Floods bring fear and anxiety to those who suffer its effects on their homes and livelihoods. And when you are being evacuated to a strange environment you do not have much time or the ability to see any silver lining in the abundance of water.

Some people, however, are able to do just that. They are able to think of the other person's needs before their own. Unafraid, they go about doing their bit for the community. They see what can be achieved and look forward to better times ahead when it is over.

The story of the Magi, the wise men from the East in Matthew's Gospel today, has always captured our imagination. Even though people speculate about the historical reality behind the story of the star such questions to not diminish the significance of it. Because the journey of the Magi seeking the new born king strikes a chord in us as we make our journeys through life with all its questions and mysteries.

The account Matthew gives us presents the great contrast between the wonder and awe of the Magi on the one hand, and the fear, deception, and evil intentions of Herod. The Magi do seem to symbolise our best intentions, Herod our worst. It is a conflict between light and darkness that echoes throughout the Gospel and our own lives.

These Magi, these foreign wise men from the East, using the wisdom and science of their time looked to the stars for signs of hope. These were the kind of men who in the history of Persia, opposed the inroads of foreign powers such as Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great whose empires flooded the ancient middle East. These men also yearned for a restoration of their own kingdoms and culture no less than the Jews in Israel.

Such a great hope inspired them to make the journey. Matthew skilfully uses this political reality of the time, which also echoes the Jewish hopes as well, to tell his good news. Taking up the ancient hopes of Israel for a new Davidic king from the Old Testament he tells a story of a grand and universal good news. Here in Bethlehem is born a king who will shepherd Israel and be a light to all the nations who live in darkness.

The story captures us and the three kings and their gifts have become part of the Christmas crib precisely because it speaks to us so well. It puts before us our own ongoing struggle: to live in wonder and gratitude or to live always anxious and afraid of what the new day will bring. But like the Magi, in faith we come to pay homage to the child of our dreams, born in a poor cave in Bethlehem. This child is the goal of all our searching and yearning.

Let us pray that the light of Christ will be made manifest in the lives of all those suffering and ours as well this New Year.

Fr Graham