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The Feast of the Epiphany Once
upon a time, when I was a young man, I worked for a small loan company.
One of my responsibilities was to determine the market value of automobiles,
so that we could determine how much of a loan we could give the person
based on that dollar-value as collateral. One of the guidelines however,
was that in the case of ministers, we were to deduct ten percent of market
value of the preacher's car, because those who wrote these guidelines
believed that clergy were preoccupied when they drove their cars, head
in clouds. Well, that was many, many years ago. But it was only the other
day that I was reminded of that guideline, when I was driving out of the
driveway of a large local medical facility, and hit the curb, because
I was kind of writing this sermon in my head. The reason I started thinking about this sermon when I was driving in that driveway was that I had seen a license plate. You know, one of those that you put on the front of the car, where we are not required to have a license plate, but many folks put "fun" license plates. The kind perhaps that you can buy in carwash places, wandering and browsing while they wash your car? Or perhaps in a truck stop on the interstate, where they sell a lot of these plates? Like "I love Elvis," or "Jesus Saves," or "I'm retired and spending my children's inheritance." Well, this particular license plate said, "Fear This." Have you ever seen such a slogan? I think I have seen it on shirts or jackets, as well as on this license plate. Well, I saw that plate and thought, that's not very friendly. Then my mind went back a few days, to the morning a neighbor brought us some Christmas-New Year's goodies, came knocking on the door and greeted us with a smile and with these delicious candies and cookies and that kind of thing. And she said, "Well, I hope you all have a really happy, healthy new year, and I pray that we have a safe new year, ALL of us." Well, I pondered that at the time and realized that my neighbor was expressing what a lot of Americans have been thinking about as we approach this new year: terrorism. I think when she said that she hoped we would all have a safe new year, she was thinking about the World Trade Center and all that horror. And I believe there is a lot of fear around. Not cowering fear. Sure, the airline business is in some trouble, but for the most part Americans are going about life in a pretty normal way. But I believe a basic layer of psychological protection has been torn away by the events of September 11th, and I believe it has left us with some fear. Which is abundantly understandable. An economist was saying the other night on that venerable old TV show, "Wall Street Week," that if we don't have any really bad and traumatic events in the new year we will probably have a very good year economically. He used as an example of a bad or traumatic event, another terrorist attack. Many of us, at least in the back of our minds, are aware that another attack may take place. People speak of it quite matter-of-factly, really, as did that economist. But I believe we live now with some fear that we didn't have before. If you look at this morning's Gospel reading, you can see another instance of fear, that of Herod the King, who ruled for the Romans in the occupation of Judea. Upon hearing that a baby had been born who was to be "King of the Jews," Herod, says the Gospel, "was frightened." Frightened of a little baby? Yes, because he feared the possibility of losing his power, his position, his lifestyle. And so began a plan to kill the child. Fear makes us do lots of things that can lead to darkness in the world. John's Gospel for Christmas speaks of the Light that has come into the world, and asserts with joy that the darkness has not overcome it. But it is the darkness of our psyches and souls that can keep the light from being bright for all. Often fear moves us to be and do things that make the world, even if only our own little world or our own little family or our own little circle of friends, darker. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. The Epiphany is one of those Church special days about which you can get as many definitions and explanations as you can find Episcopalians. It is about the Wise Men from afar. It is about the manger. It is about light. It is about the Light of Christ going out into the world. It is about the manifestation of Christ in the world. It is an "aha!" An epiphany is when we have a new vision, a sudden realization of a truth that had not been a part of our life. When Moses heard God speak from the burning bush, that was an epiphany. When I burned with the need to go seminary and preach the goodness of the Gospel, that was an epiphany for me. An epiphany is a divine manifestation that by its very nature brings light to our life. The Epiphany that we celebrate this day is the brightness and light of God, of God's love, of God coming into the world with God's great love for us. God coming into the world as a beautiful trusting baby. The Feast of the Epiphany focuses on the bright light that came into the world with Jesus the Christ, a light that can never be dimmed, that is always there for us. Fear is darkness. It is a dark dimension of being human. We have all kinds of fear, not just a fear of terrorist attacks. If we are in touch with reality we have a fear of death, a fear of violence, a fear of growing old under the wrong conditions. Lots of things to fear. And if we choose to live, to live life, we will risk experiencing some of those things. Fear is the opposite of an epiphany. It is darkness, while the Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that there is light in our world, light that can overcome any kind of darkness. Fear is a component of living a human life. We can be controlled by it or we can turn to a greater power in our lives that overcomes that fear. That greater power is God's Love in Christ. That love is greater than anything we can fear. In this season of Epiphany the whole message is to follow the light, believe in the light, be embraced by that light, the Light of Christ. God has come to earth to comfort us, to save us from fear and to make us his own. We have but to open our hearts to God's Light and we are part of the greatest power, power of goodness and mercy, that has ever existed. And the Glory of the Lord shone upon them, and upon all humankind. Come, let us adore him, that we may walk in the light. Amen. Copyright 2002 The Rev. William A. Kolb Gospel:
Matthew 2:1-12 |
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