6 January 2024

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Bible readings for today

• ​Isaiah 60:1-6
• Psalms 72:1-7,10-14
• Ephesians 3:1-12
• Matthew 2:1-12

Collect

Almighty God, revealed to the world through prophecy, sage and star,
open our hearts to see your presence in all humanity,
to bow down in adoration and bring unity and inclusion to a divided world.
For you are alive and reign with the Father
in unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen

The Magi travel to meet Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12 )

Today's bible reading talks about how the magi travelled to meet Jesus. 

What is Epiphany?

We often think of Epiphany as just being one day/Sunday, but in fact it is a season in our liturgical calendar. For three weeks we celebrate how Epiphany is all about expanding God's Kingdom beyond his people Israel.  The word Epiphany describes the 12th day of Christmas, which falls on January 6th and marks the official end to the festive season for many Christians. 

We also celebrate Jesus' baptism on this day (see our other Bible Explore resources for today) and Epiphany also marks the visit to the baby Jesus by the Magi, (the three Kings, or Wise Men). The word 'Epiphany' comes from Greek and means 'manifestation'. It celebrates 'the revelation of God in his Son as human in Jesus Christ'.
Find out more facts about Epiphany here

Activities

A lot of families will be on holiday this weekend, and the story this week is a great one for an intergenerational service. We'd encourage you to include your children into the wider church family, and make sure the worship and teaching is for all ages. If you would like to provide some activities to back up the story for today, you could consider including: 

• Wise men christmas crafts -- a range of good ones here
• An I-Spy printable nativity game
• A Vist of the Magi Wordsearch
• A wise men code breaker
• A star maze
• Yarn wrapped star
• Wise men colouring in page
• Christmas on the Move has a template for the magi which can be printed off and coloured in. Download here
• Church House Collection have some downloadable templates of some gold, frankincense and myrrh that you can print, cut out and hang on the tree. You can find them on their website
  
  

Chalk Blessings

A simple chalk blessing to pray over the homes and households for the year ahead. 
For background info about the blessing:

• http://liturgy.co.nz/epiphany-chalk-house-blessing-2
• https://interruptingthesilence.com/2014/01/02/epiphany-house-blessing-with-chalk-2

What you need: 

• A stick of chalk for each household
• Black construction paper for apartments (optional)
• A takehome sheet for each household. These are printed off double sided and 3 to an A4. Fold in half like a card. 

Unpacking the readings

The Church of Scotland have some good lectionary reading content on their website, which is helpful for those preaching this Sunday, or looking for background information on the scriptures. 
You can find their information here

Wondering Questions

• I wonder what why the wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus? 
• I wonder what they said when they gave them to Mary and Joseph?
• I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought when they received them?
• I wonder what gifts we can give Jesus today?

Epiphany Star

Source: Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Preschool Playdough Mat

Flame Creative have put together a printable Playdough mat, so that the youngest of our children can enjoy Epiphany too. 
You can find it on their website!
Play dough recipe

• 1 ½ cups salt
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon Cream of Tartar
• 2 tablespoons Oil
• 2 cups boiling water

Mix together ingredients. Knead dough until smooth and warm, add a bit more water if the dough is too dry. Use food colourings for different colours. It will keep in an airtight container for ages!

Epiphany Photobooth

What you need

• Print outs of the Photobooth props (Download here) on card stock.
• Kebab sticks 
• tape
• A Photo Booth area set up -- perhaps a corner of the room with gold, purple fabric
• Pens/sharpies for writing on speech bubbles. You might like to print a few of these. 
• A camera and laptop/printer for printing photos, or an instant camera printer. Or an old school polaroid! Use a digital camera if you want to share the photos with your church Facebook page or use in service powerpoints next week! 

What to do

• Take photos of groups of your church family. Encourage them to be creative and excited! Each person adds a prop or decoration to become part of the epiphany story -- a wise man or woman! 
• Share the photos with your church community, or print them out on the day for families to take home. 
• Encourage all ages and members of the church to get involved -- this is a great intergenerational activity. 

Media