Monday, February 12, 2018

Epiphany - Disruptive Light

The Adoration of the Kings by Jan Gossaert


Today we are observing Epiphany. As the name suggests ( epiphaneia ), the festival seems to have focused from the beginnings on the “revelation” of God in Jesus. By the sixth day in January, the wider society has long moved past the celebrations of Christmas. The church, on the other hand, persists a full 12 days after Christmas Day to Epiphany to remember the visit of the wise men to the young Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s gospel (2:1–12). First noted in the fourth century,this celebration of the revelation of God to humanity called the faithful to reflect upon the awesome reality of the Incarnation. God became man; in Christ, the two natures were neither confused nor divided. The revelation of this unity prepared the way for another, for the Gentiles to be joined with God’s people Israel.  


In our gospel reading today we are told the wisemen - Magi who travel from the east, are following a star in pursuit of the newly born king of the Jews. How is it that foreigners, astrologers - scientists, see a star in the sky and discern that it is special, it has meaning, somehow knowing before they ever arrive in Jerusalem that this star is an indicator that the King - Messiah has been born?  You could speculate that because they are learned men of astronomy that the strange appearance and behavior of this star was obviously unnatural, supernatural, and in their culture meaning was given to stars. So possibly they did research to see what legends had been told of a star appearing in such a way and meaning behind it. But would that explain their long travels to find the place the star was leading to? Or that they would bring valuable gifts to this baby? Or that they would declare that their intent is to find this baby King and worship him?

Or could it be that light shown into their world of darkness and caused disruption? The light of a star. The light of Gods Spirit. This star caused them to pay attention, to move.

In the lectionary we also have a reading today from Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. Paul, previously known as Saul himself experienced the disruptive light of God on the road to Damascus. Jesus engulfed him in light, stopped him in his tracks, spoke to him, and set him on a new path. A path that led him to the Ephesians, commissioning him by grace for them. Making the mystery known to him by revelation. The mystery that Jesus came for all men. Jew and Greek.

Light always disrupts the darkness.

All of our readings today speak of the light shining in the darkness. Isaiah long ago
As we move on from this moment of Epiphany, and move into ordinary time, may we always look for the light of God that will draw us ever closer to Him. May we accept the mystery of life in God and follow in faith. May we adore and worship our King, and receive the joy that only He can bring.

In that light the blessed Messiah was revealed, truth took root in their hearts. They were compelled to find and worship this newborn king.

All of our readings today speak of the light shining in the darkness. Isaiah long ago
foretold of the light of salvation.

Isaiah 60:1-6
In verses 5 - 6 Paul says “In former generations this mystery was not made known to
humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers
in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon
you.
60:2 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD
will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.
60:3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
60:4 Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your
sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses'
arms.
60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the
abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to
you.
In Psalm 72 David speaks of the kings of the world bowing down and worshipping the
one true king:
72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of
Sheba and Seba bring gifts.
72:11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.

I believe that in the disruptions that God brings, He always shines light in the darkness.
Grace is poured out, mystery is revealed, often our journey is diverted. Disruption often reveals our brokenness, and in our brokenness the light of God can shine into the dark places in our lives and our hearts. That light always illuminates who He is, and who we are. He is the one who loves and pursues us. He is the God who created all things; and gives us the boundless riches of Christ. He invites us to come in boldness and confidence through faith in Christ. He is our King and and in Him alone is our salvation.

And we are His beloved. We are the ones He laid His life down for. We are made
righteous by His blood, and are being sanctified by the Spirit. We are the ones who
have the same resurrection power working within us that raised Christ from the dead.
But we live in the already and not yet, and we are still sinners. And He shines the light
into our dark places and tenderly opens our eyes not only to wounds He wants to heal,
the sin He wants us to turn from, and journey He’s asking us to travel.

We have experienced a great deal of disruption in the last few years. As a church we
have had our founding priest leave. We’ve lost our meeting space, which led to a move
to a new community. And now another priest is gone. And this is just our communal
disruption. Each family here has experienced major disruptions of their own. So many
challenges, so much loss. We live in a disruptive world. There are the big disruptions in life; the loss of a loved one, the breaking apart of a family, loss of home or job. Circumstances that rock our world.

Everyday we experience small disruptions. A car that won’t start, a cancelled
meeting, a sick child needing to be picked up from school. On Friday as I was working
on what I would say today my computer froze and I lost everything I had written.
In each of those moments we have a choice. We can react in anger, fear, irritation or
we can pause and wait for the light that God will shine into that disruption and ask how
can I respond in a way that is true to what I profess to believe, how can I live the gospel
in this moment. How can I love. Am I willing to go wherever it is that the disruption is
meant to take me? Will I follow a star into a foreign land, or dare to reach out to
peoples who that God desires for me to carry the gospel to?

A book I'm reading discusses how theologians approach issues of faith and theology. Thomas Weinandy observes ” Many theologians today having embraced the Enlightenment presuppositions and the scientific method that it fostered, approach theological issues as if they were scientific problems to be solved rather than mysteries to be discerned and clarified. However the true goal of theological inquiry is not the resolution of theological problems, but the discernment of what the mystery of faith is. Because God, who can never be fully comprehended, lies at the heart of all theological enquiry, theology by its nature is not a problem solving enterprise, but rather a mystery discerning enterprise”
Does God Suffer by Thomas Weinandy

In a similar way, we, when faced with life disruptions, instinctively react as though they are a problem to be solved. We are a product of our times. But I believe that if we can watch for the light we will see these disruptions as opportunities to discern the mystery of the moment, an invitation to follow Christ just one thought, decision, step at a time.

In the case of the Magi the light called them on a new journey far from home. For Paul,
his travels, his mission of persecuting the church was transformed into a mission to
preach the gospel to the gentiles. Instead of tearing down the church he was used to
build it up.

But light shining in the darkness doesn’t just divert our path, or move us on to a new
place. Those things happen because in the light of grace the Messiah is revealed, the
mystery is opened to us. Jesus is saviour of all. Gods love was poured out for all the
world. His love is for us. He invites us to follow and share the light of his love.

John Frederick, Lecturer in New Testament Trinity College Queensland Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, said in his commentary of the passage in Ephesians:

"The Christian life is not made “successful” through the simple following of paradigms and pragmatic patterns for success. The only way to experience the words of the Bible as the Word of God, or to experience the message of the Gospel as the power of salvation, is by a God-initiated, grace-empowered leap of faith into a new world and into a new way of knowing, mediated by the Bible, empowered by the Spirit, in which we come to know Jesus to be the divine Son of God and the Savior of the world -- not by mere human evidence -- but by the disruptive, apocalyptic, supernatural saving power of Almighty God."


Amen 


(I apologize for the formatting issues later in the post, just can't get them to go away.)