Epiphany
Called to Worship
7 January 2023
The Epiphany of the Lord First Reading ‡ Isaiah 60:1-6The glory of the Lord shines upon you. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 71:1-2.7-8.10-13Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. Second Reading ‡ Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6The revelation means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body. Gospel ‡ Matthew 2:1-12We have…
Invited to mission
2 January 2022
Each of the Gospels begins with the baptism of Jesus – launches his public ministry (next week)Each has an overture – like a piece of music that introduces us to mood and main themes.Matthew is no different. 2 chapters that situate the action of his genealogy and birth. He wrote his gospel after Mark, in…
Baptism – The longing of God
10 January 2021
Christmas, Epiphany, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
O come to the water, all you who are thirsty!Though you have no silver, come, eat, and be satisfied! This is the invitation that God so longs for us to hear. A constant longing for us to hear the invitation to be in relationship with God. To have nothing hold us back from being with…
Not so weird Magi (Epiphany)
2 January 2021
Christmas, Epiphany, Seasons, Solemnity
Do you know that I am weird? There is also a more than fair chance that I’m not the only weird person here today! Statistically, we talk about people who are most likely going to be surveyed by researchers. Unfortunately, most of them share something in common: they are weird. WEIRD is an acronym –…
Mystery revealed
7 January 2018
The key to understanding what this feast day of the Epiphany is all about is not so much in the specific details of these strange visitors from the East coming to offer gifts and worship to the newborn king of Israel, but in the bigger picture of what these magi represent. We heard last Sunday…
Strangers of Epiphany
8 January 2017
Although there is nothing in the Gospel of Matthew about camels, kings or even how many of the strange magi visited the child Jesus and his mother Mary – there are enough details to provide much pondering. The first chapter of Matthew’s gospel – although we are given a full (stylised) rendering of the genealogy…
Epiphany – the choice of the Magi
3 January 2016
In considering the account of the Magi arriving in Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the gospel is already richly told. Even so, many traditions, legends and carols have added all kinds of details to the story, most of which cannot be supported by the text itself. When the magi arrive in Jerusalem, they would first have…
Epiphany – the nativity in the Gospel of Matthew
4 January 2015
So we arrive at the feast of the Epiphany and the customary three wise men make their way from their hiding place elsewhere on the sanctuary or in the sacristy to their appointed places in the manger nativity scene, joining the shepherds, angels and animals in adoration beside the holy family. All very standard and…
Every nation may come and worship
5 January 2014
In the Gospel of Luke, it is the lowly and outcast shepherds who are the first to visit the child Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem; in the Gospel of Matthew, it is foreign magi who have journeyed for weeks, if not months, to come and seek the new-born king of the Jews. What is…
Baptisms and pillows
13 January 2013
Christmas, Discipleship, Epiphany, Seasons, Teaching
Gathering to celebrate the Eucharist on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the liturgy provides fantastic images to reflect upon. From the prophet Isaiah who reminds us that the Lord will not crush the bruised reed, to the Lord Jesus who after he comes up out of the water receives the gift of…
Many epiphanies
6 January 2013
When I caught up with some friends during the week to celebrate a mutual friend’s birthday, the conversation turned to the Feast of the Epiphany and the celebration of Christmas. Mainly this was because one of the guys was a deacon in the Coptic Orthodox church, and he was gently berating me and the other…
All the nations
8 January 2012
We are so used to thinking about the Christmas story as told in the gospel of Luke, that Matthew’s equally compelling story can get sidelined. When we do turn to Matthew’s story, we can get so distracted by the crib scenes and carols that the true details also get lost. It is worth pondering the…
The journey of the Magi
1 January 2011
Feast of the Epiphany. The journey of the magi provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with Christ and the lengths that we go to seek out truth and bring our lives in worship before the child king in Bethlehem. Play MP3Recorded at SJV, 6pm (7’00”)Play MP3Recorded at SJV, 10.30am (6’41”)
Epiphany
4 January 2009
Paul reveals (Eph 3:5-6) that in the visit of the Magi we see not a new plan, but the long hidden plan of God to include all people in his inheritance, his body and his promises. Recorded at St Michael’s, 9.30am (8’20”) Guitar by Dan Mueller.Play MP3