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“Arise, your light is come! The Spirit’s call obey; show forth the glory of your God which shines on you today.” I confess I really love that hymn and started hearing it when I read the Isaiah text then literally started singing it in my head when I read the Ephesians texts for this celebration day of Epiphany!
Another hymn came to mind from today’s Gospel as
well: ‘We Three Kings.’ Well as we know
from Christian history there may have been 20 or 30 people who came to find the
“Star of Wonder, Star of Night…” As well as they may have come from places such
as India and Africa, no one knows for certain.
The line that stuck out for me is also what I hear from the texts this
particular year and at this moment in my life: “…Guide us to thy perfect light.”
That is an aspect we must consider with taking in,
with full breath and commitment, the scriptures. If you are living into your calling from God;
there is no one answer or “wisdom” to glean from the texts each and every year.
There is a central truth of course, but just like St. Paul says today in his
wonderful letter to the Ephesians according to the “more than ample” Amplified
Bible: “10 [The purpose is]
that through the church the [c]complicated,
many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable
aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities
(principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.”
Wisdom
as I have spiritually been led to experience it on my own, is GRACE. One particular aspect of Grace, has been like
the GPS (Grace Pathway System) of my soul to lead me to essentially be as my
mentor puts it: “An artist with a collar on.” Before my conversion experience
that fateful summer of 2003, just a few years earlier I had begun to immerse
myself into the world of poetry. I would
even go to readings and perform. From A
to Z, where I am in the here and now has me realize that even before I came to
know the Lord of Life in my life… His Grace came as a gift being “voice.”
Paintings,
drawings and many physical forms of art can’t speak. They are for the most part very much of this
world; being that they are silent, material and immovable. Poetry is more or less the voice that emerges
from the artist. Poetry must be
performed, shared… See the connections
on one level? The other connections are
to be made in the here and now as the Light of Grace has had us sojourn thus
far. The Reformed put the label on the “GPS
form of the Light of Grace” as Prevenient Grace…. But God’s wisdom, Grace, Love and mercy doesn’t
really fit all too neatly into these labels our human wisdom has theologically
determined for them. Grace is GRACE and
so much more in, with, and through the transforming heart of the believer who
walks obediently down that enlightened path.
Our
own Luther suffered a twisting and turning in his journey to serving the
Lord. His father nearly disowned him for
forsaking a career as a lawyer to become a monk. And as we know from history as well, his
stint as a monk wouldn’t last long for the God of Grace and His guiding Spirit
beckoned Luther to fight for a true and more faithful understanding of
GRACE. Nearly excommunicated with the
threat of death at his doorstep… he started the tides of change which would be and
become the Reformation. His “Epiphany”
was coming to grips with what God’s Grace has not only given him but what God’s
Grace beckoned him on to DO.
The
wise men from the east heard a divine warning not to go back to Herod and
report where the Christ child’s star is pinpointing Him to be. They followed a particular voice—one given
through journey, discovery and perseverance—a divinely admonishing voice. Today’s
world has many “voices” some as we know stemming from the Evil One… We all too easily and too often fall off that
lit path of where the Lord is guiding us and instead come to listen to the world and
its temptation to cater to the self, idolize our “voice,” over and above care
or concern for God and neighbor. The
Psalmist warns us of this in a sense as well saying: “9Those who
dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him and His enemies shall lick the
dust.”
It
can be all too easy to sojourn and even contribute to the graceless wilderness
which surrounds us when we rely upon a worldly, self-concerned perspective to “light”
our path into the world. As disciples of
Christ Jesus, we must remember that we are to live in the world but not be of
it. That is the start of faithfully
being aware of God’s GPS in your life or God’s Grace Pathway System. This takes a lot of trust (which needs
encouragement and confidence), developing selflessness and faithfully/
Graciously living into that profound commandment at the center of our discipleship
journeys: 37…“’You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 39…‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The
Heart of being a Pastor for Christ is to faithfully be and become the server
station or channel to God’s GPS (Grace Pathway System) for the sake of
others. The following chapter in St.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is his best witness and grace-guided message to
his flock in Ephesus to begin to locate and follow God’s Gracious Pathway
System for their lives to aspire and transform into. Living into the lifestyle of Grace is the
Spirit-filled Epiphany, why Christ came into this world to begin to try to
teach us to see through his life, death and resurrection from the Cross.
The
glory of God is the light of Grace shining brightly through your commissioned,
consecrated heart to love God and neighbor… it is not to be temporal. The other day I was talking with someone
about my early ministry experiences in Stephen’s Ministry. I told the greatest impression the training
left upon me was a beautiful image of Christ as the Tree of Life shining
brightly with hope, compassion and mercy for the caregiver to hold tightly to
while they reach down into the pit of their care-receiver’s troubles to pull
them gently out and onto the pathway of healing. It is even in those small
moments you can see God’s Grace at work.
What
does the glory of the Lord rising on us mean to us today? If there are so many layers of understanding…
so many layers or dimensions of the story of Grace actively working in your
lives… What is Glory? Keeping up,
keeping on, moving forward where the light of Grace is evermore CLEAR and
firmly establishing itself as heart knowledge: perfected development—God shaped
internal wisdom that takes a life time to begin to develop!
Can we
just hear ourselves singing this inwardly when we have the trust and confidence
in ourselves to truly and truthfully follow God’s GPS (Grace Pathway System)?
“O Star
of wonder, star of night” (Your Light of Grace, O Lord, lights up my darkest
paths to be traversed and grow from.)
“Star
with royal beauty bright” (Your sovereign light of Grace needs to shine
brightly beyond my story and be Thy story)
“Westward
leading, still proceeding” (From A to Z within the time span of our lives,
beyond our lives Your Grace continues!)
“Guide
us to thy Perfect Light” (May Your Holy Spirit, Light of Grace continue to keep
us on that path…)
Keeping
up, keeping on and moving forward! St.
Paul’s “voice” witness in the world for the Gospel of Grace leads us
onward. A new century, a new year and a
new life to those who want it… The “house” of your internal life centered in
Christ will always have those darkened and closed corners that need your
stewardship to faithfully eradicate. This is the mystery of life revealed in,
with and through Grace.
Let’s
close with the last verse of that hymn: ‘Arise Your Light is Come.’
“Arise
your light is come! The mountains burst
in song! Rise up like eagles on the
wing; God’s power will make us strong.”
When
you get up out of your chairs and another Sunday service is done…
May it
continue on all week long
May
your faith MOVE mountains and your heart begins to break into song!
Keeping
(your chin, your courage) UP soaring with the eagles—the sky is the limit!
May
your heart become convicted and encouraged
As God’s
Pathway to Grace keeps you strong!
AMEN
January 4th,
2015 Celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6th);
Year B; SOLA Lectionary Nicole A.M. Collins
Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1–11 (12-15) Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12
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