When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
 

Post Communion Sentence

Lord God, the bright splendour whom the nations seek: may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light discern the glory of your presence in your Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
 

Commentary

The Feast of the Epiphany, on the 6th January, remembers and celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the Magi from the East. They recognise Jesus for who he is, and give him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
Because there were three gifts we have often thought that there were three Magi and since they brought rich gifts we have thought of them as kings. Legend has named them Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar and we are sometimes encouraged to think that they traveled home by ship, (I saw three ships..) having been warned in a dream not to go home near Herod. 
Christians have understood these gifts to be profoundly symbolic and prophetic. Gold represents the kingship of Jesus. Frankincense is a fragrant resin which is burned as incense to symbolize the presence of God, it therefore acknowledges the divinity of Jesus. Myrrh is a precious oil used for anointing the body, which serves to foretell the death of Jesus.
The Greek word ‘epiphany’ is about making known, and it has been used for the last two thousand years to describe God coming closer to the people, revealing himself in his Son, Jesus. At Christmas the light is born, at Epiphany that light is made known to all people. Such universalism is enshrined in the story of the Magi, Jesus is for all people not just one religious group.
Epiphany Eve is twelfth night and we are encouraged to make sure that we have removed the Christmas decorations. As Jesus, the light, has been born into the world, so that light is surrounded by darkness. In a sense this is a time for getting back to reality. If they haven’t already, then now the tinsel and the glitter must give way to real life. 
The gifts remind us of the wonder of who Jesus is, but they also proclaim that his life is one of suffering and death. Soon the holy family must flee an attempt on the life of the child and innocent babies will be slaughtered by Herod, jealous of the one born to be king of the Jews.
At Epiphany the light of the world is made manifest in Christ, visible to good and bad alike, to the wise men and to Herod. Each of these reacts differently one with joy and one with confrontation. Each of us must measure our own reaction and the gifts which we bring. Charles Royden

Meditation

On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished perhaps its single greatest technological achievement of all time. The goal was to land men on the Moon and return them to earth safely. The Lunar Module ‘Eagle’ landed in the Sea of Tranquillity, with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining. After dinner on the Moon, six hours later Neil A. Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon, and proclaimed, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He was shortly joined by Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned 46 pounds of lunar rocks.

When the three Apollo 11 astronauts returned to Earth after their moon landing, many nations wanted to welcome them. They visited Pope Paul VI and in the papal library at St Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican, he presented them with porcelain statues of the wise men who had followed the star to find Jesus in Bethlehem. Buzz Aldrin later said that this had been a very moving event, as Pope Paul had compared them with the Three Wise Men who visited Jesus at his birth, saying that the three astronauts, too, had reached their destination by following the stars that they could see. For the astronauts, it was only by focusing on certain stars that the computer’s navigation system and the gyroscopes could lead them to their destiny.
Aldrin later said "When Pope Paul VI presented us with Lladró's "The Three Kings", he spoke of a mission that had taken place two thousand years before. It was a mission undertaken by three men who were guided by the stars so that they might deliver a message to all humanity. Such a beautiful comparison with our mission moved us all very deeply indeed." Vision and purpose characterised both missions.
 

Hymns

1. Thou didst leave thy throne. 697 

2. See him lying on a bed of straw 589 

3. We three kings of orient are 740 

4. All earth was dark 8 

5. As with gladness men of old 39

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead