Matthew 1: 18-23; Matthew 2:1-12; John 1:1-18
May
I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
May I start this morning’s sermon by wishing you all a
Very Happy New Year and I look forward to continuing to minister to you in this
lovely church and parish. We have gone a
little “off piste” this morning with
what we could describe as three lessons and carols using two readings which are
not prescribed from the Lectionary for today – rebel that I am!.
Well, have you been following the star? The journey through the 12 days of Christmas
in the little booklet produced by the Church of England, with its welcome from
the two Archbishops. At home, Liz and I
have been reading it every day and finding it very inspirational and helpful
for our daily prayer and meditation with some excellent examples of how the
Christmas story is so relevant to us today.
As well as following the booklet I have also been
attempting during this same period to follow a real “Star” in the heavens – an
elusive comet with the forgettable name of Comet
Wirtanen. I have managed to glimpse it just once with the aid of low power
binoculars and a star chart. Supposedly of a magnitude visible to the naked eye
I have found it extremely difficult to observe without optical aids as it
appears just as a fuzzy cottony puff. Unlike the Star of Bethlehem its course
has been predicted by mathematicians and astronomers for some time and unlike
the Star of Bethlehem it is surprisingly dim and hard to follow. What the two
do share as a similarity is they were both originally quite unexpected and, in
the case of the Star of Bethlehem, also act as a wonderful metaphor for
brightness in a time of darkness.
In our Gospel Reading from John’s Gospel, a familiar
passage which is always read out at the end of the Nine Lessons and Carols, we
are told of how Jesus, referred to as “The Word”, came to bring light into the
world for all people.
Day 4 of this little booklet is entitled the Unexpected God and we are reminded that
“villains” in books, plays, movies and TV series always seem to be dark –
whether Darth Vader in Star Wars –
who wears a black mask and dark cloak or Voldermort in Harry Potter and this leads us to tend to think of darkness as
threatening.
We are reminded though that darkness in itself is not
evil; it is merely frightening because we cannot find our bearings within it so
we run away from it and we certainly do not go out of our way to find God in
places of darkness; yet John tells us that is precisely where God came to dwell
– “the light shines in the darkness and
the darkness did not overcome it” (John1:5). God, we are again
reminded came to a place which was frightening - to a place of rejection, of
poverty and insecurity. How many places in the world today can be described as
just that? Often in our western world we cannot contemplate such places but if
you look around you hard enough, indeed in the centre of cities like Salisbury
you will find all of these – rejection, poverty and insecurity. Never, since
the Second World War has our country felt so insecure as we wait to find out
what the outcome of leaving the European Union will have on our economy and
security going forward. Never since the
Civil War has our nation been so divided.
God came in the darkness – and brought a great
light. As the writer of our booklet says
it might sometimes feel like a very small and flickering light but it is light
all the same.
It is easier to find God in beautiful places and at
beautiful times – in our grand cathedrals and places of worship, in the beauty
of a sunrise or sunset, when life is going well for us, when our finances seem
in order and the sun is shining down warmly on us as we sit sipping our tea,
coffee or prosecco with our family and friends in the peaceful garden of our
lovely country cottage. Idyllic yes, but God is also to be found on the streets,
under Sainsbury’s car park, in the hostels, in the political detention camps of
North Korea, amongst the poor and destitute of Africa and indeed most of us
have had, or will at some time have an experience in our lives of some pain and
darkness. At such times, that light of
God may be as dim as Comet Wirtanen and may require us to use whatever optical
aids we have to search diligently for it.
Jesus left us with two great and wonderful “telescopes”
of Faith for us to use to find the light and connect with God – he taught us
how to pray – to chat directly with the Father through him - and he left us the
Holy Spirit, that great and wonderful part of the Trinity which is there for us
all now and for ever more. It costs us
nothing, it’s a free gift – all we need do is ask for the Spirit to come into
our lives and remain with us – then with such a powerful aid we shall track
down and see the light more clearly.
The wise men followed a brilliant object – a wandering
star which led them to where Jesus was. They were probably astrologers rather
than astronomers and were clearly wealthy – bringing with them three of the
most expensive commodities of their time – gold for kingship, frankincense for
divinity and myrrh, the bitter perfume used in time of burial to represent
sorrow and suffering. The wise men,
expecting the star to announce the birth of an earthly king, assumed that Jesus
would be born in a palace – hence their trip first to Jerusalem – to the palace
of King Herod to be told that this wasn’t the place they were seeking. In our
nativity scenes we place the Magi with the shepherds in the stable whereas in
Matthew we are not told exactly where they end up except that it seems to have
been in a house rather than the stable of Luke’s gospel – and possibly sometime
after his birth. We have given them
names too – Balthasar from Arabia, Melchior from Persia and Gasper from India
yet nowhere in the bible are they identified as such, nor are we told their
number.
So they remain a mystery. What is significant, however, is that they are identified as gentiles coming from the east and together with the shepherds they represent the outcasts of the Jewish faith – shepherds being poor and lowly – the butt of many Jewish jokes of the time - and the wise men being foreigners, gentiles. Yet, here we have these two groups being especially chosen – one set with a heavenly Angelic host and the other with an unusual astronomical phenomena - to be the first to hear the good news of Christ’s coming.
So they remain a mystery. What is significant, however, is that they are identified as gentiles coming from the east and together with the shepherds they represent the outcasts of the Jewish faith – shepherds being poor and lowly – the butt of many Jewish jokes of the time - and the wise men being foreigners, gentiles. Yet, here we have these two groups being especially chosen – one set with a heavenly Angelic host and the other with an unusual astronomical phenomena - to be the first to hear the good news of Christ’s coming.
It always gives me such comfort that the light – Jesus –
came for the poor and outcast of the world.
The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. The light shines in the darkness.
So, in conclusion, is there an area of pain and darkness
in your life or the life of your family and friends or community? How can you ask God to bring his light within
it to shine away the fear which that darkness brings? How will you seek out that light – be it
bright or dim in your life just now?
Let us pause for a moment and reflect upon this – PAUSE –
Let us pray
God
of light, we thank you that you are present everywhere, even when we cannot see
you. Please shine your light into the
difficult places of our lives.
Amen
MFB/04012019
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