Context

The New Year is often a time that prompts an outpouring of wise words, forecasts for the future and plenty of probing of the past year’s ups and downs. In just one newspaper it’s possible to read insightful articles about the future of the climate, astute sports predictions, and thoughts on how to rehabilitate the Labour party in the future! 

Wise words, forecasting and probing the past also seem to dominate the cultural scene. Barak Obama has been busy tweeting his erudite lists of his favourite books, films and music of 2019 so we all know what to read in 2020!

There are forecasts considering where to avoid for holidays in the next year, and on the iPlayer there are at least eight different programmes analysing the cultural ups and downs of 2019.

 

Reflection

As many of the reflections and retrospectives reveal, it is relatively easy to be wise after something has happened. Indeed, one of the defining aspects of this decade is the rise in the ability of anyone with a social media account to offer their own ‘wise’ armchair commentary and reaction to events as they unfold. However, when it comes to predicting the future we all know it’s notoriously difficult to foresee what will actually happen in politics, sports and on the cultural scene. The past year has seen ups and downs that were entirely unexpected and the only wise prediction we can safely make is that 2020 will probably hold similar surprises.

The magi in Matthew’s Gospel are billed in nativity plays up and down the land as the ‘wise men’ and unlike the forecasts littering the press at a year’s end, they had a bit more success with their prediction of a new king of the Jews. Foretold by the rising of a star, the prophecy of a significant birth was entirely accurate. However, what they failed to foresee, was the manner in which God would fulfil the prophecy. The wise magi applied their conventional wisdom and went straight to Herod’s palace in their quest to find the baby king. But the riches of the palace, the obvious location for a king, was not the present reality for the child born king of the Jews. God had revealed Jesus’ birth to the magi from the east, but it was in the small town of Bethlehem not the capital city that they would actually find him, he would be in a house not a palace and born to a teenage mother rather than a queen or princess.

Even the learned magi could not foresee that the king of the Jews would be born in a small, ordinary town to an ordinary woman. Despite all of their wisdom, the fulfilment of God’s divine plan still initially eluded them. The manner of the king’s birth was unexpected for the magi and even today, with the luxury of our armchair commentary and wisdom after the event the incongruity of the saviour of the world born in the supremely ordinary is still surprising and difficult to understand. But perhaps the part to probe again at this year’s end is the response of the magi to the child in that moment when they eventually found him: joy and worship.

We can’t foresee what will happen in this new year, we could spend time commenting on the past, but perhaps it is the ongoing present reality of that same saviour king who should dominate our focus prompting us to joyfully worship him right here, right now!

 

Prayer

Gather together as many paper crowns (from Christmas crackers) as you can find. Invite the congregation to get into small groups and give each group a crown and a pencil. Working as a group, ask them to write a short prayer around the crown thanking God for his divine wisdom, for bringing Jesus into the world in an ordinary town, and for fulfilling the prophecies in ways no one could foresee. Once the prayers are complete ask one person in the group to wear the crown while the others read the prayers they have written.

 

Questions

• How does the end of a year make you feel?
• What is your response to the ordinary start of an extraordinary saviour?

 

All-age activity

Hold a joyful worship party in the middle of the service. Invite small groups of mixed ages to decide how they would joyfully worship the new king. They may wish to devise a dance, cheer or a create a more reflective tableaux showing the different ways each member of the group expresses joy. Ask each group to show their joy offering to the rest of the congregation.

 

Young people

If you can, use a film or cartoon clip of the wise men seeking Jesus that shows their trip to Herod’s palace. Once you have finished viewing the magi’s tory invite three young people to take on the role of the wise men and sit in the centre of the room. Ask the other group members to interview them, quizzing the ‘magi’ on why they thought the new baby would be in Jerusalem at Herod’s palace. Encourage your ‘actors’ to try and explain the mindset of the wise men and how surprised they were to actually find the baby and his mother in Bethlehem.

When you reach a natural end discuss with the group the idea that even the wise men could not predict God’s plan for the birth of his son and why the manner if the birth of Jesus is so significant.

 

Fiona Dorman is the Education Officer at Bristol Cathedral.

 

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