Special days in January
Epiphany for Today
By Canon Paul Hardingham
This month we celebrate Epiphany, when we remember the Magi from the East who followed a star to find the baby Jesus: ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?’ (Matthew 2:1).
At the start of a New Year, amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, are we asking the same question? The gifts they offered show us how we can find Him in the uncertainty of the coming year: ‘they bowed down and worshipped Him…and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.’ (2:11).
The gift of
gold reflects that the Magi saw in the baby a king, destined to rule over
us all. In this coming year we need to remember that Jesus is on the throne,
the seat of power and authority in the whole universe. Will we crown Him king
of our lives and dedicate all that we are and do to Him?
The gift of frankincense reflects that the visitors saw not just an earthly king, but God in human flesh. Incense symbolises the prayers of God’s people and so this gift reminds us that God is worthy of our worship and prayer. Will we offer our praise and prayer, as we seek God to guide us through the uncertainties of this time?
The gift of myrrh reflects that these astrologers saw beyond the baby’s birth and life, to His death which would secure life for all. Jesus was offered myrrh on the cross and was a spice used in His tomb. As we face the sufferings of this New Year, we can be confident that Jesus knows and understands our experience. Are we ready to trust Him?
‘Glorious now behold Him arise, King and God and Sacrifice! Heav’n sings Hallelujah: Hallelujah the earth replies.’ (‘We Three Kings’).
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Where do we go from here?
By Lester Amann
Perhaps this was a question the Wise Men asked after seeing the infant Jesus. They had come from a distant land to Jerusalem. They had followed a star and expected to see a royal child. Now in Bethlehem, they saw things differently. No doubt, Mary and Joseph shared with these men their recent experiences and knew God was with them. Now the Magi had to have eyes of faith to recognise that this child was God in the flesh.
On 6th January many churches celebrate Epiphany. On this day we remember the Eastern Men bringing their gifts to Jesus. The word ‘epiphany’ describes their ‘revelation’ or ‘insight’ that this was no ordinary baby. Who could they tell? Not King Herod. They had a dream warning them to return home a different way.
Their return to familiar surroundings was going to be different. They couldn’t be silent about what they had experienced. Their lives were now changed. On returning home they faced new circumstances and challenges.
Doesn’t this sound a bit familiar to us today? The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of us in one way or another. Where do we go from here? We have celebrated our Lord’s birth, but now we are returning to our previous activities. The festive break is over, and we are returning to changed and difficult circumstances.
We go into a New Year that that is so different from this time last year and the threat of Covid and flu still exists. While we might be downcast with all the upsets around us, there is one thing that has not changed.
It is almighty God! He is our rock. We can look to Him in this world of confusion and uncertainty. Perhaps, from now on, we shall be worshipping and serving Him in different ways. So, with the challenges that lie ahead, let’s continually seek His guidance.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding….and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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18th January - Amy Carmichael, founder of the Dohnavur Fellowship
Not many teenagers, on becoming a Christian, will devote themselves to winning others for Christ in a foreign land. Amy was such a person. She left Britain to live in a tiny village in Southern India. Here, for the next 56 years, Amy rescued hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children, and served her Lord in Dohnavur.
Amy Wilson Carmichael had been born in Ireland on 16th December 1867, into a devoutly religious Presbyterian family in Belfast. When she was 16, Amy had become a Christian, and decided to start a mission for mill girls. When she came into contact with the Keswick movement, she sensed a call to serve abroad.
At first, Amy planned to go to China, but ill health prevented her from travelling. Later, for 15 months, she worked in Japan, but the climate was detrimental to her health. In 1895, she went to India to evangelise around Bangalore, and then, in order to escape rising political violence, she moved on to Dohnavur.
Here she met a girl called Preena, who had escaped being a slave in a Hindu temple. From that moment, Amy knew she had found her true calling. She dedicated the rest of her life to rescuing girls and boys who had been given by parents or relatives to serve in the temple as prostitutes.
Amy donned Indian dress and learnt about the Hindu culture and showed the love of Christ through her compassion. Overcoming much hardship and danger, Amy expanded her evangelistic work to establish a centre for homes, schools and a hospital. The Dohnavur Fellowship still continues today.
In 1931, Amy suffered a severe injury that virtually confined her to bed for the next 20 years. Despite this, she wrote 13 of her 35 books and many thousands of letters. Amy based her life on prayer and trusted God for all her needs. She died on 18th January 1951, aged 83.
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25th January - Conversion of St Paul
January is a month of the beginning of great things! As well as the naming of the Son of God, we celebrate the conversion of the greatest ever apostle of the Christian faith. Many books have been written on Paul, and here is the briefest of introductions.
He was a Jew, born as ‘Saul’ at Tarsus, and brought up by the rabbi Gamaliel as a Pharisee. A devout, fanatical Jew, Saul persecuted the Christians, and watched with satisfaction the first Christian martyrdom, the stoning of Stephen. Then, on his way to Damascus, Saul had a vision of Christ that stopped him in his tracks. He realised that this Jesus whom he was persecuting was in fact the Messiah for whom he had longed.
Saul changed overnight. He was given a new name, Paul, and became an evangelist for the cause of Christ. He became a leader in the early Church, and his special calling was as an apostle to the Gentiles. He wrote epistles to the young churches that he founded - and thus, inadvertently, wrote a great part of the New Testament.
Life as the greatest apostle was hardly full of perks: Paul was stoned, beaten, mobbed, homeless, hated, imprisoned, and finally martyred. Tradition has it that he was beheaded in Rome during the persecution of Nero in 64AD, and buried where the basilica of St Paul ‘outside the walls’ now stands. His mighty faith in Christ has kindled similar belief in many hundreds of millions of people down the centuries.