“Dare to Dream: Your Burning Bush” Exodus 3: 1-15

The first article I ever had published wasn’t so much an article as a story. My call story, in a book aptly titled Beyond the Burning Bush. Most of the stories in the book are ones about encounters with God, but not a one of them was exactly the same as the next and none were the same as Moses’s, yet they all were transformative.

The thing about calls from God is that the come when we least expect them. For Moses, he was simply doing what he did every day, tending his father in law’s flock. Over forty years earlier Moses had fled from Egypt, where he had been adopted by the Pharoh’s daughter even though the law said that he should have been killed. He found himself with a complete change in life circumstances - from being a child and young man in the palace to tending sheep. 

On this particular day, Moses took the flock to Horeb, where the mountain of God was located. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire, but did not burn up. Moses thought the only thing he could do was turn and not look directly at the bush itself, but out of the bush came the very voice of God, calling his name.

It is appropriate that today is the day we talk about burning bushes and call, because for years and years, our brothers and sisters in the northern part of our conference took the last Sunday in January to celebrate call. All sorts of calls. Reaffirming calls. Listening for the voice of God in our lives.

For me, my call came in a time in my life when I thought I had everything figured out. I planned on going on to pursue my doctorate in psychology. However, I was planning on being out of the country most of my senior year of college, so I started visiting schools my junior year. While I was standing in the room that held all of the dissertations, hard bound and aligned in alphabetical order, in the school that was my top choice, it was as if the Holy Spirit finally broke through my heart and said ‘this is not what you are called to be doing.’

Honestly, I probably knew that well before that particular moment. I switched colleges and majors after my freshman year, and in the process of doing so was invited to go to an event held in State College. My pastor described the event as one of discerning what to do with your life, so imagine my surprise when I found out it was people exploring different aspects of ministry - something that had never been on my radar before other than to say, ‘nope, not for me.’ I left that event sort of playing around with the idea of becoming a lay speaker or certified lay minister, something where I could still have a “real” job and be involved in the church.

After transferring colleges, I was a double major, psychology and religion. But my religion professors, who knew that this wasn’t what I was planning on doing full time, kept giving me opportunities. One professor in particular arranged for me to preach my first sermon at a small church in New York. It was very bad. Less than eight minutes and worship was over super quick that day, but he kept encouraging me. 

After that moment in the dissertation room it was like a switch was flipped, but the same time line still existed. I was still planning on being out of the country for a good chunk of my senior year, which meant I needed to start the certification process for ministry and looking at seminaries within eight months. But after being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, doors started to open and circumstances aligned that I was able to be certified as a candidate for ministry and be accepted to the seminary I felt called to go to, all before boarding a plane in August to leave for a semester in Australia prior to graduating in December. 

Does that mean that following this call wasn’t hard and down right terrifying at times? Absolutely not. Moses knew that there was something holy happening in the moment with the burning bush, but that doesn’t mean that he could describe it. That it made sense to him. 

God told him that he was being called to go to the Pharaoh, on behalf of God, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. That’s the thing about calls and being on holy ground - it’s not about me. It’s about something bigger than just me or just what I want. It’s a vision to do something for God, to be part of the work of the Kingdom that is beyond my wildest imagination. 

By no means, however, does that mean that we all hear the same call as Moses. Or the call to be a pastor. Or the calls to _____________, fill in the blank with whatever you may be thinking. Your call is just that, your call. Not someone else’s. When we are in places where we can listen to God, we realize that God is speaking to us about our purpose, not anyone else’s.

How we hear God may also be different for each of us. Moses heard the audible voice of God. But for many of us, we hear God in the quiet, inner voice. The leading of the Holy Spirit. A lot of folks tell me that they wish that God would speak to them in an audible voice. Then they would know what to do. Then they would know how to respond. But look at Moses. Even though he heard the voice of God, Moses still asked “Who am I to do what you say?” We also know that Moses goes on later in the story to give a list of excuses as to why God should pick someone, anyone, else. 

Jesus told a parable in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Luke about people who made excuses as to why they couldn’t attend a great dinner party. It's one that we heard this morning through our call to worship. People had all sorts of reasons not to come, but the excuses just made the owner throwing the party angry. 

Honestly, just like Moses and just like the people in Jesus’s parable, we all have a list of excuses. Reasons that we say that we will follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but only if everything else lines up. Or I’ll do that eventually. Or we say that we pray to God to show us the way and will of God, but really we just mean that we are praying that God bless the decisions that we have already made. 

Sometimes following God is simply taking the first step, trusting that God will be with us. Several times in this section of Exodus we find God reminding Moses who God is and that God will be with him. God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” God said, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[b] the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.”

When we follow the call of God, we do not go alone. But that doesn’t mean that we have all of the details worked out exactly. We simply respond. 

The truth is that we all have a purpose, a call from God on our lives. Have you been listening for the call of God in your life? What is most important to you? Is it following the way and will of God? Now is your time, dear friends, to dare to follow wherever God may be leading. No more excuses. Just chasing after the heart of our God. Amen. 

“Dare to Dream: Discovering Your Birthrite” Eph 4: 1-16

Have you ever noticed that when you are meeting someone for the first time at a party or a friend is introducing you to another friend that the conversations usually go the same way. Where do you live? Who is in your family? And what? What do you do?

Why do we ask those questions, because they are supposed to speak to our identity - who we are. But here’s the thing, what we do and who we are - who we truly are, deep down on the inside are not always the same thing. What would it look like instead if we asked questions like what are you passionate about? Or if you could do anything in the world what would it be? Those type of questions really get to the heart of who we are - what our true identity is. 

For example, Bono is best known for being the lead singer in the band U2, so if you asked him what he did as a job he would probably say musician. But if you asked him what he was passionate about, what he dreamed about at night its something completely different. Its to eliminate poverty around the world, and he has founded non-profit organizations to pursue that dream. 

What about you? What is the dream that God put in you. Here’s a good way to know if a dream is from God or not, a test. If your dream is just about you - its probably not from God. See our God given dreams are meant to reach far beyond us and bless other people. 

This past year in confirmation class we kept circling back to this theme - God has blessed you to be a blessing. In other words, the gifts you have been blessed with through Jesus Christ aren’t just for you - they are meant to be shared with the body of Christ, to build up the believers and with the world, in order to share the good news of the Gospel. 

In this morning’s scripture lesson we hear that the Church is the body of Christ, knitted together under the leadership of the Lord.  Kenneth Carder writes in his book Living our Beliefs, “the Church is our very identify, not an organization we belong to in accordance with our preferences or connivence.” Sometimes the Church looses its way and losses it memory about who we are and whose we are. When we make it about petty things its evident that we have forgotten who we belong to.  Just whose Lordship we are under. Just who we exist for. 

  But even when we remember whose we are, we may still forget what we are supposed to be doing. Paul tells the followers in Ephesus that they are to live a life worthy of their calling. Here’s the thing about calling - we all have one - we just sometimes choose to ignore it. While pastors may have a very specific calling to lead the church, everyone who calls them-self Christian are called to some time of servanthood and ministry by way of their baptism. Its just that the calling varies. But in this scripture passage we are told that we all have gifts - its just that the gifting and calls vary. 

Have you ever taken time to pray about why you are part of this local body of Christ? Because you aren’t here by accident. You are here, because Christ gives us every gifting we need in each local body to thrive, THRIVE, for the Kingdom of God. Not just get by. Not just meet the budget. But to make a difference in transforming the world.

  Whenever I start to talk about the church universal, I get passionate. Because the Church universal is both visible and invisible. Is here in this place and around the globe. Its any place where the Word of God is preached, the sacraments are administered, and there is a presence of people of faith. Not just people but people of faith. People who faithfully want to be the Church. Want to be about something bigger than themselves. Want to be about the mission and work of God. Want to be about reaching new people about Jesus Christ - and move past want to action. In fact, people of faith live a life of holy, active expectancy, meaning that we are aware that God is using us to work in the world for something so much bigger than we could ever grasp.

But that only happens when we live into who we were each created to be. It only happens when we seek after the will and way of God. Here’s the thing - when we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we all end up having the same familial identity - we are children of God as part of the Boyd of Christ under the Lordship of our head, Jesus Christ. But we all have different birthrites - or individual purposes. We all have different gifts that we can only discover by being in relationship with God. 

Paul writes in 1st Corinthians, But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

    nor the human heart conceived,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Cor 2: 9-10)

Paul is talking here about the wisdom of God. But it goes on to say Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. What gifts? Certainly the gift of wisdom and the leading of the Holy Spirit but also our spiritual gifts that play into our callings, things like what are lifted up in Ephesians 4. 

This morning our call to worship came from John 17:4, a prayer that Jesus prayed for his disciples that said, I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So I ask you this morning what are you called to do? How has God gifted you and how can you use those gifts to share the good news of Jesus Christ?

Your gifts may not be the same as the gifts as the person sitting next to you or the person sitting across the isle, but we are all gifted. We just may not yet know what those gifts are. Its not about comparing ourselves to others, it about encouraging one another to live into who God has created us to be in order to bless other people. 

I rejoice in the fact that we are all different and have different gifts. I believe God provides within our local body every person and thing we need to reach this county for Jesus Christ. I believe that in the Church Universal we have all the people and things we need to transform the world for Jesus Christ. I have often churches bemoan and say “if only”. “If only” we had more people, more resources, more money. But brothers and sisters, if we neglect this body, the body we have been gifted with, by saying that we are not yet good enough or have enough for the mission of Jesus Christ then we are not living up to the call of the Kingdom. And more will not come. 

Brothers and sisters you have gifts to offer this church community, and this church has something to offer the Church Universal. Do you know what you bring to the body? Why you are so important? If not, I encourage you to spend time discovering your gift. What are you passionate about? What is the deep longing of your soul? How has God blessed you in order to bless other people? If you do know your gift, don’t hide it. We have what we need to transform the world, brothers and sisters, if only you offer yourself and your uniqueness, without reserve, to the risk taking body of Christ! May it be so! Amen. 

Dare to Dream: Dreaming the Dream - Gen 28: 10-17

I am not a big fan of New Years Resolutions. I know some people who faithfully make them every year, but I also know people who break them every year. I think that happens for several reasons. Sometimes we aren’t realistic about our goals - they aren’t achievable. Other times we get bored as we work towards them because it seems to take such a long time. And still other times it’s because we haven’t invited other people into those goals in order to hold us accountable. 

While the world around us may use language about New Years Resolutions and whether they are kept are not, within the church we use a bit different language - are we dreaming and chasing after God’s dreams. Or do we share in the vision on God. But I have to say from my years of serving the church, even though we use different language, all to often the same thing happens to chasing after the vision of God as New Years resolutions - we don’t know how to hold each other accountable, or we get bored, and we push it to the side, instead going back to what we know best, what we are comfortable with. 

But here’s the thing about chasing after the vision and dreams of God - I want to be a part of that. Because I’m not going to be on this earth forever. However many days I am blessed with, I want to be part of God’s Kingdom, which is on the move. I want to spend my days sharing the love of Jesus with a hurting world. Because that is what is worth living for. 

One of my favorite letters in the New Testament is the book of James. James 4 says this, Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. We don’t know how many tomorrows we have, so we only really get to choose if we are going to live into God’s vision today. If we choose not to, James writes, Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. (James 4: 14, 17). I don’t know if we ever stop to consider that - if we know that we are to be concerning ourselves with the things that are important to God, and we actively choose not to, that’s sin, my friends. We are not being obedient to the leading of God in our lives. 

Jacob was not in a good situation. He was literally on the run from his own family after he stole the blessing that was to be his brother’s right out from under him by tricking his father. While Esau was simply obeying Isaac by going to catch him wild game and prepare his favorite dish for him, Jacob disguised himself as Esau, dressing up in hairy clothing and lying to his father when he asked if he was truly Esau and took the blessing. He had previously tricked his bother out of his birth right, and his brother was understandably angry. So Jacob is traveling over 750 miles to Haran, land of his mother’s relatives.

750 miles is not anything to bulk at, even today, but at least we have cars and trains and plane, Jacob did not. So he was making the slow and dangerous journey, only with time to get caught up in his thoughts about what his life is like currently and where he happens to be going. 

Along the way night fell and Jacob prepared to stop his restless wondering and mind. And as he rested, he slept and dreamed this amazing dream about a ladder and angels of God ascending and descending on it. During that dream the Lord spoke to him, reminding him who God has been in the life of his family, the family he is currently running away from, and that Jacob is part of that promise.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it is when we push our restlessness aside that he are more open to the movement of God in our lives. I am not one to say that every single dream that we have has meaning, but I do know that if people are brought to my mind through a dream, I will pray for them. 

I also firmly believe that sometimes in scripture, God does powerfully speak through dreams. God spoke to Jacob in this passage. In Acts, we find the Lord speaking to Ananias in a vision telling him to do that which he would never have considered before - reach out to Saul, this one who used to persecute Christians like him. Similarly, Saul had received a vision that a man named Ananias would come and be the one to heal his sight by the laying on of hands. Last week we heard of the Wise Men being warned in a dream not to return to Herod. God speaks in a variety of ways, the real question is if we, as God’s servants are listening. 

I think that God chooses to speak through dreams sometimes because as we rest, all preconceived notions are pushed to the side. We aren’t insisting that God can only speak one particular one. We are more open, in some ways, to the movement of the Spirit. 

There are also Holy Places where God speaks, or rather places that are made Holy when God speaks upon them. Jacob, once he woke up proclaimed, “how awesome is this place!”. The Celtic Christians had a special term for such places, where God speaks and we notice, thin places. A place where Heaven and Earth meets. Places where we open ourselves up to the movement of God in profound ways. 

But we don’t just listen to and obey God in the thin places. We are called to chase after the dreams of God every day. And sometimes, as we set aside our dreams for God’s dreams, things change. For four years I volunteered as a chaplain at universities. And I could almost guarantee that around mid-terms the first semester countless students and I would be having very similar conversations - they spent their lives thinking they would be ___________, but now they are feeling pulled to do _____________. Those blanks were filled in with a variety of things, as students saw their childhood dreams change. 

Dreams change for churches as well. Or rather the way God is leading us to live into the vision changes. We are all called to make disciples of Jesus Christ and transform this world, but how we do that today isn’t the same way we did it fifty years ago, or ten years ago, or maybe even last year. We need to open ourselves to the movement of God that allows us to dream God’s dreams and ask how God wants us to bear witness in this community at this particular time in a  way that can deeply connect with the hearts of folks who do not yet know Jesus. 

We are never too small or too large of a church to chase after God’s dreams. It’s not about the size of the congregation, it’s about whether our dreaming is too small. If we are limiting God because we aren’t willing to risk something new or we insist that we need to keep doing something one particular way because we always have. 

It is my hope and prayer that during the start of this new year and this sermon series in particular that we open ourselves anew to the dreams of God. The scary dreams. The dreams that are too big for us to even imagine on our own. Let us open our Spirit, so that we can once again be people who chase after the visions and dreams that are from God alone. Amen. 

The Women of Christmas: And Our Eyes Shall See Him Devo

January 6th, 2019

Devotional

“The Women of Christmas: And Our Eyes Shall See Him”

  Matthew 2: 1-12

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “Travel Afar” - Matthew 2: 1-2

  There is a very short story by Henry Van Dyke that I would like to share with you this morning entitled The Story of the Other Wise Man. It tells the tale of a wise man who was not part of the group that reached Bethlehem. He too saw the star rise in the sky. He too had heard the prophecies. He invited other wise men to come to his home and he told them that he was going to venture off to see the King with gifts of precious jewels. The other men the room just starred at him at first. Then they started to come up with excuses. This wasn’t truly the fulfillment of the prophecy. Others thought he was crazy. One could not leave his office. Another was too old. Yet another had a wife and children to think of first. Another stated that he was ill. So the wise man was left to venture out with a small group of other pilgrims. 

As I was first reading this story, I had to wonder how many of us wouldn’t have sought out Jesus if we lived during the time. How many of us would have made excuses? Or wondered what other people would think of us for going on such a pilgrimage? How many of us would truly set out on a journey based on a prophesy and a star? To an unknown place for an unknown period of time. 

The truth that stings just a little is many of us probably would have reacted just as the many wise men in that house in Van Dyke’s story. We wouldn’t have made the journey that took years - almost two years in fact - because we could have thought of a thousand reasons not too. And probably the men who made the journey could have thought of some of those same reasons not to go, yet they went anyway. 

Do you think you would have made this journey long ago? Why or why not?

Prayer: God, when we stop and think about how far the Magi came to worship you and what they risked to seek a King, it is astounding. Lord, may we too, offer you our hearts and lives to do astounding things, this day and always. Amen.  

Tuesday: “A King” - Matthew 2: 2-4

Their journey brought them to the palace of King Herod where they blatantly asked him “where is the child who has been called the King of the Jews?” Now maybe they thought that Herod already knew about the new King’s presence, or maybe they thought that was just as excited as they were at the thought of the promised one, but Herod didn’t quite respond the way they expected. He responded with fear and he sent the wise men to search for the child on his behalf.

  The question of the wise men and Herod’s reaction still apply to us today. The wise men arrival would not have been a common thing in the palace. The fact they were foreigners from so far away made them exotic and novelties. Yet, they had a purpose in their visit, even if it concerned Herod, they had come to see the King. Not him, but someone greater than him. What do you think the Magi thought when they found Jesus? Was he the type of King that they expected to find? Or the one that we would expect to find? Probably not. Because of his birth. His parents. His followers. His death. Jesus was not the King that everyone expected.

 And yet, maybe that should have been the type of King they expected. For the God of the Jews, not their God, had reached out to them through a star, something they studied and knew, to lead them to this unconventional place after a long, unconventional journey. 

What type of King do you think the Wise Men were seeking?

Prayer: Lord, we come before you today asking you to be our King. The King of our hearts. The King of our lives. All too often we call you Lord and Savior, but we don’t live as if you are truly Lord and Ruler of our lives. So we offer all we are before you again today asking that you use us mold us, shape us, all for your will. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Herod” - Matthew 2: 5-7

Herod did not see the wise men’s presence or proclamation as a good thing. He didn’t have eyes and a heart that were open to see the appearance of the star from the same perspective that the wise men did. So he acted out of fear - fear of losing his power and place. But don’t we act the same way from time to time as well? We try to control Jesus and his message and story because we are fearful that it will make us unpopular? Or will lead to us losing our place in society, or amongst are friends and family? So we send out others to search for Jesus, not because we want them to have a relationship with Christ, but to make us more popular with them, when they come to believe. 

What happens when we let fear rule our lives?

Prayer: Lord, sometimes we are so quick to give into our fears. Fears of the future and what will come. When fears start to eat us alive, we quickly make choices that do not honor your will and way. In these moments, grant us the peace of your abiding presence and coax us back to the life abundant. Amen. 

Thursday: “Gifts for the Christ” -Matthew 2: 8-11

  We are told in the Biblical account that the wise men had come to pay homage to the baby Jesus and when they reached where he and his parents were staying that they were “overwhelmed with joy”. They didn’t come to study Jesus, or just to see him - they had come to worship this child they had went lengths to meet. Can we say the same today? Do we come to church because we feel like we have to or to learn something new? Or do we come to truly have our hearts open to worshipping Christ? 

When they went to present the child with their gifts - they weren’t exactly what you would call child appropriate. The wise men brought gifts that weren’t necessarily useful - gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts that proclaimed just how precious they believed this child King to be. And were generous. Are we as generous with giving Jesus our treasures today? Or do we worry more about what he may ask us for instead of what we are to give? Are we concerned about giving him too much or too little? Does the use of resources proclaim just how precious we believe Jesus to be?

  What do you want to offer unto Christ in the New Year?

Prayer: Lord, when we look at the gifts the Magi bring, we are struck both by what they foretold and their lavishness. May we come and lavish the gifts we hold most dear upon you this year, as an act of worship and may such gifts proclaim to the world who you are. Amen. 

Friday: “Transformed” - Matthew 2: 10-12

  The Wise Men were transformed by their journey and worship of the Christ Child. After praising him, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, as he was seeking to kill the child. So they left home by another way.  Aren’t we too transformed? Isn’t it true that we can no longer take the same road which we came on? Isn’t it true that nothing in our lives is ever the same?

I have to wonder what stories the wise men had to share when they returned to their group at home. How did those who made excuses feel about missing this opportunity to meet the True King? Did their excuses seem silly now? Did they wish they could have such a transformative experience as well? 

May we, like the Wise Men, be transformed as we seek out and worship Christ. 

What transformation are you seeking in your life?

Prayer: Lord, we pray that we approach the news of your birth, life, death, and resurrection, not out of fear, but out of respect that is due to you as our Lord, Savior, and King. Transform us this day. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Daring to Dream” - Genesis 28: 10-13

“The Women of Christmas: And Our Eyes Shall See Him” Matthew 2: 1-11

01/06/19 “The Women of Christmas: And Our Eyes Shall See Him” Matthew 2: 1-11

I have a lot of friends that are clergy. It comes with the territory of being a religion major in college, going to seminary, and now being my ninth year of serving the local church. One question that comes up from time to time amongst us is how we are going to take time to celebrate the holidays. Some people leave right after Christmas Eve to go spend time with relatives. Others have a quiet morning at home on Christmas Day and then have a service or community dinner their church sponsors in the afternoon, so they can’t travel for a few days until after Christmas. But I have one friend who has decided that he and his family are going to celebrate on Epiphany. 

Today is that day, Epiphany. It is the twelfth day after Christmas (hence the Twelve Days of Christmas song) and as a church it’s the day we celebrate the coming of the Wise Men to the Christ Child.

Last week we talked a little bit about who makes it into our telling of the Christmas story and nativities and who gets left out. The opposite effect tends to happen with the Magi. They play such a vital role in the Christmas story that we place them in our nativities and Christmas pageants, when the truth is they showed up months to years later. We don’t know exactly how long it took them to travel or when they exactly left, but it's believed that they traveled to Israel from modern day Iran, traveling thousands of miles, following a star to find the Christ child. 

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth is different from Luke’s. While Luke tells us that God announced the birth of the Christ child to the humble and lowly, the Shepherds, Matthew tells us that God announced Christ’ birth to all people. God indiscriminately invited everyone to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. 

Let us pause to consider who the wise man really were. First, while we have just sung the song “We Three Kings”, Matthew does not describe the men as kings but as magoi, which translates in English to magician. However, they were probably not like our modern concept of magician, rather priests who study the stars, and believed that the positioning of the stars told of future events. This would make them similar to a cross between an astrologer and an astronomer.

When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, where Herod was located, they went to the King’s court to ask about the child that has been born king of the Jews, because they made the logical assumption that the child must be Herod’s, as he is the current king. However, Herod was not a Jew - he was an Idumean who had simply been appointed to be king of the region over the Jewish people by Rome. Herod knew this and knew he could not be the one who had a son who was born King of the Jews and he was not happy. In all honesty, he probably would not have wanted his own son to be declared the King of the Jews either. During Herod’s reign, he had his favorite wife, his mother, his brother-in-law, and three of his sons killed out of fear for his throne. It is not a surprise than that Herod wanted to use the Magi to know more about this one who had been born King of the Jews so he could have him killed. He summoned his advisors, who pointed him to Micah 5:2 which stated, “But you, Bethlehem Eprathat, though you are small among the clans of Judea, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Based on this scripture, he sent the wise men on to Bethlehem to search for the child.

  The wise men did find Jesus in Bethlehem, in a house, probably Joseph’s parents home with the additional room built on for Mary, Joseph, and their family. When the Magi finally found the child, they were overwhelmed with joy. This is the response that we saw from the Shepherd’s in Luke’s gospel as well, and it should be our response as well when we recognize who Jesus is and what he has done for us. They came and presented gold for kingship, frankincense for the high priesthood, and myrrh for burial of the dead (and in this case his resurrection) all at the feet of Christ and his mother. 

But here is what strikes me the strikes me the most about the Wise Men, a part we don’t often talk about, these men were not Jewish. And they were not of humble circumstances, for they could afford to make such a long journey. They were men from a foreign land seeking truth in their own way. And God provided them with a sign that they would recognize and understand. Matthew’s gospel truly tells us that God is the God of all people and wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience the birth of Christ! Jesus is not the King and Savior of the Jewish people, or later those who identify themselves as Christians, but everyone.

  Sometimes we get so caught up in placing people into categories - good and bad, right and wrong, Christian and non-Christian, that we forget that God extends grace through Jesus Christ to all people. God does not see people through the same lens that we see them. God sees people as Beloved and worthy of being saved, even if they are not Jews or Christians. Even if they do not worship our God or even know who God is at all.

The Magi were the first people who began taking the message of Christ to the ends of the world, even before Jesus gave his disciples the great commission. God went as far to coax the wise men to come meet the Christ child through something they understood and could respond to - a celestial event.

There are many other stars attracting people to ministry today. When I taught Bible studies on campuses, often their would be more atheists and agnostics in my group each week then Christians. They would come in for a cup of coffee and feel compelled to join us to learn more about this person who would make us so willing to give them time. How are we drawing people to Christ as individuals and as this Parish? What is our compelling sign that we extend to other people of Christ’s love?

  Today we are celebrating Epiphany, a time in the church that marks the appearance or manifestation of the celestial event in the sky that marked the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ. This time also celebrates the appearance of Christ’s ministry through his first miracle in the gospel of John, the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast at Canaan, reminding us that Christ appears to us in many different ways to different people. I would encourage you to take time to truly think about how you are shining Christ to others, as an extension of what Christ means to you. I would also challenge you to think about how your priorities reflect what Christ means in your life, honestly. How would you like to change in the coming year? How can you be open to Christ revealing himself to you over the coming year? For each of us have the ability to serve as stars for other people, attracting them to Christ in a variety of ways, if only we would open ourselves up to allowing God to use us and if our light is a reflection of how we live into God’s gift to us each and every day. Amen.