It is Time to Get Up

January 4, 2020 Epiphany Sunday Isaiah 60: 1-6 It is Time to Get Up Year A Announcements Children’s Time Good morning, boys and girls. (It may be appropriate to say a few words about the meaning of Advent or Epiphany.) One of the most interesting and familiar stories about what happened at the birth of the baby Jesus is told to us by Matthew. It is the story about a special star and of a group of men who were led by it to where the young child was. We even sing a song about these men. Who knows the name of the song? (Response -- "We Three Kings.") The three men were known as Magi. They were followers of a man named Zoroaster, and they were astronomers. Can you tell me what an astronomer is? (Response -- You may get some guesses but someone will say it's someone who studies the stars.) These men were wise. They not only studied the stars, they also studied the writings of the prophets. They knew that a new leader was to be born to Israel, and they wanted to come and worship him. When they followed their special star, do you know what happened? (Response.) Yes, it led them right to the place where Jesus was, and they presented very precious gifts to him out of their joy and respect. We may not have special stars in the sky to lead us to Jesus today, but we can find our way to him, too. The Bible tells us all about who Jesus was and is, and what He did when He came into the world. We can come to him in faith and receive him as the King of our lives today, even as wise men did so many centuries ago. (Prayer to encourage us to seek Jesus in our lives today.) (Give them a star to remind them of the Wise Men and the star of Bethlehem.) Stewardship Moment This is the twelfth day of Christmas, well tomorrow is the 12th day of Christmas. This is the day when we celebrate the three wise men coming to bring gifts to Jesus. Gold Frankincense and Myrrh. These were the gifts needed to fulfill his mission to the world. On this modern day epiphany – we have a chance to find Jesus and give gifts, but gifts that facilitate ministry a willing spirit and gold – still takes gold – cash and checks, but they work just as well. Perfect time for stewardship. Scripture People Returning for the Reunion 60 1-7 “Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. GOD’s bright glory has risen for you. The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But GOD rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you. Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness. Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies. When you see them coming you’ll smile—big smiles! Your heart will swell and, yes, burst! All those people returning by sea for the reunion, a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations! And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see, young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah, Pouring in from the south from Sheba, loaded with gold and frankincense, preaching the praises of GOD. And yes, a great roundup of flocks from the nomads in Kedar and Nebaioth, Welcome gifts for worship at my altar as I bathe my glorious Temple in splendor. The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson Sermon The first of the year is always a busy time with a lot of things going on. Every year, I always wait to see what ball will drop at the beginning of the year. 2020 seems to have bought huge changes to many areas of our life. With all of the big news stories, there are a lot of pastors who have even taken the time to change their sermons in order address some of the stories that we have seen on the news. Lucky for me, I don’t start writing to late Saturday night, so I don’t have to change. There are a lot of different themes that a pastor can focus on at the first of the New Year. We can do the Wesley covenant service, we can think about the second Sunday after Christmas, today I thought it would be important for us to think about epiphany. This is actually the oldest season of the Christmas year. Winter solstice used to be celebrated on January 6th – but they moved it to December 25th. That is when they celebrated the twelve days in between. Traditionally, we can take our Christmas decorations down tomorrow. I also learned recently, that January is women’s Christmas – women work so hard to make Christmas special for everyone else, so January 6th is a day of rest and celebration. An epiphany is an awareness that makes all of the difference. An aha moment. It is also the time of the year when we celebrate the return of the light – even though it is still dark most of the day- each day we get more and more sunlight. I think that the season of epiphany is important – because it is a time to look at who we are as a church, to recommit to our mission, to think more about what it means to follow Jesus, and to get one step closer to the son – the son of God – Jesus Christ. This year epiphany will be six weeks – lent starts the first Sunday of March – Easter is April 12th. Epiphany is that dark time before, where we relive the story of Jesus life, and examine our walk with Jesus to the cross. It is more important than ever, for us to think about who we are as a church. One of the big news stories of the New Year has been the fact that the Methodist church is splitting. When stories hit the news, it is easy for things to get sensationalized and blown out of proportion. Therefore, I wanted to clarify the news. • There was a small group of people who met together to hash out a plan for the church dividing. At this point, this is just a proposal. The only body that can make official decisions for the church is general conference. General conference meets every 4 years. So the next general conference will be this May. • Every year certain people meet behind closed doors to make some grand proposal for restructuring the church to present to general conference – and it always changes once it is debated • We had a special general conference in 2018 to talk about the churches views on sexuality – it was decided to keep the language in the book of discipline that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, and it was voted that anybody who is gay or performs a gay marriage would have tough consequences. • Many churches and pastors felt that it was unfair, that they needed to serve and welcome all people. • Those who want to keep the traditional language, have already met, wrote their own book of discipline, and are prepared to form a new denomination. • The agreement is that they can leave and they will get 25 million dollars to start this new denomination. • The united Methodist church will stay the same- and meet again next year to restructure. If a church does not make the effort to join this new denomination, they will automatically stay a part of the united Methodist church • We don’t know what the final proposal will be until after general conference, and any changes that are voted on will not take effect until January of 2021. I know that is a lot to process, there is a lot of written material on it on the website, and I will make sure that we as a church have access to the information. Nevertheless, listen to the facts, not the emotion. With all that is going on I felt that the message of our scripture for today was more important than ever. Arise and shine for your light has come. It is a wakeup call for the faithful – that even though it is dark that the light is already here. I saw on Facebook, a posting that said that we all should have found the baby Jesus by now, if we were looking. Somewhere in our lives, we should have seen Jesus presence of love and light. Isaiah wrote these words to a people who had come back to Israel to discover that everything was in shambles, and they were looking for their faith. They were at a loss of what to do. They were waiting for some miracle to happen – that would change their faith. And this scripture was written to remind them to stop waiting for change – and be the change they are waiting for. I think those words are important for our church. In the midst of all of the changes, it is most important now for us to focus on who we are as first united Methodist church of Wilmington. Who is God calling us to serve, what does it mean to be Methodist in this context, what does it mean to be a church that welcomes all. In addition, to stay focused on what we must do locally. But more important to wake up, arise and shine – to stand up and to realize that the Jesus we are looking for is inside of each of us. Not in outside forces. Epiphany – let us arise and shine and be the people who have seen God for ourselves. Additional Illustrations