postID: 7062; title: The Second Sunday of Christmas
groupKey: secondary
groupKey: other
The Second Sunday of Christmas
O God, who didst wonderfully create, and yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Array
(
[date] => 2018-01-07 11:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1440
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => formatted
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2018-01-07 11:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2018-01-07postID: 7062 (The Second Sunday of Christmas)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7062; date_type: variable; year: 2018
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7062
displayDates for postID: 7062/year: 2018
Array
(
[0] => 2018-01-07
)
postPriority: 3postID: 60391 (The First Sunday After The Epiphany)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 60391; date_type: variable; year: 2018
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 60391
displayDates for postID: 60391/year: 2018
Array
(
[0] => 2018-01-07
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2018-01-07 with ID: 7062 (The Second Sunday of Christmas)
The Second Sunday of Christmas
Array
(
[date] => 2018-01-07 11:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1440
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => simple
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2018-01-07 11:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2018-01-07postID: 7062 (The Second Sunday of Christmas)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7062; date_type: variable; year: 2018
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7062
displayDates for postID: 7062/year: 2018
Array
(
[0] => 2018-01-07
)
postPriority: 3postID: 60391 (The First Sunday After The Epiphany)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 60391; date_type: variable; year: 2018
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 60391
displayDates for postID: 60391/year: 2018
Array
(
[0] => 2018-01-07
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2018-01-07 with ID: 7062 (The Second Sunday of Christmas)
The reading_id [286703] is already in the array.
reading found matching title 'Ephesians 3:1-12' with ID: 73205
The reading_id [73205] is already in the array.
reading found matching title 'Matthew 2:1-12' with ID: 73616
The reading_id [73616] is already in the array.
No update needed.
Scripture citation(s): Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6
✛
Stepping Back into the Darkness
Array
(
[0] => 60764
[1] => 60755
[2] => 60725
)
book: [Array
(
[0] => 60764
)
] (reading_id: 73205)bbook_id: 60764
The bbook_id [60764] is already in the array.
book: [Array ( [0] => 60755 ) ] (reading_id: 73616)
bbook_id: 60755
The bbook_id [60755] is already in the array.
book: [Array ( [0] => 60725 ) ] (reading_id: 286703)
bbook_id: 60725
The bbook_id [60725] is already in the array.
No update needed for sermon_bbooks.
If you travel to the middle of Wales in the United Kingdom you will find a landscape both beautiful and ancient, with the echoes of the Celtic Church and the legends of St David, that great missionary of the sixth century. You will also find there a place unique and for a particular reason that it shares with other places around the world. What on earth can the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales have in Common with Death Valley National Park in California, NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia, or the Great Barrier Island of Aotea in New Zealand? They are each designated as an International Dark Sky Place, where you can star gaze to your heart’s content because there is almost no light pollution whatsoever. And I truly mean star-gazing – the kinds of skies that make you feel incredibly small and insignificant – when the great Milky Way fills the whole of your vision. An international dark sky place is the opposite of London, or Munich, or Beijing, or New York. To see the stars, you need to go to a really dark place. And that’s at the heart of our celebration of the Epiphany today. The Magi followed a star we are told. For them to see that star in the Milky Way, they would need to be in a very dark place. But because they found such a dark place they found God. Sometimes, to see God, we also need to move away from the lure of the lights of worldly power or fame or fortune – the lights of global business or government departments or the casinos of Las Vegas or the celebrity glitz of Broadway and into his dark place where, ironically, as Henry Vaughan beautifully suggests in his poem ‘The Night’ we might find a ‘dazzling darkness.’
The prophecy of Isaiah shows that entering the darkness, we can find the glory of God: “For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.”
The Magi watched the star rise in the East and they naturally assumed that the one born King of the Jews would be born in a royal city – and where else than in Jerusalem with its huge ramparts, magnificent Temple complex, and sumptuous royal palace. They found a King – King Herod; they found fame, and success, and worldly power but they also found corruption, abuse of that power, and paranoia. In finding that King they also lost sight of the star; the prophecy, however, said that the Messiah would not be born in Jerusalem and they needed to leave that place, travel past the fields where the shepherds had watched the dark skies, and allow the star to lead them to the little town of Bethlehem
Preaching at the Epiphany mass yesterday in Rome, Pope Francis said this: “An entirely different attitude reigned in the palace of Herod, a short distance from Bethlehem, where no one realized what was taking place. As the Magi made their way, Jerusalem slept. It slept in collusion with a Herod who, rather than seeking, also slept. He slept, anesthetized by a cauterized conscience.”
That chilling phrase ‘cauterized conscience’ reminds us all of the terrible results when power is abused and human glory placed before Gods reign; the slaughter of the innocents resulting in the Holy Family becoming refugees – probably with many others – displaced from their home and becoming aliens in a foreign land. The magi, aliens themselves, fell down on their knees and worshiped while some of Christ’s own people sought control through an act of terror.
Epiphany means revelation. What is revealed? God’s glory; and to whom? To the whole world. Those first gentile worshippers, whom we know so little about in spite of ancient traditions and even assumed names, stand for all who search for God and for God’s desire to draw all people to himself. As St Paul says in our epistle reading today, “Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” And what is this gospel or good news? “the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.”
Herod slept while the Magi worshipped; the Magi stepped back into the darkness and discovered the glory of God shining through what the world sees as weak.
In his famous Nativity Sermon, St John Chrysostom said these beautiful words: “The Son of God, who is the God of all things, is born a Man in body. He permits himself to be placed in a crib, who holds the heavens in his hand. He is confined in a manger whom the world cannot contain; he is heard in the voice of a wailing infant, at whose voice in the hour of his passion the whole earth trembled. The Magi, beholding a Child, profess that this is the Lord of Glory, the Lord of Majesty, whom Isaiah has shown was both Child and God, and King Eternal.”
This revelation to the Gentiles ushered in a new world order – the opposite of worldly corrupt power – of the sovereignty of God which would begin the process of creating a new people of God. Only, this time, God chose everyone and broke down the barriers that divided us once and for all. How poignant that the last of the treasures given to the Christ Child is the myrrh – used for burial rites. This new world order will come at a cost – as Simeon prophesied – and would break Mary’s heart as she stood at the foot of the cross. Epiphany challenges us today to make choices and to seek diligently for Jesus Christ and his Kingdom breaking in.
I think it is significant that the week after Christmas is marked in the church’s calendar by feast days that seem very much at odds with the joy of the birthday of the Prince of Peace: St Stephen – the first martyr of the Church; the Holy Innocents – victims of a despotic and cruel ruler; St Thomas of Canterbury – who struggled to balance the power of a King who was his friend and the need for the church to remain faithful to the humble Christ. But, there is wisdom in celebrating what the world might see as weak alongside the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The magi worshipped and then we hear nothing more of them – they returned to their own lands by another route. We who encounter Jesus will also find our routes changed too. Once we recognize God’s presence in our lives, like the magi all those years before, we have to make choices as to which way we will go home – if our home is truly to be with God – and that journey, like Stephen’s, Thomas’s and the Holy Innocents, and so many Christians in the world today may come at a cost.
