As I write this article, there are only 36 days left until Christmas! I wonder how you feel about this? I, personally, am very excited. I LOVE the excitement that comes with Christmas, the glittering lights, the smell of the Christmas tree, singing carols, the parties and the last minute rush to get the perfect presents for my friends and family. I like to spend a lot of time thinking about what to get each person, and make sure I buy meaningful gifts.

But this has led me to think - what happened at the first ever Christmas? Are there any similarities between Christmas now, and Christmas all those years ago when Jesus was born? I would like to invite you to spend some time now thinking about the Magi, or the Kings, as some people know them.

In the Bible, Matthew tells us that the Kings came from the East and followed the star to where Jesus was born. The Magi were wise men who were known for paying attention to the stars, which was highly thought of at the time. We are told that they brought three gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and although it is commonly said that there were three wise men, there may have been more – the Bible does not specify exactly how many Magi there were. What we are told, is that the wise men brought gifts and they bowed down and worshipped Jesus. It describes their gifts as ‘treasures’, so it seems clear that the gifts they brought were very special. So, what does this mean for us today?

Well, just in case you don’t know who I am, my name is Kathryn, and I am the G:em Worship Coordinator. You are likely to see me at all of the G:em events, but the ones I am most involved in are Girls Night In events. These are our worship events, where women of all ages come together to worship God, just like the Kings did that night when Jesus was born many years ago. My role involves inviting people to be part of the worship band for the evening, asking peopleto lead worship, and generally making sure that everything to do with worship is running smoothly. Some of you who are reading this, may be used to worshipping, but others may not really know what I mean, so I’d love to invite you now to think about worship a bit more.

I believe that worship is about coming to God and thanking Him for everything He has done for us. It is about meeting with God. Sometimes we can come together specifically to worship God at an event like G:em or Church, and worship here sometimes involves music, singing songs and coming together with other people to praise God and thank Him for what He has done. But I believe that worship is mostly about how we live. Do we live well? Or are there things we don’t do so well? Worship is not just about music, it is about being the best we can be in everything we do, so that we can honour God and live how He wants us to. I believe that the gifts the Kings brought to Jesus were the best gifts they could have brought him. They didn’t bring him OK presents – they brought Him amazing presents that the Bible describes as ‘treasure’. I always try to buy my friends the best Christmas presents possible. And it should be like this with Jesus. We should be striving to be the best we can be for Him. I can hear you thinking that this is really hard – yes it is! Sometimes we don’t get it right, but I believe that worship is about our heart and God knows what is in our hearts. I think He really blesses us if our heart is in the right place and we are striving to be the best we can be, even when we do mess up sometimes. I also know that there are lots of things that can come in the way of us worshipping Jesus. We can easily become distracted because the world tries to offer us so much. Sometimes we can become distracted by wanting the latest new clothes, relationships, fame, money, television, internet, Facebook – a little bit of these things in our life is not bad, but when we become obsessed by them, we are not focussed on Jesus any more, and we’re not being the best we possibly can be.

So I want to encourage you to think about the Kings today. Do you want to worship Jesus like they did? How do you live your life? Are you striving to be the best you can be? Do you get distracted by things? Or are you focussed on Jesus?

If you are interested in worship and want to know more, please send an e-mail to us at G:em and we will put you in touch with someone who will talk through these things in more depth with you.

If you would like to read more about the Kings and the story of when Jesus was born, go to the start of Matthew in your Bible, and it all starts there!

Kathryn has just graduated from a degree in Digital Music. She enjoys music, movies, travel and loves being with people.