Epiphany
Today, it is Epiphany! After the 12 days of Christmas, we celebrate this day when the magi who traveled from the East and followed a star to Jesus, finally met him and we overcome with joy.
Get the Magi & camels and bring them to the manger.
e·piph·a·ny
noun
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.
[manifestation—a big word for something hidden becoming obvious, so here, God becoming seen in Jesus]
They follow the light of a star, so this season is often associated with light.
So the first thing I want to share with you is a candle. You can take it home to light it through the season after Epiphany as we learn the ways God has revealed who God is in Jesus… and as we watch for the ways that God is still revealing who God is…
Secondly, I notice that there are three gifts… actually, we don’t know from the stories how many magi or camels, but we do know there were three gifts:
… gold, frankincense and myrrh..
Of course you know that gold would have been valuable and the other two were used in anointing—it might have reminded people of the last great king they remembered—King Solomon…
We use this same oil to anoint a baby at baptism, to bless people along the way of life, to anoint the sick and dying…
Lots of times as we come together at church, we bring gifts—we bring money, we give our time, we share things that are valuable to us.
Today, I’ve brought star words as a gift for each of us to receive. You’re invited to receive a star word randomly—there should be one for everybody--and then put that word someplace you’ll see it daily (on your mirror or carry it with you) throughout the year. It’s an invitation to see how God might reveal something new to you in 2019.
Children (and ushers), will you help me pass them out to everyone?
And be sure to let me know if you don’t get one! (There are a few spares that I can share after worship).
Star words distribution
The third thing that I notice in this first story of Epiphany is the strong emotions—
The magi strangers are overwhelmed with joy to meet a completely different kind of king.
But Herod sees this little one as a threat. He is afraid “and all Jerusalem with him.” So… anyone who is anyone is afraid. Those who are afraid are missing the joy completely…
An angel comes to the magi and instructs them not to go home by way of Herod’s palace (as he compelled them to do) but to go another way…
An angel comes to the magi and instructs them not to go home by way of Herod’s palace (as he compelled them to do) but to go another way…
We come to worship as we are and here, we have the opportunity to hear Jesus, to meet Jesus, to share a meal with Jesus… and then go home another way.
Whatever may have hit home for us through the twelve days of Christmas—as we celebrated or struggled with family—as we came to worship, looking for goodness—or if we missed it completely, distracted by our own pain or grief, disappointments or judgments…
In this season, Christ invites us to change our focus.
Because if we focus only on Herod, we’ll miss the encounter with the Child.
We are surrounded by bad news and hard things—headlines, politics, maneuvering, chaos, actual tragedy, deep grief–but the narrative of despair isn’t and can’t be our dominant narrative.
It’s like the wisdom from the late Fred Rogers who said in times of disaster to “look for the helpers.” We have the ability to look for and see… God, love, another perspective.
As Christians, as people who attempt to follow Jesus’ way, we do not just rage against the empire, we look and speak and walk another way, and this is one of the places we come together to practice.
We practice welcoming all, we practice living in love, we practice watching for God’s activity.
A friend of mine says that no one goes from Thanksgiving to New Year’s unscathed… our lives are hard, the holidays can be too… and now, the January blues…
But here, we come into the presence of God who speaks to us—through the word—and feeds us in a meal—and shows up in the most unexpected of places.
We keep looking for answers in the same places... but this season, as we remember the magi and all those who have sought to follow, all those who have been visited by God’s messengers…
We keep looking for answers in the same places... but this season, as we remember the magi and all those who have sought to follow, all those who have been visited by God’s messengers…
As God is leading, God reveals another way home.
Chalking of the door
We go through this threshold into daily life 2019, blessed, with the gift of star words to be reminders of God’s present and willingness to shape us and walk with us.
And I wonder what the magi told everyone they met on their ways home?
I imagine they shared the gift of their story countless times… spreading and spreading and spreading, until many were watching for who this child, Jesus, would become.
