Happy Epiphany! Epiphany comes 12 days from Christmas on January 6th. Since that date is between two Sundays I have chosen to devote this Sunday to Epiphany. You know from the Children’s Story that Epiphany celebrates the visit to Jesus of the wise men from the East, often called the three kings or the Magi. The Greek word for the Magi really has nothing to do with kings “but designates a priestly class of Persian or Babylonian experts in the occult, such as astrology and the interpretation of dreams.”*

In Isaiah we have a prediction of camels from the East bringing gold and frankincense and praising the Lord. That scripture opens with a resounding call, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” The next verse talks about thick darkness covering the earth and all the peoples, but then the light of the Lord shines forth, bringing all nations to the brightness of dawn. How does all of this relate to Epiphany? What does this word epiphany mean?

Epiphany is about a revelation, often referred to as the revealing of the presence of God. It’s the kind of sudden brightness that lights up our mind, gives us insights we never had before. It is definitely a gift. It may be something that comes to an individual or to whole community. It is like the bright light shining in the darkness. Light attracts, brings people together.

Around Christmas time we have the longest night of the year, the winter solstice. Many of us have a hard time with so much darkness; there’s even a psychological diagnosis with the fancy term of seasonal affective disorder that cause certain folks deprived of light to become quite gloomy and depressed. This may sound familiar to some of you. On top of that for many people, there can be quite a letdown after Christmas. All of this is difficult enough but then this year the day after Christmas tragedy strikes around the Indian Ocean; I have to say more about that later.

Today I want us to look at the journey of the wise men to see how it might lead us to reflect on our own faith and spreading the light in our world today. In the Gospel of Matthew we are given a time and place for this story. It was in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod, this King Herod ruled from 37-4 BCE. Now Herod was considered the King of the Jews so when he heard that another “King” had been born. He was indeed threatened. And the inquirers were not local folks but were from far away, from the East. They would be considered pagans or Gentiles as opposed to Jews, yet here they were, having come a very long distance to pay homage, to worship this King of the Jews. The fact that these wise men were from another nation and another religion, establishes in my mind how Jesus was for all people, all nations, all races, and so forth right from the very beginning. So Herod, the powerful king that controlled everything in Israel, decided to be crafty, telling these worshippers that he too wanted to find this King and pay homage to him. All the while of course, he wanted to find Jesus so he could kill him.

Now none us like to think that we live in a world where the innocent are killed, slaughtered like all the children that Herod ordered killed once he realized the wise men had tricked him. Remember how the scripture reports that they had ‘been warned in a dream not to return to Herod and instead they left for their own country by another road.’ (v. 12) Herod was infuriated at being tricked and went on to order the killing of all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under in hopes of killing this new born king.

The sad truth my brothers and sisters is that we do live in a world where unspeakable horrors take place, such as terrorists hijacking planes and killing thousands of people, where wars can kill many, many, innocent civilians including children. Then there is a different kind of tragedy where natural disasters happen, such as the earthquake and following tsunami that have devastated the countries around the Indian Ocean. I have to confess that it’s been hard to write a sermon on the light when there seems to be so much darkness in this current tragedy. I think it is especially hard to handle such bad news coming at a time such as Christmas, where we are talking so much about the good news, speaking of the blessings that God has given us through the birth of Jesus. That very night when so many people around the world were singing and rejoicing, the pressure on those plates in the earth was growing, only to erupt the morning after Christmas, causing unimaginable horror.

What can I as an ordained minister, one called by God, charged with the responsibility of helping people find out where God is and what God is saying to us say to you after such a tragedy? This certainly doesn’t mean that I think that I’m suppose to have all the answers, but it sure would be helpful if I had a few more than I do. Instead I have so many questions to ask God: Are you all-powerful God? Can you stop these natural disasters from happening? If so, why didn’t you stop it? Do you care? Some people will say that God is dead or that God is punishing these people. I had dinner with a good friend who is very faithful in an African Methodist church. She reported to me that the minister leading her Bible study this week actually said that God was punishing these people for worshipping idols, not being Christian. My friend, like I, was shocked at such a statement. Even though the Old Testament is filled with reports of God punishing people by natural disasters, I am sure that God is weeping with us, is mourning with us for the sorrow and pain being experienced. In the days of the Old Testament both physical and mental problems that were not understood were always seen as the work of God for rewarding or punishing God’s people. I know that God promises to always be with us, an abiding presence, not to always keep us from harm. Even Jesus asked God to keep him from the cross and yet the crucifixion took place. The manger is only the first part of the Christmas story; the cross and resurrection complete it. In John’s gospel the Christmas story does not have a nativity scene. John simply talks about the Word being made flesh. As another pastor, Nathan Nettleton in an excellent sermon entitled the Christmas Tsunami says, “the promise of Christmas is not just that the Word became cute and chubby baby flesh but that the Word became flesh and cast in his lot with us,” the Jesus flesh who grew to be our teacher and helps us know God and God’s desire for us. He has asked us to be in solidarity with the poor and suffering everywhere. I’m sure that is where God is and where God wants us to be.

As most of you know, I was in LA last week spending some holiday time with my children. In my questioning pain around all of this, I asked my children for their take. My daughter reminded me that God can bring good out of sorrow; and felt that more compassion and maybe more efforts towards worldwide peace would result from the people and nations coming together around this disaster. Please understand, neither of us believes that God would cause this to happen so that peace might come. I simply don’t believe God is like that. I do agree with my daughter that God can bring good out of pain both individually and for communities. My son said that he doesn’t believe in a God that is all-powerful and causes or prevents natural disasters from happening, but he does believe in the Spirit, the creative energy that will allow people in their pain to figure out how to make the world a more loving place. Another pastor, Richard Fairchild, says something similar—how God meets us in the midst of every situation and transforms that which is meant for evil into something that works for the good. He continues saying we celebrate Christmas because even the bad news is news that God can use and does use to fulfill his purpose.

Where is the light? In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” If we talk about the hope, joy, peace, and love of Christmas, and sing these joyous, blissful songs and don’t see these things in the context of the terrible suffering, fear, death, and anguish in the world around us, the Christmas sentiments will indeed be only “pious platitudes” (Nettleson). We celebrate Christmas because we do live in a suffering world; and the One has come to bring us light, give us life. Emmanuelle, God with us. My prayer for you and for me is that in this week and forward, we can let Jesus’ light shine in us as we go into the world. We, too, can be the light in the world. Epiphany is about sending out those who have learned the good news to share it with all nations. Go Tell It On the Mountain that Jesus Christ is born. May we have the courage and the love to both recognize and follow where God calls, even if at times these places terrify and horrify us. May God bless us and help us. Amen