Epiphany!

Epiphany, Sunday 8^th January 2012

St Mary’s, Kemptown, Brighton

Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

So, Christmas is over.....it’s time to move on! The turkey has been well and truly eaten, the presents unwrapped, the cards have been taken down, and the tinsel around the tree has been packed away for another year! So what now? Is that it? Not quite! In many places the crib is still up awaiting the arrival of the Magi, coming to pay homage to the infant Jesus.

So enmeshed within the whole Christmas narrative is the story of the “Three Wise Men” who travel from the east that it is easy just to think of it as another rather lovely part of the traditional nativity story. I’m sure there are those here this morning who have sat through nativity plays over the years and are familiar with the portrayal of the wise men. It has become such a part of the DNA of the Christmas story that we somehow come to suppose that there were three of them, and even go to the extent of giving them names. Do Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar ring any bells? Yet, the truth is that we simply don’t know how many there were, even less what they were called. Those facts are not given to us. But we are comforted by the familiarity of the story that we have grown to love over generations.

But far from being a cosy tale that nicely wraps up the Christmas season, when we read the gospel account of the visit of the Wise Men, we read a story of intrigue that looks like it might come straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. Intercepted by a violent and brutal king, they are interrogated by Herod and ordered to report back on the child’s whereabouts. Yet, after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they return home by a different route. So enraged is Herod at being double crossed, in his desperation to track down the infant Jesus he orders what is now known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

The contrast is stark! A mad power-crazed despot who will stop at nothing to remain in power on the one hand, even the murder of children. On the other hand we have a group of men who have travelled a great distance to pay homage to the infant Jesus. The risk they endured during that journey would have been great. Although they were men of great importance, they were also outsiders. They were not part of the Jewish community that had come to expect deliverance from their oppressors. They didn’t belong! Why would they even want to make such a dangerous journey when they weren’t even really certain where it was they were heading? Yet it was a journey they felt compelled to make. There was something that drew them onwards as they made their way towards their unknown destination.

The Israelites had very jealously guarded their close relationship with God. The Old Testament gives us account after account of them being delivered from various scrapes. And, although often quite rebellious at times, they had faith in their covenant with God that one day they would be delivered from all that had gone before them. And when eventually the day comes, amongst the first to recognise the significance of Jesus were these men from a far off country. It is interesting that these strangers were the first to come and pay homage. It is almost as though the Israelites were so caught up in how they thought they would be delivered, that when the moment comes, quite unexpectedly they take their eyes off the ball and miss it. Yet how often do they eyes of a stranger notice things that we often take for granted or don’t even see at all?

One of the things I love about Brighton is its celebration of difference. It is a town which embraces the outsider! Especially here in Kemptown, you only need to step outside for a moment to experience the wonderful diversity that comes with a walk along St James Street or the Sea-Front. People are drawn to this place often because it is somewhere they feel accepted and included. And from time to time hopefully they feel drawn into our churches and find a welcome that perhaps they weren’t really expecting.

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah has that great prophecy “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you..........Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn”. It is of course, a foretelling of the events in our gospel reading as it speaks of other nations being drawn to the light. It’s easy maybe to get so caught up in the beauty and poetry of the words that we lose sight of the radical inclusivity of its message. No longer was the loving embrace of God something to be enjoyed only by the select few......it was for all! Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians speaks of how the great mystery of Christ is now available to all and breaks down any barrier between Jew and Gentile.

The coming of Christ into the world was certainly not an exclusive event. It wasn’t some kind of stage-managed, multi-media, celebrity extravaganza with the rights sold to Hello magazine! It wasn’t God setting himself apart to somehow demonstrate how great he was. Rather it was God entering into the messiness of our everyday humanity. Through his Incarnation he embraced all. Interestingly, there is no account of the wise men converting away from whatever beliefs they hold. Perhaps they did, maybe they didn’t! We are simply told that they come and pay homage and then head back home by a different route.

As we celebrate the great Feast of the Epiphany today we do so in the footsteps of those who were first drawn to the Light. Perhaps we don’t have expensive gifts to bring, maybe we don’t always believe the “right” things, but we bring ourselves, in all our weird and wonderful mixed-up diversity. And through the great mystery of his Incarnation Christ gives himself to us......and that is the greatest gift of all.

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit +

AMEN

2^nd Sunday in Advent, 4^th December 2011

St Michael and All Angels, Brighton

Isa 40:1-11, 2 Pet 3:8-15a, Mk 1:1-8

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

It’s Christmas time again! Yes, it’s that time of year when, wherever you turn, you simply can’t escape the fact that it’s Christmas. Those lovely twinkling lights that I walk past on North Street as I make my way from Kemptown these last couple of weeks. The adverts on the TV helpfully reminding us to go to this store or the other to buy the latest “must have” presents. And of course the annual treat of turning the radio on and hearing Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas is You”. It’s all a wonderful reminder that we are in the Christmas season!

Except of course that we are not. Not yet! We may be forgiven for thinking that we are. Because, although we know that Christmas is on its way, it’s not here yet! As Father Raymond reminded us last week, we are in a period of preparation in these weeks leading up to the birth of Jesus. So perhaps to go mad with excitement just now is a little premature!

Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation, and each week during Advent has its own particular focus, and on this Second Sunday of Advent the church focuses upon the “Prophets”. Those giants of the Old Testament who often perhaps seem so stern and foreboding! The popular image of the prophet is often that of a crazy eyed religious zealot making stern pronouncements in the name of a God who seems to be continually mad at the way people have moved away from him. There is the reputation that prophets sometimes have as a sort of divine fortune teller, yet to reduce their role to something not far removed from the astrology column of a newspaper does a great disservice to their real significance.

What both the gospel and the Old Testament reading that it echo’s this morning emphasise, is the role of the prophet of one who prepares. One who lays the land, who gets the people ready. The gospel opens with the declaration, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness; “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mk 1:2-3). It speaks of course, of John the Baptist whose role it was to declare the coming of Christ and get the people ready for the one who was to come.

Now, while I’m certainly no building engineer or architect, I’m pretty sure that this wonderful building we worship in today didn’t just appear overnight. Plans were drawn up, the land was made ready and foundations were dug. Each step in the process took time, and without any particular component the actual building just would not have been able to take place. To just hastily erect a church (or any building) without a very thorough period of preparation would have simply been a recipe for disaster.

 I’m sure many of you have been here when the wind is blowing hard outside up here on a hill; I’ve had that experience myself a few times over the last couple of weeks. The creaks and strange noises that often happen at such times give us all the more reason to be thankful for all the careful preparation and planning that went into the building of this place.

What if Jesus had just suddenly appeared completely out of the blue? What if the Bible we have today consisted solely of the twenty seven books of the New Testament and nothing else? No historical context, no back-story, simply the sudden appearance of a baby in a manger who turns out to be the Son of God! How very different our story would look then. Yet the whole of the Bible in its many different ways prepares for, and leads up to, the coming of the one who, in the Incarnation, brings God into the messiness of our world. Over generations the ground was laid and made ready until the time was right for the event that was to change the whole of creation.

I have to confess, I’m not the greatest in the world at waiting for things. There are times like going on holiday, my birthday.....and yes, even Christmas when I’m like a big kid and just want it to happen now! Occasions like these are among the few times that even now I actually bounce out of bed in the morning at some unearthly hour full of excitement and wanting it to happen now. Loathe sometimes as I may be to admit it, the build-up, preparation and anticipation is all part of what makes these times so special. They don’t just suddenly appear as isolated moments in our life.

Here in this Second Week of Advent we come together not simply as a group of individuals, but as a community. A community on a shared journey of wonder and discovery as we gradually get closer to the moment when God came and dwelt amongst us, sharing our humanity and inviting us to be partakers of his divinity. Let us not rush that journey. When all around us seem to be frantically looking for instant satisfaction, let us take a moment to slow down and savour this time of waiting. Step away, even if it is only for a few minutes each day from the busyness of our everyday life and be still with our Lord. A time of reflection, of anticipation. A time of joy.....and yes, of gradual excitement. Events such as the Beach Hut Advent Calendar on Hove sea-front over the next few weeks are an excellent opportunity to present the Advent story  as one of looking forward with hope to our Lord’s coming. May those who visit the beach huts come away with a sense of wonder and excitement at the message they hear.

As John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ, let us prepare ourselves for Christ. Both as we celebrate his Incarnation as a helpless infant in a manger, and as we look forward to his coming again as we heard in the epistle reading. As the writer of the epistle exhorts each of us, “Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Pet 2:14-15a).

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN