Sunday Service for 8 January 2023, Epiphany Sunday

Sunday 8 January 2022, NL1-21, Epiphany Sunday
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship
What star is this, with beams so bright,
more lovely than the noonday light?
’Tis sent to announce a newborn king,
glad tidings of our God to bring.

Take a deep breath, relax your shoulders, soften your gaze…
Make some space in your mind…
In the midst of the busy-ness, pause and listen…
Sometimes we may miss God’s voice, drowned out by noise…
Sometimes we resist because our minds can’t take it in…
Today, for a moment, may there be spaciousness in us:
that whispers in the shadows might be heard,
that a new world might slip into our imaginations,
that starlight might lead us.

Hymn: We Three Kings

Prayer
You reveal yourself, O God —
in our approved ways and in unexpected channels.
You set your star in the sky,
you speak in dreams,
you send outsiders to greet your Messiah.
And yet we do not all see.
We pray today for the gift of paying attention,
that we may recognise your revelation
whatever the source.
Because your presence changes things, God-with-us.
You come into our lives and turn us upside down,
shifting our priorities, our worldview, our time, even our bodies.
We confess that while we pray for your coming,
and we teach the ways you make everything different,
we also sometimes hesitate,
uncertain what it would mean for our comfort, our position, our way of life
if what we read and pray were fully true in practice.
We admit that it can be easy to ignore politics or controversy,
and even easier to fall prey to outrage without understanding;
it can be easy to follow our assumptions, and even easier to just fit in to the way things are;
easy to push share without thinking of consequences,
and even easier to simply say we meant well, regardless of how it turns out.
Forgive us when our desires create a conflict of interest,
for you call us to pursue your desire.
Forgive us when we accidentally or with good intentions
lend the power of your word to those who twist it to their own ends.
Forgive us when our desire to keep our faith private and separate
leads to outcomes we chose not to foresee.
Show yourself to us today,
and then send us out by another way,
to live differently having seen your power of life and love face to face.
We ask in the name of the Christ child whom we seek.
Amen.

Sung Prayer (tune 451 Puer Nobis Nascitur)
While outward signs the star displays,
an inward light the Lord conveys
and urges us, with tender might,
to seek the giver of the light.

O Jesus, while the star of grace
impels us on to seek your face,
let not our slothful hearts refuse
the guidance of your light to use.

Star Words
We seek you, God-with-us,
for we have seen the signs and our hearts and minds are curious,
longing to know you and what you have in store for us.
May these words be our guide,
revealing ever more and more of your vision
for us and for your world.
Give us the grace to recognise your star, O God,
beckoning us toward another road,
leading us into life.
Amen.

Reading: Matthew 2.1-23 (New Revised Standard Version)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’

For the word of God in scripture,
for the word of God among us,
for the word of God within us,
thanks be to God.

Sermon: The Epiphany We Need
An epiphany is a revelation, a new understanding, a moment of insight or clarity that helps us see something we hadn’t seen before. The story we call “epiphany” in the church calendar — which we celebrate after the 12 days of Christmas — is indeed a revelation. Normally we talk about it as the moment when Immanuel, God with us, is revealed to the nations, who are represented by the magi who come from the east and recognise God’s anointed one. Sometimes we talk about the star as the epiphany, revealing that God was doing a new thing and drawing people to see it. But I wonder if today we might think about the story itself as a vehicle for our own epiphany. What new understanding, what moment of insight, what revelation might we see if we look really closely at the whole of the story as Matthew tells it?

One of the first things to notice is that normally when we tell this story, we cut it off in the middle. We stop at verse 12, when the magi go home by another way, which means we never read about the consequences of their choice. Reading the whole story at once gives us a little bit different perspective. All week I couldn’t help but hum that verse of “Once in Royal David’s City” that says “for he is our childhood pattern, day by day like us he grew” — and then to think about all those children of Bethlehem. He was just like them, having that beautiful babyhood and toddlerhood, with proud parent moments when they get teeth, eat real food, learn to walk, speak their first words…day by day along with them, just like them, he grew. And then one day they didn’t anymore. Not everyone gets to have that childhood pattern. And if we are horrified by the way the empire, the political and religious elite, the very leaders who are supposed to shepherd the people, instead kills the children to protect its own power, then we should be horrified by the lengths to which the powers of our day will go to protect their own interests. When people in power think that other people are inconvenient or a threat to the established order, they will do their worst. Matthew’s epiphany story reminds us to pay attention to how it’s still happening today.

The next new thing I noticed when I read this story all together rather than in smaller chunks is that while yes, it was God’s instruction to Joseph to take his family and flee, it was also fear that sent them to their new home. We normally think we’re supposed to get over our fear, or smush it down, or ignore it. But sometimes fear gives us important information and leads us new directions. Not always, of course, but it’s important to learn to discern what fear is telling us. The angel in Joseph’s dream said to go to Egypt, just as his namesake had done — and later, Jesus, like Moses, will come out of Egypt and through the water into his ministry. The family lived in Egypt as refugees for a little while, and then when Herod died, the angel came to Joseph in a dream and said it was safe to go home. So they, like many refugees, packed up and went home, probably excited at the prospect of returning. And at this point I think the story gives us a couple of epiphanies: first, that they intended to go home to Bethlehem — which was their home. In Matthew’s gospel, remember, Joseph and Mary are from Bethlehem. They didn’t travel there for the census, they lived there. But then second: they got near home and discovered that Herod’s successor was also dangerous — so dangerous that actually, even the Romans thought he was too much and took his puppet kingdom off him — and it says Joseph was afraid to go home, so he took his family up to Galilee, where another of Herod’s sons was ruler but he was somewhat less ruthless. It wasn’t exactly safe anywhere, as they had learned the hard way just what it means to be a threat to the powers…but nonetheless, Joseph was willing to take his young family to a different kingdom to try to find a safe place to bring up their children. They had to live the rest of their lives far from their families, their history, their familiar comforts, because they were afraid of what danger they might be in if they went home.

If Jesus is our childhood pattern, then perhaps an epiphany for today is for us to see his face in the faces of those who are afraid and had to leave home to find somewhere safe. Whether or not Archelaus was actually ever a threat to Jesus, we’ll never know. But we know Joseph was afraid of him, and that was enough. Can we trust that their fear is founded? Whether fear of the government, or spiralling gang rivalries, or domestic violence, or rejection and abuse based on gender or sexuality, or fear of starving or not being able to afford to care for your children — is that fear enough? Or will we insist people be able to prove they’re in danger, or wait for something terrible to happen and then try to clean it up afterward? Perhaps God is revealing to us the face of Joseph, fearful and trying to care for his family, running across the border to another realm, in the faces of those crossing borders today.

This year when I was reading this story there were two more things that really stood out to me. The first is that the wise men seem very politically naive. Now I don’t know if this is noticeable this year because of the political shenanigans that have gone on all over the world lately, or what. But these guys who seem so smart in other ways just turn up at the palace and ask the current king where the new king is. You would think that they’d know as soon as they got to Jerusalem and there was no discussion of an heir being born in the past year or two, that they were in the wrong place. But no…they just head into the palace to speak to the person who used the title “King of the Jews” himself. And then they say they want to pay him homage — which is something they have conspicuously not done to King Herod. They don’t appear to have bowed to him, or offered him gifts…just asked where the new king was.

That’s an astonishing political statement. But did they do that on purpose? Did they know what they were doing, and they snubbed him on purpose? Did they understand how dangerous a ruler can be when he’s been snubbed and threatened with a rival ? They followed the dream that told them not to go back to Jerusalem, but did they realise that their choice to go to the palace first, but not to return there, would have terrible consequences for others?

I know I shouldn’t be surprised because honestly so many of us — me included — do all kinds of things with the best of intentions, and then the fallout behind us is either a surprise to us or doesn’t actually affect us. But I still am surprised that these people didn’t anticipate the outcomes and find a more politically savvy way to find the child. And it’s a reminder for us that our good intentions don’t always mitigate the serious impact our choices can have on other people.

And the last epiphany I want to bring up from this epiphany story today is actually from the beginning of the chapter. The wise men, the magi, were likely Persians, and many people think they might have been Zoroastrian scholar-priests-astrologers. They were scientists. And they recognised that something had changed in the world — they saw it in the sky, because they were paying attention. They noticed that something new was happening, and they used their scientific knowledge to follow it. And that scientific way got them so close — though for those who lived in Jerusalem or Bethlehem they may have seemed worlds apart, from the centre of power and economy to the rural village, in reality they’re only a few miles apart — basically from here to Inverkip. Meanwhile, the religious leaders in Jerusalem knew the scripture backward and forward. But they never saw the change in the sky — whether because they weren’t looking or because they didn’t have enough knowledge to notice something was different. It was only when the scientists and the religious scholars brought their knowledge together that Jesus was revealed. And ultimately the only ones who found him were those who wanted to pursue that knowledge for the purpose of worship and giving, not those who wanted to pursue their own power.

Scripture alone would never have gotten the priests and scribes to the house where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived. Science alone would never have gotten the magi the house either. It took both, each informing the other, for the light to be bright enough to bring them to kneel before him.

Perhaps the epiphany we most need is this one: that God will show us amazing things when we are paying attention. If we are looking, we may just see the face of Jesus in a person we previously thought didn’t belong here, or a person whose story was suspect. If we are looking, we may just see an opportunity to care for someone whose life doesn’t look like the life they hoped for, or someone who didn’t get the same chances we got. If we are looking, we may just see the difference between fear that helps and fear that hinders, and between our intention and our impact. If we are looking, we may just see a star guiding and a word pointing in a direction we couldn’t have figured out on our own. If we are looking, we may just see the light shining in the darkness.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn: Our God Was A Refugee (Resound)
Sanctuary Hymn 328: Wise Men, They Came

Offering (Sanctuary only)

The ministry and mission we do here at St John’s costs just over £10,500 per month and it is because of your generous giving that we are able to serve others in all the different ways that happen here every day. May the gifts we give be a reflection of our gratitude for God’s gifts to us, and may they be dedicated to the work of God’s kingdom in this place. Your morning offering will now be received.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Creator of the Stars,
You shine a light to show the way,
you speak your word to teach us the truth,
you give us the gift of faith and the gift of seeking understanding,
that by using all the ways of mind and heart,
we might see you.
We pray today for the wisdom and courage to follow the star that shines before us —
the star of awe, star of blessing, star of challenge, star of curiosity, star of discipline, star of fruitfulness, star of generosity, star of harmony, star of imagination, star of mystery, star of passion, star of sharing, star of vision, star of wonder,
to keep our eyes open and to see what you would have us see.
And we pray today for all who are in need of your light in the shadows of this world.
For those who have left their homes, seeking a safe place.
For those who encounter hostility instead of hospitality.
For those whose fears have been realised, and now it is too late to flee.
For those whose lives have been changed forever by the greed and power mongering of the few.
For those who live amidst violence we can’t even imagine.
For those who grieve, and cannot find comfort.
For those whose suffering seems to have no end.
For those who thought they were doing the right thing, and never thought more.
For those hurt by our good intentions.
For those in positions of power and influence.
For those whose vision is too narrow to admit you reveal yourself in many ways.
For your church, seeking to be your Body in this world.
May your people know your healing, your peace, your hope, your joy, your comfort.
May your world be filled with justice and mercy and tenderness and love.
May we who follow the star find you and offer our lives in your service.
As we begin a new year, Lord guide our steps in the way you would have us go.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who is Immanuel, God with us —
child, refugee, displaced person, word incarnate, way, truth, and life.
He is the One who reveals you most clearly,
and the one who taught us to join all your family in praying together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

Hymn 326: As With Gladness Men of Old

Benediction
Go out with your eyes open to see how God might be leading, and may the light of Christ reveal the Spirit’s path before you.
And as you go to live love, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print). If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access should use the back door. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* Did you know that it costs us about £10,500 per month to do the ministry we currently do at St. John’s? That includes heating and lighting the building and keeping it in good repair for church and community groups, programming and pastoral care for people of all ages, our contribution to minister’s stipends, and other ministry costs. The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please be safe!

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!

* Would you be interested in joining the readers rota in 2023? Whether you read in the sanctuary or online, or both — whether recording yourself or being recorded by Teri — we’d love to have your voice bringing God’s word to life in our community! There is a wee training to help you feel confident. Let Teri know if you’d like to join in.

* Young Adult Bible Study meets in the manse on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 7pm for a meal and discussion of the gospel according to John. Everyone in their 20s is welcome!

* The Contact Group meets on Tuesday the 10th of January at 2pm, with the Rev. Teri Peterson talking about (and maybe making, and definitely eating) bread, and also on Tuesday the 24th at 2pm to hear from Clare Cunning about Smalls for All.

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the manse at 7:30pm. All are welcome as we continue reading through the Bible in slightly more than a year!

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.