Canvey Methodist Church Worship Services 3rd January 2021
Canvey Island Methodist Church 3rd January 2021 Epiphany (January 6th) Preacher: Mrs Pamela Smith
Complete Service Link: https://youtu.be/NaQm0TV6jT8
Introduction
We are celebrating the Epiphany this Sunday, the realisation of who Christ is… The celebration of Epiphany also used to include Jesus’ baptism and the wedding at Cana – when Jesus was recognised by John the Baptist and then, at his mother’s bidding, when he began to work in Galilee. I have a bit of a thing about the kings/magi appearing at Christmas. It feels wrong in so many ways… if the star appeared when Jesus was born and there was a long journey from the east … So I’d like to put the magi back, after the nativity, after the dedication in the Temple (last week) to Epiphany. We are celebrating the Epiphany this Sunday, the realisation of who Christ is… Three Kings Day is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God in his Son as human in Jesus Christ. Back in medieval times this was the time - without calendars, diaries, electronic planners - when the priest would announce the date of Easter and the various celebrations for the year could be planned. The church would start to look forward and plan the celebrations of everything that Christ meant.
2021 is, as yet, a largely ‘unknown country’ (not least after the horrors and challenges of 2020)!
A new year has begun.
Hymn StF 190 Angels from the realms of glory https://youtu.be/EtM14l9Ipyw
1 Angels, from the realms of glory, 2 Shepherds in the field abiding, 3 Sages, leave your contemplations; 4 Saints before the altar bending, 5 Though an infant now we view him, vv. 1-4 James Montgomery (1771–1854) Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 190
Prayer
Lord of our journeys, (Roots)
Reading Matthew 2.1-12 NRSVA (BibleGateway) The Visit of the Wise Men 2 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.’ 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 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.’ 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
This is the word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Hymn StF 222 Who would think that what was needed https://youtu.be/MwCyLamhFrk
1 Who would think that what was needed 2 Shepherds watch and wise men wonder, 3 Centuries of skill and science John L. Bell (b. 1949) and Graham Maule (b. 1958) Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 222
Prayers A prayer of confession God of grace, (Roots)
A prayer of praise and thanksgiving For all that has been, thanks. (Dag Hammarskjold) Hymn StF 230 Riding out across the desert https://youtu.be/Mfhh-cBfS70
travelling over sandy plains, comes a company of wise men, moving steadily along their way; leaving all their friends behind them, guided by the star so bright, now they’ve got to keep on going must not let the star get out of sight.
Riding through the desert, gently the wise men go, onwards to the king who was promised long ago; but they don’t know where they’re going to find him there’s many towns to search so they’ll keep on following the star, for it will lead them to his place of birth.
2. Wise men on their desert journey, travelled many miles so far though they’re getting tired and weary, town of Bethlehem is not too far: how they long to worship Jesus and honour him with royal gifts; hearts are full of joy and wonder as they’re searching for the new born king.
Peter Ratcliffe (1958) Singing the Faith 222
Sermon / Reflection
Epiphany – a moment of sudden revelation/realisation. From the Greek for appearance.
I have a bit of a thing about the kings/magi appearing at Christmas – surely they were NOT there in the stable.
We used to celebrate and make much more of a thing of Epiphany We lose a day of celebration, excitement, presents and special food!
January 6th was kept as the celebration of the Manifestation of Christ - to the magi, at his Baptism AND at the wedding feast at Cana. Which is why I got confused when looking for the Lectionary readings for today… all three popped up as possibilities.
So I’d like to put the magi back, after the nativity, after the Dedication in the Temple (last week) to Epiphany.
What might we discover if we look at an old ‘story’ in a ‘new’ place…
I like a plan … but often the plan has to be changed – that’s happened a lot this year!! But so long as the end is achieved I discover there is often more than one way of ‘getting there’. My cooking is often like that – I plan to make something and discover a missing ingredient (I am sure it was in the cupboard last time I looked…) so I have to be ‘versatile’ and often what I end up with is equally edible and more fun. Or sometimes there is nothing for it but to dive out to the shop and buy the essential ingredient but have the dish at a different time… My ‘walks’ are often like that too – I may head off in one direction but get diverted by the mud or ‘something intriguing just over there’ and make discoveries or meet someone to chat to…
Plans change and unlikely people play a part in our lives…
The magi were unlikely visitors to a Jewish baby in small town Bethlehem. They were not Jews. Their religious views and practises were quite different! But they went a long way to find Jesus and worship him.
That journey - the gifts point to the wise men having come from the south of the Arabian Peninsula across the desert, a journey of 1,500 miles that would take around two months. Ophir was probably in modern-day Yemen and the Bible suggests in several places that its gold is special. Frankincense resin is highly fragrant and is burnt in Jewish, Christian and Islamic worship; Oman and Yemen provide the best in the world. Myrrh, the primary ingredient of anointing and embalming oils, comes from trees in the Red Sea area.
The magi were outsiders. Where the Greek word translated here as ‘wise men’ occurs elsewhere in the Bible, it is translated ‘magicians’, ‘enchanters’, ‘sorcerers’ or ‘astrologers’ (Daniel 1.20 and 2.2 in the Septuagint; Acts 13.6,8) — involved in practices of which many Christians would disapprove. They are brought to the light by means of their ‘dark arts’… In Matthew’s account, these ‘outsiders’ are the first to pay homage, and their gifts are highly appropriate and fully accepted.
They went to an unlikely place – not somewhere that kings were usually found. (They did go to Jerusalem – the obvious place - first.)
While they might have expected the star to lead them directly to the child, the wise men ended up in Jerusalem and asked directions from there. Did the caravan overshoot in presumption or over-enthusiasm (Jerusalem being beyond Bethlehem from their direction of approach)? Whatever the reason they were back on the right path and got there in the end. They had been diverted but the star reappeared and they followed it, faithfully.
I like the idea that if we try to follow Jesus but make a mistake, perhaps because of our enthusiasm or assumptions, if we play our part diligently but get it wrong, God will still get us there.
They worshipped something they barely understood.
The times we have all been through this year have been difficult – a trying journey But we may be learning all sorts of things that will work out in the end…
Our ways of being church have changed – whoever would have believed us a few months ago if we had told them we would be going to church by YouTube! Our ways of being family have changed – I didn’t expect to be regularly seeing our grandson on FaceTime to practise his spellings. (But then he didn’t expect to be getting 10/10 every week in his spelling test!) Our ways of being friends have changed – I hate the telephone so I didn’t expect to be supporting my friend by daily telephone calls rather than visits, including assuring her of my love and prayers as she was dying, alone and without visitors...
In the days and months ahead we may not understand where we should ‘go’, we may have to do things in a very different way, we may be surprised, we may have to think again about things we believed were certain, we may have to change our minds… But if we keep looking out for the direction God is sending us, even if it is not what we expected, not with the people we understand, we will get ‘there’ in the end…
So perhaps you would like to look out for the unexpected, unlikely people and events in the following days and look for the ways that you see God at work And remember how unlikely a happening it was that the magi found and recognised God, in a Jewish baby, in a small town, miles away from their home – and they worshipped him
TS Eliot’s Journey of the Magi shows one of the Magi reflecting on the experience of visiting Jesus. Nothing would be the same again: they were ‘no longer at ease in the old dispensation’.
T. S. Eliot poem The Journey of the Magi (1927)
“A cold coming we had of it, Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, All this was a long time ago, I remember,
Hymn StF 227 Brightest and best https://youtu.be/zLwAcjuHZ_w 1 Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, 2 Cold on his cradle the dew-drops are shining; 3 Say, shall we yield him, in costly devotion, 4 Vainly we offer each ample oblation; 5 Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, Reginald Heber (1783–1826) Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 227
Prayers for others The wise men made a long and difficult journey to find their king.
(Roots)
Prayer book update 1.1.21.
Cathy's home with medication but John’s got lung infection on top of Covid, he will be in hospital approximately another three weeks.
I send you all my best wishes for a very Happy, Healthy New Year, with many blessings.
Here is a bible verse that I read this morning and I wanted to share it with you for the start of this new year.
Psalm 143 v 8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
God bless you all and keep you safe.
Hymn StF 224 As with gladness https://youtu.be/UB8rKNrlpDQ
1 As with gladness men of old 2 As with joyful steps they sped, 3 As they offered gifts most rare 4 Holy Jesus, every day 5 In the heavenly country bright William Chatterton Dix (1837–1898) Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 224
Sending out prayers including the Lord’s Prayer
How does Spain celebrate Three Kings Day? Día de los Reyes Spanish children write letters to the Three Kings, or Three Wise Men, who then bring the children gifts the night before, or on the morning of the Epiphany, January 6th. In some houses children leave their shoes outside the door so that the Three Kings will fill them with gifts, often leaving bigger presents alongside…
Our Father in Spanish (Lord's Prayer) Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos Santificado sea tu Nombre Venga tu reino Hágase tu voluntad En la tierra como en el cielo Danos hoy el pan de este día y perdona nuestras deudas como nosotros perdonamos nuestros deudores y no nos dejes caer en al tentación sino que líbranos del malo. Amen.
Lord, as we continue our journey with you this week,
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
(From The Gate of the Year by Minnie Louise Haskins) (Roots)
|