Most of you, I’m sure
have seen the insurance ad that features a camel walking through an office
asking everyone “what day is it?” Most
try to ignore him, but, finally, one woman, in utter frustration says, “It’s
hump day” and our camel does his famous “Woo hoo…!” So when I got to thinking about the
traditional camels which carry in the magi, astrologers or kings, I got
sidetracked with our “Woo hoo” camel.
For some strange reason, completely out of keeping with my fairly low-key
sense of humor, I love that commercial.
Many of you know that I occasionally preach sermons from the first
person, but when I suggested to Lois this week that I might speak from the
perspective of one of the camels, her look told me I probably would be wise to
go back to the drawing board. I love
that look and it has kept me out of trouble more than once.
It’s not entirely clear
why we are so certain that these visitors even arrived on camels. Mary and Joseph had ridden to Bethlehem on a
donkey; so, we know that by placing these astrologers on camels, Matthew was
setting them apart from the common folk like the earthly parents of the babe. But kings—not likely—and there is no evidence
found anywhere in the Bible that would suggest they were kings. In fact, it appears that the notion that they
were kings is only a few centuries old and is made most famous by the Christmas
Carol we sang today.
So,
what day is it? Today is Epiphany! Day of light or dawning of insight! Day when God’s light, just as the light of
the star, shows us the way to in-breaking of God’s call to justice and peace on
this earth. As in so many stories in
the gospels, this one asks an interesting question. Why did only a very few people realize the
truth of the star while the remainder went their own way, struggling through
the ins and outs of daily life while the former’s lives were turned upside
down. One thing has always bothered me
(well, many, but we’ll start with this one), if this star was anywhere near as
big or spectacular as we are led to believe, why were there only 3 people on
earth who figured out that the star or source of great light had some special
meaning. Now, I know they have been
called Wise Ones throughout history, but, really, only three wise people? And, those folks had to come from the Far East
wherever that might have been at the time.
What
causes some people to see the star and jump to pack their bags, find gifts and
take off following that star, looking for God?
Why is it that some people can see the bright life and be practically
lifted out of their mundane earthly lives and go off in search of the truth,
while others take a look outside and say, quite calmly, “Well, yes, that is
quite a star, but I’ve seen it now, and my checkbook needs balancing”? So, back they go to yesterday’s life, living
in yesterday’s truths, figuring things out by what they knew yesterday. I’ll tell you what day it is—it is the day
we can decide to follow the leading to truth and beauty and take in what God is
trying to show us—all of us, though there will be some who will want no part of
these deeper truths that call us to spend time in introspection, prayer, and
meditation as union with God becomes more and more important to us as we mature
spiritually.
There
is a story told about the famous Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, who many years ago, was speaking in the
United States to a group of religious leaders—some two or three hundred of
them. He started his speech by saying
something like, “If we are ever going to have peace on this earth, we will need
to be quiet, go inside and listen to our
hearts and to our bodies.” He continued
by saying, “And we are going to sit here in quiet until we can listen and
hear.” He closed his eyes and went into
meditation. Ten minutes went by. He opened his eyes and saw that he and his
host were the only people left in the room.
He turned to his host and quietly said, “We have a lot of work to do in
the United States.”
This
is what day it is—this is our Day of Epiphany when we encounter God’s light and
embrace it, bringing it to shine on all aspects of our lives. We make no judgment, no attempt to hide
certain aspects of who we are. Our epiphany
is that we are who we are, not who we used to be, not who we want to be, not
who we thought we would be. We are who
we are and God, who has journeyed with us thus far, is still there calling us
deeper and deeper into truth and union.
I think, perhaps, that our biggest problem, is that we make it (whatever
the “it”) is too hard. We use our
reason, our intellect, our experience and try to figure out what God is calling
us to be or do or desire. When we can
allow ourselves to be simple folk; when we, like Thich Nhat Hanh are willing to
sit quietly until we are one with God’s design for us and for the world, then
we will begin to discover the true Gospel.
We talk about “radical
inclusivity” at Open Circle; and, I say to you, none of us, your pastor
included, truly knows what that would look like here. We are in the intellectual stage—we have
committed to it, perhaps; but, for the most part, have not allowed God to
breathe the breath of unlimited life into our hearts. We are stuck, wanting to be unstuck perhaps,
but fearing the transformation. The
Epiphany that I share with you today, is that we can only learn by allowing God
to show us. Now, the hardest thing for
us to do is to get out of the way and allow God through the Universe to work out
a plan in our lives and the life of this church. That means no exceptions, nothing kept back,
everything and everyone equally sacred and precious. It means that we will not limit God by our
abilities to understand, explain, or name.
It means that we will not insist on knowing how God works every
time—that we will allow God to reach deep into our God-created hearts and
stroke that which needs to be stroked into a fire of intense heat and
passion—enough passion to save the world and the peoples and life-forms on it
from extinction. It means that we will
spend less time trying to restate, categorize, or delineate the mystery that is
God, and more time allowing God to infuse our spirits with a love so intense
that we neither can nor have need to describe it.
Paul,
in our reading today, clearly identifies what the mystery is that is being
revealed. He says, “The
Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board”. And how is this message to be spread? He says, “Through followers of Jesus like yourselves
gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known.” This, then is our epiphany for today, that
the message of God’s complete accessibility to everyone is spread by way of
faith communities making plain the truth of God’s unconditional love. I think it is time for us to stop using the
phrase “God’s unconditional love” until we, like Thich Nhat Hahn, sit in the
quiet until it is revealed to us the truth of its meaning for all of us. Now, I don’t want to cause alarm, I’m not planning
on stopping our service and sitting in silence though someday I may have the
courage to do just that.
Nouwen’s
definition of epiphany takes us further.
I’ll remind us of what he said. “When Christian community provides sacred space and
times for discernment, we will gradually be lifted up into God’s dwelling place
and come to see ourselves, our neighbors, and our world in a new light. This “seeing” does not require intellectual
knowledge, articulated insight, or a concrete opinion. No, it is a sharing in the knowledge of God’s
heart, a deeper wisdom, a new way of living and loving.”
So, what day is it?
Today is Epiphany and you have a choice to make. Do you enter into the power of Epiphany and
acknowledge and recognize God’s shining light in your spirit; or. do you take a
brief look today and say, “wow, that’s nice” and then walk away. My friends, the enlightening power of the
Sacred Source of all that is invites you, like the Magi, to follow the Light
and welcome the dawn of illumination.
Amen and Amen!
