Star of wonder
Star of light
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading
Still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light.
On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
This verse from the book of Matthew points to how the Magi laid their lives down before Christ in complete surrender and adoration. They set a perfect example for us. If these astrologers from a foreign land could come and adore Christ in such a profound way, we must do the same.
Homage. It’s a bit like a Miranda Hart word isn’t it – Homage. Fun to say. To ‘homage’ means to honour. There are loads of references in the bible to people paying homage. But it’s a relatively new addition to biblical translations, it’s not the ancient term you may expect. It isn’t found in biblical translations until the 1980s. Before that, we read that the Magi worshipped Christ.
What does it mean to surrender your life to Christ?
How might the Magi represent what we are called to in our journey of faith?
How will you pay homage in 2021?
Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, creator of time and space of season and epoch, of birth and evolution of both living creatures and galaxies alike, hear us as we humbly come before you as we mark our brief passage of time as another year begins. We have heard the Christmas story, about how you came to live among us. As we try to understand what this means in our lives we pray that you will guide our life journeys.
