Choosing Epiphany

A Sermon by Dr. Carole Patrick
Preached at Urban Abbey on January 6, 2019

Today we celebrate Epiphany, which is officially the 12th day of Christmas – that day in the song when you receive 12 drummers drumming. Perhaps more important, but less known, Epiphany is the day associated with the visit of the Magi (3 Kings) to Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus in Bethlehem

Scripture tells us the 3 Kings followed a star and arrived in Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of a Savior. It represents a time when Jesus as Savior was revealed to the human race. The 3 Kings came, they saw, they believed, they gave gifts, later they shared Jesus’ existence with others. In Europe, where Epiphany is more widely celebrated than in the US, they also include in their celebration a recognition of the time when Jesus first performed miracles: when he turned water into wine; when he began to heal people. So it’s a celebration of God being present among us; God in active relationship with us.

As I was thinking about it being Epiphany, I began to wonder why this isn’t something more widely celebrated? In fact, I created a new verb – with apologies to all of my college professors – I’m wondering why it seems we don’t EPIPH much anymore? i.e., celebrate God’s presence among us? And if I’m not spending much time EPIPHING, is it possible I’m no longer expecting God to be revealed to me or in us?

I’m thinking if I really want to EPIPH (experience God), then I should be expecting God, looking for God, believing in God’s presence today and every day. And that lead me to think about a favorite book of mine and the Scripture you heard this morning from Luke 7. The book is called The Prisoner in the Third Cell, by Gene Edwards. In it, Edwards weaves the beautiful story of the contrasting ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus.

John, after the death of his parents, chose to live in the desert – praying, fasting, living in restraint and simplicity, functioning as a prophet of God and urging people – with very strong words (in your face!) to repent and await the coming of Jesus Christ. After criticizing King Herod one too many times, he was arrested and became that prisoner in the third cell.

Jesus’ public ministry, by contrast, seemed kind of cushy. He drank wine; he accepted invitations to weddings and banquets, he told interesting and sometimes humorous parables. And he had this amazing power to perform miracles.

After John was imprisoned, he sent his disciples to see Jesus in the village of Nain (Luke 7), where Jesus was preaching and healing people. John told them to ask, “Are you the Messiah, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus’ response – “The blind see, the lame walk, and the deaf hear. The gospel is being proclaimed and received with gladness – and men and women are being set free. And blessed are those who are not offended with me.” I have to be honest and tell you that last sentence has always seemed a bit strange to me.

John’s disciples returned to the prison and told him this. The only other question John asked was if EVERYONE was healed. That also seems like a strange question to me! His disciples responded that many were healed, but not ALL. In fact, Scripture says as John’s disciples left Jesus in Nain, there was a long line of people waiting to see him. But after talking with John’s disciples, Jesus got up and walked away. And I have always wondered, who was next in line? “And blessed are those who are not offended with me.”

I imagine a blind old man was guided back to his home by a friend left wondering what sight might have been like. “And blessed is he who is not offended with me.”

What if a mother returned home with her young daughter who would forever remain disfigured because of a childhood accident? Both would wonder through their lives why Jesus didn’t stay a little longer. “And blessed is she who is not offended with me.”

A sick baby would die. A deaf mute would spend the rest of his life begging at the city gate. Worst of all – there would seem to be no explanation from God. “And blessed are those who are not offended with me.”

Edwards says in his book there are days we come face to face with a God we do not understand. Such is the mystery of God’s sovereignty. Things seem to work out in ways different than we expect. “Why doesn’t God answer me?” “Why would God allow this to happen?” Some of us feel abandoned and angry. Edwards suggests the appropriate question may not be, “why do bad things happen?” Rather: “Do I choose to believe in a God I do not understand?”

And blessed are you when you can live in this gracious uncertainty, continuing to believe in a God who promised to never leave you or forsake you; whose answers are not predictable but who is present and just as available today as that first EPIPHANY with the Magi.

Dr. Brene Brown (sociologist) has done some fascinating research and writing on the connection between humans. At the beginning of her study, she found it interesting that when people were asked about some of the elements of connection, they spoke of them as their opposite:

When asked about love – they spoke of heartbreak

When asked about belonging – they spoke of exclusion

When asked about connection – they spoke about disconnection

And there was an underlying current of FEAR when it came to connecting to others that was manifested in this phrase: I’m not ____ enough. Brown spent six years interviewing people and studying data, and when she looked at what variables were separating those who truly felt love or belonging or connection from those who didn’t, one thing stood out: those who felt it BELIEVED they were worthy. Brown called it the courage to be imperfect or whole hearted.

So true connection with others is a result of authenticity (communicating with heart); and it was people who were willing to let go of who they think they should be to be who they ARE who truly connected with others. They were willing to invest in something that might not work. They were will to risk. They were willing to be VULNERABLE.

Another big discovery for Brown was that vulnerability appears to be the birthplace of joy, creativity, belonging and love: “Why do we struggle with connection? Because we prefer to numb ourselves instead of feel vulnerable. We are the most in debt, obese, addicted, medicated adult cohort in US history. When faced with difficulty, we hide behind a glass of wine, a banana nut muffin, some Xanax and a little online shopping.”

We can’t numb bad emotions and hard feelings without also numbing joy, gratitude, and happiness; they’re part of a continuum. Have you ever seen an up without a down? A front without a back? A top without a bottom? You can’t have one without the other. If you take away sad, you take away happy too.

Brown suggests there is another way – it involves allowing ourselves and others to BOTH be imperfect AND worthy of love and belonging. When we take risks, when we act vulnerable, when it doesn’t go the way we expected – BLESSED are you! You are still loved and you still belong in your perfectly imperfect state.

How do we keep going?

Practice gratitude and joy (practice becomes habit)

Be kinder to yourself and others (practice becomes habit)

Remember the good (hearts changed)

So I’m encouraging myself and you to EPIPH. To believe that God can still be experienced today among our joys and sorrows; within our celebrations and our disappointments. If we look and if we choose. If we choose to EPIPH – if we look around us with a bit of that vulnerability that Brown talked about – I believe we will see God revealed in the faces and lives and experiences of those we love, of those we like, of those we don’t like so much, and of those with whom we’re in community and relationship.

God is present in the birthing room and the funeral home. In the homeless shelter and in the comfort of your living room. In the catastrophes and in the blessings. In the love and in the hate. In your sadness and in your joy – IF YOU CHOOSE.

May we be a people who never stop choosing Epiphany.