Once there was a very famous and wealthy judge, who had to travel to the next town, to hear a court case. It was a long and arduous route through a mountain pass, during the winter, It was cold and snowy, and the roads were often dangerous for violence and thievery. On the return trip, the judge was attacked, and his horse stolen. Nevertheless, he escaped with his life. A violent snowstorm came up, and the road ahead of him disappeared into swirling and blowing drifts of snow. The judge became lost and disoriented. Yet he had to keep going, or he would fall asleep in the snow and never wake up. So, he struggled on, getting colder and more tired with each step. Just when he thought he could no longer go on, he saw a faint light off in the trees. As he got closer, he realised it was a small shack he had passed on his way through to the next town. He reached the door of the shack and knocked, asking “Please let me in, or I will freeze to death.” The door opened, and he was welcomed into a tiny and poor place, with a table, a small place for sleeping, and a small fireplace. As the judge warmed himself by the fire, the old man who opened the door offered him some tea. Carefully, the man brought down a cracked and chipped cup, and an old pot for tea. He apologised to the judge for the poverty of his place, and the condition of the tea cup, but explained that it was all he had. The judge, touched by the man’s honesty, responded “Out of your poverty you have offered me the very best of what you have. You have honoured me with your generosity. I will not forget this.”
Human bodies are amazing. An adult person has somewhere around 60,000 miles of blood vessels, and about 15 million blood cells being produced and destroyed every single second.
There are 640 muscles in your body which account for about half of your weight. There are about 200 in your buttocks and about five in each eyelid, which keep you blinking, even when you are not aware.
Did you know the average adult is covered with twenty square feet of skin, enough to cover a queen-sized bed - and it’s constantly renewing itself. If it were all stretched out flat, it would be enough to blanket a queen-size bed. Seventy percent of the dust in your house is your old skin. Over an average lifetime, a person loses forty pounds of skin—and yet most of us still seem to be gaining weight. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we still have enough fat in our bodies to produce seven bars of soap.
With all the intricacies of the human body, however, a strikingly small change can have drastic results. Just after I turned 30, I got Bell’s Palsy - one of the symptoms of Bell’s Palsy is a loss of motor function on one side of the face, including the eyelid muscles. You can no longer blink - and without blinking, what happens? What happens if a child accidentally takes several iron tablets? Or not enough? The tiniest of things can make such a difference in the body. If you lose your little toe, what happens to balance? If you lose an eye, what happens to vision and depth perception?
In one of today’s lessons, Paul addresses his remarks to the congregation in the Greek city of Corinth. There was a controversy over what kind of role women should be allowed to play in the church. There were arguments about whether or not meat had to be kosher, or whether Gentiles had to be circumcised. There was still a large gap between the rich and the poor. The rich ate their own food before the communal meal because they had better food than the poor people, and didn’t want to share. There was tension and conflict between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Those who were Jews thought new converts should adhere to “the way we do things here”. In other words, it wasn't entirely a lot different than a lot of churches today.
We think we understand this passage, to the point where we may miss some of the deeper connotations of the metaphor. Before Paul talks about the church as a body, he first spends some time discussing the importance of the Spirit. The first verses of the chapter are about the gifts that are given by the Spirit. Paul was writing in Greek, something which is important for this text. In Greek the word for "spirit" is the same as the word for "breath." Today, we've made a distinction between “clinical death” when someone is unable to breathe or maintain a heartbeat on their own and “brain death” when there is complete and irreversible cessation of brain activity. In Paul's time, one just checked to see if someone was breathing. The breath, the spirit, gave a body life. Absence of breathm absence of Spirit, meant death. Paul's analogy of the church as the body of Christ must have the Holy Spirit in order to be alive. Without this Spirit, the Breath of God, the body of Christ is dead. The parts of the body, and the abilities the body has are, in Paul’s description, gifts given to the church to be used. Paul says that the church needs to keep itself focused on the Spirit that gives life, and to allow that Spirit to infuse every part of the body of Christ. For if that Spirit is not with us, then none of the parts of the body are able to do what they are meant to do.
Just as that occurred in Corinth in the first century, so it happens all the time in North America in the twenty-first century. Granted, circumcision or kosher meat are not big issues for most of us. Instead we debate homosexuality and abortion. Yet some of the issues do remain the same. We have not reached consensus completely on questions like the role of women in church leadership. We still have a hard time including the poor, and ethnic minorities in an institution that is largely dominated by fairly well off white leaders. In either time - then or now - the division within the body plays itself out in a very similar way: people divide into groups, create labels, and pit themselves against those who don't fit. For Paul it was the Jews versus the Greeks and slave versus free. Today, we have the fundamentalists versus feminists, liberationists versus literalists, the premillenialists versus the postmodernists and so on.
Paul’s advice is to view one another not as opponents, but as members of the same body with different gifts and functions—gifts that are complementary rather than contradictory. And, says Paul, since the gifts are given to us by the Spirit, we are also called to offer those gifts, regardless of how good, or how poor we think they are.
Paul makes it clear that it shouldn't be that way. The church should be a place where all of our divisions are left behind, where political affiliation and income bracket and educational level simply don't matter, a place where the bonds of unity through the Holy Spirit take precedence over divisions of race or age or creed. The goal of the church is not to make everyone look the same and do the same things and think the same ways. Rather the church is a place where all of our different gifts can be affirmed and used for the glory of God through the Body of Christ. There is no gift too small or insignificant that it cannot be offered to God.
The hymn this morning “As with Gladness”, includes the line “All our costliest treasures bring....”. What does that mean? Money? Expensive pianos or pipe organs? What do we have that is most important for the church? The poor man offered the judge all of the very best of what he had. If the situation had been reversed, would the judge have offered the man tea out of his best cups? Not likely. Yet the man gave without restraint from his own meagre resources, in a cracked and chipped cup which was the best of what he had.
So, given that we have been given these wonderful gifts of the Spirit, we are also to give the best of what we have - of time, of talent, or wealth, of our very selves. What is our costliest treasure? Isn’t it this? Our selves?
Sources:
1. All Our Costliest Treasures, based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 by Fran Ota, January 2010.
2. Body and Spirit based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 by Rev. Richard Gehring
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
“Living Water” A sermon based on Luke 3: 17 - 23 Humber United Church, January 13, 2013
Luke : People's hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah. So John said to all of them, “I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. In many different ways John preached the Good News to the people and urged them to change their ways. After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, the clouds parted, and the Holy Spirit came down upon in bodily form like a dove. And he heard a voice, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.”
****************************************************************************
Far into the imaginary future of this universe, there is a desert planet called Dune. With the exception of giant desert sandworms, it is believed there is nothing else on Dune, except a handful of a small group of people who call themselves Fremen. It is believed there is no water on Dune. The only commodity on this planet is an addictive spice which is mined from the sand. But there is water on Dune - hidden in large underground reservoirs, slowly and painstakingly collected by desert dwellers called Fremen. This dry, desert planet was once green and fertile, till people destroyed it with their desire to use its resources for their own wealth. The Fremen are saving up enough water to begin replanting and re-greening their home. Water and life are one and the same thing.
****************************************************************************
Here on this earth, in this lifetime, water brings both life and death. In the river flowing through the new creation, the water is life itself. In the river flowing through Bangkok, human waste, food waste and industrial garbage flow to the sea, and in the rainy season, cholera, typhoid and parasites are prevalent. In this same water, people bathe and wash their clothes; and do their cooking. They are well aware that the water which gives life for some, gives death to others. There is no choice. The water of life is also the water of death.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, trees have been so consistently cut down for homes and fuel, that the desert has taken over - water is a rare commodity. For years, rain has barely fallen at all. When the water does come, disease is a very real problem. People die without rain, they die with rain. A child’s life expectancy is about five years, if even that.
Recently, water in all its forms has been the source of much death. A tsunami resulting from a Point 9.5 earthquake killed thousands and destroyed much that was once green. Nuclear power plants depend on water for cooling the core, but once the reaction becomes critical, the very water itself becomes poison. Levees broke in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, killing and washing away most of a city, with the poorest of the poor suffering the most. Those levees threaten to break again, if another such storm comes through.
All around Ontario, there are communities which have no clean water. Early in ministry, a town quite near me suffered several deaths from water which had not been properly monitored and treated. Here in Newfoundland, the water supplies in nearby towns can contain enough bacteria that boil water orders are issued. We are outraged when people die from poor water - shouldn’t happen here, we say. Yet where is our outrage when people in our aboriginal communities have no clean water? Where is our outrage when children die around the world for lack of clean water?
Michigan State University sits on top of one of the four largest dump sites in the United States. The water in student housing is said to be safe and drinkable, yet baby formula will not mix properly, and boiling the water produces an oily slick on the surface, which adheres to the cup. Toronto’s garbage is being shipped to Michigan, because we’d rather pollute someone else’s drinking water than our own.
Water in the Christian faith is used as the symbol of new life. We use water, either in a font, or in immersion, in a river or the ocean - to symbolise the death of the old person - going beneath the water as Jesus did, and rising a new person. In this age of infant baptism, the whole symbolism of dying and rising is lost. Baptism has become about doing something - we get the baby “done”, not because it’s important in a religious way, but because family puts pressure. Part of me wonders how baptising a child can be symbolic of dying with Jesus and rising out of the waters of life a new person.
- and yet baptism is not about what we do, but about what God does. As Jesus rose out of the waters of the river, he heard a voice - “You are my son and I am proud of you.” - and it’s interesting that
up to this point, Jesus hasn’t really done anything for God to be proud. He’s been born to Mary at a really inconvenient time, forcing her to go into labor while spending the night in a pretty awful place. He caused his parents worry when he was twelve by wandering off during a trip to Jerusalem and staying lost for three days. He did what hundreds, if not thousands of people were doing in the Jordan river, a baptism in the river - a mikvah, a cleansing.
In the Isaiah reading God says to the people, “I have called you by name, you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and you will not be overwhelmed;” Significant, I think, that water comes in here - Jesus “passes through” the waters, and is called by name.
Baptism is a statement about identity. We are all children of God, whether baptised by water, or by Spirit. - and I think it is really significant took that while Jesus goes down, and is immersed in the Jordan to be baptised, the Spirit is also there. Child of God, you are beloved and I am proud of you. All of God’s children, whether baptised with the water of life, or with the spirit of life.
I think that is why water is so important in this identity: it’s something we encounter every day in one form or another, and is absolutely necessary for maintaining and sustaining our lives. And every time we encounter it, whether we’re brushing our teeth or making our coffee or washing our hands or even shoveling some of this unbelievable Newfoundland snow, we can remember that we are children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So as you walk through life, remember how important water is - not just for our physical life, but also our spiritual life. Baptism is not something we do once and forget about.....it should be something we carry with us, as close as water - the symbol of our naming and our identity. May it be so.
Sources:
1. “The Water of Life”, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota January 2006.
2. “Dune”, science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, 1965
3. Baptism and Christian Identity, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
****************************************************************************
Far into the imaginary future of this universe, there is a desert planet called Dune. With the exception of giant desert sandworms, it is believed there is nothing else on Dune, except a handful of a small group of people who call themselves Fremen. It is believed there is no water on Dune. The only commodity on this planet is an addictive spice which is mined from the sand. But there is water on Dune - hidden in large underground reservoirs, slowly and painstakingly collected by desert dwellers called Fremen. This dry, desert planet was once green and fertile, till people destroyed it with their desire to use its resources for their own wealth. The Fremen are saving up enough water to begin replanting and re-greening their home. Water and life are one and the same thing.
****************************************************************************
Here on this earth, in this lifetime, water brings both life and death. In the river flowing through the new creation, the water is life itself. In the river flowing through Bangkok, human waste, food waste and industrial garbage flow to the sea, and in the rainy season, cholera, typhoid and parasites are prevalent. In this same water, people bathe and wash their clothes; and do their cooking. They are well aware that the water which gives life for some, gives death to others. There is no choice. The water of life is also the water of death.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, trees have been so consistently cut down for homes and fuel, that the desert has taken over - water is a rare commodity. For years, rain has barely fallen at all. When the water does come, disease is a very real problem. People die without rain, they die with rain. A child’s life expectancy is about five years, if even that.
Recently, water in all its forms has been the source of much death. A tsunami resulting from a Point 9.5 earthquake killed thousands and destroyed much that was once green. Nuclear power plants depend on water for cooling the core, but once the reaction becomes critical, the very water itself becomes poison. Levees broke in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, killing and washing away most of a city, with the poorest of the poor suffering the most. Those levees threaten to break again, if another such storm comes through.
All around Ontario, there are communities which have no clean water. Early in ministry, a town quite near me suffered several deaths from water which had not been properly monitored and treated. Here in Newfoundland, the water supplies in nearby towns can contain enough bacteria that boil water orders are issued. We are outraged when people die from poor water - shouldn’t happen here, we say. Yet where is our outrage when people in our aboriginal communities have no clean water? Where is our outrage when children die around the world for lack of clean water?
Michigan State University sits on top of one of the four largest dump sites in the United States. The water in student housing is said to be safe and drinkable, yet baby formula will not mix properly, and boiling the water produces an oily slick on the surface, which adheres to the cup. Toronto’s garbage is being shipped to Michigan, because we’d rather pollute someone else’s drinking water than our own.
Water in the Christian faith is used as the symbol of new life. We use water, either in a font, or in immersion, in a river or the ocean - to symbolise the death of the old person - going beneath the water as Jesus did, and rising a new person. In this age of infant baptism, the whole symbolism of dying and rising is lost. Baptism has become about doing something - we get the baby “done”, not because it’s important in a religious way, but because family puts pressure. Part of me wonders how baptising a child can be symbolic of dying with Jesus and rising out of the waters of life a new person.
- and yet baptism is not about what we do, but about what God does. As Jesus rose out of the waters of the river, he heard a voice - “You are my son and I am proud of you.” - and it’s interesting that
up to this point, Jesus hasn’t really done anything for God to be proud. He’s been born to Mary at a really inconvenient time, forcing her to go into labor while spending the night in a pretty awful place. He caused his parents worry when he was twelve by wandering off during a trip to Jerusalem and staying lost for three days. He did what hundreds, if not thousands of people were doing in the Jordan river, a baptism in the river - a mikvah, a cleansing.
In the Isaiah reading God says to the people, “I have called you by name, you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and you will not be overwhelmed;” Significant, I think, that water comes in here - Jesus “passes through” the waters, and is called by name.
Baptism is a statement about identity. We are all children of God, whether baptised by water, or by Spirit. - and I think it is really significant took that while Jesus goes down, and is immersed in the Jordan to be baptised, the Spirit is also there. Child of God, you are beloved and I am proud of you. All of God’s children, whether baptised with the water of life, or with the spirit of life.
I think that is why water is so important in this identity: it’s something we encounter every day in one form or another, and is absolutely necessary for maintaining and sustaining our lives. And every time we encounter it, whether we’re brushing our teeth or making our coffee or washing our hands or even shoveling some of this unbelievable Newfoundland snow, we can remember that we are children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So as you walk through life, remember how important water is - not just for our physical life, but also our spiritual life. Baptism is not something we do once and forget about.....it should be something we carry with us, as close as water - the symbol of our naming and our identity. May it be so.
Sources:
1. “The Water of Life”, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota January 2006.
2. “Dune”, science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, 1965
3. Baptism and Christian Identity, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Saturday, January 5, 2013
“Aha!!!” Matthew 2:1-12 Epiphany Sunday January 6, 2013
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, in the territory of Judah- during the reign of King Herod - a band of scholars and astrologers arrived in Jerusalem from Persia. They asked , “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.” When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified - and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religious scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” They told him, “Bethlehem, in Judah. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by Herod, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the house where the child lived. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother. Overcome, they bowed before him, then opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country by another way.
*****************************************************************************
A friend of mine, Anna Murdock, is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. Anna says “My mother and brother are enjoying searching through old church records for pieces of family history. When I walked into Mom's house this evening, she handed me a piece of paper and said, "Sit down and read this. I want to watch your face." So I did. It was a bit of history of Society Baptist Church out in the country near the town where she lives. The church was organized in 1821 and some charter members are Mom's ancestors evidently. It lists some charges made against church members ...
Failing to abide by church's established doctrine; drinking; operating a moonshine still; cursing;
un-Christian conduct; and COMMUNING WITH METHODISTS!
Rev. Jody Seymour at Davidson United Methodist Church in North Carolina, says: “People who journey without being changed are nomads. People who change without going on a journey are chameleons. People who go on a journey and are changed by the journey are pilgrims.”
January 6, today, is Epiphany. Every year, the lectionary brings us the Magi. Every year we take all the elements of three years’ worth of biblical story and scrunch it down into roughly six weeks - four of Advent, one for Christmas, and one for Epiphany. We tend to forget that this was a story played out over several years, and with many layers of meaning.
The Greek historian Herodotus cites the Magi as Medeans living in Persia, which at the time of Jesus’ birth was part of the Parthian Empire. They were scientists, priests, astrologers, and existed for around five thousand years; they were almost certainly Zoroastrians. They were not just 'wise men,' but an entire social class of priests and sages.
“They were the center of spiritual-political authority through the ages of several great empires. They interpreted dreams and were responsible for sacred rituals, including animal sacrifices. The Magi may have even been responsible for crowning any new ruler who came to power. If true, then to be crowned without the favor of the Magi would jeopardize the legitimacy of any king.
The Magi believed that the stars could be used to predict the birth of great rulers. They believed that the next great ruler was about to be born: the "king of the Jews." But even so, why visit the newborn king of a foreign nation? It is not implausible to assume that the main intention of the Magi was diplomatic in origin. If a new king had been born, it would prove useful to pay tribute to him and his family. They may have assumed that Herod, the ruler of Judea and Palestine, had produced a son, an heir to his seat of power, who would exceed his father's legacy by leaps and bounds. Rome and Parthia were the two "superpowers" of the era, and Palestine was a significant part of the political view.”
Well, what did they find in Jerusalem? Herod had syphilis, was paranoid and almost dead. There was a laundry list of people happy to take his place, and help him along to the next world if need be. He had killed his previous wife and several sons out of suspicion that they were trying to kill him. He knew the new king was not one of his offspring. So he consulted with advisors, found out about the prophecy, and determined to find this usurper to his power.
After a journey of about 1300 miles into a foreign country, the Magi found Mary, Joseph and the child who was approximately two. What went through the minds of these aristocrats as they met this peasant couple of a different race and religion? The gifts they brought imply a legitimising of the rule of this king. They were not Jewish. They were foreigners, Gentiles, considered pagan. If you look closely at your Christmas cards, you might see that tradition has one of them African, one Asian, and one Caucasian. Nowhere in the text does it say there were three - there could have been more.
Magi, rich and influential Zoroastrian priests, scholars and astrologers - made a pilgrimage to a town in a country more than a thousand miles from their home. They saw a convergence of celestial phenomena which they believed heralded the birth of a new king, perhaps even a new kind of king. They travelled an incredible distance, even by today’s reckonings, found the one they were seeking, and when they did presented incredibly expensive and significant gifts, and according to Matthew, worshipped the baby. They were not of the same faith as Jesus’ family, yet somehow what they found transcended any individual faith. Even these scholars and priests had an “Aha!” moment - in fact, a couple of them. They took a long journey to an unknown place, which in itself was full of learning; they stretched themselves in coming to find a child of Peace, yet one who was not of their faith at all; they saw through Herod’s schemes, and returned on a different road - another one they likely had not travelled before; they were changed people.
The whole Christmas story is full of “Aha!!” moments. Mary goes on a journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and realises that her pregnancy will change everything; Joseph, in an “Aha!” moment, goes on a journey of self-discovery, willing to fly in the face of religious tradition, and go against his own culture. Joseph and Mary set out on a journey together, as husband and wife - into unknown territory full of danger. They return to Nazareth and for a couple of years life is quiet. Then, unbeknownst to them, Herod meets some foreign priests and scholars looking for a child who they say will be King of the Jews, and he orders slaughter of all male children under two. Word of this edict filters down. Once again, Joseph has an “Aha!!” moment, takes Mary and Jesus - and they move again, this time into a foreign country - Egypt - where they live as immigrants. The Magi find them there.
Something happened to all the players in this story. All of them knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no return to the same life, from the journeys they had taken. They were true pilgrims, because they were willing to set out on a long, long journey without knowing if they would even live. The Magi found what they were seeking, and left changed by their entire experience. Mary and Joseph were changed as well. They did not turn away these “pagans”, or refuse them because they were Gentiles. They welcomed the visitors and accepted the gifts.
Here, in a sense, is where Anna Murdock’s story comes in. We in the church have tended to be divided. When we look back in our history, we’ve discriminated against other branches of Christianity, and other faiths. Yet along the way we have also begun to realise we are all pilgrims, all on a journey of faith; we’ve begun to have “Aha!!!” moments of our own. Light is beginning to dawn, a little bit at a time. The whole church is on a journey into a foreign place, a place we have not existed before, where the Christian church is not the centre of faith, but part of something larger. It is unknown territory for us, and in this unknown territory we as individuals are changed.
So who are we, today? Who are the Magi today, who come seeking? Are we willing to set out on the road with them, looking for something we only think is happening? Are we true pilgrims, or nomads, or chameleons?
If we are pilgrims, then we are on this journey with all peoples of all faiths - and we owe it to those others, and to God, to have respect for the ways God is revealed in the world. Our religion should not be our God, but rather the means by which we find our God revealed in humanity. May it be so.
Sources
1. www.magijourney.com
2. http://nouspique.com/component/content/article/52/248-the-magi-today
3. Dr. Jody Seymour, Davdison United Methodist Church, North Carolina.
4. Anna Murdock, United Methodist lay leader.
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by Herod, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the house where the child lived. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother. Overcome, they bowed before him, then opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country by another way.
*****************************************************************************
A friend of mine, Anna Murdock, is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. Anna says “My mother and brother are enjoying searching through old church records for pieces of family history. When I walked into Mom's house this evening, she handed me a piece of paper and said, "Sit down and read this. I want to watch your face." So I did. It was a bit of history of Society Baptist Church out in the country near the town where she lives. The church was organized in 1821 and some charter members are Mom's ancestors evidently. It lists some charges made against church members ...
Failing to abide by church's established doctrine; drinking; operating a moonshine still; cursing;
un-Christian conduct; and COMMUNING WITH METHODISTS!
Rev. Jody Seymour at Davidson United Methodist Church in North Carolina, says: “People who journey without being changed are nomads. People who change without going on a journey are chameleons. People who go on a journey and are changed by the journey are pilgrims.”
January 6, today, is Epiphany. Every year, the lectionary brings us the Magi. Every year we take all the elements of three years’ worth of biblical story and scrunch it down into roughly six weeks - four of Advent, one for Christmas, and one for Epiphany. We tend to forget that this was a story played out over several years, and with many layers of meaning.
The Greek historian Herodotus cites the Magi as Medeans living in Persia, which at the time of Jesus’ birth was part of the Parthian Empire. They were scientists, priests, astrologers, and existed for around five thousand years; they were almost certainly Zoroastrians. They were not just 'wise men,' but an entire social class of priests and sages.
“They were the center of spiritual-political authority through the ages of several great empires. They interpreted dreams and were responsible for sacred rituals, including animal sacrifices. The Magi may have even been responsible for crowning any new ruler who came to power. If true, then to be crowned without the favor of the Magi would jeopardize the legitimacy of any king.
The Magi believed that the stars could be used to predict the birth of great rulers. They believed that the next great ruler was about to be born: the "king of the Jews." But even so, why visit the newborn king of a foreign nation? It is not implausible to assume that the main intention of the Magi was diplomatic in origin. If a new king had been born, it would prove useful to pay tribute to him and his family. They may have assumed that Herod, the ruler of Judea and Palestine, had produced a son, an heir to his seat of power, who would exceed his father's legacy by leaps and bounds. Rome and Parthia were the two "superpowers" of the era, and Palestine was a significant part of the political view.”
Well, what did they find in Jerusalem? Herod had syphilis, was paranoid and almost dead. There was a laundry list of people happy to take his place, and help him along to the next world if need be. He had killed his previous wife and several sons out of suspicion that they were trying to kill him. He knew the new king was not one of his offspring. So he consulted with advisors, found out about the prophecy, and determined to find this usurper to his power.
After a journey of about 1300 miles into a foreign country, the Magi found Mary, Joseph and the child who was approximately two. What went through the minds of these aristocrats as they met this peasant couple of a different race and religion? The gifts they brought imply a legitimising of the rule of this king. They were not Jewish. They were foreigners, Gentiles, considered pagan. If you look closely at your Christmas cards, you might see that tradition has one of them African, one Asian, and one Caucasian. Nowhere in the text does it say there were three - there could have been more.
Magi, rich and influential Zoroastrian priests, scholars and astrologers - made a pilgrimage to a town in a country more than a thousand miles from their home. They saw a convergence of celestial phenomena which they believed heralded the birth of a new king, perhaps even a new kind of king. They travelled an incredible distance, even by today’s reckonings, found the one they were seeking, and when they did presented incredibly expensive and significant gifts, and according to Matthew, worshipped the baby. They were not of the same faith as Jesus’ family, yet somehow what they found transcended any individual faith. Even these scholars and priests had an “Aha!” moment - in fact, a couple of them. They took a long journey to an unknown place, which in itself was full of learning; they stretched themselves in coming to find a child of Peace, yet one who was not of their faith at all; they saw through Herod’s schemes, and returned on a different road - another one they likely had not travelled before; they were changed people.
The whole Christmas story is full of “Aha!!” moments. Mary goes on a journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and realises that her pregnancy will change everything; Joseph, in an “Aha!” moment, goes on a journey of self-discovery, willing to fly in the face of religious tradition, and go against his own culture. Joseph and Mary set out on a journey together, as husband and wife - into unknown territory full of danger. They return to Nazareth and for a couple of years life is quiet. Then, unbeknownst to them, Herod meets some foreign priests and scholars looking for a child who they say will be King of the Jews, and he orders slaughter of all male children under two. Word of this edict filters down. Once again, Joseph has an “Aha!!” moment, takes Mary and Jesus - and they move again, this time into a foreign country - Egypt - where they live as immigrants. The Magi find them there.
Something happened to all the players in this story. All of them knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no return to the same life, from the journeys they had taken. They were true pilgrims, because they were willing to set out on a long, long journey without knowing if they would even live. The Magi found what they were seeking, and left changed by their entire experience. Mary and Joseph were changed as well. They did not turn away these “pagans”, or refuse them because they were Gentiles. They welcomed the visitors and accepted the gifts.
Here, in a sense, is where Anna Murdock’s story comes in. We in the church have tended to be divided. When we look back in our history, we’ve discriminated against other branches of Christianity, and other faiths. Yet along the way we have also begun to realise we are all pilgrims, all on a journey of faith; we’ve begun to have “Aha!!!” moments of our own. Light is beginning to dawn, a little bit at a time. The whole church is on a journey into a foreign place, a place we have not existed before, where the Christian church is not the centre of faith, but part of something larger. It is unknown territory for us, and in this unknown territory we as individuals are changed.
So who are we, today? Who are the Magi today, who come seeking? Are we willing to set out on the road with them, looking for something we only think is happening? Are we true pilgrims, or nomads, or chameleons?
If we are pilgrims, then we are on this journey with all peoples of all faiths - and we owe it to those others, and to God, to have respect for the ways God is revealed in the world. Our religion should not be our God, but rather the means by which we find our God revealed in humanity. May it be so.
Sources
1. www.magijourney.com
2. http://nouspique.com/component/content/article/52/248-the-magi-today
3. Dr. Jody Seymour, Davdison United Methodist Church, North Carolina.
4. Anna Murdock, United Methodist lay leader.
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