Born in Bethlehem, worshipped in Bermondsey

They weren't kings, there may not have been three of them, and they almost certainly never saw the baby Jesus in a manger.

No, according to the Bible, the wise men (number not specified), came to a house (not a stable) and they paid homage to a 'child' (not a baby).

The truth is it took them a while to get there.

They missed Christmas and Jesus had grown up a bit by the time they arrived, but they got there in the end, and they did deliver their three gifts (if it was one each, then there were three of them, but nobody knows).

The crucial point, as I was saying at St Anne's family service this morning was that they were foreigners. They were travellers from a distant land, a different culture, probably even a different religion, but they came in search of Jesus even so,  and, when they saw him, they worshipped him.

They were the first foreigners to do so, but they set a trend that countless millions, including ourselves, have followed since.

They were a sign of things to come - a way of saying that Jesus would not just be king of the Jews but king of people of every nation.

And our little multi-racial congregation at St Anne's this morning was a kind of reminder of all that. What began in Bethlehem, continues in Bermondsey twenty centuries later, as people from different races, backgrounds, and cultures come to believe in Jesus, recognise him as their king and worship him together in the same church.