Epiphany Sunday Text: Matthew 2: 1-12

One of the gifts of living by the calendar of the church year -- which begins with Advent, and opens into Christmas, then Epiphany, followed by the season of Lent, then Easter, and on it goes -- one of the gifts of living by that calendar is the collection of stories from scripture that come round again and again.
Today, in this case, it’s the story of the Magi, and their journey in search of the Christ child. The whole year of course might be thought of as a journey. Our whole lives might be framed in such a way … a sacred, searching journey.

But it can happen too, that we forget that we’re on such a venture … how it is that days merge into months, and months into years -- and one day it may occur, like one day when I was a university student out for a walk, it occurred to me: “this is my life!” Right now, these days … this is my life! It’s not on hold til I graduate, or get a job, or have a baby or retire, or until I learn whatever I need to learn from this uninvited lesson that has moved into my days. Right now - these days - this is my life!
I wonder if any of this rings a bell for you … this waking up to your life?

Somehow it can happen that we forget we’re already on a journey.

And then… then Epiphany comes around. The story of the journey of the Magi comes around ... like a guide on the trail, like a shepherd, circling back for us … inviting us to come along again … telling us, “the way is still open, and it needs you -- it needs you in a way that you won’t know until you come along and find yourself offering the gift that is yours to give.”

So what if this morning we let the story of the Magi come back for us … what if we let it gather us up and set us on the path again … what if we let it shine a light, helping us to see where we are, where we’re going.  What if it has some gifts to offer us, that are ours for opening as we go?

For all the questions we might have about the journey of the Magi, what if we let the story ask some questions of us? Maybe those questions are the gifts we’re being given, to open, unpack, ponder, play with, as we go.

The story begins with the Magi seeing a light, a new star in the distance. Do you notice, they don’t send out envoys to go in search and bring back word. They themselves set out on this journey of discovery … to see for themselves, to meet firsthand this Jesus child.
Generations later, the light of Jesus’ life has found its way into our horizon --
for some of us, through stories in scripture; for some of us, through the witness of people’s lives; and some of us have wandered into communities such as this where people gather in his name, for some reason or because of a compelling curiosity.

To learn about him is one thing … to go with him where his love and footsteps show is quite another. So maybe here’s one of questions, one of the gifts we’re given to open as we go …
Do you know what it is to take the risk of following Jesus, with Jesus somehow present, with some kind of call and response going on?
Do you recognize in yourself the desire for such an encounter?

Notice for the Magi, this is no solitary journey. They find their way in the company of one another. Who are your companions on the way?
A journey that involves setting out without really knowing where we’re going, what we’re getting into calls for steadfast, adventuresome companions who are attuned to the Spirit. In whose company are you travelling? Is there someone whose companionship, who’s wisdom you value, and with whom it’s time to connect?

When the Herod’s appear on the path, when confronted with destructive, deceitful, manipulative energy that would draw you in, or send you running, or twist you out of shape, how do you stay the course? From where do you draw strength for the journey of your heart? … and are you remembering to do that?

What does it mean to return home by a different way? You’ve come this far, following the path by which you’ve come to where you are, approaching life in a certain well practiced way. It can happen that this moment, this crisis, this juncture in your life, in the life of the world around you, calls for another way.
Have you felt that invitation, that holy disturbance, that whisper of “another way”?
Do you know what it’s like to risk responding to a guidance of sorts that’s not so easy to verify, that’s seemingly foolish -- the guidance of dreams perhaps, or of a voice that isn’t a voice and yet is!

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times by now … that the planet needs us to find another way home. The whole human community needs to find a just and sustainable, peaceful way forward.
God needs us to make our way home by another route …a new way of being human together on God’s good Earth.

The wonder is that we have what it takes. If only we could find those words on our lips … “the wonder is that we have what it takes.”  The wonder is that we are given by God all that we need.

I want to play for you a brief video I came upon yesterday. It’s the filming of an experiment where people from different countries, different languages agree to sit down opposite one another, and to simply stare into each others faces for 4 minutes. The video invites us into that space with them to be part of the experience.
It strikes me as a glimpse of the Epiphany story … someone from another land comes to pay homage to a stranger … comes into their space, in a spirit of respect, of reverence.  It’s not hard to imagine these people we are about so see going home by a different way than they came … carrying something away even more valuable than what they brought.

[see video below]


What did you see? What are you feeling?


Prayer ~
God of all life, of each life, help us to position ourselves so we do not miss
what you are doing in the wide expanse of the world.
Help us to slow down, spread out our whole lives before you and practice patient watching for where the light of your love is falling.
Help us to catch a glimpse of this holy light, of the lives and places in the world that need our attention and are illumined by your radiance
so as to draw us near. In and through Christ we pray.

 

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