West End Girls by the pet shop boys was one of the first records I ever bought. What was it that appealed to me - it was camp, electronic dance music with an overly theatrical bent, who knows?
But since then I've continued to be a fan and as I've grown up - so too has their music followed me - at key points in my life there has always been a song, to commiserate when I'm feeling low and celebrate when I'm feeling good.
And so I've been lucky enough to see them perform live: Birmingham NEC, the Savoy theatre in London, Oxford, Manchester MEN Arena and even a little gig at Leicester University. Why is it that I always seem to like bands that will never play where I live, in Derby? And so every time I want to see them on tour I have to travel.
I'm not the only one who has to travel for the things they enjoy, of course - if you follow football then you have to travel to see an away match. I know there's at least one City fan here today. From what I understand, most Man U fans live outside Manchester so they must be travelling even further.
To travel for something that entertains you, or you enjoy, is one thing - but that's not the sort of journey we hear about in our reading today - it's a very different type of journey.
For a start our travellers didn't quite know where they were going to - they couldn't just look it up on the web or call up a railway timetable. But they did indeed have their own form of satellite navigation.
So who were they, these people from our reading? Well there are many common misconceptions - lots of them perpetuated by the Carol "We Three Kings" and a thousand Christmas card images.
We often think that there were three kings who came to visit Jesus after he was born in the stable. But when we compare it to what we heard in our reading, the reality is rather different.
For a start they weren't kings - they were wise men, now more typically this means that they were astrologers, but not the type of Russell Grant or Mystic Meg type astrologer. Their skills may well have made them more of early astronomers.
In all likelihood they were following the teachings of a sage called Zarathustra and they came from the far off city of Babylon where the Hebrews had spent many years in captivity. When they were liberated many Hebrews chose to remain behind and so the stories we know as the Old Testament would have been familiar to the Babylonians.
The second misconception is that there were only three of them. According to the Bible it just says "wise men" and so may there may well have been a whole caravan of people - the journey from Babylon would have been over a thousand miles which in any period of history would've taken a while. These were men of influence and power and they would in all likelihood have travelled with many companions
The next misconception is that they visited Jesus after he had just been born and was still in the stable. Their interaction with Herod suggests that it may have been two years before their journey was complete. The Jesus they met could well be much older than we like to imagine.
The next misconception is for me quite a personal one - It's that they only gave three gifts.
With them they brought three treasures, each of them worth a great deal and each symbolic in it's own way.
They brought gold - whose value speaks for itself even today, still highly prized and sought after. A gift fit for a king, symbolising the birth of a new king in Jesus
They brought frankincense, which was used as incense by priests and rabbis: it symbolised that Jesus' role would be as a high priest
They brought myrrh. Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The giving of myrrh symbolised that there would be something significant in his death - even as we celebrate his birth at Christmas and picture Jesus as an infant and child, we are reminded of his death as an adult.
The value of these treasures was not to be taken lightly, and Joseph and Mary would have been very glad of them as they fled to Egypt to escape Herod; almost certainly they would have needed to buy passage to escape the vengeance of king Herod.
But is that all they really offered? I don't think so. They offered to the Messiah their homage, their praise and their journey. They had set out not knowing where they would end up, not knowing what the king they were looking for would look like or precisely where they were bound.
Their journey is one of the most astonishing things that we find in the Christmas story and it's also one of the most understated parts. How often do we find people doing the most astonishing things, and not looking to make a fuss about it, you know who I'm talking about don't you? - The people who turn in week in week out who give without thinking about it and who don't seek credit or accolade.
The wise men's actions speak to us of our Christian journey today for in many ways they do the same things that we do today.
They gave up their time - their journey would have taken anything from three weeks to two years, a journey of over a thousand miles. We may not travel for that long or that far in one go - but so many make the effort to come not only to church, but also to be there for other people.
They gave up their money - their treasures that they gave to Jesus were both rare and highly prized. We too have an opportunity to use our money in Jesus' service as we contribute to building his church.
They used their talents in God's service - they used their intellect and abilities to follow the astronomical signs that pointed to Jesus' birthplace; to read the scriptures for the prophecies of his birth. We too are blessed with talents and gifts that we have opportunities to use to help build the body of Jesus through our church. Be it as part of a team or supporting a friend at a time of need, helping someone else out on their journey.
Against bewildering background the wise men were called by God and showed him faith and determination - Not for them was there an angel appearing and pointing them towards the stable - they had to find Jesus together, relying on each other for support and encouragement when things may have looked lost or hopeless. This is a stunning example of commitment. And why did they do it?
To see the reason why, we have only to look towards the end of their story, the tale of the wise men ends with horror and injustice - a savage reminder that all is not well in the world.
As we look out into our city we see the lost people, the injustices and inequalities of law and know that the journey we share together still has many miles left to go. We are blessed with people to share the journey with and we are called to still carry on travelling.
As we come together today to renew our commitment and to work for the wonderful new things we will discover this year, the new people who are not yet our friends who will walk through our doors - we can look back to the wise men of the Christmas story and know that they too are part of our inspiration.
For us
now, it is not a question of how far have we been?
It is a question of how
far have we yet to go?
Amen.
(Dan Joseph)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church
of Manchester. Click here for further
information.