week of Feb. 2 Devotional Pts

Sunday Feb.2 Ps. 15 is our lectionary selection places us in more unfamiliar territory. It is a version of the second tablet of the 10 commandments, no? If you were writing such a psalm, wohat would you include or exclude from this listing? What about despising the wicked?.

Monday-The playoffs have brought talk of the legacy of the great quarterback Peyton Manning. Other than sports, do we speak much of legacy any more? If we do, why do we speak of it so often in economic terms? The old last will and testament had a sense of leaving something to posterity beyond property. What family legacies last and which fade with time? What legacies should properly fade away and which should be treasured?

Tuesday-One of the folks at church averted a flat tire because an indicator on her dashboard altered her of low tire pressure.Ideally, a human life should be a constant pilgrimage of discovery.  The most exciting discoveries happen at the frontiers.  When you come to know something new, you come closer to yourself and to the world.  Discovery enlarges and refines your sensibility.  When you discover something, you transfigure some of the forsakenness of the world.—John O'Donohue, Eternal Echoes:

Wednesday-My memory is not what it used to be, and when I get stressed I forgot even more things. So, I am more careful to write things down.Sometimes I can’t read what I’ve jotted down. then I need better light to be able to even try to read the scrawled notes to myself.When is a failing memory a gift? when is it dangerous? What are reminders that you use to jog a memory? What reminders should you use to jog spiritual practices that make new spiriutal memories?

Thursday-I grow so tired of the cliche of being spiritual and not religious. i am so tired of the stereotypes of religious organizations being accepted as accurate. The popular consultant to churches Tom Ehrlich is getting a lot of play for an article he wrote that is the same tired complaints about organizations except fo r t his new tagline, church shouldn;t be this hard. Who wouldn;’t wish this? My question is when did this fairland exist ever? All organizations are prone to good and bad points. I once had a professor tell me I was looking for better bread than is made from wheat. I think this applies to the anti organized relgion stereotypes.

Friday-At the holidays, the words, good to see you echoed through many hallways.When we pray, imagine hearing God saying it’s good to hear from you.I like to imagine that is precisely god’s reaction when we are in worship. when we pray, can;t you just hear god saying it’s so good to hear from you?

Saturday- I cannot find the source of this quote. ”Think of occasions where you groped for words... times in your life when you went for days or weeks without knowing the outcome of something that troubled you. How have times of "unknowing" or "groping"--being emptied--changed you? Or made you a more trusted companion for another person?” We religious people somehow think we should have ansers and be certain about them.

Column on spiritual struggle with a tragedy

I was asked recently how is the weather in your soul? Today my answer would be stormy. Here’s why.

Death hadn’t visited my door in a while. As usual, he was impeccably attired in what looked ot be a tailored Italian suit. He arrived and said with a jovial smirk, “So,, I guess you’ve heard the news about your old acquaintance, the husband of an admired church leader.” My sad demeanor responded, but I nodded. I was struggling to get my mind wrapped around an upcoming Bible Study and a series of meetings.

Death swayed to some unheard music.” Ah, those tasks are distractions, and you know it. You took your mother’s death  so well, but I knew this one would get to you. You just hate it when a life is threatened inexplicably” Death added,”So, tell me again about how your God is in support of life, about the  comfort God provides.  You know he is as good as mine, don't you?”

Yes, celebrate, I said. I am hearing the whisper of the tempter very clearly right now.I hear very clearly, what’s the use in the presence of a God when I don;t want the accident to happen in the first place. I find comfort a cold comfort in the face of tragedy.Heaven itself does not assuageour pain, our desire to be with them, not in memory, not in spirit, but here and now in this place, in this time.

I replied, it sounds as if you want to go another round on the theodicy question, on god and human suffering. OK. I do not believe that God wills the death of anyone. I do believe that some wonderful healings do occur, but I find them unfathomable as to how and when they may occur I grant that random acts of violence occur, and that the chancey nature of our days act as a threat to the order of creation. The seeming randomness of healings and recovery haunts me as deeply as whne the expected march toward our end occurs.

I do not think that God is sending a message of punishment for some real or imagined sins of a good man. i do not believe God is trying to use this tragedy as a wake up call nor as an example.. I acknowledge that you are the God of death itself.

I will not promise a comfort that I myself do not feel. I do know what a burden it is to admit that a life nees to be released to you, Mr. Death,as e.e. cummings called you.

When Jesus faced suffering, he did not blame people for their troubles as if they deserved them. Instead, he offered healing. Recall that Jesus would say that the rain falls on the just and unjust alike. Very rarely do  the patterns of human life  get drastically altered. Car crashes often cause major injuries.Three times, when he faced you at your victories, he raised people from the dead. yes, you would claim them again. Remember how you gloated when Jesus died.

You did not get to reclaim that life. In my view, we are all too precious in the sight of God to be permitted to go through everlasting punishment or even annihilation.Jesus faced you head on. then God gave us a different angle. Sunset is not ultimate. We are people fo the dawn. Light dispels your darkness.

So we squint for a sign of light in deep darkness. Somehow, as this sunday’s reading (I Cor. 1:18-25) tells us, God is fully present in the darkness, the silence, the gloom, as well as the light.That wintry spirituality for me has more meat to it than the sunshiney childish dneial of whistling the dark away. Right now, the virtue i require is courage, to be able to face Mr. Death and face and fight the pain of the darkness.

OT Notes Micah 6:1-8

1)  Many, if not most commentators,   see this section as a covenant law hearing (rib) so it goes back and forth like a piece of a transcript or maybe a Mee the Press format in our time.

2) Notice that the audience seems to be impartial nature. why do you think? what would be an equivalent now? those alien trial scenes in Star Trek?

3) Is not v. 3 the voice of a heartbroken parent. Can;t you hear the discouragement, the bewilderment in the very question?

4) How effective is this recital of history? What would you list for our history as Americans. Recall this would be some old history. If one would accept certain supposed dates of the exodus (if it occurred as even a partial historical event) we could be going back over 400 years.  

5) I am always amazed at Christians stereotyping Judaism as a ritualistic religion. Look at how this passage ends and tell me that this reflects a legalistic mindset?

6) In the famous  ending of v. 8, the word translated as mercy or kindness, is hesed, usually as lovingkindness, or steadfast love or covenant loyalty.the rabbis sometimes tried to soum up the teaching of God, and this one certainly would fit that aspiration.

Is. 9:1-4

1) Obviously we have this as it ties to the Mt. 4 reading. question what other ways can we turn it if not directly relating it to Jesus? For instance, play with the light imagery shared with Ps. 27 in our readings.

2) 9:1 has some serious issues of translations. It seems that some translations are determined to make it brighter than it may well be.

3) When have you walked in both physical and emotional or mental darkness? This could be a great place to speak of depression.Look at how people describe it and place it along these words of gloom, anguish, and darkness.

4) Note our passage counters the assertion in 8:22.

5) The yoke/burden metaphor is in Is. 10 and 14 as well.

6) Please consider working with the image of light as well. I often think of a good sermon as casting light on different pieces of a text and life situation.

7) I am not a joyful person. so I see that joy is repeated in v. 3. How to give a sense of joy without mentioning the word constantly, a sin praise songs, is a real challenge. What are stories or events that elicit joy? I certainly  think of V-E and V-J days. Folks certainly experience joy at their favorite team winning a championship.

8) The last verse (4) clearly deals with liberation. Where do you sense opporssion and where do you seek liberation?

Devotional Pts for Week of Jan. 19 2014

Sunday-Ps 40:1-11 is our Psalms selection for today’s service.I was struck by vv. 7-8’s notion of a summary of a life in a book. Is it a description or is is it a destiny? Do you sometimes feel as if you live in a script written by another hand, or do you consider yourself the author of your life experience? How much of your life experience is influenced by others and circumstance?

Monday -the end of Tennyson’s poem,often read at New year’s.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be. How could one use this as a guide for 2014? What would it mean to ring in the Christ tha tis to be?

Tuesday-Had he not come for baptism, Jesus would not be the one who knows human life completely. Had he not come for baptism, we would doubt that he understands how difficult and amazing, how confusing and delightful human life is. But Jesus—just as he had come fully into Mary's womb—came fully into the waters of the Jordan, and then continued on his way to show the world the very heart of God. Rachel Mittelman from God Pause, Luther Seminary

Wednesday-from Frederick Buechner-"For all your blessings, those known and those unknown, those remembered and those forgotten, we thank you, O Lord." How could we be thankful for forgotten or unknown blessings? Waht doe sit say about our perceptions that he could write this prayer in this way?

Thursday-"We are here to heal, not harm. We are here to love, not hate. We are here to create, not destroy." ~ A.D. Williams. This strikes me as a remarkable set of guideposts for our responses ot events. Is this not a good set of notions to examine before we speak or act?

Friday-John Philip Newell

For the freshness of this new day/thanks be to you, O God./For morning’s gift of clarity

its light like the first day’s dawn/thanks be to you. /In this newborn light/let us see afresh.

In this gateway onto what has never been before /et our soul breathe hope /for the earth

for the creatures ,for the human family. Let our soul breathe hope.

Saturday-This world, this reality, revealed by God speaking to us, is not the kind of world to which we are accustomed. It is not a neat and tidy world in which we are in control- there is mystery everywhere that takes considerable getting used to, and until we do, it scares us. —Eugene Peterson  What kind of world is Peterson imagining? How does it not comport with the world of daily news or daily interactions?

A Look at Her, the movie:Friday column

The new movie, Her, received some Academy Award nominations this week. I am not the biggest science fiction fan in the world, but I do like when it makes a space for issues to be examined in a different arena. So, I was taken with the new move, Her, recently. Basically, it is the story of a depressed man having a rebound relationship with a voice of an artificial intelligence computer program. Yes, it’s creepy, but once you get past that unease, it is a meditation on relationship. The old movie AI asked about the love of an artificial being for humans and if that love could be returned. This movie examines the relationship itself. The beautiful actress Scarlett Johansson desires kudos for carrying the dialogue with only her voice. That voice itself is an interesting test, so please check on your response to it in its different moods.

It is a sly commentary on our frequent noticing that two people at a romantic dinner are both on their cell phones. People in the movie find more solace in a relationship with a voice on their computer than in the people yearning for human connection all around them. Watch the reaction if you claim that Facebook friends are often more important to you than the friends you see regularly.

The book of Genesis makes it clear that we are made for relationship. it also makes clear that relationships carry the seeds of breakdown within them. In other words, we are social creatures, even if we are introverted. Indeed introverts crave a deeper intimacy that the more surface engagements of extroverts. In the movie, the male lead carries the same baggage with him in the artificial relationship as in previous relationships.

Quickly they play the relationship game of distance and pursuit. The disembodied voice finds him distant. He denies it, but pulls away further. The dance of relationship is a fairly constant movement of closeness and distance. Trouble occurs when we lose the steps and remain so cl9ose that we feel fused or suffocated, or so distant that it feels that the hold is broken. In our time, with all of the self-help books and therapies, we seem to know less of the steps of the dance of intimacies. The male is as clueless as the program about the steps to take. further, it often happens that one partner desires a close dance, but the other partner prefers a looser hold. That negotiation often is frustrating as we usually have poor skills in dealing with conflicts.

It has been said that men prefer a relationship to stay the same, especially in its placid, accepting phase. it is said that women start a project. The movie opened my eyes to a flaw in the male preference. one of the reason many of us prefer a relationship to remain stable is fear that the other party will grow past us. Men often take real pride in marrying up, where the woman is clearly superior in looks, intelligence, and almost automatically, maturity. Growth in her is a signal that she is growing even further past us. So the doubts emerge that we are inadequate to the relationship. Since a sense of competence is important to males, then that forced  hint of not measuring up causes all manner of troubles. In other words, fear of being left behind may lie at the center of males wishing a relationship to remain fairly fixed.

for me, the arts give me a different perspective on our shared human experience. Science fiction gives us a safe remove to examine some facets of life. This time, it takes a computer to cast light on human failings and 

Sermon Notes-undelivered sermon due to weather for Jan 12

January 12-Baptism is the entry into the community of the Holy Spirit.Let’s put the reading from Isaiah into a baptismal context. Here the Spirit is given to the Lord’s special servant. What kind of spirit is given> the spirit of life, of the very breath that governs all creation’s life. Second, it is a non-violent spirit, as the servant would not harm a fly, would not  deal with a bruised reed harshly. Third it is a spirit of new life, of fresh as the smell of the Christmas tree that may have finally been dragged from houses that celebrate the season through Epiphany. What a fine spirit to capture for the new year: new things I declare, do you not perceive it? that newness that spirit can touch not only individuals but the servant imagined as the people for God, Israel or the church, indeed first presbyterian of Alton, Illinois.The place where we talk about group spirit would be the sports team: remember old cheers? to what degree does the spirit of life link us, in common grace, as kuyper put it. What is different if anything of the spirit of life through polio shots or to a thrilling rendition of a song, or the green revolution.

When Greg and I did  a tour group presentation for visit Alton, a lady accosted me that one must be immersed to receive the Holy spirit. She does raise an important point. Where do Presbyterians stand on the gifts of the spirit and baptism.Our window over here is graced by a powerful representation of baptism with the shell of St James and a large image of the spirit-descended dove. that spirit not only descends but pervades all of life. We get a rare picture of the Trinity in the baptism of Jesus with the Spirit appearing in the form of a dove, the dove of peace, the dove of Noah’s all clear sign, the dove of Jonah’s name so that it could prefigure the resurrection. The same Spirit who hovered over the waters of creation is present in this new Adam’s entry into the mission field.

Since baptism is our citizenship papers into a new community, ti makes sense to me that the gifts of the spirit devolve also on the church itself. The church is given the gifts it needs to do the spirit-induced work to which God calls it. Baptism call us into becoming part of something that is bigger than us, will last longer than us. As As Nadia Bolz Weber says baptism makes Christianity a tema sport, not an individual Olympic event.

I continue to be troubled by older protestant church views of the sacraments. We tend to see baptism as a one time event alone, instead of seeing it as a sign of God’s continuing involvement in our lives. A female pastor recently wrote in god Pause of realizing that just a s child lived her her womb, so do do we live and move and have our being in the divine atmosphere of presence. In the movie jesus of Nazareth they show Jesus being moved  to baptism after the death of Joseph, so tha this baptism by john is an acceptance of his destiny.For Christians, that destiny included reading his life in the light of the servant hymns of Isaiah. Those images even now do not fit what we wish to seek in the Messiah.Baptism allows us, p.ushes us to walk hand in hand to help make this world look the way God intends it to be. It calls us to look through baptismal eyes of compassion, not judgment, to listen, to hear clearly, without waiting to correct or contradict, to “heal not harm, to create not destroy, to love and not to hate.”

Devotional pts week of January 12

Sunday-Ps. 29 is a bold act as it could well come from Canaanite religious culture but changed for the God of Israel. In other words, Old Israel would rework a good prayer, even if it could not accept its source and object.Its pairing with the baptism of Jesus links us with creation and water, but it also reminds us that we hold that the very plan of creation resides in a human being being baptized, as once again the spirit hovers.

Monday -Frederick Buechner-To have grandchildren is not only to be given something but to be given something back.You are given back something of your children's childhood all those years ago. You are given back something of what it was like to be a young parent. You are given back something of your own childhood even, as on creaking knees you get down on the floor to play tiddlywinks, or sing about Old MacDonald and his farm, or watch Saturday morning cartoons till you're cross-eyed.

Tuesday-Christianity wasn't an argument I could win, or even resolve. It wasn't a thesis. It was a mystery that I was finally willing to swallow. I was loved by a big love. In the midst of suffering, of hunger, even of death. Alleluia. What was, finally, so hard about accepting that?" (Sara Miles) I must admit that I often perceive the faith as something to be rationally demonstrated and do hold that reason and faith can be allies. At the same time, I have a similar epiphany to Miles, as religion is always a trip to the ineffable.

Wednesday-I am getting a bit ahead on this during the bitterly cold day on Epiphany< January 6. The Bible certainly reflects its desert origins. If it were written in our part of the country how would its images remain the same or where would they differ do you think? Context helps frame meaning and affects even some of the imagery for speaking of the divine. Select a Midwestern image and apply it to the faith. Find new door of perception?

Thursday-I was disgusted with myself that I did not get more done on our snowy day on the 6th. Productivity is a virtue, certainly. I wonder if it neglects the important insights that occur when daydreaming or mulling something over, when you can’t list it as an accomplishment of the day.When is it a virtue and when is it more a curse?

Friday-From Louisville’s Jinkins-”-There seems to be an act of intellectual empathy that precedes and makes possible the emotional empathy needed to transcend a tribal aversion to strangers. Once we can fathom that every other person, however different, however distant, is also made in God's image, indeed, that the image of God is most fully reflected in our being in relationship, then we are empowered to imagine what it means to be both human and different. There's no real virtue in loving those who are just like us and who serve our interests, at least according to Jesus of Nazareth; virtue lies in loving those who are different, even potentially troublesome. Maybe Jesus knew a thing or two about overcoming the destructive power of tribes.

Saturday-Since this is the season of light in the church, I always love to see light sparkle off the snow and ice. I like the half-light of a cold day at dawn or dusk when the sun seems so weak.As I was writing this, for some reason I was transported back to being a little boy reading what Catholics called Bible History (Bible stories for the young) and recalling the warm glow that seem to emerge from its pages.

OT Notes Is. 49:1-7

OK now we move to another servant hymn.I was reviewing Paul Hanson commentary in the Interpretation series and still find it good. Again I tend to see the servant as a representative image for Israel, so that vitiates the individual v. collectivity argument.
1) It is a remarkable thing to think that other peoples/nations should listen to words coming from a corner of the world.

2)Notice that the imagery is non-violent in militant terms. So a sword is a word.I have deep respect for the peace movement, but I sometimes wonder if the fear of any sounding remotely militant makes sense? I grasp that words can hurt and their creative force, but they still do not kill. I suppose I still don;t get how censoring language promotes action.

3) I tend to see glory as the presence of God, but then I get tripped up with god being glorified in Israel. how do you think that works?

4)Notice tha t the servant is frustrated and tired, but a sense of being on the side of God keeps the work going.

5) When honor is stripped from the servant it comes from God's call.I wonder if we should use this as a baptismal badge of identity and strength more often?

6) In the midst of trouble, it is not enough for the call to Israel but globally. Israel is the impetus for a worldwide reach. How do you try to work with the notion of being a light to the nations. Surely this image had impact on American missionary activity and even our national self-concept to a degree.

7) I am intrigued by the v.7 linkage of Redeemer and Holy One.

8)Still, the downtrodden don;t remain so in this passage but will be recognized by other powers.

sermon notes January 5

Luther famously said that God became small for us at christmas for us to be able to get over our fear. He is right, but the Incarnation goes much further

.

We read John 1 at Christmas Eve, but it is such a signal piece of Scripture that I am pleased that we have some time to hear it again. We are placed in the intersection of Greek and Hebrew culture,  to try to come to grips with the meaning of the season. John 1 is a sophisticated prologue to the gospel, but it is also such an important meditation on the incarnation.Instead of speaking of  a supernatural birth, John talks about a supernatural interface between the divine so called word, idea, logic, vision for us  and Jesus Christ. John takes Greek ideas and sees God’s idea be given birth in  Jesus Christ. Our scriptures  are already translated, but also we constantly are translating the ancient world to our current condition. some of that seems to reflect stable human nature  Always  the bible has its historical background, and what we bring to our reading, but it also creates a reality all of 9its own in its pages. One of the saddest lines of Scripture is here, he came unto his own and his own received him not. It would be a hint toward this of coming home for Christmas and being kicked out of the house upon arrival.So God’s own vision for humanity was and is rejected by  some as well as accepted, often by  the most surprising of people. So, here we see that a clear revelation of the plan of God for humanity is in Jesus Christ, but also the clearest view for us of the divine plan is in Jesus  Christ, full of grace and truth is quite lovely, no?

Its image of light moves directly to epiphany, light shining around, a manifestation or a demonstration in english. We move toward the end of the Christmas season with a move out into the wide world as magi from the mysterious East visit Jesus, only partially understanding what they were encountering. Revelation does not have to be a blinding damascus road experience, but it can be partial, and we can grow into it. Maybe this year we can pledge not only dollars to the budget, and thank you for that, but to pledge to reflect and work on some piece of revelation and let it grow within us,to let it shine within us. the early church embellished the Magi story a bit. The gifts of gold led to Psalm 72 and the areas mentioned there is how we have assigned ethnicity to the Magi.  I sometimes wonder if they are then replicas for the three sons of Noah who were the biblical progenitors of Asians, Africans, and Europeans.

One can be in the light but still not be enlightened, not illuminated. the Magi are in the presence of Christ but are clueless as to waht they see. they bring christmas presents but we assign their meaning, not them.The story of the Magi is a classic example at how we come to read a story 8in the light of Scripture itself.

How shall 2014 manifest itself?MI pray for the radiance of god to permeate our being and our lives.  Let’s take some images from Jeremiah’s lectionary reading this morning. It speaks of life as a watered garden: cared for , fussed over, well-tended.

devoitonal pts-week of Jan. 5

Sunday January 5- Ps.147 starts off our first sunday of the new year with praise.why is it so hard for us to engage fulsome praise for God? Why do we settle for repeating the word endlessly in so-called praise psalms? Here God’s message to us is connected to all of the seeming decrees it takes to keep the natural world going, governance and providence in Reformed language circles. In our time and lives, do we even consider praise of God not only for creation but its regular continuance and pattern?

Epiphany traditionally closes the 12 days of Christmas Even as a kid,I did not think we had a good handle on it.the different ethnicities of the Magi certainly presaged the global reach of the faith. Do we even now come to grips with magicians who unwittingly encounter a connection to power that they could only dream of? What spiritual epiphany has illumined you over the years?

Tuesday-There is no even so commonplace but that god is not present within it,always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not, but...all the more hauntingly.Frederick  Buechner Do you have experiences such as this? We so often stress the visible obvious hand of god that we neglect the vital spiritual truth that God works often behind the scenes and we can detect that movement only after the fact and the passage of some good amount of time.

Wednesday-Our resolutions for the New Year often have The stability and perseverance of our spiritual vows.Maybe that is OK, as it quickly    introduces us to the l theme of fall, repentance, and fall in a cycle of our lives. Just considering resolutions shows a level of self-awareness that we rarely employ. Do you employ resolutions? Why or why not?

Thursday-”Weaving in and out of lives I've come to know the letting go as the surrender in that war between my roots and wings.”MACRINA WIEDERKEHR, Seasons of Your Heart. Where would you like to notice deep penetrating roots in 2014? Where do you think you need wings to see and explore in 2014? Of what do you need to let go?

Friday (Parker Palmer_New Year', invites us to open our eyes to what Howard Thurman calls "the growing edge" of life, and aspire to grow with it. As Thurman says, nothing embodies the growing edge better than a newborn—or, I'd say, a very young child.” Where do you permit a childlike sense of wonder to inhabit your being and relationships? Should not wonder at any relationship be a part of it? Where doyou have some growing edges in your life that should be explored this year? Where do we need that learner’s openness?

SaturdayAt the beginning of time and at the end you are God and I bless you.At my birth and in my dying,in the opening of the day and at its close, in my waking and my sleeping

you are God and I bless you.You are the first and the last,the giver of every gift,the presence without whom there would be no present,the life without whom there is no life.

Lead me to the heart of life’s treasure that I may be a bearer of the gift.Lead me to the heart of the present that I may be a sharer of your eternal presence.-from Sounds of the Eternal

OT Notes January 12 Is. 42:1-9

Over the years, baptism of the Lord Sunday grows more difficult for me. One could try to link the various images of this passage to Christan baptism, and it could be a deepening experience of the meaning of the sacrament.

Thomas Long did a fine sermon on the bruised reed theme. I think of the old phrase would not harm a fly. It seems such a weak image, much like the way Jesus is portrayed as ethereal in some paintings and movies.
On the other hand that same tender person will not be crushed until justice is established. this could lead into a good look at different conceptions of power and differents imnages of weakness v. power.One could do a state of the union style message on justice 2014

James Sinclair in our church reminds me to  keep the Spirit in focus. Here we could use the spirit/breath of God for baptism in close focus or more generally on the role of the Spirit as Lord and Giver of life (Moltmann)..

t song also  ends (v.9) with a fascinating verse of the former things and the new that would be appropriate this time of year.If you wish to extend the reading, one could do well with the  injunctions to both remember and not remember the former things.

The small piece on creation could be good for a theology and science talk or some care with how the passage itself  is put together with other creation material (see Brown's 7 Pillars)

\ It's fitting in this time of year that we have more material with the image of light.
Again, one could go a scientific route on light or in its spiritual outgrowth as illumination..What does it mean to be enlightened?

OT Notes Is. 60 for Epiphany

Mostly I wish to highlight how our  images of the Magi are affected by reading the first verses of this passage along with Ps. 72. Apparently, the two gifts are close enough to connect this with Mt. 2, but I don;t get why the three gifts appearance in the tabernacle construction don;t get similar treatment. The ethnicity of the Magi has its roots here as well, in part. I wonder if this is not a reprise of the three sons of Noah for the new age and its global reach.
Since epiphany has a sense of light and shining, this passage certainly fits. One could go a good way talking about enlightenment in Christian and/or Buddhist terms. One could look at neo -Gnostic approaches as examined by Thomas Long in his preaching lectures at Yale, I think that  goes after those who emphasize personal illumination, in Preaching from Memory to Hope

Of course one could also look with care on the political view inherent here in ways that make Americans both comfortable and uncomfortable.Also Adam Smith got his title the wealth of nations, the bible of capitalist thought in some ways from this passage.