{"id":2332,"date":"2024-01-07T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/?p=2332"},"modified":"2024-01-15T13:32:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:32:42","slug":"epiphany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/2024\/01\/07\/epiphany\/","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Year B
 Isaiah 60:1-6
 Psalm 72:1-7,10-14
 Ephesians 3:1-12
 Matthew 2:1-12<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were lots of comings and goings this past Thanksgiving weekend\u2026  on Sunday November 27\u2026  the TSA broke its record for the highest number passengers in one day\u2026  when 2,907,378 people were screened at U.S. airports\u2026  ]  in mid-December\u2026 the American Automobile Association projected that 115,200,000 travelers would head fifty miles or more from home over the ten-day year-end holiday period\u2026  that’s the second highest year-end travel forecast since 2000\u2026  when AAA began tracking holiday travel\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be in response to the travel bans and restrictions we endured during the recent pandemic\u2026  but whatever the reasons\u2026  there’s a lot of comings and goings these days\u2026  and travel not only offers us face-to-face relationship and interaction\u2026  but brings us into contact with regional geography and weather and foods and idioms and so on\u2026  and these things broaden our horizons and experiences and assumptions about others\u2026  and sometimes about ourselves\u2026  in fact\u2026  Mark Twain said that\u2026  travel is fatal to prejudice\u2026  bigotry\u2026  and narrow-mindedness\u2026  and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts\u2026  because broad\u2026  wholesome…  and charitable views of [ women ] and men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime<\/em>\u2026  ] that may be a bit less true now than it was then…  because when Twain said this there was no internet\u2026  no way to see high resolution and three dimensional images of things like the Eiffel Tower\u2026  and the Great Pyramids and Sphinx\u2026  of the Great Wall of China\u2026  and the Taj Mahal\u2026  and of having a video call with someone across the country or around the world\u2026 but just seeing these architectural wonders\u2026  even in person\u2026  does not foster our relationships with those who live in these places\u2026  does not enhance our empathy and compassion for the challenges those who live there face\u2026  and seeing the majesty of these structures doesn’t help us bridge the gap between their humanity and ours\u2026 it is\u2026  as Twain implies\u2026  that the gap is bridged when real contact is made\u2026  and when we no longer think in terms of us being better and them being worse\u2026  but all of us just being different\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But King Herod held onto his superiority with both hands… imagine the expression on his face\u2026  when his staff informed him that wealthy and learned philosophers were entering the city\u2026  ] at first\u2026  he must have believed these prestigious individuals came to pay homage to him\u2026  that one who was great in his own mind\u2026  Herod  himself\u2026  was to be honored\u2026  after all\u2026  from Herod’s perspective\u2026  he was the most important person in Jerusalem\u2026  and in anticipating this meeting\u2026  Herod’s ego might have been about to burst\u2026  he might have believed he had “arrived” in some greater way\u2026  but sadly\u2026  he learned\u2026 the magi weren’t asking about how to meet with him\u2026  but were asking the local folk\u2026  Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?\u2026<\/em>  and when Heard heard of this\u2026  his puffed up head must have sprung a leak\u2026  as his rage and humiliation increased\u2026  and we can also imagine his fear\u2026  and the fear of others around him\u2026  as they all discovered that there was now another King with whom he’d have to contend\u2026  discovered that there was one born who was so significant\u2026  that a star was placed in the heavens to announce his arrival\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epiphany introduces us to ideas of the exotic\u2026  a kind of magic\u2026  a kind of wildness which can not be tamed\u2026  there are legends within legends about who the Wise Men were\u2026  their names have become known\u2026  most commonly\u2026  as Balthasar\u2026  Melchior\u2026  and Gaspar\u2026  and according to tradition\u2026  Balthasar is often represented as a King of Arabia\u2026  or sometimes Ethiopia\u2026  Gaspar as a King of India\u2026  and Melchior as a King of Persia\u2026  though these locations were added to the traditions later on too\u2026  else where and how did they meet up\u2026  and there are questions about what they rode\u2026  Balthasar is said to have ridden a camel\u2026  Melchior a horse\u2026  and Gaspar an elephant\u2026  and there are questions about how great a distance they traveled\u2026  it’s likely that they traveled almost 1,000 miles to meet Jesus\u2026  and we can easily imagine that for them\u2026  at that time\u2026  and under those conditions\u2026  it was most likely an arduous trek\u2026  but enough time had passed\u2026  that by the time they got to Jerusalem\u2026  they were looking for a child and not for a newborn\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the wisdom of the magi\u2026  is that they studied\u2026  they knew their own history\u2026  they had searched their own past and their own sacred texts\u2026  but neither did they keep their noses in books all the time\u2026  they were keen observers of the world around them\u2026  local and national\u2026  cultural and familial\u2026  earthly and heavenly\u2026  and the result of their study was a readiness\u2026  a willingness\u2026  to recognize the gift of this sign as soon as it appeared\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospels are like a gift which we may use only briefly at first\u2026  but later on\u2026  use almost every day\u2026  somewhat like getting a bicycle at Christmas\u2026  that is\u2026  when we get it\u2026  there may be several inches of snow on the ground\u2026  so all we’re able to do is ride it once or twice\u2026  up and down the driveway\u2026  and then put it away until spring\u2026  but then we get it out and ride it every day\u2026  or the Gospels may be said to be like a musical instrument\u2026  whose intrinsic treasure remains hidden\u2026  until we learn how to play it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is a certain kind of darkness these days\u2026  it may come from a collective hubris\u2026  or arrogance\u2026  believing we already know all we need to know\u2026  it may come from too many seeking out the Herods of this world and worshiping them\u2026 instead of devoting ourselves to a deeper understanding of our spiritual roots\u2026  which help prepare us for epiphanies\u2026  things like studying scripture\u2026  of course\u2026  but also reading commentaries and devotional materials\u2026  listening to podcasts\u2026  participating in study groups\u2026  prayer groups\u2026  worship…  and contemplative practices\u2026  no one of us\u2026  not even any small group of us\u2026  can know it all\u2026  there are others who are seeking\u2026  and there are others who have a stake in what we progressive Christians are seeking\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our second Advent book study this past fall\u2026  we read these words from Stephanie Spellers\u2026  in her book The Church Cracked Open\u2026  she wrote\u2026  God is breaking open this church and pouring us out\u2026  pouring out privilege\u2026  pouring out empire\u2026  pouring out racism and human arrogance\u2026  in order to remake us\u2026  and use us\u2026  to serve God\u2019s dream for the whole world\u2026  we are the broken jar\u2026  it hurts\u2026  and it stinks\u2026  and I think it\u2019s a gift\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in her five-line poem called The Uses of Sorrow\u2026  Mary Oliver writes\u2026  (In my sleep I dreamed this poem)\u2026  Someone I loved once gave me\u2026  a box full of darkness\u2026  It took me years to understand\u2026  that this, too, was a gift<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen framed it this way\u2026  in the refrain from his song Anthem\u2026 Ring the bells that still can ring\u2026  Forget your perfect offering\u2026  There is a crack\u2026  a crack in everything\u2026  That’s how the light gets in<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a lot of comings and goings these days\u2026  and more than anything\u2026 . the Wise Men show that Jesus has come for all people\u2026  and for all nations\u2026  and Matthew offers a tantalizing hint about life for those of us who have met Christ\u2026  nothing is ever the same\u2026  the light comes in to dispel the darkness\u2026  and like the Wise Men\u2026 we may not take the same road home anymore\u2026  we may come to find Jesus’ light in different ways\u2026  by unfolding new maps\u2026  and discovering alternate paths\u2026  but like the Wise Men\u2026  we all get to follow the same star\u2026  and so we may ask\u2026  what gifts will we bring\u2026  will we bring ourselves\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year B Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7,10-14 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026 There were lots of comings and goings this past Thanksgiving weekend\u2026  on Sunday November 27\u2026  the TSA broke its record for the highest number passengers in one day\u2026  when 2,907,378 people were screened at U.S. airports\u2026  ]  in mid-December\u2026 the American Automobile Association projected that 115,200,000 travelers would head fifty miles or more from home over the ten-day year-end holiday period\u2026  that’s the second highest year-end travel forecast since 2000\u2026  when AAA began tracking holiday travel\u2026 It may be in response to the travel bans and restrictions we endured during the recent pandemic\u2026  but whatever the reasons\u2026  there’s a lot of comings and goings these days\u2026  and travel not only offers us face-to-face relationship and interaction\u2026  but brings us into contact with regional geography and weather and foods and idioms and so on\u2026  and these things broaden our horizons and experiences and assumptions about others\u2026  and sometimes about ourselves\u2026  in fact\u2026  Mark Twain said that\u2026  travel is fatal to prejudice\u2026  bigotry\u2026  and narrow-mindedness\u2026  and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts\u2026  because broad\u2026  wholesome…  and charitable views of [ women ] and men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime\u2026  ] that may be a bit less true now than it was then…  because when Twain said this there was no internet\u2026  no way to see high resolution and three dimensional images of things like the Eiffel Tower\u2026  and the Great Pyramids and Sphinx\u2026  of the Great Wall of China\u2026  and the Taj Mahal\u2026  and of having a video call with someone across the country or around the world\u2026 but just seeing these architectural wonders\u2026  even in person\u2026  does not foster our relationships with those who live in these places\u2026  does not enhance our empathy and compassion for the challenges those who live there face\u2026  and seeing the majesty of these structures doesn’t help us bridge the gap between their humanity and ours\u2026 it is\u2026  as Twain implies\u2026  that the gap is bridged when real contact is made\u2026  and when we no longer think in terms of us being better and them being worse\u2026  but all of us just being different\u2026 But King Herod held onto his superiority with both hands… imagine the expression on his face\u2026  when his staff informed him that wealthy and learned philosophers were entering the city\u2026  ] at first\u2026  he must have believed these prestigious individuals came to pay homage to him\u2026  that one who was great in his own mind\u2026  Herod  himself\u2026  was to be honored\u2026  after all\u2026  from Herod’s perspective\u2026  he was the most important person in Jerusalem\u2026  and in anticipating this meeting\u2026  Herod’s ego might have been about to burst\u2026  he might have believed he had “arrived” in some greater way\u2026  but sadly\u2026  he learned\u2026 the magi weren’t asking about how to meet with him\u2026  but were asking the local folk\u2026  Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?\u2026  and when Heard heard of this\u2026  his puffed up head must have sprung a leak\u2026  as his rage and humiliation increased\u2026  and we can also imagine his fear\u2026  and the fear of others around him\u2026  as they all discovered that there was now another King with whom he’d have to contend\u2026  discovered that there was one born who was so significant\u2026  that a star was placed in the heavens to announce his arrival\u2026 Epiphany introduces us to ideas of the exotic\u2026  a kind of magic\u2026  a kind of wildness which can not be tamed\u2026  there are legends within legends about who the Wise Men were\u2026  their names have become known\u2026  most commonly\u2026  as Balthasar\u2026  Melchior\u2026  and Gaspar\u2026  and according to tradition\u2026  Balthasar is often represented as a King of Arabia\u2026  or sometimes Ethiopia\u2026  Gaspar as a King of India\u2026  and Melchior as a King of Persia\u2026  though these locations were added to the traditions later on too\u2026  else where and how did they meet up\u2026  and there are questions about what they rode\u2026  Balthasar is said to have ridden a camel\u2026  Melchior a horse\u2026  and Gaspar an elephant\u2026  and there are questions about how great a distance they traveled\u2026  it’s likely that they traveled almost 1,000 miles to meet Jesus\u2026  and we can easily imagine that for them\u2026  at that time\u2026  and under those conditions\u2026  it was most likely an arduous trek\u2026  but enough time had passed\u2026  that by the time they got to Jerusalem\u2026  they were looking for a child and not for a newborn\u2026 And the wisdom of the magi\u2026  is that they studied\u2026  they knew their own history\u2026  they had searched their own past and their own sacred texts\u2026  but neither did they keep their noses in books all the time\u2026  they were keen observers of the world around them\u2026  local and national\u2026  cultural and familial\u2026  earthly and heavenly\u2026  and the result of their study was a readiness\u2026  a willingness\u2026  to recognize the gift of this sign as soon as it appeared\u2026 The Gospels are like a gift which we may use only briefly at first\u2026  but later on\u2026  use almost every day\u2026  somewhat like getting a bicycle at Christmas\u2026  that is\u2026  when we get it\u2026  there may be several inches of snow on the ground\u2026  so all we’re able to do is ride it once or twice\u2026  up and down the driveway\u2026  and then put it away until spring\u2026  but then we get it out and ride it every day\u2026  or the Gospels may be said to be like a musical instrument\u2026  whose intrinsic treasure remains hidden\u2026  until we learn how to play it\u2026 But there is a certain kind of darkness these days\u2026  it may come from a collective hubris\u2026  or arrogance\u2026  believing we already know all we need to know\u2026  it may come from too many seeking out the Herods of this world and worshiping them\u2026 instead of devoting ourselves to a deeper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Untitled-design-12.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2334,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332\/revisions\/2334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}