WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:29.600 So Epiphany Sunday, we're talking about today, part of the liturgical calendar, the day we are acknowledging, maybe celebrating, uh, when uh uh the wise men, the magi, finally get find their way all the way to Jesus, supposedly taking uh twelve days, which is why we celebrate on January the 6th, and that uh Epiphany is supposed to be that uh uh embodying uh or an awareness that comes upon people. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:40.079 In this case, it's with the magi, this awareness that comes upon them uh and their journey guided by a star, right? 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:44.240 It's all part of the story that we celebrate at Christmas time. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:01:01.280 Um so where I ended up starting for today in my own mind was looking at how different parts of the story that we know, the Christmas story that we understand, come from different gospels. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.239 No one gospel has all of that story. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:06.879 Right? 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:13.840 Our the Gospel of Mark, the earliest one written, uh, actually didn't really talk about the birth at all. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.000 Might be surprising to some. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:23.359 Uh for Mark, it seems that the uh the beginning of his real life was with the ministry. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.359 And when it starts with his baptism as he gets to doing the work that God sent him down to do. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.400 With Luke, you get the shepherds. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:33.280 Right? 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:54.719 And so we extrapolate that uh what was important to Luke was that everybody was included, which is why he made sure the shepherds get included, who would be the kind of the lowest of the low on the economic scale, and so implying that this is a lot of why Jesus came, was to help us to understand that everybody is going to be engaged by God. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:58.400 Everybody is included in the body of Christ. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:04.480 Then with Matthew, this is where we get our magi, our wise men. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:17.759 Clearly to Matthew, what was important about the story in his version was that this was an event, and people were traveling from far away to come and to witness to this thing. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:25.919 Maybe even talking a little bit about how it reaches even beyond uh the Jewish community that it it all happens within. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.840 So then we land on John, the Gospel of John. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.319 Anybody have that as their favorite gospel? 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.919 Oh, yeah, a couple, a couple people like John. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:49.439 The more spiritual of the Gospels generally, the birth narrative is fair to say, unique, because you just heard it. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:53.360 That is the birth narrative in the Gospel of John. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:05.120 So we try to pick that apart a little bit as we're trying to understand a little bit of why this gets picked uh as part of the lectionary calendar, why we read it today, partly because of Epiphany. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:15.280 But what is it about this particular scripture coming from the Gospel of John that doesn't even really have a birth narrative in the sense of Jesus, the baby, the shepherd's coming. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.120 It's something different, isn't it? 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:22.560 So things we know about John. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:31.120 The earthly beginnings, you know, the way he describes his story, the birth narrative, kind of like Mark. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:34.719 What's really important isn't really the baby sitting in the manger. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.479 What's really important is the ministry, which starts with the baptism. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:41.599 Which is why you heard a lot about that baptism right there. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:46.960 He was uh, it was probably uh written after the others, the Gospel of John. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:52.800 We can tell by some of the things that are hinted at historically that date it a little bit later. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:04:00.000 But what that says is that John had already likely read the others, right? 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:10.639 And so what is important for us to notice is what does he not include in that, and what does he include in that? 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:17.839 He doesn't include key things like we think are key things, like the shepherd and the magi and all that stuff, right? 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:25.600 He doesn't include those, even though we're probably sure he did know about those, knew those other stories that Matthew and Luke had written. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:32.399 Reflexively, he must have also felt like something was missing. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:35.680 Otherwise, why write a gospel? 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:38.800 There's already three written, and actually probably many more. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:43.600 Why does he feel like he needs to tell his version of what happened? 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:51.519 Clearly, he had something to say, an understanding of what was uh important about that story, right? 00:04:51.680 --> 00:05:02.560 And you might say the star that John would follow, like the wise men, would convey to us what is important to him. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:07.920 The star that he follows is different than the one that Matthew and Luke and Mark are following. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:10.000 So let's take a look at this star. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.040 His reason for writing this gospel. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:18.480 What wisdom was he trying to light up and shine onto this world? 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:19.040 Right? 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:24.800 To me, it sounds just a little bit like beat poetry. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:26.959 Do you remember the beat poets? 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:27.439 Right? 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.040 It's getting back there pretty far. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:37.680 Some of you may not remember, but it's this movement that came actually out of World War II and people feeling really concerned about the future of the world. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:46.319 And so this group of people would gather in these dark coffee houses and they would all wear berets to be different. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:52.959 And they had Van Dyke's maybe a little bit like this, or goatees, what we call them today, right? 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:59.439 And and and they would sit and they would do these poems that they would do, spoken poems, right? 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:06.959 And somebody was in the background with a bass going dun dun dun dun dun dun dung dun dung, right? 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.199 I mean I'm not that old. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.839 Some y'all were the ones around for all of this. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:13.279 I just see movies. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:15.839 Right? 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:17.839 Dun dun dun dun. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:18.879 Listen to this now. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:20.240 Boom, boom, boom. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:21.759 In the beginning was the word. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.319 And the word was with God. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:27.279 And the word was God. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.600 Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:33.439 He was in the beginning with God. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:38.959 All things came into being through him and without him, not one thing came into being. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.759 Boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:42.399 Right? 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:43.600 Are you hearing it? 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:44.399 Are you feeling it? 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.079 A little little little beep pole. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.040 And then remember how they would applaud. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:52.720 I'm getting none? 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.279 I mean, I threw it out there, right? 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:57.360 I, you know, I'm I made myself vulnerable. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:58.160 I get none. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:06:59.839 Anyway. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:06.879 But then get down to verse 14 is where I think the real, oh, I was gonna say the meat of things. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:08.720 Uh, but there's an irony there. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:13.920 And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:18.879 The glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:23.759 Probably the main point of what John was trying to get to. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.680 This is the birth of Jesus for John. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:37.600 This is what was most important to this gospel writer, the spirit becoming flesh, becoming present. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:38.800 Right? 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:43.680 For him, it's this, I'm going to use the word cosmological event. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:52.399 You know, it's not this earthly event, it's something broader than that, with this idea that Jesus was the word, right? 00:07:52.639 --> 00:08:03.519 And you think about a word, a spoken thing that's out into the air or maybe written down, but that word already existed before the world even existed. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:13.839 This idea that Jesus has always existed, but finally took earthly form here in this one moment. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.480 This one moment, the word, the spirit, becomes flesh. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:30.079 I don't know how many of you are familiar with the uh the book of James, but you remember that the famous verse, faith without works is dead. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:39.679 It was that idea that faith, if there were no actions that backed it up, was kind of not alive, you know, maybe even dead. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:42.879 I think John is in that same sphere. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.720 He's trying to say there was this spirit thing, and then it took flesh. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:54.399 It became real, at least real in the way that we earthlings could understand real. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:56.000 Right? 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:06.879 So it's a it's an interesting concept and an important piece for John, so important that it becomes part of why he even writes a gospel. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:17.440 This piece that Matthew, Mark, Luke, others just didn't quite understand or at least convey that this is something bigger than just what we see in here. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:23.360 It's this massive spiritual reality that took uh body. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.120 That took body on this earth. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:40.159 And seeing the wisdom of picking this scripture in the lectionary, which I'll remind people that that's the calendar of scripture readings that we would do over three years. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:45.279 So it was picked by a body with the idea that this was a perfect scripture for this day. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:53.039 I'm start starting to see the wisdom because we're in this place where we're looking to a new year. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.480 And we're invited to ask these kinds of questions ourselves. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:05.679 How will our individual ministries, our faith, take shape this year? 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:08.960 What will it look like this year? 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.799 What will we dedicate ourselves to individually? 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:20.320 What will be made real by our commitment to God through Christ this year? 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:23.039 It's resolution season. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.279 It is a good scripture to get us into that mode. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:30.639 There's some key questions we could be asking ourselves. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:42.960 Will this stretching, will this growth, will it be a spiritual depth that we reach with enhanced worship, enhanced study, more commitment to these things? 00:10:43.200 --> 00:11:00.639 Maybe, maybe it'll be a missional heart, a missional heart that takes body in service to those who are in need, to those who are less advantaged, to those who are needing to know that there is love in this world for them. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:08.240 Maybe, maybe it's an evangelical heart that's gonna grow in some of us. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:17.200 This evangelical peace, reaching out to those who don't know the love of God for this world yet. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:32.960 Don't know that there is a creating presence that made the world around us, but also landed us where we are here, and that creating presence loves this world and loves them. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:41.440 Maybe that's what's going to be birthed in some of our hearts this year. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:52.399 This reaching out of love, this message of love, maybe to those who have never known that love, or maybe to those who've been separated from that love. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:01.679 As we seek God's presence in our lives, these should be our centering questions, our focus questions. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:03.759 What will it be? 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:20.639 And for us here in this church, this long-standing as well as developing extension of the body, I think we're still figuring out how we are going to embody Christ going forward. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:40.639 Surely there will be things that we have done in this church for years and years, the heart and the body of community that's been built here for 50 plus years, yes, that's going to be part of what our the body of our ministry is going to look at. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:44.320 But what will be the new thing for us? 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:55.200 What will be the new thing that reconnects us with the world around us, the community around us? 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:04.799 Maybe 2026 will be a year when this all truly starts taking some real shape. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:17.200 Perhaps the spirit is going to climb into the hearts and the minds in this room and bring us together and inspire us to do some amazing things. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:27.279 Maybe the spirit is going to reach into our hearts and then reach out from that heart into the world, and others will join us on that journey. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:33.120 Others will be inspired by our particular message from God. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:40.240 I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited to find out. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:42.480 Amen.