GENESIS 1:1-5, PSALM 29, ACTS 19:1-7, MARK 1:4-11
Today we have changed the assigned Scripture readings so we can celebrate Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. Since January 6th is usually a weekday, (like last Friday) we Episcopalians don't usually celebrate the feast of Epiphany. However, many Christians in other parts of the world celebrate January 6th as the most important of the 12 days of Christmas. For our Greek, Russian, and other Eastern Orthodox friends, for North African Christians and for Christians in Central and South America, December 25th is observed with a service, but the biggest celebration is saved for Epiphany, the last day of Christmas.
I have had the opportunity to share Epiphany celebrations (or the Feast of the Three Kings) with the Hispanic congregation of our Cathedral in Springfield. We celebrated a joyful Eucharist with much singing with young people and adults acting out the birth of Christ and the coming of the 3 wise men. The Eucharist was followed by a big festival meal with many kinds of wonderful Hispanic foods. After the meal, the lights were shut off for a few moments and the children pretended to go to sleep. Then the three wise men came singing “We Three Kings”. After the Kings sang, the children came forward to the kings and each child received a gift in thanksgiving for the birth of the Christ child. The Latin American culture does a wonderful job of connecting the meaning of children’s gifts with the gifts the wise men offered in thanksgiving for the birth Jesus, our Savior.
Let us ask ourselves, why is Epiphany so important to so many Christians around the world? How might the Epiphany story help us in our spiritual journey? First, let’s focus on the star that guided the wise men. The star reminds us that Christ is our light to guide us in the darkness. We live in a nation filled with electric lights, so we don’t experience the power of darkness very often, unless a storm knocks out the electricity for a few days. But before there was electricity, especially at this time of the year where the darkness is longest, ancient people wondered: what if the darkness continues to increase and the light is totally overcome by darkness? How could we see or grow crops or live?
Epiphany is a Greek word that means to manifest or appear openly. So the Light of Christ’s coming, celebrated at this darkest time of the year symbolized that in Christ there is always hope. The darkness cannot overcome the Light of Christ. God will always come to give us the guidance we need, even in our darkest times.
While we have electric lights available twenty-four hours a day, we all go through times of inner darkness, times of fear and confusion, when we do not see hope, we do not see a way forward. In our dark times, we need to be wise people who return to this feast of the Epiphany and remember how God communicated through a star that there was hope for a world in darkness and despair. Christ, the light of the world, was the one who would bring hope and healing and new life. As we keep turning to Christ, to the Scriptures, to Christian community, we will be guided, Light and hope will be given from the same Jesus Christ.
A second insight of Epiphany is that Christ came to save and help ALL people. At that time, some Jewish people thought that God’s Messiah would only come to help the Jews. There are times when we imagine that Christ only came to help our family, or people of our parish, or people who look and think and talk like us. But Isaiah reminds us that Christ the Messiah came for ALL people of ALL nations.
The wise men were people we would call Arabs. They were Persians, who had a different religion, probably Zoroastrianism. Yet they were seekers who longed to know God and find God’s love and guidance in their lives. God revealed Light to them, guiding them to Christ the Messiah. The wise men remind us, that there are many people around us and around the world who we think of as strangers or foreigners who also have a deep longing for God. John’s Gospel reminds us that Christ “is the Light who enlightens every person who comes into the world.” So we need to look at everyone we meet, every person in the world, as a person who has a deep down desire to find God’s love and guidance. Christ came to give guidance and hope to all people.
The wise men also remind us of our call to be life-long seekers after God. Think about the risk the wise men took, the investment they made to follow the Light they had been given. They had to leave their jobs, their families, and the security of their homes. They were not sure of the way. All they could do was follow the star, follow the light they had and ask others for help and directions along the way - and they needed to return home by a different way than they had come.
Are you willing to take risks, to go outside your comfort zone to follow the guidance of God in your life? Christ never allows us to be complacent. Christ always invites us to leave our comfortable spaces and follow the guidance of God, even when the way forward is not fully clear. I wonder, during this New Year in your life, in the life of this congregation, what risks will God invite you to take to follow the Light of God’s guidance?
We can also notice that the wise men were willing to make costly investments, to make many sacrifices to follow that star and come to worship Christ. They gave an enormous amount of time to their spiritual journey, seeking to find Christ. They had to let many other good things go undone so they could seek out and follow God’s guidance in their lives. They must have invested a lot of money in their search for God and in the gifts they offered to the Christ child: Gold for a King, Frankincense for a God and Myrrh to embalm Christ in his death.
Where do you and I invest our time, our abilities, and our money? For what people or goals do we make sacrifices? Have you ever experienced the joy and fulfillment of giving costly, extravagant gifts to Christ, out of love and gratitude?
Finally, Epiphany and the wise men remind us that God calls us to share the light of Christ with others. In today’s Epistle, St Paul was called by God to be an apostle to the gentiles, to all non-Jews. God gives every Christian a mission to share the hope and guiding Light of Christ with others who are in need. How is God inviting you to share the Light of Christ with others?
Several years ago, I listened to some people from Columbia who worshiped with the congregation of St George’s, Lee. They told of the horrors of living in Columbia, with the drug wars, the constant death and disappearance of their family, friends, and neighbors. They said that the poverty and danger of their country led them to lose all faith in God. But since they came to Lee, and the Episcopal congregation helped them find furniture, housing, work, they were also recovering their faith. A man told me (with tears in his eyes) that he never expected to recover this faith in God, because he had suffered so much. But now, thanks to the care of his congregation, his faith was returning and he was experiencing again the loving presence and guidance of God in his life.
How is Christ calling you as a person, you as a congregation to share the love and light of Christ with others in this area who may be in need of hope and help? In the Epiphany Season Christ reminds us of our mission to let the light of Christ shine through us into a world in need.
I have heard stories of how the light of Christ is shining in and through this congregation. I know that Christ is already shining in and through you and through those who will be confirmed and received today. And Epiphany reminds us there is more journeying yet to be done. God’s star still invites us leave our comforts and to keep following the fresh guidance of Christ. The greatest joy in life comes, not from staying in our comfortable securities, but from taking fresh risks to follow the Epiphany guidance of Christ in bringing the Light and Love of Christ to a world in need.
I wonder, what next steps is Christ inviting you to take in your life journey this coming year?
Let us pray. In the silence I invite you to talk with Jesus about your responses to some questions.
The star guided the wise men to travel in a new direction. In what new directions is the light of Christ inviting you to move at this time in your life?
The wise men brought costly gifts to Christ out of love and gratitude. What costly gifts might you want to offer to Christ out of love and gratitude?
What is the mission Christ is calling you embrace at this time in your journey, both personally and as a congregation? How might Christ be calling you to let your light shine so that others are helped and drawn to experience the love and guidance of Christ?
I invite you to sing and live this song with me: This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!