“Had an Epiphany Lately

̶= 0;Had an Epiphany Lately?”

John = 1:1-14

Providence<= /st1:City> United Presbyterian Church=

Janua= ry 4, 2009 (Epiphany Sunday)

Rev. = Dr. Mary Jane Hitt

&= nbsp; So is Christmas over at your house – the tree down, decorations packed a= way, leftovers eaten, thank you notes written?&= nbsp; Has life gone back to “normal” (whatever that is!)? In the days leading up to the holi= day, we sang, “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute,” = but eventually, enough is enough. It’s hard to sustain all the demands of Christmas – the shopping and gift-giving, baking and cooking, the visitors, the disruptions. The day comes wh= en it’s time to get on with life – time to put Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus back in the box until next Christmas rolls around.

&= nbsp; But not so fast. You have already noticed that Christmas isn’t over here at the church. The manger scene is still in place= . The trees are still lit. The wreaths are still hanging. Here at church, the story continues today on this Epiphany Sunday. This is the day to remember the story I told the children – the story of t= he Magi, astrologers from the area we know as Iraq, who read the stars and saw something that led them on a journey to Israel. They followed one particular star = to Bethlehem, where = they found Mary and her son Jesus, and they knelt to worship him and gave him gifts. That’s the story= we tell on Epiphany, January 6, each year.

&= nbsp; But what’s an “epiphany,” anyway? The word comes from the Greek, and simply means an appearance or manifestation of the divine. The Magi had an epiphany – a manifestation of the divine – first as they studied their star charts, and then when they encountered the living Son of God, Jesus, in Bethlehem. Of course, they weren’t the = only people to have epiphanies in the Christmas story. At the very beginning, Mary had an epiphany when the angel Gabriel appeared to tell her what God was going to = do; Joseph had an epiphany when the angel revealed God’s plan to him; the shepherds had an epiphany when the light of God filled the sky and the ange= ls revealed the birth of Jesus to them. The Christmas story is a story of epiphanies – a story of how = God manifested Godself two thousand years ago to ordinary people.

&= nbsp; But that’s not all it is, bec= ause the Christmas story is the story of the coming of Emmanuel – God with us (not just God with them, but God with us) – and so we, too, experience epiphanies in our own time and place. The baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger is a sweet image, but that baby brew up to rev= eal the light of God to all people, including us. So I ask, have you had an epiphany – a divine “aha moment” – lately?

&= nbsp; And what would that look like, you may be wondering. Would an angel appear to you as the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and Joseph?= Would heaven up with hosts of angels singing to you? Would you look up in the sky and s= ee a star that would lead you to God? I don’t think so. And to = tell the truth, I would be terrified, just like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds were, if an angel appeared to me with a message from God. But I am completely persuaded that= God does reveal Godself to us, these many years after the birth of Jesus. I believe, without a shadow of a d= oubt, that God still appears to us with a message of hope and love and grace, in = our own time and place.

&= nbsp; Think about it. <= /p>

Think about a dark time in = your life when somehow – you really can’t explain it – a light broke through;
a time when you were wander= ing through life in confusion when suddenly – you really can’t explain it – a moment of clarity sorted it all out; <= /span>
a time when you were blinde= d by fear and out of the blue – you really can’t explain it = 211; you felt a deep sense of peace cast out your panic.

Maybe= you were at worship with the gathered community of faith when it happened, or m= aybe you were all alone; maybe you were praying, or maybe you were just reading a book; maybe you were awake or maybe you were asleep; maybe you were receivi= ng communion at the Lord’s Table or maybe you were just sitting at the s= upper table; maybe you were reading your Bible or maybe you were watching TV; but= something happened. Light broke through; clarity broke through; peace broke through. You had a divine “aha moment.” You had an epi= phany – a manifestation of God.

&= nbsp; It is these glimpses of God that sustain our lives. It is these moments, when God break= s into the darkness and confusion and fear of our lives, that assure us that God is always with us. And that̵= 7;s the story of Christmas. Not j= ust the story of the baby Jesus who gets pulled out of his cardboard box once a yea= r, but the story of Emmanuel – God with us, every single day. And so it is that even though the = tree is down and the decorations are packed away; the leftovers are long gone and the thank you notes are in the mail, Christmas is not over. Christmas is never over.

&= nbsp; I end with the words of Presbyterian poet Ann Weems:

It is not over,

this birthing.

There are always newer skies

into which<= /span>

God can throw stars.

When we begin to think

that we can predict the Advent of God,

that we can box the Ch= rist

in a stable in Bethlehem= ,

that’s just the = time

that God will be born

in a place we can̵= 7;t imagine and won’t believe.

Those who wait for god

watch with their heart= s and not their eyes,

listening

always listening<= o:p>

= for angel words. =

Thank= s be to God. Amen.<= /p>