Epiphany - Journey’s end??

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So we’ve reached the feast of Epiphany. The magi from the east have found the Christ child. They’ve presented their gifts. They’ve worshipped. And they travel home by a different road. They ignore the wails of a threatened tyrant and return from the child different people having been surprised where they found him and what he looked like. 

Epiphany is a making clear what God intends for us all along: to seek him, to find him and to enjoy him. We don’t do a lot of enjoying in the church! We worry a lot how to keep it going. BUT! To have a future we need to do far more celebrating of what God is up to. For that to happen we need to make our own journey spiritually. And every day get our focus right. 

Tonight the church in my patch that has perhaps had the largest numbers out from the village, our LEP in Grewelthorpe had an Epiphany party. 85 of us enjoyed a concert of village talents, copious amounts of wine (not for me driving home on an icy night) and a huge supper. We ended the concert with while shepherds watched which ends that the work of God has begun - and will never cease. Thanks be to God! 

Thank you for reading these daily reflections since Advent Sunday. I’m glad to know people have been reading them! I’ll be back in Lent with a mixture of written and by request some recorded talks will be back! Two of my school friends wrote lovely things about my wittering for last Sunday recorded on Christmas Eve. 

Let me finish these seasonal ramblings with the wise Jan Richardson. She hits the nail on the head what the journey we’ve been on and need to make again and again means…

HOW THE STARS GET IN YOUR BONES

Sapphire, diamond, emerald, quartz: think of every hard thing that carries its own brilliance, shining with the luster that comes only from uncountable ages in the earth, in the dark, buried beneath unimaginable weight, bearing what seemed impossible, bearing it still.

And you, shouldering the grief you had thought so solid, so impermeable, the terrible anguish you carried as a burden now become— who can say what day it happened?— a beginning.

See how the sorrow in you slowly makes its own light, how it conjures its own fire.

See how radiant even your despair has become in the grace of that sun.

Did you think this would happen by holding the weight of the world, by giving in to the press of sadness and time?

I tell you, this blazing in you— it does not come by choosing the most difficult way, the most daunting; it does not come by the sheer force of your will.

It comes from the helpless place in you that, despite all, cannot help but hope, the part of you that does not know how not to keep turning toward this world, to keep turning your face toward this sky, to keep turning your heart toward this unendurable earth, knowing your heart will break but turning it still.

I tell you, this is how the stars get in your bones.

This is how the brightness makes a home in you, as you open to the hope that burnishes every fractured thing it finds and sets it shimmering, a generous light that will not cease, no matter how deep the darkness grows, no matter how long the night becomes. 

Still, still, still the secret of secrets keeps turning in you, becoming beautiful, becoming blessed, kindling the luminous way by which you will emerge, carrying your shattered heart like a constellation within you, singing to the day that will not fail to come.

—Jan Richardson

from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings

The fifth day of January - hard journeys

This scene rather amused me when I saw it in church the other day. The three kings done in! How might the story have ended? They could have been slaughtered by Herod for stirring the pot. Today, Herod might have sent the military to Bethlehem to capture his rival or deal with these strange visitors threatening him. 

Or maybe we can read the scene differently. Maybe the magi need a sleep after all that travelling and excitement. They had an angel warn them in a dream not to return to Herod, so they must have had a sleep. 

Whatever, how the story ends is up to us. What we do with it is up to us. The church is here to remind people of the story. After Christmas it’s okay to be exhausted! Don’t rush into January too quickly. Rest in where the journey has taken us before rushing on. Even Mary and Joseph must have needed to switch off after everything they went through. I noticed in a nativity scene also in church the other day both of them had toppled over! 

I don’t blame them. 

The fourth day of January - Travelling

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As January opens and we face reality after holiday, we need a bit of communal escapism. The Traitors for example  is TV we talk about. The next day. And we look forward to see how the next episode goes. We join in working out what’s going on. It lifts our spirits. We see these communal discussion moments rarely. When J R Ewing was shot on Dallas, when Den divorced Angie on what is still the most watched Eastenders episode ever, when we found out how huge dramas like Happy Valley and Line of Duty ended. Often the ending to the drama was nothing like we thought it would be. Or we are disappointed with the ending having painstakingly journeyed with the story. We watched a film like that the other day. I’ll not tell you what it was in case you loved it!  

At the beginning of a New Year we commemorate the feast of the Epiphany: the revelation and manifestation of God’s Son to the whole world through the visitation of the wise magi from the East to see the young Jesus, the promised King. 

I was in a restaurant on Friday night. I overheard incredulity from one person to another:

“Have you still got your tree up?” “Yes!” And the person thought that clearly silly. We’ve put Christmas away. We’ve seen Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in the manger and some shepherds visiting. That’s the end of the story isn’t it? Well actually it isn’t.  

The events of Epiphany took place a long time after Jesus was born. There’s no mention of the manger or the overcrowded Bethlehem that Luke wrote about in Matthew’s Gospel.

The magi are pretty interesting. Traditionally they are the ‘three kings.’ But there’s nothing to say there were only three of them. Also, it might be more accurate to describe them as magicians. The Greek word for ‘magi’ originally referred to Zoroastrian priests who studied astronomy and astrology. Though the term was used more widely than this. 

‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

It was common practice in those days to link astronomical happenings with the birth of great men. The Wise Men were hoping to find the King who would bring an end to war and suffering and injustice. They were hoping to find the King who would bring everlasting love and joy and peace to this world.

There was an air of expectation so palpable that anyone with eyes could see something momentous was about to happen. Let’s step aside from the Bible for a moment and see what else was being written around the time of Jesus’ birth.

In the year 37 BCE, the poet Virgil wrote his Fourth Eclogue, a beautifully written poem about the immanent expectation of a man sent down from heaven whose birth would inaugurate a new age. Two Roman historians, Tacitus and Suetonius, wrote of the expectation of a world leader to arise out of Judea.

It was also a common expectation of the day that a sign from the heavens would accompany such a momentous event. There were plenty of impressive portents from which to choose. Jesus was likely born in what we would now call 4 BCE. Seven years before Jesus’ birth, Halley’s Comet made its circuit through our skies. Three years before Jesus’ birth, Jupiter and Saturn were in alignment three times. The planet Jupiter signified a king while Saturn was routinely associated with the Jews. This would have fueled Herod’s insecurity and local political and religious speculation. Finally, a year before Jesus’ birth, Chinese astronomers recorded sighting a supernova, a bright light suddenly appearing in the night sky.

What all of this tells us is that, independent of the Bible, we can read of a relatively common expectation at the turn of the era that momentous change was coming. Furthermore, that change was expected to be noted with signs in the heavens.

Historians suggest that it took over two years for the Wise Men to find Jesus. They may not have fully understood what it pointed to, but God was guiding them in a special way and they were curious to find out where it was leadingThey’d planned for this journey for ages. They had to trust that the message they had read in the stars really was from God and was leading them to something special. They were among the first to recognise the significance of this little child. And they arrived at the Holy Family’s humble dwelling to kneel before the Christ child and offer him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, gifts reserved for a king. Their journey was one of faith from beginning to end and it was filled with purpose and significance. 

Of course, the magi encountered many obstacles along the way on their journey: they got lost a few times, took some wrong turns, had to be warned by angels in their dreams, and encountered a dangerous trickster and enemy named King Herod. Scholars estimate it took the magi two years to actually arrive at the feet of Jesus before taking a very different way back home, in order to protect the young king from murder. Their many delays are why we liturgically celebrate the wisemen’s arrival on January 6th—the Feast of the Epiphany — not on Christmas Day.  

Here is the truth of this event to lead us into 2026…

In the story of the magi, at the beginning of another year,we recognise that we, too, are on a journey; we, too, will encounter and face trials and tribulations, make wrong turns, require the help of God and angelic beings, face danger, and will gain enemies along the way. But we are urged on in our journey not to give up, not to get bogged down and can only plodge, there’s a good Northumbrian word which literally means wading through mud. Those moments on a journey challenging as they may be, we must try to “keep on keeping on,” knowing that life is a seeking of something better ahead of us all the time.

The ultimate story of our journeys will have a good ending  even more exciting than the Traitors if we press on, just like the journey of the magi. It will end at the feet of Christ the King, where we, too, ragged and weary as we may be, will finally get to bow down and worship our Lord, finding our healing and redemption by God’s grace.  

God called out to the Magi from the heavens or they would have never found Jesus. God, not the Magi, initiated the Magi’s quest. God guided them to their destination though the Magi never knew where exactly where their journey would take them. Yet, the Magi played their part as they did not simply stay home admiring the star in the sky. They hit the road, enduring all the troubles of travel including having to go against the local king, Herod, when they neared their destination. Yet all of their actions came second. God initiated the journey.

We may think that we are spiritual seekers, we are the ones on a quest for God’s presence. But that’s not the way scripture presents the story. Scripture tells us that God is the seeker. God is revealing God’s own self to us in the creation, in scripture, in our very life experience. We are asked only to open our eyes, to see, and then respond as the Magi did in coming to adore the one who made us and then entered human history to redeem us. 

During an interview before his death on 29 November 2001, after fighting a long battle with cancer, former Beatle George Harrison was interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine about the important issues in his life.

He said: Everything else in life can wait but the search for God cannot wait. And that’s so true.

The search for God is, I believe, the most important issue each one of us will face in our lives. Don’t you agree? 

Let me end like this. The poet Godfrey Rust sets the Magi in London. This is rather special…

Coming as they did from the first century
they had a few problems with London traffic
and were seriously misled by signs
to the Angel and King's Cross.

Inquiring diligently about the star
they were referred to Patrick Moore 
who said while he hadn’t actually seen God he would keep an eyebrow raised.

In Harrods the camels
made a mess over Soft Furnishings.

On the Underground
commuters glared at No Smoking signs
as incense wafted gently through the carriages,

and when the great day came
they saw the entire voting population
slumped on sofas by four o'clock,
rendered senseless by too much
dead poultry and the Queen,

while over Liberty's and Hamley's
the flickering angels sang
Glory to God in the High St

and they found him,
with the inns full up once more,
in the old familiar place,
bringing their unregarded gifts
to the empty stable 
of the human heart 
where the infant Christ is born
again and again.

 

Creator of the heavens,

who led the Magi by a star

to worship the Christ-child:

guide and sustain us,

that we may find our journey’s end

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The second day of January - Traitors

Rev Richard Coles had this lovely quote about world events on the Today programme this morning: 

​“I was worried that the twist in The Traitors format might get bumped off the Today programme by the terrible fire in Switzerland, or the health of the President of the United States, or collapse of the world order, but no here it is. Hoping they’ll get a comment from the Prime Minister and the Archbishop-elect.”

As January opens and we face reality, we need a bit of communal escapism. The Traitors is TV we talk about. The next day. And we look forward to see how the next episode goes. We join in working out what’s going on. It lifts our spirits.

It seems to me everyone needs something to look forward to. The M and S in Durham this afternoon was full of Easter eggs. 

People are already planning summer holidays, I’ve messages about Lent and Easter to deal with and the city council here are wanting views about the Christmas lights for this year - now! Keir Starmer, our Prime Minister says it’s going to be better. But do we believe him?

What, as Christians, have we to look forward to, talk about, engage about, enthuse about? Surely it is hope. We know a God who has the next episode planned, who has more of the story ahead, who invites us to watch and see how things might be ahead. I like what the theologian Jurgen Moltmann had to say about hope:

 

Do we after two days of a New Year refuse to accept the world as it is and insist on the world as it will be? What have we to share? Well I think the late Billy Graham had it right. He once said it’s all going to be okay. “I know the end of the story” he said, “we win!” 

So let’s see what opens up to us this year and talk about it. Let’s spend time watching and debating. We do it with the Traitors. How about we do it with God? Who is that secret traitor? My money is on the ex detective Amanda!

New Years Day - keeping focus

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So here we are in 2026. How’s it going so far? My last lie in I guess for a bit and some jobs round the house maybe… Traitors at 8pm! 

The Church Times had a headline this week “Fear not, bishops tell the faithful at Christmas.” We begin 2026 with the world precariously unstable. There’s a lot of “fear not” in the story we’ve just celebrated and it’s there 365 times in the Bible. I keep writing that I know! 

Yesterday I took a trip to Auckland Project in County Durham. As well as a quick look at the palace and learning about the power of the Prince Bishops in history, I went to the fabulous Faith museum. It really is fabulous, much bigger than I thought it would be. You need a few hours to do it justice. Over Christmas there’s been a Neapolitan nativity on display. It has 400 figures in it. 

 

It was fascinating to watch the time people of all ages were spending looking at it. It was almost escapism in them. I like what the founder of the Auckland Project says about interacting with it.

 “How strange it seems in today’s world. But as we look at it, the magic which captured the hearts of 18th century Neopolitans captures our hearts too. Glance at the others as they look at what you’ve been looking at. It’s the radiance of the smile, not the reverence of the knee which marks the experience. And yet, perhaps despite ourselves, we are wistful for a simpler world, and here we find it.” 

“Fear not” - maybe that’s the message the Church takes into 2026. Gaze on the glory of God. Take time to see it and hear of it and share it. I’ve written a text this morning about the year ahead. I take on new responsibilities in September. I wrote I hope for churches that smile at what they do rather than stress at what they can’t do. 

This year that has passed I’ve seen the churches I serve change focus. We have spent a lot of time meeting people where they are. Through conversation and encounter and acceptance where people are is the call of the church. I have so many people talk to me who are frightened. We need to walk through that fear with them. One of my favourite writers Barbara Brown Taylor warns what happens if we lose the point:

So my hope for 2026 is we remain people who meet others where they are. In bereavement, in uncertainty, in pain, in joy. And we need to have more time for this work. The incoming Archbishop this new year has it right.

“The role of the church should be a healing presence in our nation, bringing people together at times of often intense division, caring deeply for those who need our help.” “Fear not!”

The world as scary as the bit in the Sound of Music which is on this afternoon when the Nazis come to find the Von Trapps in the convent. I’ve seen the film over and over but it’s as scary as ever. That’s where people are at the beginning of 2026. Let us pray for us all confidence, peace and hope in God and let us be people who live smiling at what we see God doing even when it’s mad out there. Did you see what a certain President posted on truth social over Christmas? Lord have mercy…

New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day

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We’ve just thawed out after being out in the city for new year celebrations. There were fireworks! Before them there was a watchnight service in the cathedral. However you mark it, in church, at a party, getting too drunk, watching Jools Holland or just not bothering, the turn of the year reminds us that time doesn’t stand still. The world turns. And there are times of human turning. So that’s why people make resolutions. The turn of the year in some people is a physical and mental and spiritual moment to be able to start again especially if the last year wasn’t good or things need to change.

 

In her sermon in the cathedral, Bishop Anna preached on Ecclesiastes chapter 3: “for everything there is a season under heaven.” She emphasised the words “under heaven.” 

Stuff happens. We don’t know why stuff happens, good stuff or bad stuff and we don’t know why God sends stuff. Every year has its mixture. The teacher of Ecclesiastes says we just need to live! The invitation is to live every moment. We are to live every moment of celebration and joy and through the difficult ones with prayer and confidence we are not alone. 

We had lit candles to process with to the market square where the Bishop was to bless the city. They blew out as we walked out into the wind. It might be hard to keep the light alive this coming year but we have to keep trying. We have fireworks I think tonight to light up the darkness and to say there can be celebration in everything. 

So Happy New Year everyone. I love this cartoon from a website I discovered today. Part of the turning is we’ve made it through another various year to use Charles Wesley’s phrase about divine providence so whatever we’ve been through God has been there. And that’s really worth getting your blower thing out about! More new year thoughts later. I’ve now thawed out at 2.38am after a cup of mulled wine and a cup of ribena. It really was raw out there tonight!  

 

The sixth day of Christmas - Death

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I’ve had a day thinking about death. There’s cheery! 

I had a funeral this morning of a very quiet little Italian lady who came to church but always slipped out at the end of the service. When I visited her there was little conversation, perhaps because English was her second language. I think her family were shocked how many were there. We discovered afterwards how many different groups in the city she belonged to. 

This afternoon I met another family to plan a funeral for 12 January. I heard of two other people in our mission area who have passed on, one after fighting cancer very bravely, a dear soul who played the organ at our Ellington chapel and ran a catering business which catered for funerals - and the other living a long life. She was one of the founder members of our Harrogate Road church. I also have a funeral on 8 January and the widow is worrying there’s a snow bomb forecast that day. 

I was at the hospital in Harrogate tonight and my visit included a discussion about heaven, and then dressed for work I was stopped by a young girl whose mother narrowly escaped death after a head on collision and she also told me her father was murdered last year. She wanted to talk! Then as I was having a quiet hot chocolate in the cafe area, a lady in tears asked me to pray for her father who is on end of life care. I held her hand and prayed for him and her. I heard her tell her daughter “I really appreciated that.” Likewise my steward at church told me this morning I always take a good funeral. 

What is there to say about death in the Christmas season? I spoke this morning about God coming as Immanuel - God with us, and that not just being for a few days and all frothy and light but an abiding with us in life’s trouble and through death and with the promise of eternity. The passage used so often in funerals is where John records the words of Jesus - Immanuel - saying do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. Jesus comes into mess and takes on death and shows us it isn’t the end of the story. If Jesus comes as Immanuel, that being one with us is there in pain, in confusion, in death and in life beyond it. He says do not be afraid. I love the fact that do not be afraid appears 365 times in the Bible - a word for every day. You can be afraid when there is a February 29! 

Our late lamented pastoral tutor at college Dr David Dunn Wilson used to tell us as ministers we need to be experts in death. At Christmas we remember the entry of God into the reality of the world and that includes death. Death is real. It is hard. It isn’t nothing at all. You get round it. With help! But it cannot defeat us. That’s the good news of the Gospel. Immanuel isn’t just about Christmas, he’s about sharing life with us, dying and rising.

My service book which I received as an ordination present from the then Harpenden Circuit in 1999, is its most grubby in the funeral pages. I’ve taken a  lot of them. David Dunn Wilson also told us students at Hartley to always preach the Gospel at a funeral. 

What is it? Well… Jesus doesn’t abandon us. He is with us when it happens and leads us to whatever comes next. The good news of Christmas is that we are never alone and whatever we face even dying and being left behind to cope when we lose loved ones he gets it! 

I hope though for less death and talk of death after today! It’s getting as bad as when I was serving in County Durham and took five or six funerals a week and spent my days taking a service getting in a hearse to go to Darlington crem then returning, taking another service in church then getting in another hearse to go to Durham crem. It was mad! And don’t mention the day a complicated family had a punch up at a graveside or the man who sang Celeste with swearing and all in a service. Son of a gun!