This Sunday we celebrate Epiphany (although the actual feast day isn’t until the 6th). You will be very welcome to join me at All Saints Church, Culmstock at 10am for Holy Communion.

The characters in this part of the Nativity are vibrant and plentiful. The Holy Family themselves are quiet, not speaking a word, it is almost as if they do not need to be present.

It is Epiphany the final of the 12 days of Christmas and the end of the great feast. We must all return to work. A feast also known as the Three Kings Day when they take centre stage. They are indeed colourful characters coming from the East, we do not know exactly who they are, Matthew tells us only that they are Magi, a term which could be translated magician, or astronomer, or even astrologer. We refer to them as wise men, and they did indeed display that characteristic, although Matthew, our gospel writer, doesn’t describe them as such. Neither does Matthew refer to them as Kings, although we know them to be wealthy by their ability to travel and the gifts they store in their treasure chests. We can’t even be sure there are three of the men, or even that they were indeed all male. Due to the gifts we make assumptions. The Bible does not name these wise travellers, despite the words we sing in the Carol and the blessing of the lintel.

There is a 4^th king, or perhaps 54^th or 104^th, one who does have a name, but little wisdom, and that, of course is Herod.

And then there’s a star.

Woven into and throughout this short passage are prophecies and imagery, and today it is the star which guides me. There are various suggestion as to just what the star of Bethlehem might have been: Halley’s Comet, a Supernova, or the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune. This last seems the most likely, the dates for Halley’s Comet don’t quite fit, whereas Jupiter was known as the ‘royal’ planet and Saturn as a representative of the Jews.

The ancient world, innocent of streetlights, never forgot the night sky. Many people, particularly those to the east of Palestine, had developed the study of the stars and the planets to a fine art, giving each one very particular meanings. They believed, after all, that the whole world was of a piece; everything was interconnected, and when something important was happening on earth you could expect to see it in the heavens.

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone

There are prophecies fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, and others newly inspired by it. The star speaks for all of creation when it shines at the nativity, heralding the Messiah’s birth. The sky which is ablaze with joy, will become silent with grief the day Jesus dies. The ancient world understood better than we do how connected we are with all of creation, we are a mere part of it, not rulers over it. The stars and the heavens recognise the one who spun them into their being, as he creates a new identity for himself, that of a vulnerable human. The Magi, outsiders looking on from a distance, reveal our invitation to join his story, an invitation which Herod not only refuses, but uses as dynamite to bring death and devastation to others. The Herodian line was not one which ruled with gentleness or kindness. This Herod brings death to infants as he seeks to destroy the perceived threat Jesus brings; his son will succeed where his father fails.

Everything is connected. The earth and the heavens. Humanity and Divinity. Grace and generosity. Greed and fear. Jesus’ birth, and death.

And here we are: connected but disconnected too. We look to the stars for guidance, and in our villages with lessened light pollution we can see their pictures. We tread this Earth created by the God we worship, the one in whom we take our image, but still fail to recognise our connectedness with each other, our fellow creatures.

The characters in this part of the Nativity are plentiful. The Holy Family themselves are quiet, not speaking a word, it is almost as if they do not need to be present, the starlight shines upon the rest of the characters revealing their true identities, perhaps shining on us too.

The Magi reveal our invitation to join his story, an invitation which Herod not only refuses, but uses as dynamite to bring death and devastation to others. The Herodian line was not one which ruled with gentleness or kindness. This Herod brings death to infants as he seeks to destroy the perceived threat Jesus brings; his son will succeed where his father fails.

Everything is connected. The earth and the heavens. Humanity and Divinity. Grace and generosity. Greed and fear.

And here we are: connected but disconnected too. We look to the stars for guidance, but light pollution blurs their image. We tread this Earth created by the God we worship, the one in whom we take our image, but still fail to recognise our connection. This year let us look closely for a true Epiphany, a deeper revelation, of who Jesus truly is, and who we are in his image.