January 8, 2006

Ephesians 3:1-12

Sermon 

Part Two

        What should we do about Epiphany?  I think most of us wonder that when we look at that word “Epiphany” on the bulletin, and recognize as something we see from time to time, on an annual basis, on the church calendar.  What should we do about Epiphany?  Most of us probably have heard the word before in connection with the practice of churches celebrating Christmas.  We might be aware it has something to do with the Wise Men; and in some countries, the Christmas celebration goes later into the year, surrounding the twelfth night of Christmas – January 6^th.  In places like Spain and Mexico the Wise Men, and the season of Epiphany, are celebrated with more emphasis than they are in our own particular community and in our own particular traditions.  So we have some sense of Epiphany that way. 

     And then we have an idea of the word “epiphany”.  After we practice it a few times, it’s easy enough to say.  And I’ve noticed lately, that it’s getting into people’s vocabulary in more and more ways.  You often hear people say, “I had an epiphany about that the other day.” Meaning, “I have a new idea about what to do about some specific issue, some specific problem.”  That word “epiphany” then means something about a new realization, a new idea, a breakthrough, the light has dawned.  That’s the way in which we use the word.  And then we have this awareness of Epiphany as a moment in the church year.  And we can grasp the concept of Epiphany when it’s explained to us; although, for me at least, it has a way of draining out of my mind as soon as I’ve explained it and I have to refresh it in my memory so I can explain it one more year.  But Epiphany means the visible showing of God’s love to the world in Jesus Christ.

        But none of that tells us what we should do about Epiphany.  How ought that to be folded into our church’s celebration, if at all?  The visible showing of God’s love in Jesus Christ is kind of what we’ve already been talking about in Advent and Christmas.  Epiphany sounds like a rehash of some of the themes that have already been lifted up and dealt with at great length.  Something that is sort of like left over turkey, we’re not really ready for another meal of that at this point.   What should we do about Epiphany?  We’re mostly ready to get back to normal, to get on with our regular lives, to move on into the New Year and our new plans, and our new ideas about how we’re going to conduct ourselves from day to day. 

        I actually am quite comfortable with that concept of getting back to normal.  I’m not going to stand up here and try to tell you that we should have an Epiphany Festival that corresponds in its emotion and in its beauty and in its power to the Advent and Christmas celebrations that we had.  I agree that it’s good to get back to normal.  And I also agree that the meaning of Epiphany sounds an awful lot like the meaning of Christmas.  The two of them go together, there’s a reason for that, but I’m not going to give a church history lesson right now.  I acknowledge that it’s good to get back to everyday; I acknowledge there’s a similarity in meaning with Epiphany and Christmas; and so, what I propose we do about Epiphany is that we use this as a time to reflect on Christmas now that it’s over.  In other words, we can think of it as “Christmas Part Two”.  “Part One” was the time to celebrate, and “Part Two” is the time to let it sink in, to realize what it means, to reflect and think about what Christmas has been telling us about our relationship with God as a church; about our relationship with God as individuals; about what we ought to do to be faithful people as we move into the future.

        For several weeks after Epiphany, the Sunday scripture lessons all have similar themes; different ways in which God shows himself to the world.  For example, next week we talk about the Baptism of the Lord, after that we talk about the miracle of the wedding in Cana, where water was changed into wine.  All of these things are simple showings of God’s love to the world.  I think we should think of Epiphany as “Christmas Part Two”; and that it’s as important as “Part One” even though it doesn’t have the same emotional dynamic.  So let’s reflect for a moment today. 

        This passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians talks about the meaning of Epiphany.  And Paul is talking about what he considers to be his special calling.  His special calling is different from the other Apostles; their purpose is to teach the world about Jesus.  His purpose is to teach the Gentiles about Jesus; and introduce the Gentiles to the idea that they are included in God’s plan for the world.  They’re included in God’s plan for salvation; they are fellow heirs with Jews, of the saving work of God.  This is Paul’s message.  And he carried it forward and said that it’s more than just like God had added on the Gentiles, tacked them on as an afterthought; it’s more than that.  This is a mystery, Paul says, that was hidden in God’s mind from the beginning of all things; a mystery that can only now be told, only now that Christ in the world can be revealed.  And it’s a mystery that even the angels don’t know about until now; it’s been hidden but now it is obvious and revealed and shown to the whole world.  That’s what this letter from Paul, this long and complicated passage, this long and complicated bit of writing conveys an extremely important message; and it’s a message that gets right to the heart Epiphany – God showing himself to the Gentiles.

        Let’s reflect about the Gentiles for a minute.  When I was in Sunday School, I was being taught that the Gentiles were not Jews; and that’s technically correct.  If I’m not Jewish and don’t have a Jewish background, then I must be a Gentile.  But Paul is not using the term Gentile simply in a racial sense, or in a sense of nationality, in a specific, historical way; he’s also talking about the Gentile in terms of the theology.  The fact that Jews are connected with the promises of God, going back to Abraham, really going back to Noah, and going back to Adam and Eve, these connections with the promises of God.  And Gentiles do not have the same knowledge of those promises, and therefore do not have the same connection. 

        The Jews are the special, called community of God, the Chosen People; and then there’s everybody else, the Gentiles.  And we can still look at things that way, by making the distinction between those who acknowledge a connection with God through Jesus Christ and those who, for one reason or another, do not.  Gentiles are not to be despised; Gentiles are not all equally distant from God.  In ancient times, some Gentiles had very noble and lofty ideas about morality and about the beauty of the world; about truthfulness and about justice.  The Greco-Roman tradition has some very fine things about it, they were not part of the Jewish tradition, those were the noble gentiles, but there were other gentiles who committed all kinds of practices that were considered abominable in the eyes of God – the sacrifice of human beings, for example, for religious purposes.   So Gentiles ran the gamut in terms of their understanding of the kinds of things that God was revealing in Jesus Christ. 

        So today, those who do not acknowledge a connection with God through Jesus Christ run the gamut of people who live very noble and moral and refined lives all the way to people whose lives are completely caught up in dissipations of all kinds.  People who are in their own understanding of themselves lost; people who do not know how to turn and are following every impulse, whichever way it leads them, even though they realize the impulse sometimes leads to violence and exploitation and all kinds of bad things. 

        So, it’s a pretty wide world out there that God is showing himself to in Jesus Christ.  And the question, “What do we do about Epiphany?” as we reflect on this takes on a little bit more urgency as we think about who the gentiles are that are maybe within earshot of our church.  We may find people, lovely people, who do not have a church connection.  And maybe they don’t wish for one, maybe they don’t seek one right now but they’re still within the gentile community of our area.  A church connection is not all that I mean, I mean a conscious and chosen connection with Jesus.  There are people that we know, we are neighbors with them, we’ve worked with them, we are friends with them.  How do we connect to what God is showing to us in Jesus Christ with the lives of people around us?

        Clearly, a large part of what we have to do must be live lives of Christian integrity ourselves.  That’s really the best way to talk about Jesus – is to show Jesus in the way that makes a difference in our lives.  We need to become a part of God making Jesus Christ visible to all the world.  We should seek personal integrity in the year ahead if we want to be a small part of God’s great plan of revealing himself to gentiles, to everyone who already is possibly a part of God’s great plan.  So, this living a life of integrity is a part of it.

        Being a church of integrity is another part of it.  I think it’s good for churches to know what they are about.  Some churches may have different callings, I think we have a calling that might sound a little bit boring until you stop and think about it, that calling is to be the best church that we can be.  By that I mean a worshipping community first of all.  People aren’t seeking another social service agency in this immediate area.  When they look at our building, they aren’t thinking – what sort of government programs can this non-profit organization deliver to us through the new federal initiatives?  They aren’t thinking about that sort of thing; they aren’t thinking about what new creativity might come from us in the way of providing new forms of Christian culture, new types of music, new types of liturgy. 

        What they’re wanting instead is something that might provide a community that they can feel comfortable in; a worshipping community in which they feel that they are fitting in, tucking in, feeling welcome, and feeling like they can participate without any impediments and obstacles – not having to juggle two prayer books and three hymnals and a bulletin besides.  But instead they need to come in and feel that they can follow the worship service and be part of that, and most of all to feel that when they come here they are noticed and welcomed with open hands and made to be a part of the lively worship service that often can be found here on Sunday mornings.  That integrity of the church, I think, is a large part of what we need to do about Epiphany – to show through our worship the things that God wants the world to see in Jesus Christ. 

        There are high points of the year such as Christmas when a whole lot of community people do connect with us.  Easter is another time when I expect to see people whom we don’t normally see here; perhaps also during those special services during Holy Week – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and services like that.  I have yet to experience my first Holy Week with you; I’m very much looking forward to it because it’s another time God shows Jesus Christ to the world; and the world is attentive and watching.  So, to be a church of integrity in this way is I think what God is calling us first and foremost to be.  

        And I want to emphasize that that integrity means nothing, even if our worship is as pure and focused and intellectually right and even emotionally meaningful to us as it could possibly be, that integrity means nothing to God’s greater plan unless it also includes that element of welcoming that I was mentioning a few moments ago.  That element of open arms to anyone who comes into our doors, no questions asked, no stipulations given, simply saying – yes, you need to be near God as I do too, and this is what we’d like to share with you today because you’re here.  You already do that so well.  I want to think of that as our special calling in this congregation, in this time, in this place – to be a church that welcomes the community; and the community is anyone within earshot, within friendship connections, anyone that happens to show up that might find themselves here for one reason or another on Sunday morning.  Our integrity depends upon that openness and that welcoming quality.