January 8, 2023: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. The actual feast is on January 6th, and today would be the Baptism of our Lord, but we shift those Sundays so that the fullness of our Savior’s life may be heard and celebrated.
Now, this feast ends our Christmastide – our twelve days of Christmas. So, as I said in previous years, don’t let anyone give you a hard time about still having the tree up. Besides, they can be thankful you don’t celebrate Christmas until Candlemas on Feb. 2nd as some do!
Every year we tell the story of the Magi who travel from the East to bring gifts to the Christ child, and as it is good to repeat each time the origin of this story of the three wise guys.
Matthew, the only gospel account of the magi, never tells us how many there were, or even if they were all men. But since Matthew mentions three gifts, later Christian tradition came to identify three them, and in the late sixth century Armenian Infancy Gospel, the Magi are even given the names-Melkon or Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar. But just as we don’t really know the names of the people who wrote the gospels, we also don’t know the names of these folks, so call them whatever you want – Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn – for all you Tolkien fans out there…it’s really up to you.
This story is one that is celebrated not only because of gifts, but as a symbol that the child born to us at Christmas was for all the people of the world, because they came from lands so very far away.
Whatever you name them, we know you can’t call them “on time.” As we hear today, Jesus was not a baby anymore, but a child, and living in a house. Apparently Waze or Google Maps was not available to these Eastern travelers.
Well, even if they were late, and brought really weird gifts to a young child, each year we like to tell the story of their visit…
Loud Knock Heard From The Back
Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches
King 1 presents Mother Diana with gift.
Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a pillow and a scroll.
Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud –
“We saw a star and knew this was a message – a call, if you will – to follow it wherever it leads. Yet it was when we slept that we were warned to take a different path home. When Joseph slept, he heard the truth of Mary and her call to bear forth the child of God – Jesus. That dream was a call to set aside what he thought to be true and embrace God’s truth.
The truth is –We brought gifts to the Christ child, and you likely also gave gifts to others to celebrate his birth. Dreaming, listening for God’s still small voice speaking to you, seeking God’s sign for you being made manifest in the world – that is a gift you can only give to yourself.”
Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says,
“…Thank you great sage! I LOVE sleeping, so this pillow will come in handy. Now, as I was saying…”
Loud Knock Heard From The Back
Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches
King 2 presents Mother Diana with gift.
Mother Diana opens the box, inside is sign, and a scroll.
Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud –
“Joseph had another dream, of course, and this was not a call to stay steadfast, but to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus to escape the wrath of Herod. Having been turned away at two inns before a third offered them the stable, Joseph and Mary would hope, that on this journey, they would find open doors, not walls in Egypt as they fled from persecution in their homeland – and they did.
The truth is – there are two sides to this sign: open and closed. Which side of this sign will those in need find at your door, or in your heart, as they follow the dream God has given them to flee to safety, or to follow the star of promise to a new land?”
Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says,
“…hmmm, thank you great sage for this most insightful gift. Now, as I was saying…”
Loud Knock Heard From The Back
Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches
King 3 presents Mother Diana with gift.
Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a canvas, and a scroll. 
Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud –
“Each year many make New Year’s resolutions. These are signs of hope – of belief in the power of transformation. Artists see the world differently – they imagine (dream, if you will?) what is not yet. They let go of control, give in to the Holy Spirit (or as some say – their muse), and allow themselves to co-create – to bring forth into the world what they find forming in their hearts.
The truth is – Each day, each hour, each minute, each second is a blank canvas God gives to each of us – the possibilities for what we do with it are as endless as the infinite love of God.”
Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says…
“…Wow – thank you great sage – I am so excited to think about this gift. Let’s see…three magi, three gifts, I guess we must be done. So…
Loud Knock Heard From The Back
Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches
King 4 presents Mother Diana with gift.
Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a snowman and a scroll.
Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud –
“This snowman isn’t really made of snow, but those that are appear only for a season. They are something we create, we love and enjoy, and then they return to the earth as water.
The truth is – While we are made in the image of God, we are not God – and are also here on this earth for a short season. What will you do with your season of life?”
“…Well, thank you great and final sage??? – I always loved building snow people, and you have given me a lot to think about.”
Are we done? [look around]
Well, this is an assortment of cool gifts, right? A pillow, an open or closed sign depending on how you display it, a blank canvas, and a snowman. These Magi have given us something to really think about, haven’t they? I think I need a nap to consider it all…oh wait, maybe later.
The thing is, these all might be quirky gifts, but the magi did manage to come up with just what we need this year. Especially in this moment in the world when so many are refugees like the Holy Family. They flee from war, famine, violence, and oppression.
Especially in this time when it is hard for us to imagine God is still at work in us, and through us. That there is a blank canvas waiting just for us to draw out what might be, from what is not yet. Or we are so worn that the thought of staring at a blank canvas no longer excites us, it fills us with dread.
Especially now, when we might feel like taking a long winter’s nap, not to dream, but because we feel weary from all that has been, in the world, and in our lives. Most of all perhaps, we can’t seem to quiet the world around us enough to hear our own thoughts, or that of God’s, and the white light of noise blots out the stars that may be shining to lead us forward. Sleep actually sounds like a dream.
Yet it is true that, like people made of snow, we are here on this earth for only a season. As the Swiss philosopher and poet, Henri-Frédéric Amiel, once said, “Life is short. We don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind.”
So, what are we to do?
We remember these gifts we received today: the pillow, the open/closed sign, the blank canvas, and the snowman.
We remember the pillow that tells us that God is still speaking – to us – now, this very day. Christ is calling us to follow his star – to find him in the world and welcome him into our lives. But if we are to hear the Holy Spirit guiding us, if we are to follow Christ, we must first give God time in our lives – times of prayer, of stillness, of rest from distractions.
We remember the snowman that reminds us that life is short, and we are here for only a season, so every day, every hour, every minute is a precious gift of God.
We remember the blank canvas of our lives, that we were meant to fill with whatever we dream, whatever we are led to explore.
And perhaps most of all, we must remember the two-sided sign, and be mindful of which side we offer in our lives. For if we are truly to keep Christ in Christmas year round, then we must keep him first in our hearts – and seek him like the magi in the world. And we will find him – when we welcome with an open door the stranger who is a refugee or immigrant, we will see him when we visit the imprisoned or sick, we will care for him as we tend to the needs of the impoverished and homeless, we will serve him as we feed those who hunger and thirst.
The gifts of our magi today invite us to open our hearts to God’s dream for us, to seek Christ in the world and welcome him openly, to co-create with the Holy Spirit, filling the canvas of our lives with the beauty of unconditional love and bringing forward the possible from what is not yet.
Then, when our short season is done, our lives will become a part of the colorful mosaic of God’s wonderous creation through time. A piece of that larger mural of the universe that binds us together with all of humanity, and with every single brush stroke begins to reveal the fullness of God’s vision for us all.
Amen.
Based upon a concept by the Rev. Phillip Dana Wilson – Used with permission.
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Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
January 8, 2023
The Feast Of The Epiphany (Transferred)
1st Reading – Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7,10-14
2nd Reading – Ephesians 3:1-12
Gospel – Matthew 2:1-12
