“The Dawn Has Arrived” - by Pastor Steve
[Preached January 6, 2008; Based on Isaiah 60: 1-6 and Matthew 2: 1-12]
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” (Marianne Williamson)
The Christmas Season is over – the signs are all about us. The scales tell our true weight, the boxes and paper have been taken away; Christmas trees are being recycled and Advent wreathes are packed away with the tree lights. We are returning to "the real world": business, war – a world of darkness, and not light. But new years are also about opportunities for new beginnings – filled with all kinds of possibilities.
This morning I want to encourage some possibility thinking. I want to suggest the possibility that this coming new year will be the best year any of us has had thus far. Why not? To help us get this New Year off to a good start, I thought you might like to hear one man's resolutions. In fact here are four resolutions for four subsequent years:
Resolution #1
1: I will try to be a better husband to Marge.
2: I will not leave Marge.
3: I will try for a reconciliation with Marge.
4: I will try to be a better husband to Wanda.
Resolution #2
1: I will read at least 20 good books a year.
2: I will read at least 10 good books a year.
3: I will read 5 books a year.
4: I will finish [reading] "Airport."
Resolution #3
1: I will get my weight down below 180.
2: I will watch my calories until I get below 190.
3: I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200.
4:
I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight.
Resolution #4
1: I will go to church every Sunday.
2: I will go to church as often as possible.
3: I will set aside time each week for prayer and meditation.
4: I will [at least] try to catch a late night devotional on TV each week.
Perhaps you can identify with these changing goals. A family was driving through Kansas on vacation. Five-year-old Tyler was looking out the car window. “Boy, it’s so flat out there, you can look farther than you can see.” That’s a great phrase--“you can look farther than you can see.”
· In the early 1930s an engineer named Joseph Strauss looked out over San Francisco Bay. In his mind he formed a picture of a beautiful bridge connecting the two sides of the bay. In 1936 the Golden Gate Bridge became a reality. He looked farther than he could see.
· Apple Computer has given other computer companies a run for their money. In 1997, they published an ad that celebrated the searchers of this world. It went like this: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things.”
The Christian band, MercyMe recorded a song we’ve sung from time to time: “I Can Only Imagine” – a vision of what it would mean to be in God’s presence. Some of the words are: “I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by Your side . . . I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me! I can only imagine . . .”
Did you ever stop to think of the similarity of the words “imagine” and “Magi”? Imagine is from the word “image,” – meaning a form or picture, and has descended to us from the Latin “imago,” which, in its turn, was derived from the old Semitic root, “mag,” the same root word from which magi originated.
This Sunday is called Epiphany on the church calendar, and it is a celebration of the coming of the Magi. An epiphany is a new way of seeing or understanding. It is so appropriate that we should begin a new year with an epiphany, a new way of seeing, a vision, an image of what our world can be, of what our lives can yet be. Like the Magi of old, we need to open our minds, stretch our imaginations.
Did you come searching this morning, or have you found all you need in your work, your family, your hobby – your new i-Pod? Are you so content with the things of the world that you no longer hunger for a fresh encounter with God? God loves searchers. The wise men were searchers. Are you looking for a new way of seeing… an epiphany?
1. For there to be an epiphany, there must be seeking. The Magi could not just imagine; they had to take action… they had to search. They were searchers who set out on a journey of faith. The Magi had a specific goal in mind for their journey. We find it in the very first verse of our lesson for today: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’” No wonder we call them wise. They were looking for the King of the Jews, the Messiah, so that they might worship him.
So many people are taking destructive journeys in our world today, following so many false stars. These wise men came from the east bringing gifts to the infant Jesus, and in the process received a gift worth the distance and effort they spent. After depositing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they in turn received a gift: They are redirected. When we worship, are we open to redirection?
2. An epiphany leads to redirection, a re-evaluation of your life. That is the gift one gets after kneeling before Jesus: we are redirected. That different direction after kneeling before Jesus means that your joy in life will not be in seeking happiness and fulfillment directly, but in intentionally walking the way of service, sacrifice, and surrender. The new direction involves finding the holy in the least expected places, the very places we would most like to avoid.
3. Those who have “seen the light” (received an epiphany) are called to be keepers of the light. So church, it is our job to make certain the light is kept burning until his return.
Back in the 1770s or 1780s, a man named John Morris built a house in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Using flint and steel, he started a fire in his fireplace. And nobody knows why, but it became a point of pride in the Morris household not to let that fire go out. When John built another cabin for his family later on, coals from the original fire were transplanted to the fireplace of the new house. Members of the Morris family proudly declared that they would keep the fire going, to honor the wishes of John, who had charged his family, "The fire must never be allowed to go out." “Keep the home fires burning.”
That fire became the catalyst for passing down family history through the
generations. In the 1920s, the care of the fire rested with one man, William
Morris --the great-great-grandson of John Morris. William had never married or
had children, and he was nearing eighty. He tried to inspire his nieces and
nephews with tales of the family fire, but none of them seemed interested in
keeping the fire alive after William was gone. The fire was 150 years old by
now. It marked a proud family tradition, one that everyone in the area admired.
Would that tradition end once William died?
William took it upon himself to see that it didn't. From an interview in the
Spartanburg Herald, his story spread to newspapers all over North Carolina.
William was invited to Washington, D.C., to tell the story over a
national radio program. He began getting phone calls and letters from all over
the country, many from people with the last name Morris. The National Park
Service considered buying William's cabin, fireplace and all, and moving it to
one of their national parks, where it could become a tourist attraction and the
park rangers could tend to the fire. By now the "Saluda fire," named after the
town where William Morris lived, had sparked the public imagination. Preserving
the Saluda fire seemed like a noble undertaking.
Then, one day, one of William's neighbors came to see him. The neighbor, Hamp
Alexander Owen, had only one thing to say that day, "I've come to tell you that
I'll keep your fire going." Owens wasn't doing it for the publicity or the
glory. He just admired the legacy, and believed that it was worth preserving.
We don't know when William Morris died. But when Hamp Alexander Owens died in
1948, his obituary stated that he was "the keeper of the Saluda fire." The fire
itself had been burning continuously for more than 170 years. But that is the
last record anyone has of the Saluda fire. Did it die out? Or is it still
burning somewhere, tended by some anonymous soul who believes in what it stands
for?
We must make sure that ours is not the last generation that receives the light and warmth of Christ’s fire. We must tend it and pass it on! The Christophers is an organization with the motto, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." That’s great! Do something positive. When you notice a gap, the choices are to complain or offer to do something positive.
Perhaps you are familiar with a remarkable young man named Tony Melendez. You
may remember seeing him play guitar for the pope on television a few years ago.
A young man limited by serious birth defects, Tony taught himself to play guitar
with his feet, and supported himself as a street musician sitting on the
sidewalk in Los Angeles playing hymns for bystanders. It was there that he was
discovered and invited to play and sing for the pope on his visit to our
country.
In his book, A GIFT OF HOPE, Tony wrote, "After the concert I walked backstage
through the waiting crowd of old friends and new . . . At the back of the crowd
I saw a badly deformed young woman in a wheelchair. Her arms and legs were
twisted, but she smiled and tried to wave as I passed. I kept walking toward the
exit; then I stopped, turned around, and walked back in her direction. When she
saw me standing beside her, her eyes filled with tears. She reached her hand out
toward me and struggled to speak, 'Tony, because of you, we all have hope!'"
Tony Melendez let his light shine. And that's our job. God's light has shone into our world. Followers of Christ have kept that light shining for twenty centuries now. We dare not be the generation that lets that light fade out. Even more important is that we should let our individual lights shine to our neighbors as a beacon of hope in a world of darkness. Truly it is better to light one little candle than curse the darkness.
What's the first thing you do when you awaken from a scary dream? Exactly! Most of us reach for the light. Our rational minds tell us that it was nothing but a dream; it wasn't real, but our body isn’t yet convinced. Go ahead – reach for the light – search for and receive the epiphany you want and need! As you worship Christ, you will be redirected.