Today is still Christmas and our sanctuary decorations help
us celebrate Epiphany. In our text for
today, the author invites us to the manger to learn that Jesus is the
Messiah. We are invited to ponder how
the God of Heaven came to live as one of us.
This season allows us to enjoy again the stories of Christ’s birth. Following the church calendar, it is the 12th
day of Christmas, a special day called Epiphany. This is a celebration of Christ being
discovered by the world, as the Light of the World. Matthew invites the whole world including
foreigners called Magi.
Epiphany offers us a chance to make new beginnings to see
that Light. To the manger come both
shepherds who were the simple, home folk awakened to the glory of God all
around them and now Magi who were spiritual leaders/scholars/foreigners who
studied the stars. The Magi were willing
to travel a long distance to seek out God and God’s truth. I think of the scholars like Kate and Alex
and Aubrey will come to Kansas State University from far away places like Ghana
to teach and to study. You are our Magi
symbolized on our paraments today. (Pointed to them)
The love of God that came to earth in Jesus is for all
people. The Magi came because they had a
burning desire to be more than they were.
What was happening for them at the moment was not enough. Epiphany celebrates the deep interior longing
we have to be close to God and it promises to us that authentic searches for
God are often rewarded.
Epiphany is a celebration that declares that faith sends us
on spiritual journeys to where God is found.
Epiphany opposes the idea that good religion is supposed to shield
believers from change. There is so much
change in technology and politic and social conditions, and that part of each
of us that does not want to change wants the church to stay the same. Here is a story to teaches us that faith
gives us encounters with God to help us navigate change. Faith should not prevent change, faith guides
change.
Matthew says: “Ask and it will be given to you….seek and you
will find.” I believe that we become
what we seek after, what we spend time doing, what we spend our money on. Matthew takes very seriously the intent of
the Magi journey for in it he finds a
model for any of us who seek to be closer to God. As Matthew tells about his birth, Jesus is
seen as the one who addressed all people. In his ministry Jesus touches the whole world. All can find in Jesus a fruitful and
glorious path to God. You do not need a
passport, or admission papers, or any kind of papers to be a follower of
Jesus. In his adult ministry, Jesus was
rejected and excluded. But he taught us
that God includes. Any seeker can find a
way to the manger and find there something of the greatest value, forever.
In this story we learn:
1.
A church is blessed by new people who come eager
to learn something new about God.
Welcome Magi!
2.
Those of us who have been around a while need to
remember that another trip to the manger can be breathtaking again.
3.
It is a reminder that the all are equal kneeling
in the hay…shepherds and magi. From
intimate parent to the stranger, we are all the same before baby Jesus. Science, art, medicine are part of God’s
truth, but there is more to life. I love
this story because I was an astronomy major; I love the stars and still do, but
my faith in Christ leads me to a new place. This trip to the manger gives us
great comfort and great humility.
It is a reminder that the more hospitality we show, the more
we reflect the light of Christ. Anyone
who admits a true hunger in their hearts will find something new following the
star.
Knowing a bit about some of you I know that there is deep
variety in the way swe come today. Some
of you are recovering from the effects of chemotherapy. Some of you need support having lost your
spouse. Some of you are still navigating
life following a divorce. Some of you
are just eager to start a new year with God more in the picture.
What a way to begin the New Year: a contentious Congress,
leftover devastation from the storm named Sandy, gun violence at a school. A Baptist pastor wrote: “We have become a
nation rife with domestic terrorism – moving from a land of hospitality and
freedom to a land of the fearful and the besieged, with gun violence being one
of the driving forces behind this change.”
Howard Thurman was a professor where I went to
seminary. He was also Dean of the
Chapel. He was an amazing writer and
preacher. I would like to tell you the
way he started each year. He would, on
New Year’s Day, write in his journal his understanding of the nature of God…what was God like and what was God about. After completing his work he would get out
last year’s journal and compare the two.
His goal was this year’s account would show some spiritual growth. If it did not then he would plan his year’s
reading and prayer and study. No wonder
his books and sermons were unbelievably powerful. We can see in his life his passion to see God
more clearly and to love God more dearly.
The highest desire that one can have is longing to see God.
As Matthew wrote, he knew the dreams of Isaiah so many years
before. Isaiah wrote in a time of great
distress and knew that the God had not deserted them. Our Hebrew ancestors were living in captivity
in Babylon and Isaiah dreamed of a day when those same captors would travel to
the Hebrew homeland bringing gifts and learning of God. And here it happened as the Magi came to
worship Jesus. God does not abandon
us. God has plans.
Mt. wrote to the early church having a hard time accepting
Gentile Christians. Jewish Christians
were OK. Gentile Christians were a
problem. So Mt. includes them right at
the beginning. Hooray for Matthew.
We gather as a faith family today seeking to stay on the
right path. As the Magi learned maybe we
need new trips to the Christ Child following a star. We need a greater love of creation as God has
given it. We need a greater
understanding of God in relationships.
God is at work in our faith family…clearly at work.
I close with a story about a city family with a baby. They had been Christmas shopping and on their
way home and saw a diner. Their baby was
tired and very hungry. He was at the age
they could put food in front and what did not go in his hair or on the floor
made it into his mouth. They were ready
for all of the attention their baby usually got from other adults. The only table was near the door and the
waitress helped with a great high chair.
What happened next was unexpected.
A man with tattered clothing staggered into the diner and sat at table
nearby. Without any planning he ended up
sitting directly in line with the baby’s vision. He appeared as one who spent a great time on
the street; he smelled of alcohol and a long time since the last bath. The most surprising thing was the way the
baby reacted. The baby looked at the man
and smiled and squealed with delight.
The child was so excited that he lost interest in the food. The parents got a bit nervous and really did not
know what to do because by that time the homeless man was smiling back and
cautiously waved. He ordered and got a
cup of coffee and watched the baby with great fascination. It was if they were communicating. As the parents left they could not leave any
other way but to go by the man’s table.
The man spoke up, “You have a wonderful son there.” “Thank you!” the father replied. Then the father did something that did not
make sense but he did it anyway. He sat
down and put the baby on the table facing the man. The baby jabbered and smiled again and kicked
his legs. The
man’s eyes filled with tears and said, “Thank you for my Christmas!”
The homeless man had a shepherd Christmas.
The father and mother had a Magi Christmas!
The baby’s parents went back to the café later finding out
if the homeless guy came in often. He
did and so they gave some money for some meals.
Matthew tells us: You
can come as a shepherd to wonder at the glory.
You can come as a Magi to search for the greater meaning of
life.
Matthew invites us to come to Bethlehem (House of Bread) and
be filled with good things. Come and eat
and enjoy the Lord’s Supper fellowship and the bread and wine.
My eyes already
toward the sunny hill,
Going far ahead of
the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by
what we cannot grasp.
It has its inner
light, even from a distance-
And it changes us,
even if we do not reach it,
Into something else
which, hardly sensing it, we already are.
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