The Feast of the Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6,9
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-2

When I got home yesterday afternoon I found our neighbors dog lying under the table in our dining room.  I hadn’t realized she was going to be there, but it was okay because I had told my neighbor to feel free to put Abby in our house whenever she needed to vacate her own house for a showing.  I had been going to take Kenzie, our dog for a walk in the park that afternoon so I packed both dogs into the back seat and off we went.  I wasn’t too sure how Abby would fare in a strange car, going somewhere she hadn’t been before, because Abby is blind.  But she hopped in quite willingly and seemed to enjoy the new smells on the path we took by the river.  Our path took us through some thick leaves, along the side of a road, next to a roaring waterfall and finally across a narrow wooden bridge.  I kept Abby on the lead and talked to her as we went.  Sometime during the walk I realized that the reason she was able to adjust so quickly to this path that she couldn’t see, was because she trusted me.  In spite of the fact that she would occasionally walk into a low hanging branch, or slip at the side of an especially steep bank, she knew my voice, and she trusted me to lead her safely through the park.

The wise men from the East who came to visit Jesus shortly after his birth had spent many years studying the stars, learning the meaning of the constellations and strange sights in the sky.  They had learnt to trust what they saw in the night skies, so when they looked up at the night sky and recognized a star that heralded the birth of a very important person they chose to leave their homes to follow the star and see for themselves this special event that was destined to take place.

As C.S. Lewis envisioned it in his famous poem, the Three Magi, their journey was not an easy one. 
'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages, dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

These 3 wise men trusted that the many years of their lives they had given to learning to read the night skies was worth something.  They journeyed on for days and nights, trusting the star they followed, even when that same star led them beyond a palace to a poor, lowly stable.  And there, by the light of the star, shining over the little stable in Bethlehem they found the one they had come to see, the Savior of the World.  They knelt down and worshipped the child offering the gifts they had brought, gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

And we who follow in their footsteps, the light of that star today.  Will we have the faith to trust the light of the star, or will we stop at Herod’s door because we cannot imagine a King who was born in a stable?   Like the magi we too have the choice to embark upon a journey of discovery, a journey that can only be traveled by faith, or to plant our feet on the reality we know now, and stay stuck where we are.  These wise men saw a message in the stars.  They believed that there is a reality beyond the hum-drum world in which they lived and they were willing to take great risks in order to follow their hearts.  As they looked up at the sky they saw more than a tiny point of light among other points of light, they saw a sign that pointed somewhere, that invited them to embark upon a journey.  They were seekers.  They were men of faith.  And because of their openness and faith they found the savior of the world in a most unlikely place.

Some of our youth group and other members from the parish made a journey just before Christmas.  They went to a food and clothing distribution center called Loaves and Fishes at a church in New Haven.  While they were there they were able to give gifts of food and clothing to the people who came, fathers who were working two jobs and still could not feed their families, single mothers struggling to eke out a living while raising their children on their own, children needing gloves or a hat to keep them warm on their way to school.  They probably didn’t realize they were following a star as they met up at the church and carpooled to St Paul’s and St James in New Haven, but afterwards one of the youth, reflecting on his experience said, ‘I really enjoyed being there.  I don’t know why, but I felt kind of warm inside.”  I think that warmth is the kind of feeling we get when we encounter God’s saving love at work in our world, the warmth of a stable and a new born child, the warmth of magi bringing precious gifts to the manger. 

Perhaps the wise men knew that their salvation would never come from the books they were studying.  Perhaps they knew that their salvation would not come from the wealth and fame they would acquire.  Perhaps that is why they were willing to risk everything they knew to follow a star in the sky.  In the look and touch of a tiny new-born child they found the salvation they sought.  Their lives were forever changed by their encounter with God in the stable, and ignoring the request of Herod, they went home by another route. 

In some way, the story of the journey of the Magi holds a truth that we all need to grasp.  Had they stayed in the safety of their homes they would never have seen the one who is called the light of the world.  They had to embark upon a journey, trusting that it was God who was leading the way.  We too can sit at home, watching the t.v. in the warmth of our living rooms, or we can choose to follow the one who is the light of the world on the strange and wonderful journey that will always be laid out before us.  That journey may take us to a stable, to a homeless shelter, to the prison down the road, to a hospital, or to an elderly people’s home.  Wherever the star leads we can be sure it leads to Christ.  In the encounters we have with those we meet along the way we will find our salvation. 

In researching the scriptures for today I learned something from a sermon by a priest called Andreas Viklund.  He says that that the wise men’s star was often found engraved upon communion plates used in the early church.  It was placed there to show that the star still leads those who would come to Christ’s presence here at the altar.

Today, won’t you come and receive a gift more precious than gold or frankincense or myrrh.  Won’t you come and receive your salvation from the one who is the light of the world?  And when you are filled with Christ’s love and you see the star move from here out into the world, won’t you leave the comfort and safety of this place and follow wherever it leads?  Because you will find that it will always lead you to the place where the Son of God’s love is waiting