Are You Ready For An Epiphany?
Good Morning Friends,
The twelve days of Christmas are just about over and many are turning their attention to New Year resolutions. We have been there before with modest success but frankly need an epiphany. We do want to become the person God intended us to be but somehow never submit fully to the opportunity. Usually the problem is a lack of faith that we can actually be victorious. Up close and personal the events in our lives can be a confusing mix of failures and successful moments. Things can seem so dark. We need the right perspective to see how they fit together to create in us an example of a work that glorifies God and turns on a light to guide us. Are You Ready For An Epiphany?
Scripture: We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men* from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.
Matthew 2:1-2 (NRSV)
On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11 (NRSV)
But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:15-17 (NRSV)
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 (NRSV)
Message: On my coffee table I have a book of Impressionist painters work. Up close the brush strokes are just specks of light and dark that produce nothing recognizable. On our porch table we have a 3000 piece puzzle in process. Only when one steps back can one gain perspective and see how things are to fit together. So too with New Year’s resolutions. So too the story of the Magi converging as part of the celebration of the birth and baptism of Jesus. These compressed efforts at preparation and enlightenment are only perfected when we allow God to guide us on the journey from the perspective of the star. Only then in love do the confusing mix of events and plans in our lives come into focus revealing the masterpiece God is creating. Only then is hope born anew as on that starry night when three kings opened their gifts for the baby Jesus… two years after his birth. Time seems to be thrown out the window. A celestial gravity wave seems to have changed time and space. We have the birth of Jesus, then Herod plotting to have all the two year old Bethlehem children killed. The story of the Magi and then a baptism are linked but why? So yesterday we sang A Coventry Carol in worship which originally was sung at a pre-Shakespearian public drama in Coventry, England… a lullaby for the mothers to the Bethlehem children slated for death. And next Sunday we will be adding to the mix the Epiphany celebration of the baptism of Jesus. It is a time of the manifestation of Christ to the world. In the West, Christians began celebrating the Epiphany in the 4th century, associating it with the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the three kings found baby Jesus by following a star across the desert to Bethlehem. The three kings are not named in scripture but tradition has it that they are Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar and they by tradition represented Europe, Arabia and Africa respectively. They followed the star of Bethlehem to meet the baby Jesus. They offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh symbolic of the importance of Jesus’ birth. The gold represented his royal standing; frankincense his divine birth; and myrrh his mortality. It is a story about light and life but also the manifestation of God into human history. And the message is this…Christ will manifest himself to those that love him. And if we love him we exist just a bit out of time too so we can get a glimpse of what it means for the heavens to open up.
Pray that we submit to the hand of the greatest Artist of all. Pray we, by the mercies of God, experience a new life in Christ. Pray we not be conformed to this world, but be transformed as God uses us in ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving and leading. Pray we have the faith to believe in the vision God has placed in us. Pray we have the discipline to carry it out and character to lead with diligence, compassion and cheerfulness so it might bring together the good purpose He has called us. Pray we repent so that God can use us to help turn the lights of love on for others. Pray the lights are turned on so others can see the beauty shining through the life of others. Pray we are guided on the path of salvation in the radiance and power of the Holy Spirit working in the world as one in community and worship proclaiming God’s light. Pray we bear our gifts in the gracious mystery of the way. Pray we put it all together.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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