People of Hope:
Every Jan. 6, we celebrate the day of Epiphany, the day we remember the magi discovering the baby Jesus. The Epiphany story from Matthew 2 doesn’t stand up well to historical-critical scrutiny, but it still proclaims a joyous message.
Not only is a Savior born, but people from around the world receive the epiphany of the Savior’s birth! In a world without telephones, fax machines, the internet, or even U.S. mail, the magi — from a distant country — learn of the birth of a Galilean peasant child from the rising of a star. The star leads the magi to Jesus.
That is why, last Epiphany, we distributed stars at the beginning of every worship service, and you all wrote the places you saw God at work. The stars tipped us off that God was present and working in those places and among those people.
In all the places where we might be anxious or fearful, sad or even joyous, this Epiphany, I invite us to cut out stars and place them in the spaces where we could use a reminder of God’s presence. Perhaps we take a cadre of pills every morning, so a star goes on our pill box. God is at work bringing healing to our bodies. Perhaps traffic or, specifically, merging onto the Broadway curve of the I-10 makes us anxious; a star goes right there on our dashboard. God is with us as we travel. Perhaps we forget the abundance that God provides every day on our tables and in our refrigerators, so there a star hangs on the refrigerator or as the kitchen table centerpiece. God provides for all our needs.
God is here, with us, among us. Epiphany opens our eyes to the ways God reveals Godself in our world.
With eyes wide open,
Pastor Sarah