Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship ·January 2, 2005

Epiphany Sunday

Prayer of the Day

Creator of all that is, we have seen the star of your glory.  Your radiance pierces the night that covers the earth.  May his brightness illumine our lives and beckon all to walk as one in your light!  Amen.

Scripture
Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehemin Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalemand asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalemwith him.  When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ, the Messiah, was to be born.  “In Bethlehemin Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehemand said, “Go and make a careful search for the child.  As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they knelt down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, and of frankincense, and of myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another way.

Message
This One’s for You
Rick Frost

I hope you had a wonderful holiday.  At our house that means, among other things, connecting with friends and family.  These are connections that result in the acquisition of rather delicious but clearly unneeded resources. 

Of course, today being the first day of the New Year, it happens to be the day in our culture when many are deciding to turn over a new leaf.  Today begins a two-week commitment in our culture to a fresh start  -- a slimmer body, a healthier you, a new life-style.  They tell me there will be more money spent in advertising for diets these next two weeks than in all the rest of the year combined.  Today you will probably not be able to find a parking place at ARC.  Melanie Karrick’s gym will be full.  South Beach is the destination of choice.  Carbs are being slashed.  ’Tis the season for new beginnings.

Of course, we Christians know all about new beginnings.  That’s what we do.  That’s what we’re about.  We all know this is not just a two-week commitment for us, but it is a full-time business of searching, seeking new life, new direction, new beginnings, because we know and we serve One who offers just that to all who are willing to receive that any time or any place. 

Indeed, as I look out at many of you on many a Sunday, I realize that on a rather regular basis is one of the reasons that you are here.  It may not be the only reason, but it is one of the reasons you are here.  

I know for sure there are several here who are here just out of habit.  You just don’t have anything else to do this hour.  You just come here.  It’s like going to Hy-Vee for breakfast.  You just do that on Sunday mornings.  And that’s all right.  That’s fine.  I know there are others here in this house this very moment because someone brought you.  A parent insisted; a spouse pleaded.  Whatever.  That’s all right.  I’ve already seen some heads nodding, “Yes, we know about that.” 

But the really exciting thing for me is that most of you are here because you are seekers.  You’re looking.  You’re on a journey.  One of the things I want to say to you today is how glad I am that you are here – how glad I am that you are on your journey and that your journey has somehow brought you to this place.  It has brought you by our way today.  If that is the case, then Sunday ought to be a very good Sunday for you, because our Scripture today is about some people on a journey – people who are engaged in a search.  These are people who are really looking for something really very important to them and are willing to do just about whatever is needed in order to find it.  This Sunday we focus on those kinds of folks.  We focus on seekers.

Now, in this particular case, according to the Scripture, they were from the East.  They were Magi who came to Bethlehem searching.  When they got there, what they found was, of course, Jesus.  This is the day that the Church Universal all of the world celebrates the Feast of Nativity.  It is the final Sunday in Christmas.  Now most of us in the western world are pretty much done with Christmas.  The tree is probably down.  The decorations are all put away.  Gifts and cards have been exchanged.  The baby’s been born.  Most of us are already back at work.  Not so in the eastern world.  Our eastern brothers and sisters today find this day the biggest day of their year.  Did you know that?  It’s bigger than Christmas.  For them the birth of Jesus is just the prelude to today.  For them, this is the biggest story of the season – the story of the visitors.  The story of the seekers – the people who came from wherever, journeying to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, and kneeling at the feet of the child Jesus.

Now I read to you the story just a moment ago, and, of course, I know you know that story.  But I thought, just for fun, let’s take a little test.  OK?  Let’s think, for instance about that little crèche you have at your house.  Maybe you had that little nativity set like so many have out at your house this season.  Certainly you’ve seen the nativity scene.  Picture it in your mind.  There is usually in most of them figures of Mary, and of Joseph, the shepherds, the angels, the star, and the animals, all of which are focused on the little baby Jesus lying in manger right outside or inside a barn.  But who else is there?  There are the three Wise Men.  “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”  We’re going to sing that in just a few minutes.  They come riding up on their camels.  There are churches on Christmas Eve who have camels in their services.  The Wise Men are kneeling at the feet of the infant just born.  They are worshiping and offering three things.  What are they?  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Good.  Now, here is the good part.  What are their names?  Do you remember?  Oh, I heard it.  Melchior, Gaspar, and Baltasar.  Now here is the question of the day.  Where are those three Wise Men buried today?  Where are their bones?  Anybody know?  I worked hard to get this one.  By tradition, they are buried in a cathedral in Cologne.  Did you know that?  That’s what the Church has said.

Is that really the truth?  Well, not exactly.  Listen again to what Matthew actually tells us about this story that has so much tradition wrapped up all around it.  This is what Matthew says:  “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, Magi came from the east.” 

Kings?  No.  Magi.  Wise Men?  No.  Magi.  Magi were respected scholars.  They were devoted people.  They studied.  They loved knowledge.  They loved information.  They were always looking for new things.  They were people who traveled all over the world looking for new theories and understandings about nature, and about math, and about astronomy, and astrology.  They were the closest thing to scientists, to researchers, that there were in that day.  They were the seekers of their time.  They were people who were driven by their curiosity.  They were called Magi. 

Were there three of them?  Matthew doesn’t say.  There could have been three.  There could have been 33.  We don’t know.  All it says is that Magi came from the Orient?  No.  Not likely.  East of Bethlehem?  Where is that?  In the old days it was called Persia.  Today, ironically, guess where it is.  Iraq and Iran. 

They were not Jews.  They were not people of The Book.  They were outsiders.  They were seekers.  What Matthew wants us to know is these people who were from the outside were the very first seekers (according to him) to actually see the baby and realize who the baby was.  They knelt down and worshiped the Christ of God.  In other words, folks, Matthew wants everybody who reads his gospel to know that this baby, this child is God’s gift, not just to a small group of people, not to just one segment of the world, but to the entire world.  This gift of God is for people who are out beyond the boundaries.  It is for people who go way beyond culture, and government, and language, and philosophy, and social class, and intellectual ability – any of those things that divide people in our world.  Matthew wants you to know that this one is for us.  This one is for all of us, because all of us are on a journey.  All of us… as the spiritual giants of the past have said, all of us are beginners.  All of us are.  And in the very best sense of the word, everyone in this room is a seeker.  We are looking.

Now, perhaps there are some here today who have come, not really interested in a quick trip through the Bible, or to grasp some amazingly profound theological insight of Matthew, but simply are trying to get a handle on your life.  This is the first Sunday of a new year.  There are persons in the room, this very day, and they were here earlier today, and will be here later.  They will be here next week.  They are people for who perhaps life has been turned upside down recently.  Things are out of control.  They are having a very difficult time.  Perhaps you are one of those persons. 

Perhaps you are like Rex, who I met on the golf course this week.  (Could you believe it was 70 degrees?)  He is a nice man.  We played golf together.  I had never met him before.  He found out I was from Broadway.  “I might have visited your church last year,” he said.  “I’m not sure.  Last year was a hard year for me.  I lost my job.  My daughter was diagnosed with cancer.  My mother died.  It was an awful year.  I was just hoping, seeking.  I was just looking for something to be said, sung, felt, that would help me cope.  I was looking for something to help me regain a grip, help me manage.”

There are people in our midst, folks, for whom that is the case today.  If that is your story, then I want you to hear that this story I read to you today is for you especially.

Or maybe you’re not up against the wall.  Maybe everything is going just wonderful for you.  How happy we are for you, but you might still feel like something of an outsider.  Do you feel like there is something more?  Do you think there is a better way?  You don’t know much about the Scriptures.  You’re not very familiar with the music or the rituals.  Indeed, coming to church today may really make you feel like you are an alien.  But you are looking for something.  You are looking for something better.  You are looking for something more.  You are fed up with the way a lot of the world works.  The stars you have been following have crashed or have gotten dim.  You are looking for a more solid foundation, a most trust-worthy guide.  You know you are not a hero.  You’re certainly not a saint.  But you’re here.  You’re here, and you’ve brought yourself, and all that you are, and all that you have.  If you should encounter the Spirit of the Living Christ in this place, you are prepared to lay it all down at his feet and try something new.

What I want you to hear, and what I want to say to you is, “Bless you.”  Because that’s the way it works, folks.  It’s really the only way it works that I know.  The only way I know to become a disciple is to become a disciple.  You have to actually just begin doing what followers of Christ do.  You have to start somewhere. 

I don’t know what brought you here.  I don’t know what journey you are on, or what twists or turns have brought you to this place.  But I do know this.  If you dare come into His presence, not just the place, but His presence and lay all that you are and all that you have before Jesus, then I can assure you, because I have seen it a thousand times.  You will go home by another way.  The way of life.  New life.  Life now.  Life eternally. 

It’s always your call.  May 2005 find you fully human and fully alive.

And we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Saving truth, we come to you on bent knees.  We worship you and are awed by your vulnerability.  You survived a full-term donkey journey, a lowly stable, a vicious king.  We can take heart in the fulfillment and purpose of our lives in you.  As we journey through arduous, dark, and dangerous places, thank you for being here for us.  Amen.