One Gift to Guide Them All…
Sermon for Epiphany- 4 January 2026 – All Saints, Kesgrave
Text: ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ (Matthew 2v2)
God give you peace my sisters and brothers
Do any of you have a Birthday or significant anniversary close to Christmas or New Year? It’s the pits isn’t it? Look, the celebrations still happen and if you\re someone such as me, squeezing in another party around the time of two very big ones is no problem at all. It’s when it comes to the gifts that things get a bit iffy.
Either you get a small Christmas and a small Birthday present, or you get one present rolled altogether, or you get no present at all! One year in Cape Town my family had completely forgotten my birthday and, on realising, hurriedly found a brand-new lounge shirt to wrap and give me. The only problem being it was the very same shirt I had given my father for his birthday nine months previously! Bad enough not getting a gift, even worse receiving one rejected by the giver….
Mind you what do you give a dog-collared, be-sandled, often hirsute vicar? Ties, socks and after-shave are no good at all to me. Our family strategy is to let me buy the coins for the New Year from the Royal Mint[1] towards the cost of which they give me a contribution (no, this is not a reminder to any family members listening to my sermon. The 2026 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin Set is already in the post and on the way to the vicarage)
So, in a sense, I suppose my birthday gift imitates the gifts of the Magi.
The 2026 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin Set is a modern equivalent of Gold, which comes in a fragrant box – more new book smell rather than Frankincense, and (because coins have a date stamped on them) it will remind me that one year I will not be here and eventually my collection will be our grandson’s inheritance mirroring the gift of Myrrh.
But the Magi had a fourth gift which they did not carry in their hands but in their hearts. A gift which all of us can carry whether we have a birthday or any other occasion to celebrate.
The US Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber[2] this week, using some lovely quotes from Simone Weil,[3] reminded those who read her blog of the gift of paying attention.[4] This is the gift that began all the gift-giving of the Magi, they paid attention.
They paid attention to what was happening in the world around them.
They paid attention to all the wars and rumours of wars that had unsettled their lands and neighbouring nations for centuries.
They paid attention to the cries of the people and knew that something needed to change.
Seeing all this uncertainty and despair they did what Zoroastrian[5] astrologers do. They paid attention to the stars:
‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ (Matthew 2v2)
And having paid attention to the stars and the One whose Name they cried out, they then chose their other gifts with care:
Gold – for the One who is the Ruler of everything.
Frankincense – for the One who is our priest and brings us into the very presence of God.
Myrrh – for the One who sacrificed everything for love of our love.
So now it is our turn to give the gift of paying attention. For which we will need to spend much time in prayer.
Simone Weil reminds us, ‘Prayer consists simply in giving to God all the careful attention of which the soul is capable.’ If we are to find out which gifts we are to leave at the manger we must needs begin with prayer.
So, in the next few days plan to take some time out to ‘pay attention’ to God as the Magi did to the stars and ask;
What Gold should I be giving to help the Gospel spread?
Do a simple exercise. Pray about your gold. Work out how much you give to support the work of the church as a percentage of your income and then pray over that percentage before God.
It might be too much, it may not be enough, or it may be just right.
Whatever the answer to your prayer aim to do it as a New Year Resolution.
What Frankincense should I be giving as an offering of worship of Jesus, our great High Priest?
Again, in prayer write down what worship and study of the Bible you already do then pray over your list before God.
It might be too much, it may not be enough, or it may be just right.
Whatever the answer to your prayer aim to do it as a New Year Resolution.
What Myrrh should I be giving as a sacrifice alongside that of the One who poured out His life for us on the Cross?
This could be the hardest one and require more prayer than the other two. Take a piece of paper and pray. Write down at least one thing you can give up and one thing you can take up to show that you are a follower of the Way of the Cross.
It might be too much, it may not be enough, or it may be just right.
Whatever the answer to your prayer aim to do it as a New Year Resolution.
2026 is a big year for the churches of our Benefice. We begin again the quest for a new incumbent. I have taken you as far as I can on this journey. Yes, we still have Lent to study together, Easter to rejoice over, and baptisms and weddings to celebrate, but the task of praying over who will come to lead our three parishes has moved out of my hands and firmly into yours.
All the more reason then, to pay attention to God, to each other, and to those we are called to serve
Pray about it.
Write it down (so that you have a receipt for your prayers).
Then go and live it.
….and in so doing bring ‘Good News of Great Joy’ that shepherds and Magi heard to God’s children in Kesgrave, Little Bealings, Playford and beyond.
[This blog ‘One Gift to Guide Them All….’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2065 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged]
oooOOOooo
The Visit of the Magi
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:
“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”’
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
(Matthew 2:1-12 – NIV)
[1] For a look at the coins for 2026 click here.
Suffolk Vicar 