Epiphany Sunday Jan 4 Sermon Notes

January 4-epiphany Readings Is. 60, Ps. 72, Mt. 2

We are here in the sunrise of 2015.In two days, I may take down the manger scene that includes the wise Ones. In the winter darkness we grab at images of light as the long darkness starts to recede just a bit.The east reads the place of the rising. Is. 60 is written after a sense of real disappointment when the leaders have returned home and life is still such a struggle.Another Christmas has come and gone and a lots seems the same and we may be nestled in a bit of nostalgia and sighing yearning now that family has returned, the adrenaline rush of presents and preparation is over. Isaiah will not allow darkness to be the motif of life, but a place to seek the light, even when it seems dim. The future is a place where light shines more brightly.

Many of us prepare a lot of treats for Christmas and New Year’s. Baking brings different elements together.In our creche scenes, we have been mixing up images to make a deeper story the camels the gifts, the ethnicity of the Magi have been molded together by finding some of the mention of the gifts in other sources.I would bet that the early church enjoyed the idea of merging the Magi with kings, as the secular king Herod put out a death warrant for the infant Jesus, but these kings were bowing before a king in a simple home. We get three Magi from the number of gifts,so we could have many or two. We get their ethnicity from the readings from the OT as well.Some traditions even name them, So we sing of three kings instead of court magicians.Their ethnicity in the OT allows them to be children of Noah, representing the major races of the globe.

Magi were often advisors to political and economic administration-they tried to peer into the coming order of things by noticing the arrangement of the stars in the heaven.Our readings use an ancient form of biblical interpretation as they pick up some of the words, in this case, gold and frankincense and seek other passages that share the set. the only place one will find all three in fairly close proximity is Ex. 30, the building of the tabernacle, a physical locus for God. Myrrh was an element in anointing oil, and the very name, Christ, means anointed one..It separated the area and those who entered it as holy, distinct.

These readings give us a glimpse into the many-faceted wisdom of God, Faith is holding a beautifully cut gem you may received at christmas and letting the light change its color  sparkle through the facets. Christianity is such a vital faith, as its boldness can draw on other patterns of life and weave it into the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

Smart is not wise. The Magi only partially understand.Their gifts are incongruous for whom they visit on one level. On another, they are unwittingly perfect.They place the life of the infant Jesus in early danger due to their partial grasp of his significance. I respect spiritual but not religious seekers. I rep spect other paths to religious enlightenment. At the same time, the bible contains our stories of religious enlightenment and we do ourselves no favors in downplaying them as Christians. After all, the Magi stumble upon a person of flesh and blood, not the movement of stars in the sky. In the end, Christianity is a down to earth faith. At the same time, we are people  of the rising, of the East, of sunrise and a new day.