Epiphany – the promise
of discovery
Themes:
The third part of the Christmas story is the arrival
of the wise men from the east. Woven into this
dramatic tapestry are the exotic and mysterious,
the evil and good, suspense and climax. No one
is quite sure who these men were who journeyed
from the east following a star. The wise men were
not certain who they sought but they knew he
was King of the Jews. The evil King Herod knew
nothing about a new king but set the wise men a
trap to ensure that he found out about any
threat to his power. The climax of the story comes
when the wise men discover the child, Jesus,
with Mary and offer him precious gifts which
symbolise his kingship.
Scriptures:
Matthew 2:1-12
‘…they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh.’
Ephesians 3:1-12
‘…the gift of God’s grace…’
Isaiah 60:1-6
‘Lift up your eyes and
look around…’
Ideas for discussion:
The Magi travelled a long distance to bring their
gifts to the infant Jesus – has anybody been
travelling over the Christmas holidays? Whenever
we travel away from home we have to leave some
things behind, ‘give some things up’ – ask the
children what they most miss from home, most
dislike ‘giving up’, when they travel away.
In this ‘holiday season’ we need to remember that
some of the children that The Children’s Society
exists to serve are children who have run away
from home, often leaving everything behind
them. For more information see Robbie’s story on
page 22 or visit www.christingle.org/ourwork
Christians believe that Jesus gave up everything
for us on the Cross, everything except love, and
that’s what the red ribbon on the Christingle
reminds us of.
What things could we give up for love of those
who have had to flee their homes? You may want
30
Christingle order line 0845 600 8585
to focus this discussion primarily on children
who have run away from home, or also include
other issues such as the plight of refugees, and
homelessness in general.
Talk/address/sermon ideas:
Set up a ‘throne’ at the front of the church, facing
the congregation – lots of cushions, comfortable
and bright. Set up a PS2, or one of those sorts of
things, for the person on the throne to play with.
You might want to talk about how uncomfortable
the church pews or chairs can be and as a special
treat you’ve set up a throne for one special
member of the congregation to sit on. Invite a
child to sit on the throne and enjoy playing with
the game.
Tell the rest of the congregation that to make up
for the fact that they don’t all have thrones to
sit on you’ve brought something very special for
them to see. Invite them up in ones or twos to the
area behind the throne, to see a cage, hutch or
basket which is turned away from the throne and
in which there is a pet such as a rabbit or kitten.
The crucial thing is to have something behind
the throne that’s going to elicit lots of ‘oohs’
and ‘ahhs’ of excitement, and that’s strategically
placed so that the person on the throne can’t see
what all the fuss is about without leaving their
place of privilege. Hopefully the ‘enthroned one’
will become sufficiently intrigued to want to leave
their special place to see what all the fuss
is about.
Lead into a reflection on how, just as the
‘enthroned one’ had to give up a place of comfort
and privilege to see something special, so too the
Magi had to give up many things in order to travel
to see Jesus.
The red ribbon of the Christingle reminds us that
Jesus gave up everything, even his own life, out
of love for us.
This is a time of year when a lot of us are focused
on what things we can get – what presents, what
toys – but the story of Epiphany, and the story of
Jesus’ whole life – is a reminder that sometimes
we have to give things up and let go of things
if we want to truly see and know the thing that
matters the most in life, the love of God.