We are reminded this week, that the Christian hope - the biblical hope - is is not about going to heaven when we die, but the full restoration of God's world. A new creation for which this world groans.

We all have periods of our life where we feel overwhelmed by chaos and turmoil. Whatever the storms we face, Jesus is able to bring rest to our souls.

All of us will have pivotal moments in our lives when we are prompted to recognise that we're going down the wrong track, or making decisions that hurt others. The question is whether - like Saul - we listen to the voice of Christ.

At the start of this week of prayer for Christian unity, John the Baptist sets an extraordinary pattern of what it looks like to point people towards Jesus. He sets his own ego aside to recognise the One who is greater than himself.

Matthew's Gospel jumps straight from the Magi's visit to the infant Christ straight to his Baptism over thirty years later. This sets an example to the rest of us, we are called to shine God's light to the world and follow the calling he has for us.

After Jesus' born he is visited my some mysterious astrologers and magicians from the Persian East. In this we see how, although there is something special in God's election of the Jewish people, His redemptive plan for humanity goes beyond all ethnic or national borders.