oh [Music] is is [Music] [Music] r [Applause] is is [Music] oh oh [Music] is is [Music] true [Music] me [Music] oh is [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is is [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] glorious [Music] is [Music] is [Music] two [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] that was a tune i wrote to go with some verses of mine when i set out at new year in 2012 to preach at the 175th anniversary of madras christian college at chennai in india flying over there to have this hymn sung it was a hymn about the epiphany because the great celebration took place on january the 6th and here are the words and then i'll play the tune again among us multitude of lights a new star shines it lights the journey of the wise who travel with deep searching eyes from eastern shrines among us languages and words a new child sleeps amid the ceaseless noise of life of strident power and angry strife he silence keeps among earth's landscapes of despair a new hope springs which to the weary human form new maid as at creation's dawn god's image brings [Music] i shan't forget walking through the wooded landscape of madras christian college for the college's set in the midst of a plantation of trees which have grown up it had been founded in 1837 and is now affiliated also with the university of madras but we'd had a festival meal on the eve of the epiphany and i was walking back through the college grounds and the colleges are separated as in some universities with trees between them lots of trees it's a wooded landscape and as i walked under the stars i heard that tune being sung and i thought well i know that tune and it took me a while to realize that the voices were singing my epiphany hymn epiphany has always been a favorite time for me it speaks of so many different images but it speaks above all else of the gift of the light of christ being given to the whole world the epiphany and we make no bones about the fact that the decorations are kept for the feast of the epiphany so that the three wise men the three kings and here they are now arrived at the manger of the little jesus can have all the celebration that they need in fact for other reasons too we keep the decorations because of course if you're keeping the julian calendar rather than the gregorian calendar then for for example the russian orthodox church today is christmas eve and tomorrow will be christmas day and that too is a big reason for keeping the decorations for the gift of the christ child is shared through all the denominations of the christian church but those days of the change of calendar separate our celebration of it and as we look at the little crib here with the angel and mary and joseph then there's a very different flavor than the shepherds for now the kings are here with their camel it's quite a romantic entry but in fact as we shall see in our reflection it speaks of very deep meaning and answers that prophecy which we read from isaiah as our lesson yesterday there are special meals and special kinds of things to eat and celebrate with that epiphany and the epiphany cake the cake of the kings sitting here with the star beside it all speak of this wonderful festival because in normal years this house from before christmas and right through the period to epiphany is filled with people and hospitality then normally we keep our christmas presents to open on epiphany my partner here who's filming has organized all that hospitality for probably 1500 people if you count them all up through the last days of december and through the days of christmas tide itself and epiphany becomes a time when our presence can be opened and no one of course has been this year because we're in this serious lockdown but nevertheless we've kept presents for this day epiphany day and they will be opened later it gives it a a special meaning after all the activity of christmas so as we come today to say our prayers then our thoughts are thoughts of the unity of the christian church despite the difference in date and despite the fact that we are separated in culture this was the difference between in the old days western east the latin church and the greek speaking church and the spirituality of both is different nevertheless all together kneel at the manger and birthplace of the christ child and that light of christ gives us unity on this marvelous feast of the epiphany which is full of light let's say our prayers on this morning o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the son of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen on this day we have a special psalm it's psalm 72 give the king your judgment so god and your righteousness to the son of a king then shall he judge your people righteously and your poor with justice may the mountains bring forth peace and the little hills righteousness for the people may he defend the poor among the people deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor may he live as long as the sun and moon endure from one generation to another may he come down like rain upon the moon grass like the showers that water the earth in his time shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more may his dominion extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may his foes kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust the kings of tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute the kings of sheba and siba shall bring gifts all kings shall fall down before him all nations shall do him service for he shall deliver the poor that cry out the needy and those who have no helper he shall have pity on the weak and poor he shall preserve the lives of the needy he shall redeem their lives through oppression and violence and dear shall their blood be in his sight long may he live unto him may be given gold from sheba may prayer be made for him continually and may they be they bless him all the day long may there be abundance of grain on the earth standing thick upon the hilltops may its fruit flourish like lebanon and its grain grow like the grass of the field may his name remain forever and be established as long as the sun endures may all nations be blessed in him and call him blessed blessed be the lord the god of israel who alone does wonderful things and blessed be his glorious name forever may all the earth be filled with his glory amen amen our lesson this morning is taken from the second chapter of the gospel of saint matthew and it tells the story of the arrival of the magi i'm beginning at chapter 2 verse 1. in the time of king headed after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea wise men from the east came to jerusalem asking where is the child who has been born king of the jews for we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage when king herod had 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 and 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 wise men 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 words 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 at its rising until it stopped over the place where the child was and 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 [Music] and having been warned in a dream not to return to herod they left for their own country by another way it is the most wonderful story the story of the shepherds is full of music with angels singing of glory from the skies and words in that music pointing them to bethlehem to find the baby lying in the manger this shall be assigned to you the wise have come from the east following the silence of a star and that silence as they travel and their own discernment is crucial to the story naturally enough as we saw yesterday they are seeking a king and so they go to the royal palace and find their king headed who when he hears what their quest is asks his own wise exactly where messiah is destined to be born according to the prophets and they tell him bethlehem and herod in his alarm and fear tells lies to the wise men and says to them go and search diligently for this child and when you find him come and tell me and i can go and pay homage to and the wise go off once again following the star until they come to the place where the child is lying there with mary his mother as in matthew tells us and they enter and still no doubt in their silence for what good our words to a newborn baby they kneel down and mark the end of their quest they bring gifts and that really well-known carol which you heard before our little service started this morning we three kings of orienta bearing gifts traverse afar field and fountain moore and mountain following yonder star is important in that it sets out the meaning of the gift born a king on bethlehem plain gold i bring to crown him again and frankincense to offer have i incense owns a deity nye and finally mer is mine its bitter perfume breathes the life of gathering gloom sorrowing sighing bleeding dying sealed in the stone cold tomb and finally glorious now behold him arise king and god and sacrifice heaven cries hallelujah hallelujah the earth replies it's a wonderful explanation for the three gifts have mystic meaning as another hymn tells us one of the epiphany hymns and the mystic meaning gives not only the prophetic fulfillment of one of david's royal line who himself eschews the title of king when standing in mostly in silence before pilate are you the king of the jews king is your word and yet she is born of david's royal line but a very different kind of king a shepherd king as the prophet says just as david was but this one with eternal and infinite dimensions and then the frankincense incense burner's prayers to the deity and finally the mayor the most terrifying gift of all no wonder mary pondered in her heart for mary is meant for embalming and at the end of the gospel ma will be brought again for the embalming of the one who has fulfilled his vocation as our christ as our messiah when i say our i mean all the nations of the world and all the denominations of the christian church right to the end sorrowing sighing bleeding dying and then glorious now behold him arise a daily fact as the sun comes up that we may know the light of christ far more powerful and more eternal even than the bright sunshine in the eastern sky but this feast is full of those kinds of dimensions and over the weeks which follow this feast those signs those dimensions of what the vocation of the christ will be and what it will mean to those who claim it is explored in the church's calendar and that will lead us right up to the feast of candle mass as february begins this year it's going to be a fairly hard time for those of us in the united kingdom and for many more of you across the world because of the pandemic and as i said before the hospitality and this is also a feast of hospitality for the three kings enter into the place where mary and joseph and jesus will give them hospitality as they kneel before him but hospitality is something that we find it hard to give at present for we are locked into family bubbles of companionship but beyond that everything we do has to be imaginative and above all else loving and encouraging for we gain that from others too when someone encourages us it's as though a light has been turned on and when love is shown in a dark place again it's as though a light has been turned on epiphany is a time of light it's what its word derives from it's a showing as though the lighters come on and suddenly with light you realize everything i remember my going first to bethlehem and we celebrated a communion on the shepherd's fields many of you will have done this and then we got down into bethlehem itself and went to the church of the nativity and on many christmas cards even as a child looking at them on the mantle piece in my parents home i would see the silver star which was placed over the spot where jesus was believed to have been born and by the main delay and i imagined this great star rather like our uh our sign of the anglican communion in the middle of the transepts underneath the nave it canterbury cathedral a vast piece across the floor and we went into the church in the nativity you were laughing already because you know what i'm going to say if you've been there and on the side of the walls are figures ancient figures of the wise men arriving but no sign of the star nothing like the compass rose in canterbury cathedral the sign of our anglican communion strand of the holy catholic church and then i was led down the steps down the steps to the point down below where the sight of jesus's birth is and there underneath the altar is the small silver star it's a custom to kiss that place not only as a sign of homage but also as a sign of intense love and so down on my knees i went and had to bend under the altar to perform that act of homage to something so small it was an act requiring humility on my part just as it was an act of humility on the part of the creator the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and bethlehem was the beginning of all that and the tiny silver star not needing to be big for beautiful things grow from tiny beginnings both there and also within ourselves so let's commit ourselves on this beautiful feast of epiphany to be encouraging lights to one another during this dreadful time for humanity of pandemic and this time needing so much patience in lockdown but we know that step by step we will come through and step by step and day by day the christian year will again unfold and epiphany will take us through to candle mass and candlemas to lent and lynch through to passion tide and to easter and to ascension tide and pentecost beyond by which time we pray we may be able to come together in real acts of hospitality and love let's say our prayers on this day with that hope in our hearts [Applause] we're praying today for all the christian denominations throughout the world for those of us keeping the feast of the epiphany and also for those who are at christmas eve and ready to keep the feast of christmas tomorrow and on this night to celebrate the coming of the christ at a midnight mass in the eastern church while we in the west celebrate our epiphany and the light of christ so we pray to for our anglican communion for justin our archbishop and even more so today because this is his birthday born on the feast of the epiphany so happy birthday to archbishop dustin and we hope that he has a really wonderful day and then also we pray for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth in the communion we pray for the diocese of abuja in nigeria and in the diocese we pray for all those within our bones who are of the orthodox faith and give thanks for them and for the dimension of their worship and spirituality which enriches our own faith bring your own prayers and intentions wherever you are in the world o god who by the leading of a star manifested your only son to the peoples of the earth mercifully grant that we who know you now by faith may at last behold your glory face to face through jesus christ our lord amen [Applause] so we say each in our own language the prayer which jesus taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men moment of silence now as we make our own prayers christ who by his coming at christmas time and by the revelation of his epiphany to those who came from distant lands fill you with the lightness and brightness of that epiphany in your daily life that you may be an encouraging light to others at times of darkness and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh oh jesus i [Music] ah [Music] you