God’s light has come into the world, is in you and me, and together we can see it, know it, follow it, and with all God’s children, find God’s healing and hope.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord
Texts: Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

On December 22^nd, at dusk, Mary, Peter, and I went looking for the star.

We drove away from the neighborhood lights, toward a nearby park that had a hill. Sure enough, climbing that hill, we found what we sought in the southwest skies.

The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was at its closest and clearest in hundreds of years, and at its clearest. In 1614, the astronomer Johannes Kepler determined there were three such conjunctions in the year 7 B.C.E. and speculated that they were behind Matthew’s report of a star announcing Jesus’ birth. The papers were calling this year’s event the Christmas star.

It was profoundly moving, standing in the cold wind, seeing the two planets so close to each other. I told Peter the history behind why people thought this could be what was in the skies around Jesus’ birth. I’ve taught that before. But I needed my phone’s application to know where to look. When you move your phone around toward the sky it shows the names of what you’re looking at. Otherwise, we’d’ve had no idea.

Matthew’s Magi needed no such help.

They studied the skies, studied star charts, as humans have done for millennia. They believed the movement of constellations and planets affected life on earth, and saw enough of significance that they made their journey westward.

They did need some help, though. Their knowledge only got them to Jerusalem. They needed Hebrew scribes to see if there was any mention in Scripture of the location of Messiah’s birth to get the last step of their journey.

They traveled with gifts for a king, and found a poor young family in a little house in Bethlehem. But they were satisfied. They saw God’s epiphany before them, the very appearance of God in their midst. They watched for their epiphany, and knew what to do when they saw it.

We’re not often like that.

We certainly long for clarity from God, for epiphany. We want to see God’s appearing in our midst, and we regret that we don’t often get clear signs of where God is in our world, especially in these days. We’re sitting around copying the shepherds, waiting for God to show up and startle us, do something flashy to let us in on what’s going on. We’d do better to imitate the Magi, and learn to look for ourselves.

“Lift up your eyes and look around,” Isaiah says today, and you will see God’s light shining into the world. You will see people coming from all over the world to the light of God that shines in the darkness. The story of Epiphany is that God enters the world with gentle light, not force, and through that light, draws all into a new way of love and grace.

So lift up your eyes. Look around for the signs of the Triune God’s coming into our world.

See the signs of God’s love and grace that shine out of God’s Word, giving promise and hope to a world suffering under so much evil and oppression. See the signs that God has come in person not only in Jesus the Christ, but in you, in me. Look for the signs that God’s life in Jesus is within you, shining and leading others to God’s light in the darkness of a world of war, terror, and uncertainty. Watch for the signs that we are the body of Christ to one another and to the world.

And then follow those signs. Because the Magi not only saw. They got up and followed. They said, “we have seen his star and have come to worship him.” Copy them, and let these signs of God’s epiphany guide your life.

There’s another important thing to notice about the Magi, though.

They didn’t do this alone. Matthew mentions three gifts, so we assume three Magi. He doesn’t actually say how many, just more than one. These travelers didn’t watch the skies alone, didn’t travel alone, and found God’s coming together. They had each other to help see, understand, navigate.

And they had that help in Jerusalem. They weren’t afraid to ask if there was anyone who knew more about what they sought. They not only had each other, they actively sought more learning and understanding from others.

Our community of faith is so vital for seeing God’s epiphany and for following. In separation it’s far harder to experience this community, so keep doing what you can. Take advantage of opportunities your fellow believers here are offering for online connection. Use the phone and call. Write someone. But until we can be together again, remember it’s your community of faith that helps you see, understand, navigate, as you follow God’s signs.

And don’t stop seeking help, learning what’s happening in the world, asking if others have seen God’s coming. There’s a lot of wisdom out there, if you’re not afraid to ask.

When we got to that hilltop and saw the conjunction, I realized something.

I had actually seen those two stars before getting in the car, just over the roof of our neighbors’ houses. I didn’t know what I was seeing. Seeing them on the hilltop, I realized the sign was at my house already.

Today’s celebration teaches you what we’re looking for. Shows you what the signs of God’s light are. And, like those two lights in the southwest, you may find you’ve been looking at God’s coming all along and just didn’t know it.

So let’s watch, together, and learn, together, and follow, together, until we see for ourselves that God has come, and is shining in you, in me, and in so many, to bring hope and healing to this world.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

God dwells in the world! We carry this Christmas proclamation with us each day in work, life, struggle, and joy. 

Vicar Andrea Bonneville
The Second Sunday of Christmas, Year B 
Text: John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Beloved in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

God dwells in the world.

This is our five-word prologue for the new year. It is the wisdom and insight that has been born into our world.

The prologue message that God dwells in the world is what we will need to orient us and ground us, to give us the perspective we need and a direction for where we are going.

The purpose of the prologue is to prepare us for what we are about to encounter. In our reading for today from John’s Gospel, we hear a section of John’s prologue as John is providing us with what we need to know as we begin to encounter God.

John’s prologue reveals that God’s Word is in the world and that God’s Word took on human form as Jesus and lived-in human flesh in order to redeem what God loves, showing us that God’s glory is filled with grace and truth.  

John’s prologue also points to the beginning, when God’s Word created the world and all of its inhabitants and called it good. We are told human beings are created in the image of God and God calls us to be co-creators in caring for all of God’s creation.

But anyone who has read today’s headlines sees that humans have a hard time caring for creation and caring for each other. Injustice and oppression always have a place in the daily news.

And again, our community is in the headlines as another brother was killed by police in our neighborhood. We shake with fear and anger, cry at the sight of injustice and cry out against injustice.

Grieving for another beloved life has been taken from this world and asking what this means for our community in the days to come.

We proclaim all people are created in the image of God, that every body reflects the radiance of God, and that God dwells in humanity yet systemic racism, classism, xenophobia, among other structures of oppression create biases and cloud our vision, preventing us from seeing God’s presence in humanity.

The pain in our lives and in our community can become so consuming that we don’t know where to turn. When we get to this point, we must cling tightly to the promise that God is active in our world and knows firsthand all the troubles we face.  

We are comforted knowing Jesus experienced the fullness of human emotions and felt the aches and pains of our bodies. Jesus lived in the world filled with injustice and showed us a different way of living that puts caring for our siblings in Christ with dignity and love at the center of our purpose.

Jesus came into being to show us the truth and grace of God’s heart so that our lives can take form and become examples of God’s truth and grace. Because once we have experienced the fullness of God’s truth and grace in our lives, we can’t help but to proclaim this truth and grace in the world to bring healing justice and peace.  

But even these encounters may spin a web of grief and frustration so thick; we may have a hard time seeing how God is present in the world. It might be difficult find hope and grounding as we share God’s grace and truth and seek God’s presence.

Experiencing the fullness and mystery of God’s dwelling in this world was more reachable when we worshipped together in physical community. Our liturgy activates all of our senses as we touch, smell, hear, taste, and see God’s presence in our community.

Our encounters are simply different for now as we have had to open ourselves and stretch ourselves to experience God. We’ve been practicing bringing our liturgy into our daily lives, keeping our eyes open and our hearts hoping to experience God dwelling in our world in unexpected and ordinary places.

In unexpected ways God’s Word, the same word that spoke creation into being, enlightens and enlivens us today.  God’s Word animates the world, transforming ordinary things in our daily lives, like homemade cookies, bird feeders, walks in the neighborhood, and a note from a friend into places that reveal to us that God is present in real and tangible ways.

Our lives are imperfect and ordinary places that become divine and shine with God’s own radiance in the world. As God is made known to the world through our compassion and care, our seeking for justice, and our hope for the well-being of all of God’s creation.

We hold fast to God who dwells in the world and within us for good and cling to the certainty that we as ordinary flesh made divine, co-create this world each day through our work, life, struggle, and joy.

Therefore, when we lose our grounding and are unsure where to turn, we turn to the beginning, to the prologue message that God dwells in the World. This wisdom and insight are almost all we need to begin each new day.

Amen