Text: Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12<\/p>\n
Gracious God\u2026 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you O Lord, our Light and our Salvation\u2026 Amen.<\/p>\n
We find ourselves in a transitional time.
\nIt is a transition between the season of Christmas and the ordinary time before Lent.
\nIt is a transition between one year and the next.
\nThe past and the present and the future all collide.
\nWho were we? Who will we become?
\nWhat are we willing to do to make it happen?<\/p>\n
When astronomers from the East saw a great light in the sky, they knew the world was about to turn. They could feel in their bones that this moment, this transition, was going to change everything.
\nEverything they read and studied, everything revealed to them told them, deep within their bones that this light would lead them to the child born King of the Jews.
\nThis child would lead Israel and conquer nations.
\nAnd they didn\u2019t want to let this moment pass them by.
\nThey wanted to be there.
\nThey wanted to see for themselves.
\nThis king was so important, he changed their lives, too.<\/p>\n
I used to think of the wise men as professional star followers.
\nI always assumed that they knew exactly what they were doing.
\nBut no matter how much preparation they had\u2026
\nno matter how skilled they were at navigating the skies\u2026
\nthere are just too many unknowns.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t know what the trip would entail: how long would it take and how many provisions they should pack. Were they concerned about running out of food or water?
\nAfterall, there were no Casey\u2019s or Kum & Go\u2019s along the way.
\nThey couldn\u2019t guarantee safe places to rest or a friendly greeting when they finally arrived.
\nThey believed they were looking for a king, but they didn\u2019t know what this king looked like! They didn\u2019t know when or if they would ever return home.<\/p>\n
That kind of journey takes faith and trust and humility.
\nBut maybe\u2026 it also takes a little bit of desperation.<\/p>\n
So, there is a song by Styx that has be in my mind all week when I think all of those unknowns of the journey.<\/p>\n
In the song we hear the words:
\nEvery night I say a prayer in the hope that there’s a heaven
\nAnd every day I’m more confused as the saints turn into sinners\u2026
\nI wake up each morning and turn on the news to find we\u2019ve so far to go
\nAnd I keep on hoping for a sign, so afraid I just won\u2019t know.
\nShow me the way, show me the way
\nTake me tonight to the river
\nAnd wash my illusions away
\nShow me the way<\/p><\/blockquote>\nYou know, I hear in these words someone who has been so disillusioned and frustrated by the world that they are desperate to find a new way.
\nThink about those wise men\u2026
\nWhat would motivate them to seek out this King unless they were aching for something new to appear in the world?
\nThese wise men had their eyes wide open, frantically searching for a sign, for something to lead them.<\/p>\nAnd it appeared before them.<\/p>\n
I wrote this week in the message about seeking a clarity of vision\u2026
\nI\u2019m wondering how many of us\u2026 myself included\u2026 are more like the chief priests and scribes in King Herod\u2019s court than those astrologers from the east.
\nYou see, the religious professionals knew what they were looking for.
\nThey had all of the predictions and prophecies.
\nWhen the wise ones appeared, they could easily point out exactly where it says in the scrolls of Micah and Samuel that this king would be born in Bethlehem.
\nBut they couldn\u2019t see.
\nThey weren\u2019t even looking.
\nThey were going about their lives, blinded to the miracle that was taking place only six miles away from them.
\nA star, led people from halfway across the world, and they couldn\u2019t see it.
\nMaybe, because they thought they could do it on their own.
\nMaybe, they got comfortable in their fuzzy awareness.
\nMaybe, they weren\u2019t desperate enough to ask for God to show them a new way.<\/p>\nAs this year turns, as this season turns, are you aching for something new?
\nAre you looking and trying to see and understand what might come next?
\nThe year turned and all of our prayers for peace on earth feel like they have already been shattered by rumors of war. What is our path out of this mess?<\/p>\nThere are questions that linger about the future of our denomination and so many, no matter their perspective are aching for a new possibility\u2026 could this new announcement this week be the sign we\u2019ve been waiting for? That something different is on the horizon?<\/p>\n
The continent of Australia is literally on fire, and for those who have been speaking out about the climate crisis wonder if maybe this, finally this, could be a turning point, a moment of desperation where we might collectively seek a different way of being in the world.<\/p>\n
But aside from all of those global concerns, what about your own family. Your own faith journey.
\nI have places where I am ready to grow and deepen my relationship with our Creator and my spouse and my loved ones, places I\u2019ve neglected and forgotten about in the busyness of life.
\nPlaces that I thought were doing okay\u2026 but that I\u2019m now recognizing are a bit fuzzy and unclear.
\nI hear that happens as you get older.
\nThings get a bit more fuzzy and unclear and you need a little help.
\nWe all do.
\nHonestly, no matter how old or young we are\u2026
\nno matter how much we have studied scripture\u2026
\nno matter how frequently we talk to God in prayer\u2026
\nwe all need help seeing God\u2019s plans for our lives sometimes.
\nWe all need help recognizing where God is in the midst of it all.<\/p>\nBut as soon as we admit it\u2026
\nAs soon as we start looking…
\nAs soon as that desperation creeps in…
\nWhen we fall on our knees in humility\u2026
\nIt appears.
\nAn opportunity to put our faith in the one who can see.
\nThat invitation to trust and let God lead us.
\nAnd the reminder that we aren\u2019t on this journey alone.<\/p>\nI love that this tale of the wise ones in Matthew\u2019s gospel isn\u2019t the story of one person.
\nIt\u2019s about a group of people who put their lives in God\u2019s hands.
\nAnd that\u2019s what church is all about, isn\u2019t it?
\nWe need each other for support and for guidance.
\nWe need one another to help interpret the signs and experiences that we have.
\nEach one of us brings to the scripture a fresh perspective.
\nWe each have different gifts that complement one another.
\nSome of you may be teachers, others healers, some may be full of hospitality and others have the ability to lead.
\nIt will take all of our skills together on this journey, along with the grace of God.
\nWe are the body of Christ, in this place and in this time.
\nAnd none of us can do this alone.
\nWe must ask for help, we must look to one another for guidance, and we must be willing to admit we don\u2019t have all of the answers.
\nAnd as this new year turns, if we want to discover something new, then we need to be a little bit vulnerable and open to however and wherever the Spirit may move.<\/p>\nIn many ways, that is what Epiphany is all about.
\nEpiphany is the revelation of God to the world.
\nAnd it didn\u2019t happen just once with some magi from a foreign place\u2026.
\nNo, God was continually revealing Godself throughout the life, death and resurrection of Christ\u2026
\nand Jesus is still being revealed to us today through the Holy Spirit.
\nBut sometimes we need to renew our journey with God, we need to ask for help, so that once again we can focus in on Jesus.<\/p>\nSo over the next few weeks, our journey will take us along the paths of many people in the scriptures who have experienced \u201clittle epiphanies\u201d \u2013 people who saw a glimpse of the fullness of God.
\nWe will walk with John the Baptist in the River Jordan.
\nWe will follow the disciples as they heard a call and experienced his teaching and miracles, and we will end up on the mountain where Jesus stood transfigured before Peter, James and John.
\nAs we make this journey, I hope and pray that we will see Christ clearly.
\nI hope and pray that through him, God might again show us a way.
\nI hope we will see how our own lives need to be transformed because of what we have learned.<\/p>\nThe magi saw a star in the sky that they believed would change the world.
\nAnd they got up and did something as a result.
\nThey honored the Christ Child not just through their gifts.
\nBut they took risks.
\nThey made sacrifices.
\nThey left behind what they thought they knew because they knew something so much better was in front of them.
\nThat\u2019s what I hope for you and for me and for all of us in this season.
\nI pray that we might be able to see with new eyes and new clarity just what God has in store.<\/p>\nThe poet W.H. Auden wrote \u201cto discover how to be human now \/ is the reason we follow this star.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the journey that is before us.
\nTo discover how to be human now.
\nTo discover how to follow Christ now.
\nTo discover what it means to be God\u2019s people now.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a journey that will take some faith.
\nAnd some trust.
\nAnd maybe just enough desperation that we can actually, really, truly surrender.<\/p>\nThere is a prayer from our tradition that has often been used in this turning of the year to recommit ourselves, to reclaim God\u2019s covenant, to renew our own journey of faith.
\nWe have a modern paraphrase of Wesley\u2019s Covenant Prayer and as we turn into this new year, I invite you to join with me in praying it together\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Text: Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12 Gracious God\u2026 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you O Lord, our Light and our Salvation\u2026 Amen. We find ourselves in a transitional time. It is a transition between the season of Christmas and the ordinary time…<\/span><\/p>\n