Having an Epiphany (The Epiphany of Our Lord)

Sermons on YouTube…

So did you get a chance to see the “Christmas Star”?  Just a few days before Christmas, the planets of Jupiter and Saturn came into alignment at the closest point to Earth that this had happened since the Middle Ages.  And together, they formed a bright point in the sky that looks, from here, like a star.  And since it was so close to Christmas, there was all this wonder about whether this – or something like this – might have been the “star” seen by the wise men in today’s Gospel reading.

Well, since it lasted only for a couple of hours on a couple of nights, it probably wasn’t.  Still, I was intrigued enough to want to see it.  Now of course, seeing ANY stars in the night sky around here at any time of year is difficult because of all the human generated light.  And, it was pretty cloudy that week, which seems always to happen when I want to see a celestial event.  Plus, I need to confess that I am terrible at trying to figure out where stuff is in the sky – basically, I can only reliably find the Big Dipper.

But this time, I actually was able to see it! It required a little bit of luck, as the clouds weren’t too bad when it was time to view it right after sunset.  But even if it had been a clear night, I would have completely missed it unless I:

• Knew where to look – like I said, I can only really make out the Big Dipper.  And I actually had to google a map of the sky that showed me where to look so I could see this relatively small dot …

• Was paying attention in the days leading up to the event – the night sky isn’t all that impressive around here, and around the time I needed to go out and look, I’d probably have just been inside cooking supper.  So if I hadn’t paid attention to all the publicity and the friends who were commenting on this coming event, I probably would have missed it …

• Actually made the effort to go outside at the right time – after all, that star might have been bright as day, but if I hadn’t decided it was interesting enough to have done something about it, I would have missed it …

But although art and hymnody romanticize the size and magnificence of the star that was seen by the wise men, whatever they saw was clearly missed by most other people.  After all, when the wise men arrive in Jerusalem and ask about a new king because they’ve seen “his star at its rising” absolutely nobody says, “Oh, that’s what that big star is all about!”  They may have been scared about a new king, but nobody else has noticed a star.

So what was different about these wise men?  What made them notice something others didn’t?  Well, these mysterious guys arrive and vanish quickly in Matthew’s story, so we can’t really be sure.  But it’s possible that these wise men also:

• Knew where to look – but where they were looking was in their normal, everyday lives.  Matthew calls them “magoi” (from which we get the English word “magician”).  Essentially, they were astrologers who deduced what was going on in their lives by looking at the stars (sort of professional horoscope people!).  The point is, this was their regular job.  They looked at the stars every night.  The night sky was the daily (nightly) context of their lives.  And while the Old Testament says nothing about stars heralding the Messiah, these guys didn’t know anything about the Messiah or the Old Testament anyway.  But they were looking for signs from the gods in their daily context.  And so perhaps the real God decided to give them a sign in a place where he knew they were looking.  And the wise men saw a sign from God because they were looking in a place that was familiar to them…

• Paid attention to what was different, or what had changed – when they get to Jerusalem they never say they saw a “bright” star or a “big” star.  They just say they saw a “star” – something that hadn’t been there before.  And instead of dismissing it as part of the background or just a curious oddity, they paid attention.  And they wondered if this was pointing them to something new…

• Were clearly intrigued enough to go on a long journey to see what this might be about – that is, it was interesting enough that it caused them to get up off their butts and do something!  And what they did was quite a bit more audacious than simply going outside for a few minutes before supper.  But if they hadn’t followed where they saw the star leading them, Jesus still would have been there, but they would’ve missed the experience; they saw, in whatever that star was, God’s call to action…

This story about the wise men and the star should also remind us, in this season, that having an “epiphany” in our lives isn’t really about finding a magnificent sign in a mysterious place.  Rather, it’s about experiencing God’s presence in our lives right here and right now.  And as with the wise men, that often means:

• Knowing where to look – and for us, that probably doesn’t mean reading the horoscope or looking at the stars.  Rather, it means focusing on what’s happening in the places and with the people we regularly encounter.  I mean, for the wise men, the stars were the “normal” places they found themselves.  And God used that place.  Often in our lives, God is speaking to us through the normal, regular places and people among whom we live…

• Paying attention to how God may be using a seemingly “ordinary” thing or event, or even off-hand comment of a friend – I’m not sure that God intentionally created a new cosmic event in the sky just for Jesus’ birth.  It may have shown up there in the regular course of the universe.  But when it did, God used it to say something to the wise men. And sometimes, that happens in our lives, too … (like when somebody says something, and it feels like God wants you to pay attention to that…)  And often, the prophets experience God’s word by paying attention to little things that were there anyway – a bowl of fruit, a wall being built or even a pregnant woman passing by…

• Being willing to get up and act and explore the thing that you think God might be saying in your life, even and especially if you’re not sure exactly what that thing means – the wise men could have simply said, “wow, that’s kind of neat.  Maybe the god of Israel is doing something cool over there, but now, back to business here.”  Having a true “epiphany”, though, means knowing that God isn’t acting or speaking for my amusement or curiosity.  Instead, God is speaking and acting to call us to speak and act, so that we can be part of the new thing that God is doing in the world around us…

I should tell you another quick Christmas story.  Last year, on Christmas Day, we held our usual Christmas Day service.  15 people attended that service (including 4 who were staff and children of staff!)  Afterwards, Pr. Christine and I lamented how few people we were actually reaching with that service, and whether it was worth doing next year.

This year, though, since we were all online, we figured we’d do it one more time and stream it at the same hour on Christmas Day.  We wondered if anyone would tune in.  There were 57 households viewing our Christmas Day service while we were streaming it, and over 160 households had viewed it by the end of Christmas Day.

For a number of years, lots of us have been wondering (not just on Christmas Day) how we can reach more people and connect more people with Jesus, as worship attendance has been declining.  Yet somehow, in this crazy time of pandemic, God has been showing us a new way.  It’s not completely clear how we’ll integrate live and online worship as we come out of this, but in the midst of doing our regular work, and paying attention to the details of what’s been happening, God has been showing us that there are some new ways we can live and grow.  It’s really been an epiphany!

And that’s often the way God works epiphanies in our lives.  And so in this season, and throughout the year, look around in your regular life for what’s happening.  Pay attention to details that God may be calling your attention to, that maybe you didn’t see or notice before.  And be willing to explore what those things may mean, so that you can grow and become part of the new things that God is doing in your life.

Amen.