January 6, 2013
Epiphany Stars and Gifts
- Matthew 1:1-28:20
- Dr. Teri Thomas
Seems like most places Christmas is over.
Literally wrapped up.
The trees are gone,
the recycling barrels are full.
The crèche is packed away for another year.
All the fattening food is finally gone,
the pantry and fridge are cleaned out,
and life is finally back to the way it has always been.
Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem,
the angels sang,
the shepherds were amazed,
and Jesus was born.
Nothing much has changed, you say?
Well, actually, the story isn’t over…
The 12 days of Christmas are past,
but some late guests are just now arriving.
They’ve been on the road a while
but they have brought gifts
so we can’t close the book on Christmas
until the Magi get to see Jesus.
Who were these travelers who came to see God?
Magi? Wise Men? Kings?
Scripture says they were led by a star.
To read the stars was a mathematical study.
One learned the positions of the constellations
and charted the meaning of current events,
according to ancient wisdom.
The Magi may have spent years studying the charts,
those words of truth, those portents of hope and sorrow.
The charts of the sky told them everything they thought
they ever needed to know.
Until a new star appeared announcing a new king.
In the stars of the night sky God called the Magi
to a far away land, a distant place,
to a new life.
They packed some gold, some gifts
and left to seek the truth.
Before Christmas is over- ask yourself
When have you dared to travel beyond the known-
physically, emotionally, spiritually-
what have you found?
Could there be an unfamiliar path beckoning you today?
Long ago, Henry Van Dyke wrote these words we still remember today:
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people,
and remember what other people have done for you;
to ignore what the world owes you,
and think what you owe the world;
to put your rights in the background,
and your duties in the foreground;
to own that probably the only good reason for your existence
is not what you are going to get out of life,
but what you are going to give life;
to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe,
and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness;
are you willing to do these things even for a day?
Then you can keep Christmas.
The Magi were willing to risk trying something new…
and they were willing to journey.
According to scholars it may have taken them more than 2 years to find Bethlehem.
The journey took time.
It took time- a long time- to find God.
Why did they travel so far to be there in person?
Why was it not enough just to know the secret
without having to be there themselves to behold it?
Why go?
Was it curiosity?
To be wise is to be eternally curious, and they were very wise.
They wanted to see for themselves this One
before whom even the stars were said to bow down –
to see if it was really true because even the wise have their doubts.
And maybe it was longing.
Longing.
A longing to receive.
A longing to give.
A longing to see God.
All of life is travelling in the way God calls us.
Even if we don’t read the stars
there is a star within us that speaks the truth that God has for us.
The fragrance of the frankincense calls us to offer our praises to God.
Before Christmas is over
Ask yourself-
Where is God guiding you this season?
The appearance of the Magi in scripture is brief
but they do have a great deal to tell us.
They show us how to follow stars and pay attention to dreams.
They challenge us to find light way beyond the boundaries of what is familiar to us,
beyond the boundaries of our own nation,
beyond the boundaries of our personal religion.
And they demonstrate the results of taking enormous risk and seeking God.
We look at the stars, and see the map of the days we have lived,
and too often we feel nothing.
Nothing!
We see journeys without meaning,
actions taken and words spoken
and we wonder: Is this all there is?
Isn’t the star supposed to lead us to a life of glory?
When will it begin?
The Magi brought myrrh-
a spice for anointing the dead.
A spice of death as a gift for a birth?
The paradox of being truly alive
is that something always has to die
to make room for the new to live – over and over again.
And once there is death
There can be birth
And then
everything else looks different.
Mary Oliver, the poet, wrote of such a moment-
the moment after encountering God-
Then I go back to town
to my own house, my own life, which has
now become brighter and simpler, somewhere I have never been before….
(Thirst: Poems, Six Recognitions of the Lord, 2007; p. 26)
I think the Magi when returning home
saw everything more brightly.
The Light they found in a distant land
turned out to be the Light at the heart of their own lives.
But now they saw it as if for the first time.
It is the Light within all life
and it is born in us this day.
Amen.
For Those Who Have Far to Travel: An Epiphany Blessing
Jan Richardson
If you could see
the journey whole
you might never
undertake it;
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.
Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping
step by
single step.
There is nothing
for it
but to go
and by our going
take the vows
the pilgrim takes:
to be faithful to
the next step;
to rely on more
than the map;
to heed the signposts
of intuition and dream;
to follow the star
that only you
will recognize;
to keep an open eye
for the wonders that
attend the path;
to press on
beyond distractions
beyond fatigue
beyond what would
tempt you
from the way.
There are vows
that only you
will know;
the secret promises
for your particular path
and the new ones
you will need to make
when the road
is revealed
by turns
you could not
have foreseen.
Keep them, break them,
make them again:
each promise becomes
part of the path;
each choice creates
the road
that will take you
to the place
where at last
you will kneel
to offer the gift
most needed – the gift that only you
can give – before turning to go
home by
another way.