Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
January 6, 2019
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
Today, January 6th, is
the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s the day
when we read about the journey and the arrival of the magi, coming from some
unspecified country to the east of Palestine, who arrive at Bethlehem bearing
gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
We read about how King Herod was afraid of a new power taking over; but
how these magi knew Herod’s intent, and so changed their travel plans so that
they could avoid telling Herod where the baby was.
But what does that
word “epiphany” mean? It’s a word that
we sometimes hear outside of the context of this church holy day, but not one
that we hear often.
When we hear about
someone having an epiphany, it usually means that they have had a sudden or
striking realization or insight; an “A-ha” moment. It might mean that they have a new or deeper
perspective on something that they have been studying; or that they have an
intuitive grasp of a new reality.
If I think about the
moments in my life when I have had an epiphany, they are usually pretty
memorable. There is the moment when I
knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God loved me just the way that I was –
that I was a beloved child of God, no matter what I had done or hadn’t done,
just because I was me.
Or, in a different
kind of holy moment, there is the time when I was studying quantum chemistry in
my undergrad. I just couldn’t wrap my
brain around it; but I found that if I didn’t try to think too hard about it or
look straight at it, but almost kept what I was studying in the peripheral
vision of my mind, all of a sudden I caught a glimpse of great beauty and awe
of the universe.
So epiphanies are
moments of great transformation or insight – moments when we might catch a
glimpse of God or what God has done. We
usually can’t plan for these moments, or hold on to them once they have passed,
but they have the power to change our lives moving forward.
So what about these
magi? I’m fascinated by them. We aren’t told how many of them there are; we
aren’t told where they are from; we aren’t told how far they traveled or what
means of transportation they used to get from “the East” to Jerusalem and then
on to Bethlehem. The Greek word “magi”
which is often translated as “wise men” is actually related to our English
words mage, magic, or magician. They
might have been magicians, they might have been astronomers or astrologers,
they might have been learned or wise scholars.
But whatever their
profession, or wherever they have come from, they travel a great distance
because they have seen a star.
On Christmas Cards,
this star is often depicted as being hundreds of times bigger and brighter than
a regular star. But if this were the
case, then surely someone would have noticed it other than this group of
magi. If there was a huge and bright
star in the sky, why wasn’t the whole world flocking to Bethlehem? Current-day astronomers have looked for some
celestial event 2021 years ago, give-or-take, that might explain the star that
the magi were following, but they haven’t found any record of a comet or a
supernova appearing in that period of history.
But have you ever
looked up at the sky at night? Millions
and billions of little dots of light. If
a new star were to appear there tonight, do you think that you would
notice? So the only thing I can think is
that this group of magi was particularly observant. They studied the stars so carefully that when
something new appeared, they noticed it, even when the rest of the world
didn’t.
So these magi had an
epiphany – a new insight or revelation that led them to Jesus; and their lives
were changed by that encounter. But I
don’t think that their epiphany came out of the blue. They studied the stars, they paid attention
to them, and then when they noticed something different appear, they were
willing to act on it. They didn’t just
sit back and say “That’s nice” and go back to their stargazing. Instead they got up and followed the star, no
matter how many months it might have taken them to get to Bethlehem.
And then did you
notice at the end, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and
instead of brushing it off as just a dream, they went home by a different
route. A new epiphany.
I think that if we
listen to the Holy Spirit, all of us can experience these epiphanies, these new
insights about God and how God is working in the world and in our lives. Sometimes the Holy Spirit shouts at us, like
the army of angels appearing in a field to a bunch of shepherds, proclaiming
that Jesus had been born. But sometimes
the Holy Spirit nudges us instead. A new
star in the sky where there was no star before.
A dream or a feeling that you need to do something new or different.
And so I see the magi
as offering a challenge to all of us.
How can we look for God working in our every-day lives? If we are looking for exploding stars and
supernovas and extraordinary miracles, then we might need to wait a long time;
but if we are observant, if we pay attention, we can see God working in every
minute of every day.
Before the end of the
service, I’m going to be offering everyone a “Star Word.” This is an assortment of words, each printed
on a paper star. I will invite you to
take one from the basket without looking to see what is written.
Maybe you will like
the word that you choose, or maybe it will make you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes the Holy Spirit offers us comfort
in our lives; but sometimes the Holy Spirit pushes us in new directions, to places
that we never thought that we would or could go.
And so I invite you to
take a word for this year ahead. Reflect
on this word, let it sit in the back of your mind. You can ask God to show you how this word
applies to your life; you can ask God to lead you by this word. If you really, really don’t like your word, I
will have the words with me next week and you can exchange it for a different
word, but I encourage you to sit with your word for at least a week before
exchanging it.
God is working in the
world, and God is working in our lives.
The call of Epiphany is a call to pay attention; to look for the new
star appearing in the sky; to listen for the nudges that the Holy Spirit gives
us to do something differently. And when
we do so, we can catch glimpses of God.
May it be so.
Amen.
My "Star Word" has found a home on my bulletin board
If anyone would like a Star Word, let me know in the comments
and I will pull one from the basket for you
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