This Sunday we celebrated Epiphany at our services. Epiphany is the part of the Christmas story when we hear about 3 wise men riding on camels following an unusually bright star that appeared in the sky.
Mark talked about the different gifts in the story.
One critical gift is the star itself. The star was seen by these wise travellers who were students of the skies. We don’t know if there were 3 but we do know they lived by being on the move navigating change.
This star was unique, a star they’ve never seen before and they made the decision to follow it. They took a risk and they decided to do this together as a team. They remained committed to keep on course whatever the challenges, including coming across King Herod’s paranoia and his attempt to corrupt them. But they kept choosing to stay true.
The gift of the star led them to a place where they found an extraordinary gift; a child. They knelt down and worshipped him, unpacking the gifts that they had carried safely in their luggage and gave them to Jesus. Gifts that were signposts on the road that stretched out into Jesus’ future.
We all stand at the start of a new year 2024 and we are all travellers in this world. We are all carrying luggage, our own baggage with room to pack gifts, kept safe to share with others and the gifts of our learning and our skills to serve in the world.
We are all looking for a light to follow, a light that shines brighter than the glitz of things around us.
Years later the baby grew into a man. Jesus said "I am the light of the world” (John 8.12) and “Come follow me”. (Matt 3.19).
We have been given the gift to know that Jesus himself is the light to show us the way. Since this first Christmas people have heard his voice and followed him. As travellers we are asked to believe in Jesus to show us the way, to shine as bright as that first star, so together we can accept God’s gift of life on the road.
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