Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield
Sunday 3rd January 2021

It has been hard to know what day it was this week. New Year’s Eve was a Thursday which felt like a Saturday and New Year’s Day a Friday that felt like a Sunday. Then there was the real Saturday. On top of this my wife was home but not working, so she was around and not hiding in the spare bedroom that has become her office. A walk on New Year’s Day took us less than one and a half miles from home, but being uphill took us above the melt line, at home the snow was melting, at Lindley duck pond things were well frozen. A big difference for such a small difference.

This morning was cold, while watching Holy Trinity’s YouTube service I noticed a very light snowfall, but now there is blue sky and cotton wool clouds. Paul, a life group leader, lead the service, pointing out that this service was not just celebrating New Year but also Epiphany when wise men came to visit Jesus.

Music in the service was Come now is the time to worship and an enthusiastic song for the children which said I’m going to follow Jesus wherever he may lead me and Light up the world. The service ended with rge song 10,000 reasons. It always blesses me to bless God. Bless the Lord O my soul.

matt 2 1-12

Before the sermon by Vicar Mike there was a reading from Matthew 2:1–12, please read this before you continue with this report.

Vicar Mike wished us a happy New Year and said: Epiphany is the revelation of God’s son as king.

The wise men were not called kings in the Bible passage we have just read, but magi, which means magician, astrologer and political adviser. They were important people but not kings; their quest was to find the King of the Jews. So the first stop was where you’d expect to see s king, in the palace. Herod the king had killed many of his family members, including his wife, three sons and his uncle, such was the importance of the crown to him. The title King of the Jews given to him by the Romans and he was only half Jewish, the crown wasn’t Herod’s to wear.

So where was the king? The star guided then to a child under 3; this is nor the king the world was expecting but the magi see it. Jesus gave up his position in heaven and became one of us to save those who admit they are weak. He was crowned not with gold but thorns. This was not the king the world was expecting.

There is another crown in the news in 2020 almost every day. Coronavirus, which when magnified many times looks like a crown and gets its name for the Latin for crown, reminded us of our vulnerability. In a fractured world, pain and suffering is inevitable. Pain demands our attention, God whispers in our comfort but shouts at us in our pain.

Only one person can wear the crown. In every human heart is a little Herod. If I sit on the throne of my life Jesus us not there. In what areas of my life is Jesus not king?

Jesus is nor just for the Jewish people but for all people. The king has come and the king is Jesus.