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“Epiphany”

January 8^th 2012: Some notes on a sermon

at Kirby Grindalythe and Helperthorpe

At this time of the year the church celebrates Epiphany, a celebration that takes us right back to the presents sitting under that Christmas tree as we remember those wise men bringing their gifts to the Christ child (in fact, in the Eastern Orthodox Church they actually celebrate their Christmas Day on Epiphany).

So, as we have been reminded of that pile of presents just waiting to be opened which category would you put yourself? Are you a ‘Feeler’? Are you a ‘Guesser’? Are you ‘Careful’? Are you a ‘Ripper’? Or are you ‘Not Bothered’? My Dad is a ‘Feeler’ who will not open his present for ages as he feels the shape of it again and again trying to work out what’s inside and the rest of the family shouting at him, “Just open it!”. My children are ‘Rippers’, as soon as they get the present there is a frenzy of ripping and tearing, their arms a blur until the present is revealed in about two seconds flat. My wife, Jo, is ‘Careful’ removing the celotape carefully so that the paper can be used again. My granddad was really a ‘Not Bothered’, every year it was the family joke that he gave my Mum a bottle of Head & Shoulders Shampoo! If I am honest, I think I am a bit of a ‘Ripper’ but I try and disguise it because I am supposed to be grown up!

If that is my opening illustration, what aspect of today’s readings do you think I will pick up on? Are you a ‘Guesser’ or are you ‘Careful’? Well if you guessed I will now be talking about the presents the Wise Men brought you are wrong…sorry, though I may come back to those gifts at the very end. Instead I am going to pick up on the first reading we listened to from Paul’s Letter to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians chapter 3 verses 1-12). In this passage Paul talks about the mystery of God that has not been revealed, it has been kept hidden for ages, a real mystery for countless generations. It is as if the creator of the universe is concealed and hidden from view like one of the best wrapped presents of all. For generation after generation that wrapping paper did not come off and yet people still fell into those various categories I mentioned earlier: There have been the ‘Feelers’ who insist that they know what God is like because they can feel his presence (if you will pardon the pun!). There have been the ‘Guessers’ who said God is the Sun, God is this statue, God is the one who brings this judgement etc, guessing from what they have seen of the shape of God. There are those who are ‘Careful’, not wanting to commit themselves because they are not sure, God might be like you are saying but then again God might be something else altogether. And there have always been a selection of the ‘Not Bothereds’ who do not want to play this game and would rather get on with their lives as it is probably all made up anyway.

Faced with such a dilemma, what we need is an Epiphany, originally a Greek word which means to show forth or make known, to manifest. Or to put it another way, it means to finally take the paper off! For generations God has been hidden, a mystery. So, when the Wise Men, gazing at the constellations in the night sky, saw this Epiphany was about to happen, it is no wonder that they packed up and travelled hundreds of miles to see what was going to be revealed. The wrapping paper was finally going to come off….

If we want to know what God is like, we no longer need to be ‘Guessers’, ‘Feelers’ etc., instead we need to kneel with the Wise Men,  as we gaze upon Jesus. However, just because the wrapping paper has come off, it does not mean we will immediately understand everything about the gift… that is true of other presents we may have had: It is like opening the most beautiful and exotic present, we are overwhelmed and thrilled with the gift but are not quite sure what it is or what it does! If the mystery of God has been kept hidden for ages we must not expect to understand all that is revealed. I am sure the Wise Men were amazed that this great revelation was in the form of a young child called Jesus. But to help us with our Epiphany I finish with three gifts and a poem:

Gold suggests this child will be a great ruler as this is the currency of Kings

Frankincense suggests that this child is God as incense is burnt in the worship of God

Myrrh suggests that this child will know suffering and death as Myrrh is used in the preparation of the dead.

And a poem:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in an obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant teacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never travelled, except in his infancy, more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompanies greatness. He had no credentials but himself….

[twenty].. wide centuries have come and gone, and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of all human progress. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary personality.

- Unknown

When I was twenty, it was not the church, which I found boring; or the Christians that I found annoying, it was being challenged to look at Jesus that changed my ideas about God. What about you?

What do you think? Does this really work? Does this raise more questions? Do you agree or disagree? I would love to hear your comments on any of these sermons…. Just type your comments or questions in the comment box and I will try and give a reply too!