Isaiah 60:1-6,  Matthew 2: 1-12

How many of you have embarked on a new year resolution? How many have opted for a ‘Dry January’ and how many have ignored all such initiatives and reckon life can trundle on in its usual way? And here I will be honest and say that in recent years I have not made any New Year Resolutions as the clocks chime the midnight hour heralding the move from one year to the next. But this year I have, and the reason is this. My lovely Granddaughter gave me a pocket diary as well as a delightful jigsaw puzzle which we will do together at some point when she comes to stay. But the problem with the diary is that I had already bought one and started filling in dates and was reluctant just to ditch it. And then I remembered that at various times in the past I have kept a form of diary where each day I recorded something special, something that had given me joy and I resolved that I would once again renew that practice and begin on January 1^st  by  recording the joy of having a loving caring and generous Granddaughter who had given me the opportunity to renew my practice.

It is a practice that I think really helps  develop a new way of thinking where instead of being continually downcast by the news and all the awful things, and they are awful, that are happening in God’s world we look for the good; look for as it were proof that God’s love is still very alive and kicking despite the media’s almost blind perception of that fact. It could be as simple as seeing the first snowdrop to herald the breaking through of spring or a glorious sunset. It could be the sharing of a good cup of coffee and a catch up with a friend. It could simply be the sense of genuine thankfulness that in a world filled with increasing numbers of refugees and the homeless we all have a roof over our heads and food in our fridges and freezers. It could be hearing a glorious piece of music or having a really good book to read.  Life when we stop and carefully consider it is crammed full of things which give us pleasure, give us joy, and fill us with a very real sense of gratitude for all that we have been given.

Today we celebrate the Epiphany; the coming of those strangers from a far of eastern land who followed a star to discover the infant Jesus and, themselves overwhelmed with joy, presented him with symbolic gifts Strangers known variously as the three kings, the three wise men or the three magi.  Quite who they were or exactly where they came from is uncertain, but they have successfully captured people’s imagination which among other details has allotted them the wonderful names of Caspar, meaning ‘keeper of treasure’, Melchior meaning ‘king’ and Balthazar meaning ‘Bel protects the king.’   Over the centuries other traditions have sprung up concerning them with Caspar depicted as an older man with flowing white hair and a beard who represents Europe, Caspar is younger and deemed to come from Asia or the Arabian Peninsula while Balthazar became an African king.  Such depictions conveying the inherent message that Christ’s incarnation was intended to be for all people, old and young and from all around this earth which God has created for us, and not exclusively for the Jews. And in that fact alone is yet another joy to be added to my diary for today as we recognise the unalterable fact that each and every one of us is a child of God.

But whoever they were and wherever they came from and whether or not they did indeed travel from afar on  those camels that artists so love to portray the story of their presence at the birth of Jesus I think there is one really important part of their story for us to reflect upon this morning and that is in those final words of the gospel reading: ‘They left for their own country by another way.’ And for me this one short sentence has two distinct interpretations. The first is the one given in Matthew that they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod which is completely understandable given his reputation for ruthlessness whenever he perceived any threat to his rule   but the second is that their experience of seeing the Christ Child for themselves and recognising his divine kingship meant that life could never be the same again, They had literally  been given an ‘Epiphany’, a moment of sudden and great revelation  as to just  who this child was and  surely at the same time  some form of understanding of  God’s purpose in sending his only Son to us and, in that miraculous  epiphany, that understanding, had been ‘overwhelmed with joy.’ For them there was from now on a new road to travel along when they would share their knowledge, their moment of epiphany with others and help begin the spread of the gospel, the good news of Christ’s coming way beyond the boundaries of Israel and ultimately to the furthest corners of God’s world.

And surely what we are called to learn from the celebration of Epiphany is to recognise that all of us have been called to follow if not a star a definite call to worship this morning and as we too have ‘knelt in homage’ pray that we might experience our own personal epiphany and be shown another clear and distinct  and I hope joy filled way to live out our lives in this coming year. A way in which we like the magi can help spread the gospel, sharing the good news of Christ the Saviour’s redeeming love in this broken and damaged world where other Herods seek to crush and destroy all opposition to their rule. As Christians on a lifelong pilgrimage we are called not to follow the road of riches, selfish gain, envy, greed and power seeking as Herod did and as so many do but the road so beautifully described in Colossians as the road of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. The road that surely Christ himself took that led from that humble stable in Bethlehem to the cross on Calvary.  A road of discovery if we learn to look about us and discover more and more signs of God’s love bringing light into this darkened world. A road on which we will undoubtedly meet a great mixture of God’s children and in sharing God’s love with them hope and pray that they too can by God’s grace experience their own personal epiphany of God’s presence in their lives. A road when we will discover the truth of the psalmist’s words: ‘Happy are the people whose strength is in you! Whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.’  There should surely be as part of our Christian witness a willingness to allow ourselves to be shown and to follow  another way; another way  of sharing our lives with God and with others so that in that sharing we too may know the happiness the psalmist speaks of and the  joy experienced by Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar  as they knelt in homage before they too returned home by another road and  maybe like me you  can day by day  add such joy to  your own personal  record of the coming year.

I would like to end with this prayer poem by Ian Adams which so beautifully expresses that call to seek an unknown road at the start of this New Year