This began as a Closer Look article, became too long, and was offered as the morning message on January 16. The message was recorded and is available at our Video Website at: http://www.ourchurchvideos.com/93940/montereymethodist/ By request, it is available here, also, in written form.
We are currently in the church season of Epiphany. That’s a word sometimes hear in non-church settings. Generally when someone says they had an epiphany, it seems like they mean they had a dramatic realization of something.
The word Epiphany comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means manifestation or appearance. By tradition, the wise men came on the twelfth day after Christmas and this begins epiphany.
The magi were not Hebrew, thus epiphany has become a symbolic marker of the fact that the light of God is given to all peoples.
Lamin Sanneh, a remarkable Christian theologian, has expressed the same truth in terms of language. He says that all languages are inadequate to express the whole truth of God, but all languages are also worthy to use in speaking to God and about God.
Epiphany ends with Ash Wednesday, which comes fairly late this year.
Some Christian traditions do not emphasize the seasons of the church year. Methodism observes them though not all Methodists are aware of the meaning and purpose.
In churches where the altar cloths are always traditional, I’ve still had people ask me about what it means. Some of them had been in the church their entire lives.
There are many ways of explaining the seasons (and many special days that are marked within them).
The church seasons are part of how we continue telling the story of God, to ourselves and to the future generations that Psalm 22 talks about.
The church year as a whole tells a story.
Once upon a time, the world lived with much darkness (Advent) and this grieved God who had created everything. The Hebrew people caught a glimpse of God’s light. They tried to be faithful to it and God promised that through them the whole world would be blessed.
When the time was right, a child was born (Christmas). This child was human and would face the same things that all people endure of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Yet this child also held as much of God as could be poured into creation.
His name was Jesus and he would be called the light of the world.
Strangely enough, he wasn’t born in a palace, or even in a place especially made for him. There simply wasn’t room for a displaced couple who had to come to their ancestor’s town to be counted.
This baby was born to a Jewish mother in a Jewish town and would grow up to follow all the excellent ways of his people.
It turns out that other people were interested in him too. In fact, the stars proclaimed his birth to some foreigners who showed up to give him gifts and honor. This only goes to show that God isn’t territorial. The Magi were the first, but a long way from the last people from outside Israel to follow his light (Epiphany).
Jesus taught people, healed people, and called them to give up the darkness so they could turn to the light.
But some didn’t like this message, some preferred the darkness and some mistook their darkness for light, so they thought Jesus was their enemy and crucified him (Lent).
What darkness doesn’t know is that the light is stronger. Also, when it comes to doing good, God plans on winning. So on the third day after Jesus was crucified, he rose from death and met with his followers who began to understand what he meant about life and eternity.(Easter).
They were very happy about this good news and probably thought they could go on just as they had before the crucifixion, except that Jesus couldn’t be crucified again. But Jesus had another plan.
God apparently had remarkable trust that humans could take part in cleaning up the mess they’d made of the world. So Jesus told his followers that he’d always be with them, but not in the same way.
From now on they needed to go out to love the world (friends and enemies alike) and share the good news about life and the light. After that, the Christians mostly didn’t see him, just felt him in their hearts and in their joy.
Fifty days after Easter, something new happened. Jesus had promised them a helper and it made a dramatic appearance. They were praying together when they heard the sound of wind and saw the look of flames, and they suddenly felt the spirit of God in them and around them. (Pentecost).
That spirit helped a lot in the days ahead when they had to face some of the darkness and indifference of the world. They prayed for boldness and courage in telling the good news about Jesus and the life he promised.
Because they loved each other, they formed a new kind of family, one that could grow and grow.
And it’s a family with a plan, Jesus’ plan, to do what God calls them to do in helping transform the world into a place of light and love for all people.
Some Christians talk about that as building the kingdom of God (Kingdomtide.)
The story never ends and it becomes part of every Christian’s story. So when it’s told again through each year, they remember the darkness of the world and are sorry people couldn’t find room for Jesus.
We try to prepare a better and yet better place in our own hearts. The color for the season reminds us, his followers, of at least two things during Advent.
Purple is a color for penitence. But in the human world, it is also the color traditionally worn by kings. Instead of what people deserved, God gave the world a king of love and peace, whose kingdom is without end.
There was no place for him when he was born, yet the location where he was born became extra special simply because that’s where it happened. Thus Christians rejoice whenever they celebrate the anniversary of his birth. It was such a pure, light-filled love that was lain upon a manger bed, the color that befits this season of Christmas is white.
Because he came for the sake of all people, his followers remember the human race is one family. In their best moments, they work on justice for brothers and sisters who aren’t getting it. And they continue to share the light.
For reasons that as far as I know Christians don’t even understand, green became the color for Epiphany. That’s okay.
Imagination can work on it. For example, all peoples ultimately depend upon the green growth of God’s world for sustenance. And the green growth depends upon the sun God created for light and power.
Universal need and loving strength poured upon everyone, just like the love of Jesus poured out for the entire world. Feel free to use your imagination.
Sadly, even though they’ve seen the light, Jesus’ followers don’t always live up to it. So it’s important to us to examine ourselves and remember he died because of human darkness.
It’s called repentance when we are sorry for the darkness and resolve to do better. Purple is one of the spectrum’s less vibrant shades and colors the season of Lent with the need to continually try to grow into the people Jesus called his followers to become.
Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus, who wants people to live both forever and abundantly.
So the yearly springtime festival for his resurrection becomes a time for joy, hope and strength. Easter’s color is white, like the pure unbroken light that shines from an empty tomb.
With the help of God’s spirit and the fact that Jesus promised always to be with them, his followers remember his calling to also be lights for the world.
Because of the light and flames of the spirit, the color for Pentecost is red. It takes courage to get set burning by the Pentecost fire, but watch out for those who’ve done it!
The church continues, faulty because of the humans involved, but in each generation, still working to share the good news, to grow personally and as the body of Christ. Perhaps for this reason, the color for Kingdomtide is green, like that of a great mustard plant grown from the tiniest of seeds.
Ultimately, each year the church lives out and celebrates the story of God. We tell it to ourselves. And there’s a world out there that’s hungering and thirsting because they haven’t heard it yet.
This is a great year for telling stories and planting mustard seeds!
