Tag: Wise Men.

I Just Had An Epiphany

Tonight at Ivy Didsbury Andy Smith blew us away with an incredible talk about the Magi, those outsiders from the East who found themselves in Bethlehem shortly after Christ was born, and on bended knee gave the best of who they were and had to him. There was so much great stuff there I encourage you to subscribe to the Ivy podcast and listen to the talk in full when it’s up later in the week. But something Andy said almost in passing at the end really grabbed me. It was an epiphany at Epiphany! Here it is, as I recall what he said: “The wise men got there, and saw… a baby, an infant, a little child. But God says in Zechariah 4:10 despise not the day of small beginnings,’ and this child grew into the Saviour of the world.” As I sat there I thought about those VIPs. They came looking for the King of the Jews, right? What would that look like? They’d know what Kings look like. And they are somehow looking for God there, the […]

What Wise People Do At New Year

The story can tell us a lot about the company we keep and how that can make or break us, it can warn us about who we should listen to as we head into our future, too.

But as the year closes out and a new one gets ready to start, I’m thinking about various wise people I know and those I have read about and how they finish an old year really well, to start a New Year better – and what they do and say lines up well with what these wise guys did too.

How Wise Are You?

Great talk for Christmas by Debra Green at Ivy MCR this evening- my notes… The Wise men. We don’t know how many came, but they had three gifts. The most Jewish of the synoptic gospel writers wants to tell us about these people & the universality of the good news. The shepherds are in. These magi – are included. Unlikely guest list! Only those with eyes to see. Those who are seeking, find. It’s hard these days to get Christmas cards – only 1% of cards have a ‘religious’ sense. £16.7 Billion will be spent this Christmas by Britons. Many will go into more and more debt? How wise are we?! Could it have been a supernova? Or just the manifestation of the glory of God? Because it was moving. It seems only the magi saw the star. By that, Christ was revealed. Jesus then becomes the star. The star of the show. There’s a move to remove Christ from Christmas. Our job is to reveal him to the world. How? By speaking of him. This is great news for […]