Epiphany [A] St. David’s, Celista Jan 8, 2023
“Arise, shine, for your light has come….”
Today’s Epiphany message is a preposterous one -
but it is as true and powerful as it is preposterous.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Is 60:1)
Glory being the full weight of God’s presence,
as claimed in today’s Epistle
“that through the church
the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known
to the principalities and powers
in the heavenly places.” Eph 3:10
That’s as preposterous
as magi being led by a star to Bethlehem,
there to find a king born in a barn,
indeed, more than a king, ~
for worship is reserved for divinity.
“And they worshiped him.” Mt 2:11
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
Really?!
I’m saying, DO WE
“Arise, shine, because our light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon us”?
~ ~ ~Do WE know that God has made us, and
that God keeps us going, and
that God’s glory continues to rise upon us,
do we know to the point of
thanking and praising God?
Do we know what the magi knew?
A little light hearted:
The Rev. David Guest, a 33 year old UK clergyman,
fell to his knees to thank God
for having passed his driving test.
I can understand his gratitude,
He had spent over half his life (17 years)
taking driving lessons;
the 632 lessons cost him $10,000.
He wore out 8 instructors and crashed 5 cars.
He finally passed because he took the test in an automatic ~
with the standard he always got
the clutch and break petals confused.
What took him 17 years to learn that!!!
What does it take for us to learn the good news?
1. It takes information.
God’s good news is an announcement:
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
The Apostle wrote,
“To me… this grace was given,
to proclaim the Good News….”
The Evangelist Matthew identifies a star
as part of giving information about where
to worship the “light that has come”, and
the “glory of the Lord” that has shone.
It takes information.
Do you have it?
It is easy and free to get.
Help yourself to it.
2. To learn now it takes people or materials
to share that information.
I hope that I am a person in that position today.
The prophet, the Apostle, the Evangelist,
and all those who have shaped
today’s worship service
are proclaimers.
While you are part of this community today
and after we leave
the task to proclaim is each of ours.
3. To learn now it takes sense.
Language, symbol, experience, materials,
computers, the zoom app
all are part of God’s shining forth.
One example about the sense symbol makes.
Symbols are often mocked,
especially among as protestants.
Well, when I saw part 8 of Russia’s War,
it was evident that the battle of Kursk was crucial
for Russia’s defeat of the German Wehrmacht.
The Soviets won that battle.
The contributing factor was an icon,
a picture of the Madona.
Lost when the government turned
the churches into a theatres,
it was found before the battle.
A printer made copies for the soldiers,
who were inspired to fight for mother Russia
– and won.
It takes sense to know what forms our lives.
It takes sense to know the power of signs and symbols.
It takes sense to have faith.
4. To learn now it takes trust in God.
The magi trusted,
the Apostle trusted,
the prophet who saw only deep darkness trusted,
~ trusted that God was true to God’s promise.
For that trust,
for that faith, we pray.
We ask God to create in us a “clean heart and a right spirit”.
We live out of the Word and
we invite one another to live it out.
We worship like the magi, and
we share the message like the Apostles.
We work, “that through the church
the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known
to the principalities and powers
the heavenly places.”
We arise and shine
BECAUSE the glory of the Lord has risen upon us.
So we live God’s Epiphany.
A happy and merry 14th day of Christmas today to you
and to the world you enlighten
with God’s light.
What a glorious calling we have! Amen Epiphany A 2023