Epiphany in Three Parts

 

John 2:1-11

Psalm 104:14-16

1/9/22

               The 6^th of January is the actual day set aside for the celebration of Epiphany.  That is the official end of the Christmas season or the 12 days of Christmas.  Do you remember what Epiphany actually means?  According to several different dictionaries, here are the definitions:

·        the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).

• the festival commemorating the Epiphany on January 6.
• a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.
• a moment of sudden revelation or insight.

In the church, however, we recognize that Epiphany actually has three parts.  We say that the “manifestation of God” is revealed in these three parts.  The first part then is when the Magi show us that Christ was made manifest not only to the Israelites, but to all people.  They themselves were not Israelites and yet they were witnesses to Christ’s coming.  The second part is the Baptism of Christ in which God proclaims Jesus as God’s son.  And the third is what is described in the gospel of John as Jesus’ first miracle which we read about today – turning water into wine.  All three of these, together, are the epiphany because all three of these are thought to manifest or reveal who Jesus is.  But I find the lectionary texts for today to be extremely interesting because today is “Baptism of the Lord” Sunday and yet we are not hearing about the baptism.  Instead, we are remembering the turning of the water into wine.  We will come back to this in a minute.

               Looking at this passage, this story of Jesus turning the water into wine, there is so much here inviting reflection.  What does it mean, for example, that Jesus’ first miracle was one of celebration?  His first miracle was not of healing someone, or raising someone from the dead (like Lazarus).  It wasn’t raising someone out of oppression, or restoring a person back into their community. It wasn’t feeding people.  Jesus’ first miracle wasn’t about doing anything NECESSARY, or liberating, or holistic.  Or rather, it wasn’t doing anything that most of us consider necessary.  But the very fact that this was his first miracle, one of enhancing celebration, adding to the celebration of a wedding, of commitments made and the community gathering, has a great deal to say to us about what God values about humanity.  The miracle was one of extreme abundance and abundance in the form of joy, of good things, of life, of happiness, of celebration.  Remember that the amount we are talking about here of water turned into wine was about 40 gallons.  This isn’t a small amount: this is a huge, overabundant amount.  And the point here?  We aren’t meant to simply survive this life.  We aren’t meant to simply grow through and from this life.  We are meant to celebrate it, and to celebrate it abundantly.  Remember, Jesus came eating and drinking.  As one commentator said, “God does not want our religion to be too holy to be happy in.” (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.)

               I’m reminded of a praise song called Thrive.  The lyrics:

Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died
Like a tree planted by the water
We never will run dry
So living water flowing through
God, we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls with one desire
Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on high
Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide
We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

…

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable

Love unstoppable, anything is possible

We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives.

It’s time for us to more than just survive

We were made to thrive!

               This is a wonderful story about God’s abundance, and love for us to have that abundance, to celebrate, to live.

               But there are things here to struggle with as well. Commentator, Carol Lakey Hess said this, “It may seem like a travesty to turn a narrative about divine abundance into a trial of God, and yet it is passages like this one about divine extravagance that make God's absence in the face of poverty, suffering, and evil stand out. How do we reconcile a story of potent generosity with a world of tremendous need? If God is both generous and able, then apparently God continues to express Jesus' attitude: what is that to me?  Because we trust that God wants abundance (plentiful wine and lavish food are common symbols of God's grace in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), we follow in the footsteps of the mother of Jesus by prodding God for divine compassion and generosity….. Theologians who grapple with theodicy, justifying God's goodness in face of suffering and evil, come to various conclusions. Some say that it is not yet God's hour; others say God relies on human compassion to do the will of God.  Still others dare to argue that God continues to need the heirs of Jesus' mother to go on prodding divine generosity…. This troubling text invites us to trust so much in God's generosity and abundance that we, like the perceptive mother of Jesus, nudge God with our observation: they have no wine.”  

What does all of that mean?  Perhaps it is a daring proposition to utter, but Jesus makes it clear that we are called to be partners with God in making this life the extravagant abundance that God is all about.  We are called to be part of it beginning with simply asking for God’s abundance to come here, to come now, as Mary did with Jesus, and as we do through our prayers.    

But that is truly only the first step.  We are also called to be part of co-creating that abundance for all people through our actions.  Carol Lakey Hess continued by saying this, “In Toni Morrison's masterpiece Beloved, a white mountain girl named Amy Denver aids pregnant Sethe as she escapes slavery. Seeing Sethe's bloody back torn from the whip and astonished by the degree of her mutilation, Amy utters, "Come here Jesus… Wonder what God had in mind."  John 2, however, reveals what God has in mind—abundance, and the mother of Jesus nudges us to ask what God had in mind—during slavery, the genocide of Native peoples, the Holocaust. And Amy Denver does here what the mother of Jesus does in John 2—she poses the question and nudges the Divine.”  But I would add that she didn’t just ask God for intervention.  She stood on the strength of God to intervene herself, to stand up for injustice, to confront it, to change it, at least for the person right in front of her.  Mary asked for what she wanted: prodded, poked, demanded, stood up for it until it too was granted.  And again, that is what we are also called to do: to work for what we believe is right and just.  To work for all people to have the abundance that God has created for all of us to share.

            I think about some of the big times when people in this very room have done that.  And you have.  Despite the energy and time that it cost you, people in this room have taken on the care of someone else.  Many of you have taken people into your homes and cared for them, in some cases for just a night, in other cases for months and even years.  Some of you have spoken out against prejudiced comments and injustices.  You have given of your time, resources, talents to be part of helping others.  You pray, and you act.  And in doing both, you bring abundance and you celebrate abundance.  When we make feasts for the people of Winters Nights, we are bringing and celebrating abundance.  When we raise money for Monument Crisis Center or Hope Solutions, we are providing abundance.  When we provide tutoring for Hope Solutions, we are celebrating the abundance of our time, our resources.  When we help provide clean laundry and food, we are providing and celebrating abundance. 

            On this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we remember that Jesus was called and blessed in his baptism and that we too are called and blessed in our baptisms.  We remember that just as Jesus prayed and acted, we are called to do the same.  So why would we be listening to the story of the water into wine on this day?  Because that story of abundance is deeply connected and tied to the story of Jesus’ call.  It is a sign that at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, of Jesus’ call is the promise of abundance, of life, of good things, of celebration.  And it is a reminder that as we, too, are called in our baptisms, we too are to be bearers of abundance to a world struggling to feel it has enough, is enough, will be more than enough, will be enough to celebrate.   

As we are bearers of this message and light, we recognize that we have two parts to that bearing and both are necessary – the praying and the doing.  Through both, Jesus continues to be revealed.  And God’s work continues to be done.  And through both, we bear abundance.  Jesus was enough.  The world has enough.  And YOU are enough.  The sooner you believe that, the sooner you will be able at act as the bearer of abundance that you are.  Thanks be to God for abundance, for calling, and for the ability to step into that abundance with hope, joy and promise.  Amen. 

Epiphany: Gifts and Giving

Luke 2:41-52

Matthew 2:1-12

       Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh were gifts we are told were given by the Magi because they were some of the most valuable things that people could have at that time.  It was a statement that Jesus was valuable beyond anything.  And, as you also know, it was more than that:

       Frankincense – was (and is) often made into incense and used in worship.  So it represents who Jesus was as “God with us” - It represents life.

      Myrrh was used to embalm mummies, especially those of rich, important people.  So it symbolized the suffering and death that Jesus would experience when he was grown up and the honoring of what was to come.

      There is more in this story than even that.  The magi or wise men also travelled a very long way with their gifts.  They gave to Jesus a huge gift, then, of their time and their energy as well as their material gifts.

            We understand their value, we understand that they had deep meaning, that these gifts were the most important and valuable things they could give, materially but also in terms of their energy and time. 

            If Jesus were born among us today, and you knew about it, knew who he was and why he was coming.  If you were invited to go to the birth of Jesus, what would you give, what would you bring?  I invite you to think about that for a minute.

            In the Advent Devotionals that went out, Lisa and Lynn Justice mentioned the story in the blog, Hyperbole and a Half called, “The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas.”  We have enjoyed Hyperbole and a Half for a long time, but I did not remember this story, so we looked it up and I read it out loud to the whole family.  It is hilarious and I laughed so hard I was crying by the end.  In the story, the author describes a childhood event in which she was trying to get her family to act out the Christmas story and she assigned parts to her family members to play in the story.  Her aunt and grandmother were to be the Magi and the writer insisted that they bring gifts for the baby Jesus.  Apparently her aunt and grandma were a bit tipsy at this point in the story and so they grabbed whatever they could find to give as gifts.  This included a pack of cigarettes, the remote control and a Kenny Loggins tape.  My kids were not nearly as impressed with the story as I was.  They didn’t find it nearly as hilarious, in part because they sympathized with the author as a little girl whose needs were not being attended to in the story.  But it did kick off a conversation for us about what presents would be appropriate and what presents we might bring to Jesus today.  The first suggestion was diapers.  After all, that’s a really useful, needed thing for babies, and we all know that if a person is poor, diapers, even if you use cloth and just need to be constantly cleaning them, they amount to a cost that is not insignificant.  “But,” I challenged, “diapers is really a gift more for the parents than for the baby.” 

            “Also,” I reminded them, “the gifts brought to Jesus signified the best that people had, the most valuable things and gifts and resources that the Magi, or anyone at that time, had.”

            That led into a discussion of two of my favorite Christmas stories – the Littlest Angel, and the Little Drummer Boy.  If you recall the story of the Littlest Angel, the one thing that made this little boy angel happy was a box of his favorite collected stuff – depending on the version of the story it’s a small box of things that would make a young boy happy, like string and a stick, the box itself, the collar of his pet dog, a stuffed bear.  Before getting this box he was very unhappy in heaven and it was the one thing that brought him consolation and joy.  But when he hears about Jesus’ birth, he wants to give him the best that he has, the thing he values most, so he adds this box of everything that gave him joy into the pile of gifts.  He is running away in shame, feeling that the gifts he has are not worth anything when God chooses that gift to be the Star over Bethlehem.  Now while I realize there could be a lot of critique about the story (if it becomes the Star, for example, it’s still not a gift that the baby can actually play with…), none the less, the gift he gave was one a small boy would appreciate and would love, and it was also the thing that was most valued by the Littlest Angel in the story.

            I like the Little Drummer Boy even better because what he gave was his talent, was his ability.  He gave the gift of his music to the baby: the best he had, all he had.  I like it because it was a gift that babies really do value – music, especially drumming, perhaps.  And I like it because it also was the best that the Drummer Boy had.

            So for me, giving our best involves two things: giving what is needed, will be appreciated, will be valued by the recipient; and giving what we value, what is the best we have to give.

            And as I thought about this, I realized that this is the same answer to the question, “what is call” – it is when your greatest gifts, your greatest joy, and the world’s greatest needs meet.  That is our call: that which brings us joy, that which we are gifted in, and that which is most needed by the world. 

            Those are the gifts that we should be bringing to the Christ child, those are the gifts that we bring to God.

            But I was thinking that perhaps we should take this a step further.  When we give gifts to anyone, they should also be given with these same intentions.  We want to give our best to those around us because they are God’s children and we are called to love them as we would love ourselves.  We would want the best – so we should give the best.  Not only to God, but to our neighbors, to those around us.  We give our best time – perhaps that is Sunday mornings when you could be out golfing or sleeping in, but we give our best time every day as well: maybe at dinner with a prayer and with attention to those with whom we are eating. We also give our best energy to serving those around us, to loving those around us, to caring for those around us.  And we are called to give our best material gifts as well: things that we value, things the other will value.

            I’m reminded of a praise song, “My Own Little World” by Matthew West.  These are the lyrics:

In my own little world it hardly ever rains

I've never gone hungry, I’ve always felt safe

I got some money in my pocket and shoes on my feet

In my own little world, population -- me

I try to stay awake through Sunday morning church

I throw a twenty in the plate but I never give 'til it hurts

And I turn off the news when I don't like what I see

It's easy to do when it's population - me

What if there's a bigger picture, What if I'm missing out

What if there's a greater purpose, I could be living right now

Outside my own little world

Stopped at a red light, looked out my window

I saw a carboard sign, said 'Help this homeless widow'

Just above this sign was the face of a human

I thought to myself, 'God, what have I been doing?'

So I rolled down my window and I looked her in the eye

Oh how many times have I just passed her by?

I gave her some money then I drove on through

And my own little world reached population two

(Creator,) break my heart for what breaks Yours, Give me open hands and open doors

Put Your light in my eyes and let me see, That my own little world is not about me

What if there's a bigger picture, What if I'm missing out

What if there's a greater purpose, That I could be living right now

I don't wanna miss what matters, I wanna be reaching out

Show me the greater purpose, So I can start living right now

Outside my own little world,

             We started today’s scripture lessons with another scripture, and in that passage from Luke we are given the sole glimpse into Jesus’ childhood years.  He was sitting in the temple listening to the teachers, learning, growing.  But it caused his parents, who didn’t know where he was, to worry at his absence and to be very upset when they couldn’t find him.  His response was that he needed to be in his Father’s house.  And perhaps we might find this response to be snippy and less than giving.  But this is another time when perhaps our ideas of what is loving, what is giving need to be challenged.  Being loving and giving does not always look like “being nice”.  Sometimes the most loving thing to do is to speak truth to the other, sometimes the most valuable thing we can give is a different way of looking at or understanding something.

            I found myself reflecting on this during this week after looking at our church’s YouTube channel.  As you may know, we have several interviews with Roger Woolsey from his time here, posted on our YouTube channel.  He is well known, and because of his non-fundamentalist ideas about Christianity, he also has quite a few people who really hate what he has to say.  Those who believe in a very judgmental, very angry, very hierarchical God are not going to like what Roger has to say.  As a result, because he is so well known, most of the comments we receive on our YouTube channel are comments left in response to Roger’s interviews and most are proclaiming that Roger is going to hell because of his beliefs in a loving, accepting, compassionate God.  Roger knows his scriptures very well and quotes them often in his arguments for that God.  But those who respond are mostly just angry, attacking, and even threatening.  But as I thought about what giving from our hearts, giving what is most valuable to us looks like, I found myself thinking of Roger.  Despite the commenter’s anger, despite the fact that he is challenging their thinking, their very world view, their rigidity and judgments, he is giving to them a different world view, from his heart, from his sense of call and purpose.  He is giving to God by speaking words of adoration and praise for a God of love, grace, and compassion. 

            We are to follow Jesus and Jesus gave everything – even his life for us.  We, too, are called to be givers, like Jesus, but also like the Magi, of that which is most valuable to us, that which uses the best of who we are, that which is most needed and wanted by those in our world, and that which is a giving back of what has been given to us – our talents, our resources and our time. 

In the Beginning

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4

John 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

            According to the gospel of John, what is “the Word”?  It’s Jesus, actually.  Not scripture.  The Word of God is Jesus.  And we are told that, in the beginning, this third person of the trinity already existed.

            “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people…The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            The Word was already in the world, it was there since the beginning.  Jesus, as the Word, was there from the beginning.  And yet Jesus was born and Jesus was baptized as one of us.  What does that mean? 

            As I’ve said before, Epiphany actually has three parts, or three events.  Epiphany is the revelation or revealing of who Jesus was.  The first part of the epiphany is the visit of the Magi, their recognition of who Jesus was, through the star, through their study and wisdom and their declaration of who Jesus was by their commitment to travel, to bring him gifts, to honor him.  The second part is what we read today, the revelation of Jesus by the Spirit descending on him like a dove, with the voice that came from heaven saying: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  The final piece of the epiphany is Jesus’ first miracle or his turning the water into wine.  The Magi represented the revelation to the Gentiles of who Jesus was.  The Baptism was God’s own naming of who Jesus was.  And his first miracle was done for his own community, for those attending the wedding, or other Jews. 

            But baptism, the piece of epiphany on which we focus today also has other meanings for us.  And the fact that Jesus was baptized shows the extent to which God, the Word, joined us in this human journey, including this, the baptism or the second revelation of God’s coming to be with us.  It was, for Jesus, as it is for us, a renewing.  It is a commitment to living in the way of Christ, in the way God calls us to be.  Mostly, it is a commitment and an acceptance of our being God’s children.  We accept God’s claiming us as God’s own and we honor and celebrate that claiming.

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee . One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, “I hope he doesn't come over here.” But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. “Where are you folks from?” he asked in a friendly voice. “ Oklahoma ,” they answered.  “Great to have you here in Tennessee ,” the stranger said... “What do you do for a living?” “I teach at a seminary,” he replied. “Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you. ” And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.  The professor groaned inside and thought, “Great.. Just what we need.... Another preacher story!”  The man started, “See that mountain over there?" he said, pointing out the restaurant window. “Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, who's your daddy?' "Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?' He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so badly. When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. The boy would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?’  But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?' The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church was looking at him. Everyone wanted to know the answer to that question and finally, they thought they would get it because surely this kid would not lie to the preacher!  This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy. 'Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.' The boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God.''' 

The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, “Isn't that a great story?” The professor responded that it really was a great story! As the man turned to leave, he said, “You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!” And he walked away. The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, "Do you know who that man was who just left that was sitting at our table?” The waitress grinned and said, “Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's governor of Tennessee!”

In doing some background checking, some parts of that story are factual (for example, Ben Hooper, the governor of Tennessee, really was born to an unwed mother) and some parts aren’t (he did know who his father was and eventually he ended up living with his father), but regardless of the historicity of the story, it is a story that I find to be true.  If we can really claim our identity as children of God, if we can be aware of the awesomeness of our baptisms, of God’s claiming us as our own, we should be changed by that awareness, made new and humbled by the greatness of that claim. 

On this, baptism of the Lord Sunday, we remember our baptism in which God comes and claims us as God’s own.  The Spirit revealed Jesus as God’s son for all of us.  And when we are baptized, we are called to celebrate our revealing as well – God’s children, God’s chosen, called, loved into being.  Baptism of the Lord Sunday is the day when we celebrate that God calls us first, claims us first, even before we are able to ask for it, even before we are able to recognize it, even before we are able to respond.    

But what does that mean to be God’s child?  As I worked on this sermon, I was reminded of a Star Trek Next Generation episode called “The Defector” in which a Romulan (an enemy) appeared to be defecting and asking for asylum from the federation (those are the “good guys” for those not familiar with the series).  He said that he had defected in order to prevent war.  He believed his own people were taking an action that would lead to a terrible war and he wanted to prevent that by giving information to the Federation so they might stop the war from beginning in the first place.  When pushed, he kept saying, “I’m not a traitor! I love my people. I’m here to prevent a war!” As the story unraveled, it became clear that this was a man who was deeply grieving.  He did not want to leave his home, he did not want to leave his family.  “What I did had to be done. But to never again see the Firefalls of Gath Gal'thong, and the spires of my home as they rise above the Apnex Sea at dawn. It's a bitter thing to be exiled from your home.”  When it was pointed out that his people would believe him to be a villain, that they would see him as a traitor, and that because of that he would never, ever be allowed to see his children again, let alone return anywhere near home because of his actions, his response was simple, “There comes a time in a man's life…when he looks down at the first smile of his baby girl and realizes he must change the world for her.  For all children.  It is for her that I am here.  Not to destroy the Romulan Empire, but to save it. For months, I tried desperately to persuade the High Command that another war would destroy the Empire. They got tired of my arguments. Finally I was censured, sent off to command some distant sector. This was my only recourse. I will never see my child smile again. She will grow up believing that her father is a traitor. But she will grow up.”  

That kind of love, the kind of love that cares so much for the other that it is willing not only to die but to suffer humiliation, rejection, exile – that is the kind of love God had for us in coming to be with us in another human person.  That is the kind of love God has for us when God claims us as God’s children.  When we accept our baptisms, when we remember Jesus baptism, we are both accepting the love of this kind of God, AND we are promising to try to love with that same self-less depth.

Today, on this second Sunday of Epiphany, we are called to reflect on the amazing gift of baptism that God has given to first Jesus, and then us.  It is a gift of remembering that God calls us into relationship with God.  It is a gift of remembering that God initiates care for us, call to us, purpose and meaning for our lives, before we are even old enough to choose to respond. It is a gift that says, “because I first chose you, because I first brought new life to you, because I begin your life by giving to you every day again and again; now you are called to return that gift to all God’s people which are all people, to all creation, caring back, giving second chances to others, choosing to love and live and care for others in the way that I have cared for you.”  It is a gift, like the star of last week, that shows us the light and invites us to use it to see just how much and how deeply we are loved by God.

Epiphany and Gifts

Matthew 2:1-12

When you hear the story of the Magi, what thoughts or questions come to mind for you?  I want to review a quiz that I gave you the first year I was here and see what you remember:

               First of all, in what book or books of the Bible do we find the story of the three kings?

               None.  There are no kings mentioned and there is no number mentioned.  Instead we are told “some wise-men” or magi from the east came to Jerusalem searching for the king of the Jews. 

               What, then, are magi?  Are they kings?  No.  Astrologers.

               About how old was Jesus when they came to see him?  Between 41 days and 2 years.  While some say it would have taken only slightly over a month of travel (one direction), others estimate that it was a year or more out of their lives that this entailed. So, then, did they come to the stable?  No, of course not.  The story says “to the house”.  They would no longer have been at the stable since we are talking between 41 days and 2 years.

               Why did they bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  What were these things and why were they important in this recounting?  Frankincense is often used as incense or in an anointing oil that was often used in the temple for religious reasons.  Myrrh is similar and can also be used as an oil or incense, but mostly was used to embalm the dead.  These things were incredibly valuable, monetarily, but they were also symbols of what was to come.  Symbols of a recognition of Jesus’ holiness, but also, his death.  Both are purifiers, and readiers for death, for sacraments, for religious tasks, all of which would be Jesus’ life.   The magi travelled far, took time away from families, occupation, home: significant time.  They gave most precious gifts, gifts that required all of who they were – their resources, their time, their commitments, all to come and see this baby and to bring this baby their gifts.

               What are we this committed to?  What do we care about enough that we would leave home, leave FAMILY, sell all we have to spend on a gift for someone whom we’ve never met before and may never see again? 

               I think about the pilgrims and what they gave up to start a new life here in the United States.  Many of them gave their lives, dying in the travel, with the hopes for something better.  Many gave up family, leaving them behind or knowing that they risked some not making the journey successfully.  The same remains true of many of our immigrants today.  Many of those who come here as refugees or as people escaping their countries of origin are truly risking everything they have and everything they are to try to find a better life, usually for their kids.  They make this commitment, this journey, all to begin again, to start something new.  I think about this, how they gave these most precious gifts of starting in a new place, travelling, their resources, to create a new life, new possibilities, for their children, their children’s children, their family.  But these magi, they gave these most precious gifts for the hope of a new tomorrow for Israel.  They gave these most precious gifts for strangers in a strange country, in a strange world.  For a future they would never see.  For a time they would not and could not be a part of. 

               Can you imagine that?

               God loves us in this way, giving up everything to give us the most precious gifts, of life, of Jesus, of salvation.  As Bonhoeffer said it, "God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world."

               But…

God also calls us to love in return in the same way.  Of course we aren’t always going to succeed in doing that.  And sometimes it won’t look like giving up everything to follow God.  But the willingness and faith to give all we have to further God’s reign, God’s place, God’s LOVE here on earth, that is our call. 

Michael Piazza told this story: Harriet Richie, a writer from Anderson, South Carolina, wrote a story that her family had been to a Christmas Eve service that ended at midnight. After worship, her husband announced that he was hungry and wanted breakfast. Of course, it was almost 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, so none of the usual places they might have gone were open. They made their way to the interstate where an all-night truck stop was still open. A few big diesels rumbled outside. Inside a few truckers sat at the counter. A jukebox played country music. On the front window was a string of colored blinking lights. The place smelled like bacon grease and stale coffee. A one-armed man behind the counter nodded the family toward a booth. Soon a waitress named Rita sauntered over, handed them their menus and asked what they wanted to drink. Harriet looked around. She felt a little bit like a snob and out of place. Her family had just come from a beautiful Christmas Eve service. And soon they would be heading to their lovely home for the night. She thought one day they would look back with a laugh and say to each other, "Remember that Christmas we ate breakfast at that truck stop? That awful music and those tacky lights?" She was staring out the window when an old Volkswagen van drove up. A young man with a beard and baggy jeans got out, walked around and opened the door for a young woman who was holding a baby. They hurried inside and took a booth near the back. After Rita, the waitress, took their order, the baby began to cry, and neither of the young parents could quiet him. Finally, Rita set down her coffee pot and held out her arms for the baby. "Hon, just sit there and drink your coffee. Let me see what I can do." Soon it was evident that Rita had done this before. She began walking around the place showing the baby to first one of the truckers and then another. One began whistling a Christmas tune and make silly faces. Quickly the baby stopped crying and began cooing. Rita showed the baby the blinking lights on the jukebox. She brought the baby over to Harriet's table. "Just look at this little darlin'," she said. "Mine are so big and grown they don't need me no more." The one-armed fellow behind the counter brought a fresh pot of coffee, and, as he refilled their mugs, Harriet felt tears in her eyes. Her husband wanted to know what was wrong. "Nothing," she said, "just Christmas." Reaching in her purse for a Kleenex and a quarter, she said to her own kids, "Go see if you can find a Christmas song on the jukebox." When they were gone, Harriet quietly said almost to herself, "He would have come here, wouldn't he?" "Who?" her husband asked. "Jesus. If Jesus were born here tonight and the choices were our neighborhood, the church or this truck stop, it would be right here, wouldn't it?" Her husband didn't answer right away, but looked around the place, at the people there. Finally he said, "I suppose either here or a homeless shelter." "That's what bothers me," Harriet said. "When we first got here I felt sorry for these people because they probably aren't going home to nice neighborhoods where the houses have candles in the windows and wreaths on the doors. And listening to that awful music, I thought, I'll bet nobody here has even heard of Handel. Now I think that more than any place I know, this is where Christmas is. But I'm not sure I belong."

As Harriett walked with her family to the car, her husband leaned over and said, "You know I heard something earlier at church. They said what the angels sang that first Christmas was, 'Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.' Maybe they meant us, too." –

What God values – we see throughout scripture – is not what we are told is important.  God does  not value wealth, does not rank people based on what they have, what they have achieved, or how much others like them or know them. Jesus was born in poverty, to an illiterate, unwed, teenage mother.  The shepherds to whom this story was proclaimed were not wealthy, high standing members of society.  These were poor people, rejected people, people who were not valued.  And that is where God chose to come, chose to announce God’s presence. 

The magi, on the other hand, did seem to have resources.  And the value in this story is that all are welcomed.  All are invited.  All are called to be willing to give all of what they have to be part of the kingdom that is coming, part of celebrating what God has done, part of bringing in what God would do.

         Of all the gifts we have to give, our time, our attention, our faith, commitment and love are by far the most important.

               Our most moving Christmas stories are all about giving.  The Littlest Angel who gives his dirty childhood box.  The little drummer boy who gives the gift of his music.  In Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim gives his faith and love: and later, Scrooge, when he gets it together turns around and gives his time, his love, and his resources.  In It’s a Wonderful Life it’s George Bailey who gives all of who he is to serve the people of his town and in the end, it’s their returned friendship that saves him.  The most moving Christmas stories are all about what we have to give and how we choose to give it. 

               We aren’t the magi.  We aren’t paid by kings to deliver gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh, or our current equivalent of gold, stocks and investment properties.  Some of us have resources, lots of them: others don’t.  What is important is not the amount that you give, but that you give from your heart the best that you have to give.  That you follow the stars to seek out God and to give to God the best that you have.

I’m reminded of a wonderful Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. 

               As we’ve done for the past two years, today we pass out stars.  Each of these has a word on it with the name of a gift or “virtue”.  These are gifts for you to reflect on for the next year, to focus your thoughts, prayers and attention for the year.  Next year on Epiphany Sunday I will ask you to share stories about how those words or stars might have touched you this last year.  They are upside down in the baskets and I ask you to pick one without looking at it first.  These aren’t “magical”, but I do think that there can be a gift in focusing on one of the many blessings God has given to each of us for a set amount of time.  I look forward to hearing how your lights will show and touch the world this year, how you will have been touched by God’s light this year.  Amen.

Sunday's Sermon - spreading the light

Genesis 1:1-5

Matthew 2:1-12

Mark 1:4-11

John 2:1-11

I’ve been thinking about the passing of William Christopher, the man who played Father Mulcahy on MASH.  And I was reflecting on two scenes in MASH in which he played a very central role.  In the first scene, he ends up acting as nurse for a surgery Hawkeye is doing because there just aren’t enough personnel available. In the middle of the operation, Father Mulcahy closes his eyes and begins to pray for the healing of the patient when Hawkeye suddenly yells at him “retraction!” and so he does what Hawkeye says and doesn’t finish the prayer.  Hawkeye apologizes but Father Mulcahy’s response is, “Well, God knew what I meant anyway.”  Which was more important?  Which of his two actions were more Godly?  Helping with the surgery or praying?

I want you to think about that while I share with you another scene from a different episode.  Father Mulcahy is giving a boy laid out on a stretcher with a toe-tag on his big toe his last rites.  The Father is praying over him when he thinks he sees a sudden movement of the boy’s toe.  He looks up and sees a single tear falling from the boys closed eyelid and realizes the boy with the toe tag is NOT in fact dead.  As a result of seeing this, he is able to call for a doctor’s help and the boy’s life is saved.  Still, I ask you, which was more important: the Father blessing the boy and giving him last rites?  Or his recognizing that the boy was still alive?

I invite you to think about that as we reflect for a few minutes on Epiphany.  How many of you remember what the word “Epiphany” means?  The word “Epiphany” means “manifestation”.  For us in the church, Epiphany is the Manifestation of Jesus, or the marking of God’s manifestation in Jesus: the pronouncement and revealing of who Jesus is.  There are three events that we consider “Epiphanal” in the scriptures.  Do you know what these are?

The three incidents are: the visit of the magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the miracle of turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  Before 1969 all three of these Scriptures were heard on successive Sundays. All three stories were considered to form a unit because they progressively reveal first the identity of Jesus (from the visit of the Magi who proclaim him to be the Messiah), second, the authority of Jesus (the Spirit descending and the voice declaring that Jesus was God’s son with whom God was pleased) and finally the power of Jesus (through his miracle of turning the water into wine). These three events also show Jesus’ Divinity as recognized or declared first by the Magi (those considered wise), second by God (the Spirit), and third by those around Jesus (who experienced the water becoming wine).

            Now, however, instead of having three weeks of epiphany which successively and progressively focus on these three events, we usually have the Magi and the Baptism stories read either together (like today), on successive Sundays, or only one of the two stories is read each year.  Additionally, the third story, the story of the wedding at Cana is only in our lectionary every third year.  Still all three are considered Epiphany, all three are important to our faith. 

           All three involve some form of communication with God, but the primary manifestation, as seen in all three of these events, of the Divine in Jesus is through action.  The Magi travel, following the star to worship the Christ and pay him homage.  The Spirit descends on Jesus after Jesus takes the action of seeking baptism.  And Jesus, himself, physically changes the water into wine.  The manifestations of the Christ – of God’s presence, authority and power in Jesus – all happen through these actions. These aren’t actions absent of prayer or absent of connection to God, but they are action none the less.  Faith is about doing.  You are how you act, which shows how you really believe, what really matters to you, what is really important and central to you. 

About 13 years ago I was having computer trouble and a friend recommended a computer expert to fix it.  He particularly recommended this man because he was a Christian computer technician.  The computer expert, after looking at the computer in my home for awhile, said that he would need to do a full system re-format.  He took my computer and discs of all my programs that he would need to re-load onto the computer to his home office.  When he returned the computer, it was obvious within the first hour or so that he had not fixed the problem and that the computer was as messed up as before.  I ended up having to buy a new computer.  When I did so and went to load on my programs, I noticed that one program had never been returned from the computer expert.  Ironically it was my Bible software.  He was a man of faith, so I was told, yet he had “stolen” my bible software.

Matthew 21: 28-31 reads:  ²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ (Jesus continued…)“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

Saying that we have faith is not the same as acting like Jesus calls us to act – acting with love, acting with grace, living out that faith.  We, too, are called to manifest God’s presence – to make it known to others, to shine the light of the Christ into the lives of others – to follow in the footsteps of the Christ by physically manifesting the presence of Christ.  We do this in many ways.  But paying attention, like the Father in the MASH episodes, helping provide care when called on to do so, allowing ourselves to be called into action and responding to that call – these are the ways we manifest God’s presence.  Our faith doesn’t impress others, doesn’t touch others, doesn’t shine the light into their lives, unless it is manifest in the way we live our lives and live that out. 

Again, I’m not saying that the prayer part isn’t important.  Prayer is central.  It grounds us, it makes us into the people who can do the action.  Father Elias Chacour, archbishop of Israel said this: “Vision without action is just a daydream, but action without vision is a nightmare.”   I would change that, “to action without prayer is a nightmare.”  We can’t rely on our own desires or our own impulses to guide us into being the faithful people we are called to be, to lead us to do what’s “right” in God’s eyes.  We have to be guided by God and prayer, study, meditation, time with God allows us to hear, and to be centered in our relationship with God.

Still, people know us by the way we behave.  “They will know we are Christians by our love”.  So how do we behave?  You have probably all heard the story:  A driver did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman behind him went ballistic, pounding on her horn and screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to drive through the intersection with him. Still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm awfully sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

            I think about AA and other 12 step groups.  They have a saying which is “act as if.” The idea behind it is that we grow into being who we want to be by doing the behaviors of the ones we want to be.  We grow into being the kind of Christians we are called to be by practicing doing it.  This applies to any Christian actions including praying.  None of us are going to have it right from day one.  We have to just DO it.  It is not just our thoughts or our prayers but our actions make a difference in how people feel and if and how people heal.  AA is a doing, not just a thinking.  One of the proofs of that is that those who sponsor others are much more likely to stay sober themselves.  You have to give help in order to get helped.  We have to live our faith out in order to truly and fully experience belief and the grace that is offered to us.  We grasp and experience grace by living into it.

            Epiphany, the manifestation of God’s presence in Jesus – it is grounded in relationship with God, but it is experienced through action.  For us, too – we spread God’s light by being grounded in prayer – and by living out that faith through action.  Amen.

Sunday's Sermon - Most Precious Gifts

Isaiah 60:1-9

 Matthew 2:1-12         

               I thought we’d start this morning with a little biblical quiz.  First of all, in what book or books of the Bible do we find the story of the three kings?

               None.  There are no kings mentioned and there is no number mentioned.  Instead we are told “some wisemen” or magi from the east came to Jerusalem searching for the king of the Jews. 

               What, then, are magi?  Are they kings?  No.  Astrologers.

               About how old was Jesus when they came to see him?  Between 41 days and 2 years.

               Why did they bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  What were these things and why were they important in this recounting?  Frankincense is often used as incense or in an anointing oil that was often used in the temple for religious reasons.  Myrrh is similar and can also be used as an oil or incense, but mostly was used to embalm the dead.  These things were incredibly valuable, monetarily, but they were also symbols of what was to come.  Symbols of a recognition of Jesus’ holiness, but also, his death.  Both are purifiers, and readiers for death, for sacraments, for religious tasks, all of which would be Jesus’ life.   The magi travelled far, took time away from families, occupation, home, significant time.  While some say it would have taken only a month of travel (one direction), others estimate that it was a year or more out of their lives that this entailed.

               They gave most precious gifts, gifts that required all of who they were – their resources, their time, their commitments, all to come and see this baby and to bring this baby their gifts.

               What are we this committed to?  What do we care about enough that we would leave home, leave FAMILY, sell all we have to spend on a gift for someone whom we’ve never met before and may never see again? 

               I think about the pilgrims and what they gave up to start a new life here in the United States.  Many of them gave their lives, dying in the travel, with the hopes for something better.  Many gave up family, leaving them behind or knowing that they risked some not making the journey successfully.  The same remains true of many of our immigrants today.  Many of those who come here as refugees or as people escaping their countries of origin are truly risking everything they have and everything they are to try to find a better life, usually for their kids.  They make this commitment, this journey, all to begin again, to start something new.  I think about this, how they gave these most precious gifts of starting in a new place, travelling, their resources, to create a new life, new possibilities, for their children, their children’s children, their family.  But these magi, they gave these most precious gifts for the hope of a new tomorrow for Israel.  They gave these most precious gifts for strangers in a strange country, in a strange world.  For a future they would never see.  For a time they would not and could not be a part of. 

               Can you imagine that?

               God loves us in this way, giving up everything to give us the most precious gifts, of life, of Jesus, of salvation.  As Bonhoeffer said it, "God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world."

               But…

God also calls us to love in return in the same way.  Of course we aren’t always going to succeed in doing that.  And sometimes it won’t look like giving up everything to follow God.  But the willingness and faith to give all we have to further God’s reign, God’s place, God’s LOVE here on earth, that is our call. 

But still, this is good news.  Because what we will find is that, as Mitch Albom put it, “as is often the case with faith, I thought I was being asked a favor, when in fact I was being given one.”  God asks us to be willing to give everything for God.  But what we will find is that when we do this, our lives are deepened, enriched, made whole in a way we cannot begin to anticipate.

In the wonderful mystery story, Aunt Dimity’s Christmas, the main character, Lori, found a stranger, a dirty, disheveled stranger, passed out in her driveway.  She got him help, reluctantly, but she did it, then proceeded, with the help of a priest to provide care for him, to get him the medical help he needed but also to search out who he was and what his story was.  She helped him to get back on his feet, to remember who he was, to come into his own again.  She didn’t want to do it, but she found that when she did, the gifts that came back to her far exceeded what she had given to him.  She said, “He forced me to look at things I didn’t want to see, and remember things I wanted to forget.  If Kit hadn’t come to the cottage I wouldn’t have gone to St. Benedict’s (which included the homeless shelter).  And if I hadn’t gone to St Benedicts, I wouldn’t have realized how much I have in common with the homeless men there. …I fought it tooth and nail….I’d gotten too fat and sassy...  I’d paid my dues, so I thought I was entitled to my blessings.  Kit reminded me that blessings aren’t a right – they’re a gift.  I’m no more entitled to them than the homeless men, and I’m ashamed of myself for not remembering it sooner. “  Her choosing to help this stranger led her to gifts that were uncomfortable at first, but which deepened and strengthened her and made her more whole.

I’m reminded also of the children’s Christmas Story, “The Littlest angel.” He was a little boy who didn’t fit in with the other angels because he was a child, a young child, who found heaven “boring” or at least certainly not a good place for this young boy.  The understanding angel asked him what would help and the boy said a box that was under his bed.  The box was rough and had little boy things in it – rocks, dirt, a broken bird egg, a dead butterfly, an old dog collar.  But it was the treasure of the littlest angel. These things that the rest of us would find inconsequential, dirty, messy, broken – these were treasures for a little boy.  And so when Jesus was born, and all the angels brought presents for the Christ child, the littlest angel thought that since Jesus would be born a young boy, he would enjoy the same things as this littlest angel.  He brought to God his shabby, dirty box as an offering to Jesus.  He brought to God the things he treasured most to give to another little boy.  But as soon as he put this dirty, messy box of broken and old things in with the other gifts, he had the sudden and shocking realization that his gift was wrong.  That it was nothing, that it was “horrible” in comparison with theirs.  In shame he tried to run away from the pile of gifts, run away from God, run away from the other angels.  But as he tried to run away, God, in great wisdom, chose his gift to become the star of Bethlehem.  Because it is the gifts from the heart, the gifts that give all of what WE value, that are the brightest lights that all can see. 

As we know, real life isn’t always so obvious.  The gifts we bring, the services we offer, the sacrifices we make aren’t always so obviously, or so quickly turned into beauty.  Sometimes the results of our gifts take months, years, generations for the results. Sometimes we will never see the outcome of the gifts we bring. None the less, we are called to follow the opportunities to serve and give that God has blessed us with, with the hope, faith and trust that God takes whatever we offer in love, and makes it beautiful. 

My good friend, Tyler, sent me this email several lents ago: “My wife, Sue Ann asked if I'd play something on my guitar as a solo for Easter for her new church.  My first reaction was "I dunno, Easter is pretty 'up', and all my chord solo stuff has been pretty introspective." I said this out loud, and she expressed some disappointment.  But I kept going over my repertoire in my mind, and flipped through some of the music I’d played before. That weekend, we attended a memorial service for a woman who loved to walk, and loved nature. Among the songs they played at the service was How Great Thou Art.  Something about that song just lit up on the page.  I started working on it, to see how I could re-harmonize it for guitar.  It wasn't until I'd spent some considerable time on it, that I read the lyrics, especially the first and second verses.  I've always related my theology to nature, and music, and how well that fit!  So I spend a little time every morning with the tune.  I seem to find something different in it, some riff, some chord progression that took me where I want to go in the song.  It hit me this morning that I'd actually been DOING a Lenten practice.  But instead of my choosing it, it had chosen ME.  "What are you giving up for Lent?" people say.  I usually mumble and change the subject.  But it seems all my best spiritual practices are simply given to me.  Like the first time I was asked to play a solo at Bethel.  I wanted to just say NO, but instead my mouth said "maybe".  I don't even recognize the offerings that are given to me at the time. I might not be changing the world, saving babies or the environment with what I've been tasked to do, but I've learned to not say "No" when God asks me. I don't know what How Great Thou Art will sound like on Easter Morning, but that's only partly in my hands.”

God asks us to give and gives opportunities for us to give all the time.  They are all around us, opportunities to serve God with our time, our energy, our resources, and especially with our love.  When we give, the rewards of that giving won’t always be clear or obvious at first.  Sometimes we will never see what we have gained in our caring and serving and giving to others.  But we know that serving God is reward in itself.  And God’s love for us, for humanity, for the world, will take whatever we give and make it huge and beautiful.  Like the star in the Littlest Angel, our gifts of service, resources, and love become bright stars for those with eyes to see can experience. 

               Today we passed out stars.  Each of these has a word on it with the name of a gift or “virtue”.  These are gifts for you to reflect on for the next year, to focus your thoughts, prayers and attention for the year.  Next year on Epiphany Sunday I will ask you to share stories about how those words or stars might have touched you this last year.  They are upside down in the baskets and I ask you to pick one without looking at it first.  These aren’t “magical”, but I do think that there can be a gift in focusing on one of the many blessings God has given to each of us for a set amount of time.  I look forward to hearing how your lights will show and touch the world this year, how you will have been touched by God’s light this year.  Amen.