This past Thursday was the 12th
day of Christmas, also known as Epiphany, the celebration of the manifestation
of Jesus Christ to the world. That’s the
general definition of this day.
More specifically, Epiphany remembers three
different things: Jesus’ baptism, Jesus’ first miracle, when he changed water
into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, as well as the visit of the magi,
although this understanding came quite a bit later. This morning’s passage, at least on the
surface speaks to the third of these understandings in that we hear the words
of gold and frankincense.
However, how these words were originally
understood were as God’s ability to bring light to a situation that was so very
bleak and gloomy. In its original
context, these words stood as a beacon of hope that the people of
Darkness comes in a whole lot of different
forms and my guess is if we went around the pews here this morning (don’t
worry, we’re not), we would be able to find as many difficulties as we have
people in attendance. We have been told
that there is a light to help quell that darkness. The thing is, are we going to open our eyes
and lift our heads to see where the light is shining? A light can shine in the darkness but if we
are unwilling to seek it out, it will do us no good. We need to lift our countenance, observe the
light and bring all that we have, and all that we are. The scripture reads this way.
Isaiah 60:1-6
60 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and
the glory of the Lord has risen
upon you. 2 For darkness
shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory
will appear over you. 3 Nations
shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 Lift
up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your
sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their
nurses’ arms. 5 Then you
shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance
of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to
you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the
young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from
“Look!”
Christmas gift opening has felt very
different from the Christmas’s of my youth.
As a kid, I remember sneaking downstairs to see if Santa had arrived,
and then would sit on the top step of the staircase waiting with anxious
excitement for my parents to awake.
However, up until I jumped into the deep end of the parenting pool, it
had lost its joy. Maybe that’s what
happens when you and your siblings grow up.
You forget the joy of opening a gift and just being wowed. Back then, it didn’t matter what was
underneath the paper, because you became excited by whatever was revealed.
However, and thankfully so, I was led to jump
into the joy that is parenthood and over the last seven years I have been
reminded year after year of the joy of gift giving and receiving. The extended part of my side of the family
was able to do this on New Year’s Day.
Now, at this point, I almost expect the kids to have a great time. But this year I watched my youngest brother
Kyle have an equally great time giving a gift to
Now Kyle is my little brother, but he is not
little. His 27 year old frame towers
above me by a solid five inches. But he
is still very much a kid at heart. Now
Kyle knows that
So there is my five year old, horribly
excited about the idea of becoming Iron Man, and there is his 27 year old uncle
equally excited to see his nephew ‘become’ Iron Man. As soon as the mask was removed from the box
(which was no small task, mind you!), Kyle dug in with an excitement that I
haven’t seen in years, getting the mask to fit
It was just great to be able to see and
experience that joy. In an of itself,
that was an amazing gift.
It is in this vein of gift giving that we
hear this morning’s passage that speaks, as the Isaiah passage on Christmas Eve
spoke of as well, of a light coming into the world to help lead the lives of
those who had dwelled in darkness.
We know that the gift that is spoken of in
these verses is Jesus. Through the eyes
of faith, we know that this is the case.
And yet, at least as how we respond to it, there are way too many of us
who have become coarsened to this truth.
The reason that I say this is because we act
like the light of Christ as we receive it in the words of the nativity and in
our passage this morning, are something that we are in control of, like we can
use it, or return it, at our discretion.
The light of Christ is not a commodity!
The light of Christ is a gift that we need to learn how to receive like
a youngster saying, “Look at the gift that was given to me! How lucky am I! Somebody must really love me!”
Because here’s the thing: God does love
you. God loves you so much that he would
send his son into the world to live, die, and be raised so that we might have
the opportunity to be brought back into a right relationship with the
Almighty.
We celebrate communion not because we’re
remembering ‘a really good guy’ but because the gift that we have received is
one that needs to be recognized and celebrated often. The breaking of the bread and the sharing of
the cup is a time to remember that the love of God is a precious gift, a gift
that should implore us to say to ourselves, and all those around us, “Look at
what has been given to us!”
I had been receiving communion
for 11 years before I was able to assist in administering it. The first time that I was able to do this was
at
It started out without a
hitch. Then I started to think about
what I was doing, what I had become a part of, and all of a sudden I wasn’t
just handing out bread or saying a few nice words anymore: I was sharing and remembering
the gift of light that is Jesus the Christ.
By the time the second group of
people had come forward, I was just weeping.
I pretty sure the minister was looking at me thinking, “What is wrong
with this kid? Did he stub his toe? Did someone dislocate his finger while they
were trying to tear off some bread?
What’s the matter here?”
But it wasn’t at all that
anything was wrong. It was that I had
been reminded in a very real way that this meal is a special time to remember
just how amazing the gift of Jesus truly is.
In that service of communion I was reminded of how Jesus is anything but
a commodity. In that service I was
reminded that Jesus is the light that will guide me regardless of the darkness
that I have placed myself in. Jesus is
that light. Jesus is that gift. As I think back on it now, it felt a lot like
Kyle and Austin a little over a week ago: so grateful to be connected to one
another in a loving relationship.
Communion represents the gift that is found in the light of Jesus Christ. How will you receive it? Like someone who has seen it all and is
horribly unimpressed?
Or like a child, who declares in wonder, “Look!” Remember the words of Jesus as he said to his
disciples, “Let the children come unto me, and do not stop them for the kingdom
of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Open your heart, soul, and mind to the fact that in the light of Christ
we have truly received an amazing gift.
Open your life as you open that gift again in communion and declare
boldly, as only a child knows how, “Look!”
After Sermon Prayer
Holy and
gracious Lord, You truly are the gift of all gifts and yet there are many days
when we live as if what You have given is so commonplace. Open us up to the truth that Your light is
that which is able to redeem, and transform; Your light is the gift that is
able to make us say to the entirety of the world, “Look! Look at how much I am loved!” It is in Jesus’ name that we do pray. Amen.