love.
Holy Communion
Invitation
Dear friends and family in Christ,
the gospel tells us that God, by the leading of a star,
manifested the Saviour to the peoples of the earth,
and, by the power that enabled Christ
to change water into wine, made known his glory to the disciples.
Come then to the joyful feast of the Lord and be transformed.
Thanksgiving
We thank you, God, for sending a star
to guide the wise ones to the Christ child.
But, even more, we praise you for signs and witnesses
in every generation that lead us to Christ.
We thank you for the covenant made first with Israel –
promising to be Israel’s light and salvation.
You made the Jewish people your people
and promised that through them
all the peoples of the world would be blessed.
We thank you for prophets who declared your Word,
for priests who made sacrifices for the sins of many,
and for kings and rulers who ruled with justice,
lifted up the poor and needy,
and defended the people from their enemies.
With the apostles, prophets, and martyrs;
with all those through the ages who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ;
and with all who strive to serve him on earth here and now,
we join our voices in offering praise
to the God of loving power and powerful love.
Sanctus
Holy, holy, holy, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,
Hosanna in the highest!
Memory
With the coming of Jesus,
the covenant with Israel was expanded and confirmed.
Through Christ, the gates of salvation have been thrown open.
Just as the Magi were welcomed at the cradle of the Christ child,
so God welcomes all strangers and those in need
into the covenant of blessing.
Jesus Christ offered food to the hungry and water to the thirsty,
shelter to the wanderer and justice to the oppressed,
friendship to the lonely and kinship to the faithful.
Jesus forgave sins, preached good news,
and filled all people with the hope of new life.
Jesus took upon himself the full consequences of our sinfulness –
even the agony of abandonment by God –
in order that we might be spared.
But our Lord could not be held by the power of death.
Jesus appeared to his followers,
triumphant from the grave, in newness of life.
He has shown us his hands and feet in order
that we might know that the one who was crucified
is the Lord and Saviour of the world.
Institution
Before knowing the agony of sorrow and death,
Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed,
took bread and blessed it, gave thanks and broke it,
shared it with his companions, and said,
“This is my body, which is for you.
Take, eat, do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same manner, he took the cup, blessed it, and said,
“Drink from this, all of you.
This cup is the new covenant in my blood;
do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
Epiclesis
God of wisdom and light, send your Holy Spirit upon us
and upon this bread and wine.
As we come together to eat at your table,
we offer ourselves to you
in praise and thanksgiving for your mighty acts.
Doxology
Through Christ, all glory and honour are yours, O Most High,
with the Holy Spirit in the holy Church, now and forever. Amen.
Music for Communion Longing for Light, We Wait in Darkness
Words by Bernadette Farrell, sung by Chris Brunelle with his kind permission. OneLicence
Post Communion Prayer
As sages from the east offered you their best,
so may we honour you, O Christ,
with our highest visions and finest energies.
As you turned the water to wine at Cana,
so come to your Church
and teach us to change human tears to joyful song.
As you were baptized to fulfil all righteousness,
so may your Church humbly do your will.
As you gave light to those who followed you on earth,
so be our light as we follow you
on city streets or country roads.
Be revealed among us in power, in Word, in sacrament,
and in places where we live and work.
Glory be to you, O Christ, now and forever. Amen.
Hymn We Three Kings
John Henry Hopkins (1820-1891) The Robert Shaw Chorale
We three kings of Orient are; bearing gifts we traverse afar
field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star:
O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain, gold I bring, to crown him again –
King for ever, ceasing never, over us all to reign:
O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
Frankincense to offer have I; incense owns a deity nigh:
prayer and praising, gladly raising, worship him, God most high:
O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom;
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb:
O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
Glorious now, behold him arise, King and God, and sacrifice!
heaven sings alleluia, alleluia the earth replies:
O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
Blessing
May the Most High,
who led the magi by a shining star
to find the Christ, the Light from light,
lead you also in your pilgrimage to find the Lord.
May the Risen Lord,
who has delivered us from the dominion of darkness,
give us a place with the saints in light
in the coming kingdom.
May the Holy Spirit,
fill your lives with the light of the gospel,
shine in your hearts
and fill your lives with joy and peace.
And the blessing of Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
be with you, now and always,
Amen.