I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.
Familiar
words, I’m sure,- enshrined in our national consciousness after
George VI used them in his Christmas broadcast in 1939, just a year
before Provost Howard spoke into a world where the unknown had become
real and very frightening…
Words
that my high school headteacher loved to share in the 1st
assembly of the Lent term.
For
the moment, let’s
not rush ahead and remember how
the verse continues but
rather reflect
on the journey
that
each new year represents. I suspect I’m
not alone in feeling
that things are more precarious, more challenging in our national
life than they’ve been, pretty
much in my lifetime.
And though you may feel your
own circumstances are pretty stable, there are bound to be some
surprises ahead, both welcome
and more
problematic.
The fifty
two
weeks that it takes our
planet to complete its orbit around the sun offer
time enough for all sorts of things to happen.
So
that plea “Give me a light” is real, and immediate, specially if
you know there are decisions to make this year.
I’m
not great at that. I often wish that God would decide for me, say,
only half jokingly, that I long for a sign, “some sky writing would
be good, Lord, telling me exactly where I should go and what I should
be doing.”
Give
me a light.
Of
course, Matthew’s wise men seem to have had exactly that privilege,
light and to spare for their journey.
An
Epiphany.
A
moment of clarity when God is revealed, when we can say with no doubt
that God is here
So-
for the wise men, perhaps their epiphany came with the rising of the
star…their very own sky-writing, telling them where to go, what to
seek.
“Arise,
shine for your light is come”
Certainly,
they seem to start out on their journey confident that they know
where they are heading…all they have to do is to follow their star.
Though
I'd guess that the Christmas card scenes that present it as obviously
the one and only REAL star in the heavens
might
be
distorting the truth slightly…Step outside on a clear night and the
sky tells a different story, even here
in Coventry.
Look
up.
See
for yourself.
Of
course, looking up might be quite a
challenge if you’re feeling overwhelmed personally or politically
as the year begins. Looking
down and feeling sad may seem more natural – but you’ll miss so
much if you stay that way.
Look
up and yes, the sky will be dark but in the darkness are countless
stars...stars that are always there, of course, but only visible when
night falls.
So,
our wise travellers
looked up
-and
saw something that others missed.
More,
they
chose to focus on that
light,
rather than the surrounding darkness and so they
set
the tone for their journey.
To
focus on light rather than darkness is always, in every circumstance,
an act of faith.
It’s
not blind optimism but hope rooted in experience.
But
– that doesnt guarantee plain sailing.
This
journey of faith was not, is
not,
for the fainthearted. The
wise men needed
took courage and conviction to stay the distance and wisdom to
discern when the journey was really over. It seemed only
common sense
that the royal palace should be their first port of call...A star
presaging the birth of a king must surely point
to
a kingly place – except that this
new king confounds expectations at every turn. Our travellers have
drifted
off course, followed their own assumptions and so come
face to face with someone
for whom the gospel is
anything
but good news. Herod responds with the anger born of frightened self
interest when the wise men ask to see the one born “King of the
Jews”.
You might remember that the next time Jesus is
hailed as “King of the Jews” is as he confronts worldly authority
once again, in the events leading up to the crucifixion, and the
shedding of innocent blood. It’s the same here, of course. God's
arrival in our world is quite unlike the sweet and gentle scenes of
our Christmas cards and carols. It ushers in mass murder and a young
family forced to flee for their lives. But for all the violence and
fear,nothing in all creation will be able to escape the touch of
God's mighty act of salvation. Not Herod, not Rome. Nothing.
Meanwhile,
though, our travellers have still not had their real
epiphany. They have seen a king but not THE king. Perhaps they'd made
a mistake in setting out? Wasted time, energy…
“The
voices ringing in their ears that this was all folly”
Should
they admit defeat? Head
for home?
But
they were determined to go the distance and followed the directions
provided, directions that sent them away from the seat of power, from
splendid palaces to an obscure village – yet still not least among
the princes of Judah, perhaps.
As
the wise men left Herod’s presence, they saw the star ahead of them
once again.
“Your
light has come...”
Yet
this was still not their true epiphany. The star-light led them on to
a very ordinary house – where all their expectations were
subverted.
Your
light has come
God
a toddler, cuddled up in his mother’s arms…
Emmanuel.
God with us.
It
might have seemed an anticlimax.
No
angel choirs or fiery messengers, no earthquakes or thundering voice
but an everyday scene repeated in countless homes across the world.
Already,
in this epiphany, if they were truly wise, our travellers could
discern the signs of the times, could recognise the nature of the
kingdom. It was, and it is, a kingdom that included the little and
the least, the poor and the weak. A kingdom that welcomes those who
were searching, those who have wandered in the wrong direction for a
little while. A kingdom for insiders and people from beyond the edges
of society, Jews and Gentiles, those already at home and sojournors
in a strange land
The
magi had come far to worship a new king, yet found themselves somehow
at home and welcome in his kingdom.
The
Franciscan writer Richard Rohr says this
An epiphany is an experience that transforms everything, and
before you can do anything with it, it does something to you... it
always seems to demand a change in people‘s lives. To live with a
faith that makes room for Epiphany leaves us on our heels, ready to
step out to wherever it is that God may be revealed
The
paradox, of course, is that we may not have to travel far at all.
We
don’t really need to go looking for God in rare and particular
places. Instead, in the child born in Bethlehem, God has sought us
out and come to dwell with
us
in the midst of all of our humanity.
Emmanuel.
God
with us as we begin our journey into the year ahead.
Your
light has come
We
can seek that light in other places that carry the promise of
epiphany - in the company of those who are hungry and thirsty, the
sick and the imprisoned, the lonely and those stripped of their
dignity; - among people who turn from the destructive powers in their
life and in this world, to discover new strength from God; among
those called to leave the familiar behind and step out in new
directions; - wherever people experiences healing and new life or
moments of forgiveness and new love.
Truth
is, as Richard Rohr continues “if
God can be manifest in a baby [born] in a poor stable for the
unwanted, then we better be ready for God just about anywhere and in
anybody.”
“Anywhere
and in anybody”…..
Arise,
shine, for your light has come.
The
arrival of the Light of the World in our midst enables us to shine
with reflected glory. As the moon has no light of its own, but
reflects so beautifully the flaming radiance of the sun, so we, in
all our mundane humanity, can and should shine…
The
light that drew the magi to the house in Bethlehem, that showed them
God in the ordinary, should shine through us as well and we should
expect to see it in other places and other people too.…
That’s
why I’m an enthusiast for the old European tradition of chalking
the doors – a visual prayer on the lintel that Christ will bless
the home with his presence – a reminder to me and a sign to others
that I WANT mine to be the sort of home where his presence can be
felt, his love shared. I’ve a pocket full of chalk if you want to
mark your home too…to remember as you come and go that the Lord is
here. There really is no need to travel far to seek him.
So,
as you go forward into this new year, be alert to celebrate epiphany
wherever you encounter God. It won't be just in this building, that's
for sure...nor simply at the the high moments of life In all times
and places and people, even the most pedestrian and apparently
uninspiring...because, after all, what good is it if we only see God
on high days an holidays…
Most
of life is quite difficult, even dull...it can seem dreary, dark –
but remember – the magi looked UP and saw the beauty of the night
sky...revealed only because of the darkness.
So,
even in our own lives, and even in our own times of gathering gloom,
we may come to experience the glory of God through Jesus Christ
Your
light has come – so, as Minnie Haskins wrote long ago
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