I've read through my copy of the Women's Weekly (January 2007) as part of my preparation for today's sermon.

Anyway, I went straight to the Magi page - the 2007 Horoscope by Jessica Adams (senior astrologer in the Women's Weekly's court of the magi).

My stars looked quite enticing at first glance this year. Apparently all my personal struggles are due to come to an end!

"If you've had ongoing anxieties about a rival, opponent or object of loathing ... this issue will disappear or your attitude relax." That's encouraging, isn't it? Jessica even gives a date for this turn-around. "Mark September 2nd in your diary." Not so encouraging! I wish she'd left that out!

Indeed, as I read through my future for the year to come, it seems advisable that I go to sleep for at least the first six months, as my fortunes aren't really set to improve until we get towards the end of the year!

Mind you, I am encouraged in the mean time to "forget the man who was such hard work, or the prolonged shortage of suitable partners." (I assume she means 'business partners')

Now, I need to be honest with you and confess that I don't really put a lot of trust in these astrologers - not Jessica Adams, nor Athena Stargazer, nor Zelda the Gypsy nor even Bob the Psychic. Indeed, in case you hadn't picked it up, I actually regard the entire business of astrology with a fair degree of cynicism. And I'm in good company, for our forefathers and foremothers in the faith held to a strong tradition of decrying and even ridiculing the practice of stargazing!

The Old Testament prophets took the lead in this regard, veritably railing against the pagan magi:

Isaiah said, "Those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you. Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame." (Isaiah 47:13-14)

Or from Jeremiah chapter 10: "Thus says the LORD: 'Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are false.'" (Jeremiah 10:2-3)

In the New Testament, generally speaking, the magi don't receive much better treatment. Two turn up in the book of Acts - Elymas the false prophet in Acts 13, and Simon Magus in Acts 8, who tries to buy the Holy Spirit for money. Both receive rather short shrift from the Apostles.

Like their more ancient predecessors, these magi are not respected for their art by the early church. Theirs is not considered to be a valued component in the spiritual landscape that makes up of the Kingdom of God. Their spirituality is not affirmed as an authentic expression of godly intuition. Rather, the magi are considered to be members of an alternative religion.

They do not worship the God who made the heavens and the earth. They do not seek for God in the right way. Their predictions are not to be relied upon or even listened to. These magi are, from the Biblical point of view, superstitious pagan idolaters who are strangers to Bible truth and not remotely part of the people of God, and yet ... when we gather around the baby Jesus at Christmas time, we notice that they are there too, and what's worse, they are there because God invited them!

'How did you know that the baby was going to be born here?' Herod asks. "God revealed it to us", they said, "in the stars. We followed the stars and we got here.'"

There is something wonderfully peaceful and pure to be found in standing around the baby Jesus at Christmas time - taking our stand alongside the virgin mother and the godly Joseph and the gentle animals. There's something wonderfully pure and peaceful about it, at least until you start to notice some of the others who've been invited to stand around there with you - the dirty old shepherds, the tax-collectors and sinners, the loose women and violent street kids, Athena Stargazer, and Bob the Psychic. And that's not to mention all the C&E's that we just finished saying goodbye to for another year!

Epiphany reminds us that our Christmas celebration is also their Christmas celebration because, to be blunt, our baby Jesus is actually also their baby Jesus, because our God is their God!

The visit of the Magi reminds us that Jesus is not someone that we have a copyright on, not someone that we own the rights to, not someone who is actually ours at all. He is the Lord of all, the savior of the world. The Magi did not know much. They were confused about much. But what they did know was that our baby Jesus was also their baby Jesus.

Just when we were feeling nice and smug, just when we thought we had it all sown up - knowing who was on the inside and who was on the outside. Just when we were settling down to another year of church, knowing that it is indeed we who are were God's own people (the really serious followers of Jesus), God comes and puts in our way some good Samaritan, some godly tax-collector or drug-pusher, some Christmas and Easter, see-you-next-year-sorry-but-I-don't-like-to-talk-about-my-religion-type, who, like the magi, doesn't really understand very much but who realizes that Jesus is relevant to him too.

And the truth is that they've got as much a right to be a part of all this as we have. For we are all guests - you and I and us and them - invited together to take our stand in worship around the Lord Jesus.

Oh come. Let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.