January Blog 2025

Ancient to Modern

 

Recently, I’ve been intrigued to watching a few videos about AI-reconstruction of historical figures from paintings and sculptors. Before you know it, you have a real-life person on the screen in front of you! I was amazed – take a look yourself. Suddenly someone who I have only read about becomes very real. As one viewer says, ‘the videos breathe life into historical figures, making that person as real as ever.’

From Old to New

We may not like the AI or be very cautious about what this new technology might mean for the future but I’ll leave that discussion until another day! What if we could use this technology to shed light on the Bible and the church calendar?

We move through the church year together at St Marks every year and it helps us to remember the important events that the Bible tells us about. Historically, many Christian churches have celebrated the same dates each year. Over time, these dates came to make up what’s known as the Church Calendar.

It goes something like this: it starts with Advent and then it fills up with Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and many more throughout the year.

It helps us remember and give glory to God for how he has worked in the past and to focus on the important things.

So, we come out of the Christmas season into Epiphany and this is where we are at the moment.

Epiphany begins on the 12th day after Christmas and it’s a season that takes us from the birth of Jesus taking us right up to Lent. So what’s it all about?

1.Personal Encounter

The Greek word epiphany is a Greek word and simply means “to reveal” or “to make manifest.”

Epiphany is a celebration of light and revelation. It commemorates the visit of the Wise Men but also includes the baptism of Jesus, and the Wedding at Canaan where Jesus turned the water into wine.

Today I focus on the visit of the Wise Men from the East. They were probably of Persian origin and equivalent today of prophet’s, scholars, and priests. They were pagan and keen observers of the night sky.

They had probably been journeying for about a year prior to the birth of Jesus and were certainly outsiders. However, God had a special plan for them and guided and protected them on their travels to Bethlehem to the manger and then back home.

It reminds us in these difficult days as we look out on our world and our National Church that God hasn’t abandoned his people. He isn’t silent or distant but a living God who is active in our world and who reveals Himself to all kinds of people to accomplish His plans.

It’s a time to celebrate the inextinguishable light of the gospel. It’s a reminder to us that God is at work, revealing himself even today to all.

I want to encourage you at the start of 2025 to be open and alert to encountering God maybe for the first time through taking up the challenge of the forthcoming Alpha Course. Or join me in being alert to the many moments where we find Him unexpectedly in our humdrum and busy lives.

Remember that the Epiphany, leads to other epiphanies, or revelations, where you continue to realize how much God loves you.

3 things to finish and step into the New Year. Join me in

 

1.Going out

Why not open the front door – take a stroll to Star Gaze and count our blessings. Go out with your family and look up. Worship God. Connect through the beauty of creation be filled with wonder. Give a short prayer of thanksgiving and recognise the majesty of the King.

2. Honor God’s Mission

God is at work all over the world and in the hearts of people who don’t know Him yet. Jesus is being revealed to people who haven’t considered God as a good and kind ruler before. Take a moment to learn about what God is doing somewhere else in the world.  Why not take a renewed interest in our mission partners like Open Doors or the Melanesian Mission or Night Church or Flame International?

3.Share your Epiphany

It’s so important that we learn to share out epiphanies and encounters with others and not to keep them to ourselves. Let’s retain our evangelistic and mission focus at St Marks in 2025. There are many exciting opportunities to serve and be involved. It’s a time for proclaiming from the rooftops what we have heard in secret (Luke 12). He is the God who speaks and reaches to people both near and far, those on our doorstep, our local community and those overseas. We acknowledge this at St Marks by supporting our Mission Partners in what we call ‘Life beyond the Parish’. Whether it’s our film club and M&T’s, singing at Morrisons or being involved with the Debt Advise Centre, preaching, or working with the children. Let’s keep our fervour.

The timing of Epiphany allows us to start our new year focused on Jesus. And this brew can permeate our New Year's resolutions, challenge our work situations, our relationships with family, and neighbours -our whole lives. Leading to even more little epiphanies!

God is with us. He is revealed to us and revealed to others through us. And that should bring us great joy.

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.” Matthew 2.10-11.