Arise and Shine, your Light has Come

January 5, 2014 Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 “Arise and Shine, your Light Has Come” Year A Epiphany Sunday Living to die Walker Percy, is an American novelist who has written several books about the state of affairs if the world today. In Walker Percy’s novel, The Second coming, the major character, Will Barrett is a man who has lost everything. He plans to commit suicide, until he meets a woman as depressed as he is, and he discovers that life is not so bad afterall. Instead of killing himself he finally realizes that the name of the real enemy of American society is death, “not the death of dying, but the living death. The name of this century is the Century of the Love of Death. Death in the century is not the death people die, it is the death people live How many people in the world are living in death, because they are stuck in a pattern, a belief, a lifestyle, a reality that does not really serve them. Man looking for money to get away I was reminded just yesterday how easy it is to live stuck in a pattern. As a man knocked on my door – looking for the pastor of the church next door – because he needed someone to help him think and to pray for him. So I let him in the church, and let him talk. He gave me this really sad story about how he used to be in the Latin Kings, and that he got out and moved away, but that he came back because he wanted to get back with his wife and daughter. He had a job, and was getting it together, oh and while he was in jail he had met a minister that had led him to Christ. Well today he got in a fight with his cousin, who told him that he could not get out of the gang, and that now he could not go home, or go to work, or go this his family because they were looking for him. If I could just put him in the car and drive him as far away – everything would be okay. He was mad a god for allowing all of this to happen to him. I got a little irritated and told him not to blame this on God, but that he got himself into this mess, and that God would not come out of the sky and rescue him, but that God would give him the strength to get out of it. I was not going to help him, but to trust that God would be with him. When I told him that I was not going to give him an answer of what to do next, I told me that he got himself into this mess, needed to figure out how to get out of it. he got up offended and said that I did not understand. And he just walked away. As he was leaving – I couldn’t help but to wonder what makes people stuck in dumb situations. But before you start thinking bad thoughts about that man and how he needs to get himself together and get a life. Let me tell you that I met this same man, who told me the same basic story (the details were different but the premise was the same). And that time I was so caught up into his story that I have him $50 in cash and drove him to a Mexican bus station. He promised me that as soon as he was safe who would send me the $50 back. I even preached a sermon about him, talking about how my faith in helping humanity was making a difference in the world. Needless to say I never heard from him, and was told that he makes his rounds to churches and tells the same story, of needing to get out of town, so he needs money to travel.expecting the same old results? It is not uncommon for us to remain trapped in our lives, our habits, our understandings, our own made up reality? My point for today is that is life without Christ, an illusion, and not a very happy one at that. I am not talking about the Christ that we hold in our heads, our beliefs, our sense of reality. But I am talking about the real Christ – the glorius savior, the unpredictable one who comes in our lives and shakes things up. The God who is so concerned about us that no matter how many times that we make the same mistake, no matter how many situations we cause, no matter what messes we seem to always create, God loves us enough to listen to our sad story, to change us from within, to bring us salvation. And it seems that the more he offers salvation, the more determined we are to stay stuck in our lives and blame God for what we do wrong…. Living without Christ Fred Craddock once told a parable about a man who moved into a cottage equipped with a stove and simple furnishings. As the sharp edge of winter cut across the landscape, the cottage grew cold as did its occupant. He went out back and pulled a few boards off the house to kindle the fire. The fire was warm, but the house seemed as cold as before. More boards came off for a larger fire to warm the now even colder house, which in return required an even larger fire, demanding more boards. In a few days the man cursed the weather, cursed the house, cursed the stove, and moved away. The futility that man felt is the futility of those who try to live the Christian life without Christ. He is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God. And he is alive today. To those of us who are drowning he is someone we can hold on to. He is someone who can set our feet on dry ground again in this New Year. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com That is why the first words of Isaiah 60 are so important. It is a call to the world – Arise and Shine your light has come. It is time for us to awaken out of death and to enter into the life that God has in store for us. These are words of hope for the isrealites, who had lived in exile for years. And when they were able to come home all they saw was darkness and hopelessness. Everything was destroyed and nothing seemed to be working. And before we start to feel sorry for the Isrealites and their hopelessness. Let me reminds you that they were sent into exile because they had forgot about God, they stopped helping the poor, and living a faithful life. And God’s assurance that it would be okay – was not because they had earned relief, but because God wanted to show that he was God – he sent them into exile and he would deliver them because he was God all by himself. God doesn’t always agree with us, but he always cares enough to save us. in Isaiah 60:10 God says though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. And it gets better, in verse 20 God says that you sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; and the Lord will be your everlasting light and your days of sorrow will end. That is what life with Christ is all about – seeing the glory of God for ourselves with our own eyes. God’s glory is enough to help us to see clearly. There are two words for “arise”. “Arise, shine” in verse 1 means “Stand up and let us see you in all your radiant glory”. The long night of suffering is over, a new day had dawned for her, a day when she can get up out of the dust where she has lain for so long, forsaken and dejected. The other word for “rise” is usually used of the sun, but here it is twice used of the rising of the glory of the Lord (vv. 1–2); that is to say, “the sun of righteousness...with healing in its wings” (Mal. 4:2). Finally the author brilliantly combines the two when he describes the revival of Jerusalem in verse 3 as the appearance in the blackness of the morning star, proclaiming to the nations that dawn is near Not only do we shine, but Christ shines too. And we are able to see God’s light, and not our darkness. Today is the 11th day of Christmas. Tomorrow is the 12th day of Christmas - it is epiphany – the manifestation of Christ. It took the wise men 12 days to reach the baby Jesus. Matthew’s point is that the light is not just for the Jews, but for everyone who can see it. The wisemen saw the star and knew they needed to follow it. I thought it was important for us to remember the point of epiphany for the first Sunday of January. I didn’t want to do the Wesley Covenant service – you can look it up if you need it. Before we make a commitment to serve Christ, we have to remember the reason for our commitment. Christ is the light not just of our lives, but of the world. When we see the light – we need to make an intentional response. The wise men gave gifts to the baby – gold for a king, myrhh for a priest , and frankensense to make things holy. We give gifts for Christmas, because the wisemen gave their gifts. I wanted us to focus gift giving this year and not goals. Remember when someone gave a gift away or they gave it back to us we call them an Indian giver. I went to an Indian ceremony once and complimented the host on her earrings, she took them off and said that since I liked them, that she had to give them to me. I am not worthy of anyone’s earrings, because I tend to lose them. But I still treasure those earrings, because they were a special gift, given just to show that she care. It is understood in Indian culture that whatever you have, you don’t hold onto it, you give it away. I don’t have those earrings on today, and wouldn’t give them to you if you asked. But the lesson is that we should be able to give as God gives to us – freely. Scripture says that after they gave gifts they kneeled before the baby in adoration. What does “adore” mean? In its Latin roots it means to reverence and honor. But it is a much stronger word than “honor,” or the Latin venerari. It actually is equivalent to the Greek proskunein, which means to “prostrate.” So to say “I adore Chipotle burritos” or “I adore my little brother” is to say something almost sacrilegious. For to “adore” something is to go as far as we can go in worship and praise. You can glorify God, and praise God, and bless God. But when you “adore” God, you go as far as you can go. You take the ultimate step… How do you glorify God in your life? what gifts do you bring to God? How does Christ manifest in your life each and every day? God's "Random" Provision Charles Cowman and his wife were missionaries to Asia. He became fatally ill and they returned to their homeland. For six years he battled his illness. Mrs. Cowman says, "... each time when the testings had reached their utmost limit, God would illumine some old and familiar text, or a helpful book or tract would providentially fall into our hands, which contained just the message needed at the moment. The help from God that an ill person would naturally seek is healing, whether it be through medicine, supernatural means, or a doctor with an epiphany. What one does not necessarily expect to find is the strength to carry on in the illness from random inspirational thoughts, one of which simply fluttered across their path as they walked on the beach." The treasures that carried them through were developed after Cowman’s death into the classic devotional book, Streams in the Desert, which has given inspiration to people all over the world for the last 50 years. My final story is about a lady in a store in search of hope.. Planting the Seeds There was a woman once who wanted peace in the world and peace in her heart, but she was very frustrated. The world seemed to be falling apart and her personal life wasn't that great either. One day she decided to go shopping, and she went to the mall and walked in to one of the stores. She was surprised to see Jesus behind the counter. She knew it was Jesus because he looked just like the paintings she'd seen in museums and in devotional books. Finally she got up her nerve and asked, "Excuse me, but are you Jesus?" "I am." "Do you work here?" "In a way; I own the store." "Oh, what do you sell here?" "Just about everything," Jesus replied. "Feel free to walk up and down the aisles, make a list, see what it is you want, and then come back and I'll see what I can do for you." Well, she did just that. She walked up and down the aisles, writing furiously. There was peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty. There was peace in families, harmony, no dissension, no more drugs. There careful use of resources. By the time she got back to the counter, she had a long list. Jesus looked over the list, then smiled at her and said, "No problem." And then he bent down behind the counter and picked out all sorts of things, and finally stood up, and laid out the packets on the counter. "What are these?" the woman asked. "Seed packets," Jesus answered. "This is a catalog store." "You mean I don't get the finished product?" "No, this is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like, and I give you the seeds. You go home and plant the seeds. You water them and nurture them and help them to grow, and someday someone else reaps the benefits." "Oh," she said. "And she left the store without buying anything." John understood that he was planting the seeds. The message is we must wait. Are you willing to do the work and wait? Brett Blair, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com We cannot invent God, or create God, we cannot invent life, or create life. we can only discover what God has already done. We can only realize what has been true from the beginning of time, for ourselves, for others, for the world. That is why epiphany is so important – for us to finally see the light that has been there all along. Epiphany is about planting the seeds to heal our illness, to light our darkness to fulfill our hope. The story of the wise men is a familiar story – we know they bought gifts, we know that they kneeled in adoration. They were led by a star, they talked to a king. A king who promised that he too wanted to come and worship the new king. But scripture says that they were warned in a dream to go home another way. May you also, no leave the way you came – go home another way. The 7 most dangerous words for a church is we have never done it that way before. Don’t get stuck on your reality. Witness and see the glory of Christ. Arise you light has come. But make sure when you go home, don’t leave the way that you came. Be changed, glorify God do something different this year – Go home another way! Amen. In the book, “Let Us Break Bread Together” Fred Daniel Gealy writes, “The word Epiphany is a great Christian word. The grace of God has appeared is the testimony of every page in the New Testament. My eyes have seen God has not just shown himself in the past; nor is his coming simply some far-off divine event. That the one who manifested himself to the fathers is here. The coming one has come. The light shines. And in the presence of this revelation we see ourselves as we are in our true relations to the world, to one another, and to God. In showing himself to us, God shows us ourselves. Light is not to look at but to see by.” Let’s begin with a little survey. How many of you have you have taken down your Christmas tree and packed up all the festive decorations until next December? How many of you are still living with your Christmas bling-bling? I thought so. There are not too many of us who hold on and hold out until the passing of Epiphany to take down our Christmas décor. This year Epiphany, January 6, falls on Thursday, a nondescript day of the week. We are back at work. Kids are back at school. Post-Christmas and New Year’s sales are over. It’s too early to plan for “President’s Day” or Valentine’s Day. We find Epiphany, the day the Magi finally reached Mary and Joseph and offered their extravagant gifts to the baby Jesus, slightly off-putting. Maybe it is because we’ve jumped the gun and have already opened up . . . used up . . . eaten up . . . even broken up . . . all our presents by now. Maybe we have a sneaking sense that “we should have waited.” So we crate our crèches even before the wise men get a chance to show up for the celebration. But maybe there is something else about epiphany that makes us uncomfortable. When the Magi finally reached their destination, what was the first thing they did? They “knelt down and paid him homage” (Matthew 2:11). Specifically Christian worship begins here, and on the Sunday closest to Epiphany. These were rich, respected, wise men. They were on speaking terms with the king. As astrologers they were privy to the secrets of the stars, and the stars held the secrets to the universe. They were not even Jews. In this East meets West moment, the Eastern cults and traditions of the magi were far removed from the messianic traditions of the Hebrews. Yet when they came into the presence of this little star-born baby, what did they do? They threw themselves down on the ground without hesitation but with abject humility. Think of that crèche you put away. Wasn’t at least one of the wise men kneeling? Here was one to be offered praise and glory. Here was one whose greatness was to be honored. Here was one born to be “adored.” “Oh, come, let us adore him.” ___________________________ Finally, the Wise Men brought gifts. They did the thing that people in the East or in Africa or in India would do when visiting royalty. They brought gifts. Gold was the kind of gift that you brought to a king. Frankincense was the kind of gift that you would bring to a priest. Myrrh was given to someone who was about to die. On This Twelfth Day, or Three Kings Day, otherwise known as Epiphany, think of the gift that you will offer to God in the coming year. The gift of time? The gift of your talents? Your service in the community? Your witness and testimony? The gift of undying love and devotion? Their greatest gift comes to us in the form of a realization. The Wise Men were the first Gentiles to recognize that Jesus belongs to everyone. Good news is for everyone, not just a select few. Star of wonder Star of light Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading Still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect light. Amen. On Epiphany we celebrate the original gift-giving, the gifts of the magi, whose example is why we give gifts at Christmas. January 5, the eve of Epiphany, is actually the twelfth day of Christmas. Today, Christmas seems to be over in one day, and Christmas trees are out at the curb the next day. Festive lighting is extinguished on December 26. The Pilgrims who landed in this country discovered that Native Americans passed gifts on and this came to be called "Indian giving." Today many "regift" items they have received, but have no use for, when they need a present. We have inherited a European understanding of gifts, but Jesus, like Native Americans, wants gifts to keep on giving. Even today gold is the essence of hard currency. Frankincense was once used for the purification of holy things, but Jesus expands holiness to include even ordinary sinners such as us. Myrrh was used for sacred anointing...

Arise and Shine, Your Light has Come!

January 2, 2011
Isaiah 60:1-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany of the Lord
Covenant Service
Year A

New Year’s is the only holiday that his celebrated in some form or another by every culture. It is also the oldest celebration known to humanity – dating back some 4000 years.

For most of our history, we have been an agricultural people, who needed to plant the crops over and again every year. When the crops were planted, and began to grow again in the spring, the people would celebrate new birth and a chance to start again.

Every culture celebrates some form of New Year, just not at that same time, and in the same way.

We celebrate New Year’s on January 1st – because when the Romans came up with the calendar that was the day they picked as the first day of the year.
Tradition says that January 1st is 8 days after December 25th. Jesus would have been circumcised and named on January 1st. The truth is however that Mary had her baby in the spring. December 25th is the day that the church commemorates Jesus birth. The official name of Christmas is the feast of the incarnation, the day we acknowledge that our light has come and that God is indeed present with us.

Actually, in the early days of the church, more important than Christmas is the season of epiphany. Epiphany means manifestation or appearance. Epiphany is on January 6th – 12 days after Christmas.
This is the day we acknowledge three wise men whom followed a star to Mary and Joseph’s house in Galilee to visit,
Worship and give gifts to a 2 year old. Note that I am speaking of Matthews’s story in chapter 2 and not confusing it with Luke’s manger as we traditionally do.
In spite of all of that long history – the point of the story is that Epiphany is the day that we recognized the glory of God in our lives. Christ was glorified as a King. Finally there was something in the world worth putting everything else aside – and giving our hearts to. Our light has come.

Isaiah 60 says Arise, shines, your light has come, and the glory of the lord has risen upon you.
These are beautiful poetic words with a very dark story behind them. We have been reading the story of Isaiah all year. We know the Israelites were cut off from their land, and then they were taken away, and not allowed to go home. Hundreds of years later, after they had adjusted to life they went home.
Isaiah was excited, hopeful; he gave a call to freedom, joy, peace, and a life they had always wanted, a life living fully the promises of God.
Unfortunately, all that people say was abandonment, destruction, what was stolen from them. They were overwhelmed at all of the work that needed to be done. They saw no way that things would change. More significantly, they had gotten complacent. Used to the way things were, they had adjusted to circumstances, they started to justify failure, and to accept the craziness of life as normal.

Isaiah’s message to them and us was it was time to come out of complacency- time to get up - arise, shine, your light has come.

You are the people of God, the keepers of the light, not only will the light heal the past, but others will see the light and seek you out, they want to be near the light of God too….A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. They will worship and praise god also.

I don’t want to be long, because we have a lot to do in service today, but I want to share a story, a story that good for a new year…..

There once was a man who lived in a village in Asia. He got married to a wonderful woman, and they had a wonderful son. The man built a house – and built a wonderful life for his family. He was so happy to go to work every day so that he could take care of his family. One day, he went off to work, and returned home to find that his house and his entire village had been destroyed. Thieves had come that day and pillaged the neighborhood and burned down all of the houses. The man was devastated to see that his wife and son had been killed in the horrible fire. In his grief, he ashes of his young son – he picked them up and sewed a cloth holder so that he could keep the ashes with him all of the time. It was the memory of these ashes that inspired him to rebuild his house and his life. He continued to go to work every day, with his shoulder bag of ashes with him. He continued on his life and yet never remarried, because he wanted to stay close to his family which had perished in the fire. But in reality his son did not die in the fire. The thieves had kidnapped him as a toddler so that they could take him home and make him slave. This little boy spent his whole childhood waiting until he would be big enough and strong enough to escape. That day finally came – and he ran for three days back to his village. He would recognize his house anywhere- he knew that his dad had rebuilt the house. Eagerly he ran to the door and knocked - dad it’s me please open the door. His dad was in the house reading a book when he heard the knock. Unlike Mary when she heard the knock at the door – he got defensive. Young man –I don’t know who you are- but this is a very cruel trick for you to play – you are not my son, please go away. The son tried to explain what had really happened, that he had not died, but had been kidnapped. The father’s natural response was to hold onto his bag of ashes – his real son. He told the young man to please go away. Dad – if you will just come and open the door all of this will make sense. The father replied – I don’t know who you are but you really must stop knocking at my door- But dad – I am not going to tell you again – go away! The son went away and lived his life – very sad that he would never have a relationship with his dad. Meanwhile, his dad held onto his bag of ashes and finished reading his book. Living his life never even aware of the opportunity for new life and a new relationship that he had just missed.

What are you holding in your bag?

Arise, shine people for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Time to come out of your complacency and acceptance of the way things are – and prepare for something different. Times to stop complaining about what other people are doing and to live up to the mission that Jesus gave us.

We have the light of the world, and the world is seeking a way out of darkness and looking for the light too. We need to be prepared to let our light shine.

Someone said that the worst thing in life is not in death by dying, it is in choosing to live a dead life.

What is it that it is time to let go of. We need to realize that it takes just as much energy to hold onto the bag of ashes as it does to let it go and get up and answer the door. We have to be willing to come out of our comfort zone and take a risk. Jesus knocks at our door all of the time- a New Year is a good time to get up and answer.

The world uses this as a time to set new goals and to make resolutions. The thing is that we can become so over focused on goals that we set for ourselves, that they box us in and prevent us from realizing God’s will for our lives.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism saw the New Year as a time for us to get in touch with our relationship with God and to commit ourselves in the New Year to listening and living the will of God. God’s will is not always what we want, or even what we think we need – God’s will for our lives is bigger than that.
God’s will is bigger to my service to the church, then my service to others. I serve the church, because I choose to honor God’s will. My goals, my resolutions, my dreams, my hopes, my service, my integrity – are all in keeping with God’s will for my life.

The doors of the church are open….

Now I invite all of us to covenant prayer together….