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Rising to the occasion, arising to a new journey ahead or arising out of the ashes of failures and challenges to find your New purpose and pathway through God. St. Paul models for us today a wonderful hope and encouragement for us to think upon as we begin this new year. I don’t think many of us think of having an internal GPS system run by God, but we actually do! I say this because every time I have read these texts and thought of my own journey; I can see God’s GPS or Grace Pathway System at work!
Another New Year’s celebration has come and gone, and we
sketch out our little lists of what we want to have as our new year’s
resolution… but what are they most often about?
We want to be “better” people, some of us need to lose weight, some of
us have to quit smoking or chewing tobacco, some of us have to curb our
addiction to Java chip ice cream… And so on and so forth! Perhaps many of us don’t dive into looking at
the full directions God tries to lead us to discover and travel upon. Change is painful, and we love having the grand
delusion of control over every aspect of our lives. Life as God has planned it, however, is going
to stay on those grooves whether you’re happy with it, expect it or not.
I think it is so interesting how the Magi or “magical people”
as they were to be defined in the Biblical dictionary, had come to find that
star. Contrary to what people may have
not known about the Magi, is that astrology was very significant to many of the
ancient peoples across Asia and the Middle East. To see a giant manifestation of a star
brightly shining above the Christ child was profound for them in wondering what
sign is this to mean for humanity? From
Christmas, we are introduced to the incarnation, the enfleshing of God and the
birth of the Lord into our humanity.
With the season of the Epiphany, it is so much more. The meaning of the word Epiphany in the
Biblical Greek literally means the shining forth of God’s glory in human form
at the birth of Christ.
Every turn of the year should be a spiritual awakening
for us to see the light of God shining down into our lives, a brand new hope
and a new chapter to our journey ahead.
Outside of going to the clinic to have my foot looked at this past Saturday,
I also was able to attend the remainder of the beginning of team training for
another Via De Cristo that will be coming up this March. Just like a transformer being rewired, my
spiritual batteries appreciated the re-charge!
I am grateful as well to hear that some of our church family will be
going as well as will be serving alongside myself and others to bring a lot of
light into four days of a spiritual journey with God. The book I’ve been
reading for my own faith formation; ‘A Monk in the World,’ has sparked so much
thought for me in wondering if I am both listening and opening myself up to God
enough?
I thought upon the author’s tremendous faith when I read
a lot of skepticism I didn’t appreciate hearing or agreeing with. This skepticism is that perhaps Haley’s comet
was going by at the time of Jesus’ birth or that there was a supernova of a
star coincidently at the same time over head where the Christ child lay. What I
believe it that the light of the Holy Spirit was that rising star anointing not
only the Christ child to His mission ahead, but anointing us all with the true
glory of God. This is the glory of God manifesting, a theophany for all the
world to see! The twenty-dollar word I
just used, theophany, is something we really have a difficult time in both
accepting and knowing that it is indeed real!
Brother Teasdale early on in this wonderful book says:
“Our birth is an invitation to our gifts, a call to immersion in the absolute,
with the possibility of our ultimate transformation through contact with the
Divine.” We don’t realize that way in
the beginning of our life’s journey, our unique, individual faith journeys, but
we can certainly see the example by Christ coming down to us and being
witnessed by these Magi. The more I read
about the Magi as well as thought about what I’ve read so far in this book; I
was fascinated by not only where all the Magi came from but all the various
professions they held. Some were
magicians, sorcerers, princes, Kings, tradesmen and so forth. God’s GPS or Grace Pathway System led them
right to the creche. It didn’t matter
what their differences were, God brought them all to Him.
Years ago, I knew an artist and a writer who invested her
whole life into astrology and all the related “mystical” arts. In fact, it was funny to read her biting,
witty and sometimes down right raunchy, horoscopes. Madame Sososterous, as the
character was penned, would most creatively spin out horoscopes and reflections
for each month’s issue of Strong Coffee Magazine… Even the caricature she had drawn for her
persona for her column was both hilarious and intense to say the least. Once or twice before I found God back into my
life, I would have her pull up my astrological charts. Like a giant fortune cookie, my life
according to the “stars,” was laid out and predicted for me. How consumerist and lazy this was to both read
and see?!
Thanks to the world wide web, we even see more of this
all over, as well as psychics, tarot card readers etcetera.
She and her husband owned a little “Hoo-Doo” shop selling
“spiritual goods” on the Southside of Chicago in a tough, gang-infested
neighborhood, where being street-smart was tantamount if you dared to brave
visiting their little store. She &
her husband basically made their living from owning this magic store as well as
her husband worked at a bar. A few years
back, they decided to retire, and I was surprised to hear that they moved up
into the tippy-top peninsula of upper Michigan, only a stone’s throw away to
Canada. Like Green Acres, though, I
don’t think she was cut out for country, rural living yet alone the quiet of
nature that beckons anyone to hear God in the stillness of its beauty!
I had lost touch with them as I had with others, when I
came to find God and tune into His calling to me to start my way down the path
He had laid before me, my New life through Him.
Basically, she got angry with me for answering God’s call to me. She would post hostile, quippy remarks on
social media towards me at times as well as make fun of what I was doing. There were sometimes that it did really hurt
my feelings. I never made fun of her
column or their over-the-top “hoo-doo” store… Sometimes though, people are like
that. Just probably like one of the
commentators, I read who tried to debunk the true power and revelation of the
light of God hovering over the Christ child for all to see. Just because we weren’t physically there
2,000 plus years ago doesn’t mean that the centuries upon centuries of Martyrs
for the cause of the Gospel are not true.
Herod had a hard time, as well, coming to understand what
the birth of the “King of Kings” was actually to mean for the world. He was purely obsessed with power and
politics, nothing more and nothing less.
His future intent would reveal his ugly, evil plan with the slaughter of
the innocence shortly after the Magi didn’t return to him and Mary & Joe
took off to hide with the Baby Jesus.
Herod wasn’t thinking about God coming into the world, he was purely
seeing someone who’d threatened his earthly treasures and conquest. I always wondered, what would happen if Herod
literally did have a change of heart and finally, truly understood who Jesus
was? Everywhere in the Bible, we see many
examples of people’s faith being tested—either growing or failing. We see the Living Word pointing prayerfully
to our hearts to reflect upon our failures and iniquities as well as our
triumphs and joys. This is the life of the disciple growing with God’s Living
Word.
Having a change of heart or transformation is that GPS
system of God kicking in, even when you still are a great critic or still
skeptical… I say this for recently I saw that Alice and Frank moved back to
Chicago. Spending some time atop of the
world, seemingly in the beautiful wilderness of upper-peninsula Michigan, was
the best thing for them. They are still retired but are back home where they
feel their spiritual journey is guiding them.
They moved into an even worse neighborhood then where they were before
they took off for Michigan… but they seem happy where they are, as well as they
seem truly changed.
The Epiphany season of each and every year, is to remind
us of where we’ve been, (spiritually that is) and where we are going. We need God to guide us, each and every
day. We need His love to encourage us,
quiet our anxieties, pains and sadness.
It’s going to take a lot of work and it will challenge us daily, but
being faith-filled witnesses to the Gospel is the universal commission to all
disciples, wherever they are in body, mind and spirit.
“The world and all of life, offer us the opportunity for
transformation by giving us occasions to transcend ourselves. The opportunity is everywhere. It is a constant call to surrender to God, to
Christ or the Divine, present in everyone and in every situation. There is only one reality, in which we arise
and transcend. Nothing stands outside
this one cosmic system of life in which we all participate. I believe the Spirit is calling us to realize
this truth, to allow ourselves to be transformed by it, and so to transform the
world.” Those are the amazing words from Brother Teasdale, but they reveal a
universal hope for us all—God’s gracious pathway system.
Let us Pray—
Gracious and Loving God,
May we take the words of the Prophet Isaiah prayerfully
to heart:
May we arise and shine for the Loving Light of the Lord
Has indeed risen upon us and encouraged us
In more ways than one
Continue to guide our wayward and often challenged
spirits
Help us to become servant-leaders through Your Gospel and
its’s gift of Grace
No matter where we are on that path
Let us trust and know that it leads to Your glory and
Goodness
In Your most precious Name, we lift this prayer to You.
AMEN
January 6th,
2018; Feast of the Epiphany; Year B; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon By:
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins, OSST
Psalm 72:1-15;
Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 White
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