Bringing Light

Rev. Charissa Clark Howe

Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Matthew 2:1–12

Ephesians 3:1–12

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Welcome, Announcements, Joys, and Concerns

Passing of the Peace

We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God (x2)

We are marching, marching, we are marching Oh!

We are marching in the light of God. (x2)

Leader: Arise, shine, for your light has come All: The glory of the LORD rises upon you. Leader: Let us praise the Lord together All: The sun shall no longer be our light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on us. Leader: For the Lord will be our light. All: And our God will be our glory.

What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping? This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

Why lies he in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christian, fear; for sinners here the silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear, shall pierce him through; the cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary.

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; come one and all, to own him. The King of kings salvation brings; let loving hearts enthrone him. Raise, raise the song on high. The virgin sings her lullaby. Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the babe, the son of Mary.

God of the Bethlehem star, everyone is searching for your light shining in the face of Christ. The Magi sought Christ simply to worship him. But Herod sought him to appease his jealous anger. We confess that our motives in seeking Jesus are not pure. We do not come simply to worship: we come to Christ, asking his benefits of reassurance, health, wealth, asking him to fulfill the hundred petitions for not-so-important requests that we heap before him. But the Magi sought first the kingdom. Help us, God, to follow their example, putting our own need in perspective, worshiping the Christ in love, content to be in your presence, and laying our gifts before you. Then may we journey, trusting that your goodness and light will accompany us all the days of our life. Amen

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be: world without end. Amen, Amen.

Star Words

What is your “star word” for this year?

Ephesians 3:1–12 ESV

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Matthew 2:1–12 ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

New Year’s reso. . . never mind.

Put the list of New Year’s resolutions on the ground and step away slowly with your hands in the air!

Seriously. If you are the rare sort of person who took up new year’s resolutions on January 1, 2019 and today, January 5, 2020, you are still keeping them up - I’d like to hire you to lead a seminar. That’s not normal. What’s normal is making a list of really ambitious (applaudable, for sure, but too ambitious) goals that aren’t really going to happen.

When I was talking to someone this morning about resolutions, he said his only resolution this year was to not make any. Well done! You’re honestly better off not making any new years resolutions than you are making ones you can’t follow through on.

When I talk to people one on one about goals, I talk about the S. M. A. R. T. process for setting goals. So let’s say one of your New Year’s Resolutions is “Get closer to God”. You ask yourself, is the goal:

Specific? No. Not even close. You have no definition of “close to God”. And even if you did, how much closer? So maybe focus on one discipline. Reading the Bible. That’s more specific.

Measurable? You can measure how much scripture you’re reading each day. You’ll need to figure out a way of tracking it like a calendar or an app, but that’s measurable. And you’ll have to decide how much you’re reading to be able to measure if you’re accomplishing it or not.

Attainable? Depends. Did you decide to spend 2 hours a day reading the Bible? For most of us, that’s totally unattainable. And if you don’t already have a habit of reading at all, maybe try starting with 10 or 15 minutes a day.

Relevant? Does it matter? We’re going to go with “yes” for this one.

Timely? Do you have a time frame for it? When do you want to achieve it by? How long before you reassess?

So, looking at those questions, you might have gone from “Get closer to God” to “Read the Bible for 10-15 minutes every day for the year.” or “Read the Bible in a year this year.”

The problem is that most of our lists of resolutions look like:

Eat better

Get closer to God

Be nicer to people

And even with our star words, I encourage you not to just go, “Cool. I got _____. I’ll be more ______ this year.” What are some specific, manageable, attainable, relevant, and timely ways you can explore that word and build it into your life?

Sure: vague goals with no time frames or accountability are way easier to think about because they are very theoretical. They rarely involve doing any actual work. We don’t have to think about them and we don’t have to face reality when we don’t actually achieve them. We just say we tried, we don’t know why we still have terrible sleep habits or diet or spiritual life or personal relationships. We tried, after all.

We tend to do that as communities too.

In Matthew, we read the familiar story of the “wise men” or Magi. These three symbolize God’s kingdom being taken out into all the world. Suddenly, Jesus is revealed to the entire earth. It’s like the world’s big “aha” moment. But sometimes when we get a big “aha” or a reason to change or better ourselves or the world, we just sort of charge out without real direction. OR we get overwhelmed by how big it is and shut down by February 9th and give up. When we don’t do it with purpose like the Magi following a specific star, we’re going to get lost.

In Ephesians, the author is writing to a new church at a time when Christianity is fresh and new like the new year. And they have taken the direction to go and make disciples, but they really need some SMART goals and direction. This is a community being built that is unlike any other. God has opened things up to all people. And suddenly, they have to figure out how to build this thing we now call church. In Ephesians, we see the narrowing down of what this looks like.

Just like an excited and well meaning person making a long, vague list of new years resolutions, the new church needed some guidance and direction.

So the author says, “Here’s what we were sent for: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone (measurable) what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God (specific), who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now (timely) be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (relevant). This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him (attainable - but only in Christ).

The author - either Paul or someone who worked closely with him and his churches - talks here about hardship. It’s not easy to do God’s work. It’s not easy to spread the light of Christ in a dark world. For Paul, it meant prison, beatings, shipwrecks, and all manner of disaster and pain. But Jesus who has been revealed too him is worth it. This mission of preaching the gospel and bringing light is worth the pain and suffering.

This is not easy work. But nothing worth doing is easy.

The message of Epiphany is that all these many centuries later, we have a mission and a purpose. It’s going to be hard, but we can do it if we do it with purpose and vision.

I know I’m bordering on sounding like a self-improvement book or a business meeting today. But as we enter into another year as a community and dive into a deeper season of discernment, it’s important to remember that we need to be smart about how we form our identity and goals. We need to be setting goals and making plans we can follow through on, even when it’s hard.

As a congregation, we can’t just have a list of what we want to look like that is:

Help people more

Good worship

More young families

Those are nice things, there is nothing wrong with them, but they are terrible goals or plans. They won’t help bring the light of Christ to anyone because they aren’t actually measurable and attainable goals. As we enter into a new year together, we’re going to continue our discernment prayer meetings to feel out the future of the congregations. So far out of those, we have landed on the idea of hospitality and welcome. Which is lovely! And in fact, I’m giving that to us as a collective as a community star word this year.

The Epiphany story isn’t just the story of a weird baby shower. The epiphany message is one of welcome. The Magi from far away are welcomed to worship the Messiah with their strange gifts of gold and incense. The Christian killer Saul is welcomed as one of God’s called missionaries who then welcomes people around the world into God’s Kingdom. Everyone is welcomed into God’s Kingdom. It’s not always easy to get that message to others. And it’s not always comfortable to welcome others. Sometimes it means accepting the hospitality of others. Sometimes it means listening to hard stories or talking through difficult topics together. Welcome isn’t easy. It’s got many dimensions.

So, because we have discerned that we are called to be a hospitable, welcoming church, we’re going to talk about that all year long. What is welcome?

In our prayer meetings, we’ll be talking about what welcome is. In our spring book study, we’ll be talking about welcome. In my sermons, you name it. Even the southern border trip at the end of February is about welcome and what does it mean and how do we do it well and where do we set our boundaries when it comes to welcoming strangers.

We’re going to take this seriously. If our way of bringing the light of Christ to the world is through welcome, our first step toward doing that well is really understanding what that means and coming up with SMART ways to act it out.

So, I will leave you with this:

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Welcome

1wel•come \ˈwel-kəm\ verb transitive

wel•comed; wel•com•ing [Middle English, from Old English welcumian, wylcumian, from wilcuma, noun] before 12th century

1: to greet hospitably and with courtesy or cordiality

2: to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of 〈welcomes danger〉—wel•com•er noun

2welcome interjection

[Middle English, alteration of wilcume, from Old English, from wilcuma desirable guest (akin to Old High German willicomo desirable guest); akin to Old English willa, will desire, cuman to come—more at WILL, COME] 12th century—used to express a greeting to a guest or newcomer upon arrival

3welcome adjective

12th century

1: received gladly into one’s presence or companionship 〈was always welcome in their home〉

2: giving pleasure: received with gladness or delight especially in response to a need 〈a welcome relief〉

3: willingly permitted or admitted 〈he was welcome to come and go—W. M. Thackeray〉

4 —used in the phrase “You’re welcome” as a reply to an expression of thanks—wel•come•ly adverb—wel•come•ness noun

4welcome noun

1525

1: a greeting or reception usually upon arrival 〈a warm welcome〉

2: the state of being welcome 〈overstayed their welcome〉

When have you felt welcome?

When have you felt unwelcome?

Further insight

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. μάγος

μάγος, οὑ, ὁ (s. μαγεία, μαγεύω)

① a Magus, a (Persian [SNyberg, D. Rel. d. alten Iran ’38], then also Babylonian) wise man and priest, who was expert in astrology, interpretation of dreams and various other occult arts (so Hdt.+; Jos., Ant. 20, 142; s. Da 2:2, 10; in still other pass. in Da, Theod.; Tat. 28, 1. Beside φιλόσοφος of Apollonius of Tyana: Orig., C. Cels. 6, 41, 13).

How have you pictured the Magi in your mind?

Has that changed as you’ve gotten older?

This is about the birth of a child, not of the astonishing work of a strong man, not of the bold discovery of a wise man, not of the pious work of a saint. It really is beyond all our understanding: the birth of a child shall bring about the great change, shall bring to all mankind salvation and deliverance.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “The Government upon the Shoulders of a Child,” Christmas 1940

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, et al. God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas. Westminster John Knox Press, 2012. page 51

From: https://www.christiancentury.org/article/editors-desk/post-christmas-blues

As outsiders—non-Jews in a Jewish story, Persians and Arabs at the manger with these Hebrew parents and child—the Magi give us a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus will shatter religious tradition and ethnic boundaries and bring strangers center stage. Before the story is over, Jesus will challenge boundaries of race, social class, status and even gender. He will welcome outsiders—sinners, the unclean, lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, poor people, women and children, Roman soldiers—and share meals with them. Jesus will scandalize some people with his radical inclusivity. Apparently he didn’t know or care about the function of a religion to define insiders and outsiders. Instead he will fling open the doors.

When have you felt left out at church?

How do you reach out to make sure others around you aren’t feeling left out of church?

Are there people in your life who make you uncomfortable? Unless it’s a safety issue, how can you get to know them better?

Response to the Word

We three kings of Orient are; bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.