A separate video feed of the choir will be available here.

Precious Gifts

Led by: Reverend Chibuzor Okpala

With the Cornerstone Choir directed by Adrian Boynton

Introit: Easter Monarchs, Sages Three

Eastern monarchs, Sages three, come with gifts in great plenty,
Worship Christ on bended knee, cum virgine Maria.

Gold in honour of the King, Incense to the Priest they bring,
Myrrh, for time of burying, cum virgine Maria.

His the praise and glory be laud and honour, victorie,
Power supreme and so sing we, cum virgine Maria.

Peter Naylor
CCL31580

Hymn: The Hush of Midnight, Here Below

(Verse 1 choir only)
The hush of midnight here below, the shining stars above,
a night of wonder long ago when in the stable lantern’s glow
is born God’s gift of love.

To all the waiting world belongs the child now brought to birth,
who comes to right our human wrongs, his praises told in angel songs,
proclaiming peace on earth.

The kings of earth in homage ride to where the child is born;
a King to whom a star shall guide, whose throne is at the Father’s side,
his crown a crown of thorn.

This child, whose birth the angels tell, whose death our life restored,
by whom at last shall all be well, is God with us, Immanuel,
our Saviour, Christ the Lord.

C.H. Parry
CCL31580

INTRODUCTION: Reverend Chibuzor Okpala

THE COLLECT FOR EPIPHANY

Eternal God, who by the shining star
led the wise men to the worship of your Son:
Guide by his light the nations of the earth,
that the whole world may behold your glory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Led by a Star

CHOIR: Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar

Three Kings from Persian lands afar
To Jordan follow the pointing star:
And this the quest of the travellers three,
Where the new-born King of the Jews may be.
Full royal gifts they bear for the King;
Gold, incense, myrrh are their offering.

How brightly shines the morning star!
With grace and truth from heaven afar
Our Jesse tree now bloweth.

The star shines out with a steadfast ray;
The kings to Bethlehem make their way,
And there in worship they bend the knee,
As Mary’s child in her lap they see;
Their royal gifts they show to the King;
Gold, incense, myrrh are their offering.

Of Jacob’s stem and David’s line,
For thee, my Bridegroom, King divine,
My soul with love o’erfloweth.

Thou child of man, lo, to Bethlehem
The Kings are travelling, travel with them!
The star of mercy, the star of grace,
Shall lead thy heart to its resting place.
Gold, incense, myrrh thou canst not bring;
Offer thy heart to the infant King.

Thy word, Jesu, Inly feeds us,
Rightly leads us, Life bestowing.
Praise, O praise such love o’erflowing.

Peter Cornelius
CCL31580

READING: Twelfth Night by Laurie Lee

CHOIR: Here is the Little Door

Here is the little door, lift up the latch, oh lift!
We need not wander more, but enter with our gift;
Our gift of finest gold. Gold that was never bought or sold;
Myrrh to be strewn about his bed; Incense in clouds about His head;
All for the child that stirs not in His sleep,
But holy slumber hold with ass and sheep.

Bend low about His bed, for each He has a gift;
See how His eyes awake, lift up your hands, O lift!
For gold, He gives a keen-edged sword. (Defend with it thy little Lord!)
For incense, smoke of battle red, Myrrh for the honoured happy dead;
Gifts for His children, terrible and sweet; touched by such tiny hands,
and Oh such tiny feet.

Herbert Howells
CCL31580

Offering Gifts

READING: Matthew 2:1-12

The Magi visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

READING: Suitable Presents by Ann Lewin

CHOIR: Enter the Stable Softly

Enter the stable softly, bowing your head,
Beneath the doorway low; here’s where the star has led.
Enter the stable softly, the Child lies here asleep,
While just outside the snow is soft and deep.
Enter the stable softly, kneel by the manger there;

And in your heart murmur a quiet prayer.
Enter the stable softly, and hear the story told
Of wise-men’s gifts; myrrh, frankincense and gold.
Steal from the stable softly, the way the wise-men trod;
Here you have seen the infant Son of God.

Donald Cashmore
CCL31580

HYMN Here is the Centre, Star on Distant Star

Here is the centre: star on distant star
shining unheeded in the depths of space,
worlds without number, all the worlds there are,
turn in their travelling to this holy place.
    Here in a stable and an ox’s stall
    laid in a manger lies the Lord of all.

Son of the Father, God’s eternal Word,
emptied of glory, born to cross and grave;
ours is the secret ancient prophets heard,
God in our likeness come to seek and save:
    Christ in his passion, bearer of our sins;
    and, from his rising, risen life begins.

Come then rejoicing! Praise be all our songs!
Love lies among us in the stable bare,
light in our darkness, righting of all wrongs,
hope for the future, joy enough to share.
    Peace to our hearts for God is on the throne!
    Christ our Redeemer comes to claim his own.

Orlando Gibbons
CCL31580

The Slaughter of Innocents

READING: Matthew 2:13-18

The escape to Egypt

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’

¹⁶ When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

READING: Innocent’s Song by Charles Crossley

CHOIR: Coventry Carol

Lullay, Thou little tiny child, By, by, Lully, lullay.
O, sisters too, how may we do, for to preserve this day;
This poor youngling for whom we do sing, By, by, lully lullay?
Herod the King, in his raging, charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight, all young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child, for Thee, And every mourn and say;
For thy parting, neither say nor sing, By by, lully lullay!

Kenneth Leighton
CCL31580

Born to Suffer and Save

READING: Words for the Magi by Elizabeth Jennings

READING: 1 John 4:7-12

God’s love and ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

CHOIR: No small wonder

Small wonder the star, small wonder the light;
The angels in the shepherds in fright
but stable and manger for God – No small wonder!
Small wonder the kings, small wonder they bore
The gold and the incense, the myrrh, to adore;
But god gives his life on a cross – no small wonder!
Small wonder the love, small wonder the grace
The power the glory, the light on his face;
But all to redeem my poor heart – no small wonder!

Paul Edwards
CCL31580

HYMN: Thou Son of God and Son of Man

1. Thou Son of God, and Son of Man
beloved, adored Immanuel;
who didst, before all time began,
in Glory with thy Father dwell.

2. We sing thy love, who didst in time
for us humanity assume;
to answer for the sinner’s crime,
to suffer in the sinner’s room.

3. The ransomed Church thy glory sings;
the host of Heaven thy will obey;
and, Lord of Lords and King of kings,
we celebrate thy blessed sway.

4. A servant’s form didst thou sustain;
and with delight the law obey;
and then endure amazing pain,
while all our sorrows on thee lay.

5. Blest Saviour! We are wholly thine;
so freely loved, so dearly bought,
our souls to thee would we resign,
to thee subject our every thought.

CCL31580

Hope of the World

REFLECTION & PRAYER: Revd Chibuzor Okpaler

CHOIR: I am Changed

I have found an earthly throne, in this bare place, this humble home.
The greatest love the world has known, Heaven’s child resting here below.

I have found where I belong I have heard the perfect song;
Angel voices from above Heaven’s child given by God’s love.

All my tears are wiped away I awake in God’s new day,
I am born again today. I will make a promise true

In my life Your work to do. I will give my all for You;
Heaven’s child I am changed in You; Heaven’s child I am made anew;
Heaven’s child born again with You.

Will Todd
CCL31580

READING: Romans 15:4-9, 12-13

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed ⁹ and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

READING: The Four Wise Man by Donald Hinton

CHOIR: On This Day Earth Shall Ring

On this day earth shall ring with the songs children sing
To the Son, Christ the King.
Born on earth to save us, Him the Father gave us,
Ideo. Gloria in excelsis Deo.

His the doom, ours the mirth when he came down to earth,
Bethlehem saw His birth,
Ox and ass beside him, from the cold would hide Him.

God’s bright star, o’er His head, wise men three to Him led,
Kneel they low by His bed,
Lay their gifts before Him, praise him and adore Him.

On this day angels sing, with their song earth shall ring
Praising Christ, Heaven’s King.
Born on earth to save us, Peace and love he gave us.

Hylton Stewart
CCL31580

HYMN: A new song God has given

A new song God has given, a new thing God has done,
when from the courts of heaven he sent to us his Son.
Rejoice in song and story to tell of Jesus’ birth,
who laid aside his glory and came, a child, to earth.

A new found star is shining upon the Eastern skies,
that Kings may come, defining the way of all the wise.
O child of our salvation, receive the gifts we bring,
the songs of adoration that love alone can sing.

A new world now is waking, the old must pass away;
a new-made morning breaking on God’s eternal day.
A new song God has given to tell his praise abroad,
who came, a child, from heaven, a Saviour, Christ the Lord.

CCL31580