Epiphany 2013

Epiphany 2013 

Matthew 2:1-12

So I know that for Hallmark (I pick on Hallmark a lot) and Wal Mart and much of society Christmas is over by now. But here in Christ’s church we have a slightly different kind of calendar and Christmas is not over! Not yet anyway, not until sundown today. Today is the 12^th day of Christmas, the Epiphany of our Lord, the day we celebrate light and the magi visiting Jesus. I know it probably doesn’t feel like it, but this day is actually supposed to be the culmination of Christmas. In many cultures, January 6^th is the day children get presents. In Italy and Russia children are waking up this morning to the presents which La Befana or Baboushka left for them after she climbed down their chimney’s. In many Hispanic cultures Christmas Day is very somber occasion while today, Dia de los Reyes, is the day of celebration and gift exchange. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Epiphany is the day gifts are exchanged in celebration of the gifts the magi gave to Jesus and God’s greatest gift to the world in Jesus Christ. 

So, today we’re going to celebrate. We’re going to experience Epiphany borrowing some traditions from other cultures and traditions. All three experiences are meant to express some aspect of Epiphany and they each engage our senses in ways we’re not used to during a sermon. In fact, you can count, but I think all 5 senses will be engaged, should you so choose to participate. There’s a method for what you may find in a moment to be madness. Sometimes when we come to church and we involve only two or maybe three of our senses somehow our brains, without anyone saying so, start to believe that faith is not a whole body or whole person thing, as if only part of our lives have to do with faith and the rest is separate. Taking a minute, well, about 15 or so minutes, to involve all our senses in worship reminds us that faith is a whole body thing, it’s a whole life thing. 

So, I need 3 or 4 helpers for this sermon – go-fers really. Any volunteers? 

To begin our whole body, whole life Epiphany experiences of the day we will, of course begin with eating cake (hold up cake) – King’s cake to be exact loosely based on the recipes from several different traditions and the things I had available in my kitchen. (begin cutting cake and putting on plates.) As you know, the magi are often called the kings. As the children’s play so aptly taught us, there Matthew’s gospel does not say there were three kings, just three gifts. There could have been two kings or 20 kings. But, tradition has said there were three kings who spotted a far off star and set off by camel across the desert to find the king whose birth the star announced. Put theologically this cake represents our own journey to find Jesus in unexpected places, like the cattle stall, or the homeless shelter or the boardroom or the classroom or the gas station. Jesus is everywhere and while he has found us and claimed us, we are called to find him and care for him and love him. Put less theologically and more plainly, there is a plastic, glow-in-the-dark, baby Jesus hidden in one of these cakes and one lucky person in this congregation will get to find him! (I do, however, want the plastic baby Jesus back. He’s from a nativity scene I’ve had since elementary school and I’m sentimentally attached to it. Also, don’t worry, I washed him before I put him in the cake.) So – whole body experience number 1: smelling and tasting cake to remind us to be alert and look for Jesus. Also, any time Christians gather around food, we can be reminded of our Lord’s love of food. He ate with all kinds of people, disciples and friends and Pharisees and even tax collectors and sinners. And we remember especially the Lord’s Supper in which we take in the very body and blood of Christ. (Other traditions, coins, almond, beans, pudding, yeast bread, marzipan cakes) 

Our second experience is one I learned about recently, and actually wrote about a bit in my newsletter article, is from Europe, especially England. It is a tradition of chalking the door of the home (or church r hospital or nursing home or dorm or classroom or whatever) with the year and the letters “C”, “M”, and “B.” The letters stand for the traditional names of the three kings, Caspar Melchior and Balthasar, and they also stand for their blessing in Latin which is: Christus mansionem benedicat, or may Christ bless this house. The idea is that we, like the kings, are called to look up and all around us to recognize and welcome Christ. Have you ever felt lost and wished for a flashing neon sign? Consider this your sign. You are blessed and you can extend that blessing all around. It is especially cool if you can go and chalk someone else’s door, blessing them and all who enter their home – probably you should ask them first.

There is an insert in your bulletin with the brief liturgy for this chalking and my amazing helpers are passing out chalk now. I’d like to invite you to join me immediately following the service for a very brief liturgy outside these tower doors to chalk our own church home.  

So, whole body experience number 2: feeling the chalk in our hands, speaking and hearing the liturgy of chalking and seeing the writing on our doors to remind us that we are blessed and we are blessed to be a blessing.

Our third experience has to do with light, candles specifically. Many congregations around the world celebrate Epiphany with a service of light, hymns and readings about light and lots and lots of candles. Light is a big deal for the church. The Bible is full of light imagery, and the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season highlights much of it. Remember back, 5 weeks ago, in some of the northern hemisphere’s darkest days of the year, we began Advent. We lit our first Advent candle and remembered that God’s first act of Creation was to make light. And even as the days grew shorter and shorter, we lit the second candle and the third candle and the fourth. And finally, on Christmas Eve, we celebrated the true Light of the world, Christ Jesus, and we lit the Paschal Candle and that light spread throughout the congregation and we remembered as the gospel of John says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.

Candles are always a thing for Christians. We always have candles lit, at least our two here on the altar when we have communion. They represent the light and the presence of Christ in our midst. We get candles at our baptism, lit from the Paschal candle and at our funerals we light the paschal candle again to remind us of the life we receive in Christ beyond any shadows death could cast. And so, on this day we remember the star the kings followed, and the light of Christ.

So take one of the candles coming around now. Keep it in your home to remind you of the light of Christ which shines on you and in you. Light it on those days when you’re feeling your light is flickering, when you’re feeling cold, or a little bit lonely, when these dark winter days are becoming too much. Or maybe you want to create a ritual for yourself or your family at home and light the candle every Sunday and read from the many Bible passages on Scripture.

So, take these things home with you. Observe Epiphany. Remember these experiences and make them a part of your whole life of faith – searching for and recognizing Jesus in unexpected places, remembering that you are blessed and you are a blessing, and always to see by the true light of Christ. Amen.