Pawling Ecumenical Epiphany Walk

The Pawling Ecumenical Epiphany Walk is a unique and wonderful tradition that reflects the spirit of the season and our community. Members of Pawling’s Christian churches and others from our community walk from church to church enjoying a sampling of how each congregation celebrates Christmas and Epiphany.

 

(Audio)

Isaiah 9:2-7

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I just love this Epiphany Walk! It brings out the best in our community. It brings people together that might have some real differences to celebrate what they share in common. I think we need that, don’t you?

One thing we all share in common is the incredible, crazy year we’ve just completed! We experienced an election cycle unlike anything our nation has ever seen before. Regardless of who you voted for, there was, and there is still, a lot of fear and uncertainty, discord and strife. But, here we are! We made it through! It’s a new year and, while we may not have a lot of choice as to what happens, we do have a choice as to how we let that impact and affect us. We have a choice: We can choose to be negative, pessimistic, and hopeless, filled with fear, and anger, bitterness, and depression, or we can choose to be positive, resilient, and hopeful, filled with love and compassion, charity, and understanding towards all, whether we agree with them or not.

That’s what one of this town’s most famous residents was all about, wasn’t it? The Power of Positive Thinking? Norman Vincent Peale was right, wasn’t he? People who think positively and hopefully are, generally, happier and content. They are pleasant to be around, and their positivity is positively contagious. Physicians and nurses, whether they are believers or not, testify that patients who remain positive and hopeful do much better, heal quicker, and die more peacefully than those who are negative, pessimistic, and resentful.

I do not know how Dr. Peale would explain the “Why” of this fact. I suspect that he and I might disagree a little, but that’s ok. For me, the reason that those who think positively and remain hopeful even in the face of uncertainty, discord, and strife is because of the object of their faith. You see, if you really think about it, positivity and hopefulness are not states of mind that, if you work really hard, you can conjure up in yourself. No, but positivity and hopefulness are fruits, products, if you will, of faith. Thus, the question is really, “What, or Who, is the object of your faith?” The answer to that question is something that we all share together in common, isn’t it? Jesus. Jesus is the object of our faith. Our common faith in Jesus produces in us the fruits of positivity, contentment, love, peace, joy, and hope.

We live in this world together. We share many of the same concerns and are tempted to have the same fears and anxieties. But, we also share the same Savior: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”

Jesus was God’s gift at Christmas. Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving, even now. Of what have we to be afraid? The government is upon His shoulders. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” “Our help is in the Name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

Throughout the Epiphany season we remember and celebrate the manifestation of Jesus as both God and man. God became man in the incarnation, which we celebrated at Christmas; the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. But, the God-Man is revealed in His Words and deeds, in His teaching and miracles. In Jesus Christ, the true Light has entered our world. Even now the darkness of sin and death are receding as the Light conquers darkness. Though we still face darkness in our world and in our lives, we do not walk in darkness, but in the Light of Christ. Once we were darkness, but now we are Light in the Lord. And, we are not like those who have no hope. The Light of Christ shines upon you; let it also shine through you upon the lives of others. Let them see the Light of Christ shining through you that they may join us in the family of Christ. For, the message of Epiphany truly is this: Jesus is for all the world, and you are His Light in the world. Go forth and shine.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 2:1-12; Ephesians 3:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Christ child was born into a world very much like ours today, full of political strife, fear, racial and cultural suspicion and jealousy, covetousness, greed, and apostasy. Herod was a pretender king, an usurper of the throne of Israel by force and by fear. Religiously, Herod feigned to be a Jew. Culturally, he was a Greek. And, politically, he was a Roman. All this goes to show that Herod was a man of few convictions, save those that served his own interests, which he guarded in paranoid fear and hatred of any and all perceived threats to his power and throne. Thus, when wise men, Magi from the East, came to him seeking a newborn king of the Jews, Herod immediately set his mind and heart to discover and to destroy this new threat. Though he cared nothing for the Scriptures and faith, he was nevertheless quick to utilize them to serve his own interests, consulting with the chief priests and the scribes of the people. Likewise, these men, though they knew the Scriptures, did not believe them. As for the people, they were more afraid of Herod and what he might do than they were of the LORD and His Word. Truly, darkness covered the wholeness of the earth. But, the primordial Light of creation had just pierced the darkness of the world and of men’s hearts, the Light of the world no darkness can overcome, though it might desperately try. The wise men saw that Light and they came to worship the true King of heaven and earth. And, as the saying goes, “Wise men still seek Him.”

St. John wrote of Jesus saying, “The true Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” We do not know what the wise men heard or knew of Jesus, or how they came to know the prophecies of the Christ, but however it came to be, they were seeking light and knowledge and release. That is to say, they were not simply comfortable and content in this world with its values, pleasures, and material possessions. Were they wealthy? Were they kings? Were they astronomers or astrologers? We simply do not know. But, it doesn’t really matter. They were Gentiles, non-Jews, pagans of one sort or another. What the children of Abraham had all but completely forgotten and rejected, save a promised few, a remnant, these men from the east, and countless others, were ready to seek and to receive in fulfillment of the prophecy: “And nations shall come to Your Light, and kings to the brightness of Your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to You; Your sons shall come from afar, and Your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then You shall see and be radiant; Your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to You, the wealth of the nations shall come to You. A multitude of camels shall cover You, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring Good News, the praises of the LORD.”

All the world would come to this Good News, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us, the Light of the world who shines His Light upon all those dwelling in the darkness of sin and death. Jesus was God’s gift of love and mercy and grace and forgiveness for all the world, for all who would receive Him and not refuse and reject Him. The promise of the Christ was always for all the world, not for the Jews only, but, as Moses spoke to Israel before they entered the Promised Land, for “whoever is standing here with us today before the LORD our God, and [for] whoever is not here with us today.” Just as the light of the sun shines upon all the world, so too is Jesus Christ for everyone, for the Jew first, and then the Gentile. Truly, the only way to escape the Light of His justifying grace is to flee from it, to deny it, to refuse it, and to reject it – that is, unbelief.

Herod, the Chief Priest and the scribes, and even the people of Jerusalem were all troubled by the Good News. They were like those whose deeds were evil, and so they were terrified by the Light and hated it, they sought to hide from it that they might carry on in their wickedness unabated. The wise men, however, stand in stark contrast to Jesus’ own people. When they heard the Good News, they received it with joy and relief and thanksgiving. They set out on a long and likely costly and dangerous journey towards Light, towards the true King of the Jews and of heaven and earth, even if they didn’t know or understand completely who or what they were seeking. They could not be deterred, not by distance, cost, and hardship, and not by wicked, paranoid, and power-hungry Herod, not by the self-righteous, legalistic, and faithless religious leadership of Israel, and not even by the indifferent, complacent, and largely unbelieving people upon whom the Light of Christ first shone in the Word of the LORD, the Word made flesh, born in Bethlehem as prophesied long ago. Indeed, this is one of the chief themes of the Epiphany season: when the Messiah appears His people are those who receive Him in faith.

Many have speculated that the gifts of the magi each have a specific meaning, however, the point is not the individual gifts, but rather that they came and worshipped this Child as the King. They believed the Holy Scriptures, they followed the star, and they gave honor to Jesus with their worship and gifts. I want to stress here that it is not your knowledge of the Scriptures that saves you – nor is it your lack of knowledge of the Scriptures that damns you – but it is faith, and faith in Christ alone, that justifies and saves you. Therefore, let us always be on guard to not set up roadblocks and obstacles to those walking in the darkness of sin and death that prevent or prohibit them from seeing the Light of Christ and coming to worship Him with us. Let us not be pumped up with pride and self-righteousness and behave as hypocrites before each other and the world, but let us humble ourselves and consider ourselves nothing but beggars who have, nonetheless, received the richest and most valuable of gifts – forgiveness of our sins, mercy, compassion, and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Truly, we Gentiles are “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” As much as the Jews were the children of Abraham and the chosen people of God in the promise of the Messiah, so now are all who believe and trust in Jesus Christ sons of Abraham and “children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

The Word epiphany means, “to make manifest” or “to make known.” We, along with St. Paul and all believers, the Church of Jesus Christ, are prisoners for Jesus Christ on behalf of the Gentiles, that is, those who do not yet know the True Light Jesus Christ. We, the Church, have stewardship of the great and holy mystery that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” Let us never think that the Light of Christ has shone upon us merely for the benefit of ourselves, no! But, the Light of Christ must shine through us in our lives, words, deeds, and worship, that all the world might be enlightened by His Light and be saved. That is why we are here. That is why the Church of Jesus Christ is here. That is why the Lord has not yet returned: The LORD is patient and longsuffering, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

“Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Yes, wise men still seek Him where He may be found – here, in His Church, with His Word and Wounds, to forgive you anew, to restore you to brightness, to equip you and to send you bearing His Light in love, mercy, grace, compassion, charity, and forgiveness that those walking in the darkness of sin and death may come to His Light and join us in His Family. Come eat. Come drink. And, go forth shining with His Light. This is according to the eternal purpose that the LORD has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of the Circumcision & Name of Our Lord

(Audio)

Luke 2:21; Galatians 3:23-29; Numbers 6:22-27

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Genesis chapter two begins with a quaint little scene in which Adam gives names to all the creatures of the earth. Now, one could easily read past this account without a thought as to what meaning it might hold. However, the Feast we celebrate this day is all about the giving of a Name. In the Holy Scriptures, names are given to things that are new, or to people who have experienced some sort of profound change such that they are, effectively, new people. Examples of this include Jacob, Peter, and Paul, each of whom underwent a spiritual transformation in which their lives were changed in such a way that they effectively became new people.

When the LORD made a covenant with Abram, He gave him a new name, and the LORD gave Abram and his descendants the sign of circumcision. Abram became Abraham, the father of nations, and the sign of the LORD’s covenant, circumcision, was given in Abraham’s flesh. Since the covenant promise was for a son from Abraham’s own flesh and for descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens, from which ultimately would come a Savior, the Messiah, the sign of the LORD’s covenant promise was upon the male reproductive organ so that at the conception and birth of every male and female descendant of Abraham the LORD’s covenant promise would be remembered. Every man and boy of Abraham’s tribe was circumcised, and every male child born thereafter was circumcised on the eighth day after birth, in remembrance of the LORD’s covenant promise made to Abraham and his descendants.

In the New Testament, St. Luke records for us the account of the circumcision and naming of John the Baptist. As you will recall, because John’s father Zechariah did not believe the Word of the LORD spoken by His messenger Gabriel that his wife Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son, he was stricken mute as a sign until the child was born, circumcised, and was named John just as the angel had said. And so, on the eighth day after his birth, the child was circumcised and was given the name John. Immediately, Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and his mouth was opened in praise of the LORD who had kept His Word and promise. Accordingly, eight days after His birth, Jesus was circumcised and was given the Name Jesus just as Gabriel had proclaimed to Mary when she conceived the Christ child by the Word and Spirit of the LORD proclaimed by His holy messenger.

Every male child that was circumcised was given a name indicating that something new was present. In the case of men conceived and born in sin, circumcision and the new name were a sign of the LORD’s promised forgiveness in the forthcoming Messiah whom He would send when time was full. However, in the case of Jesus, who had no sin to be forgiven, He was circumcised for your sins and for my sins and for the sins of all humankind, and He was given a particular, holy, and divine Name, Jesus, which means “God saves.” Jesus was circumcised and named for all of us that He might take all of our sin, uncleanness, and guilt upon Himself and die in our place thereby destroying the power of sin and death. And, because He was sinless and righteous, and yet died in our place, God raised Him from death, and in Him raised all humankind from death to life that will never end for those who are born again through faith and trust in Jesus.

Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, His ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, there was no longer any need for the sign of circumcision, which was a sign of a promise yet to be fulfilled, for the covenant promise was fulfilled in Jesus. Now, Holy Baptism has replaced circumcision as the sign and seal of God’s covenant promise fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ. Holy Baptism is a far superior sign and Sacrament that actually incorporates the faithful into Jesus so that His death is our death, and His resurrection and ascension is our resurrection and ascension. In truth, Jesus’ eternal life and victory over sin, death, and Satan are ours too through baptism and faith in Him, even as His Sonship with the Father and Kingship over heaven and earth is ours too through baptism and faith in Him. All things are yours through baptism and faith in Christ Jesus your Lord. Your new life and name in Jesus Christ is so important that the Christian Church has symbolically incorporated the number eight into the architecture and furnishing of its sanctuaries. In our humble sanctuary the baptismal font is eight sided as is the pattern in the tile upon which it stands. You may have to use your imagination a bit, but even this contemporary-design pulpit is octagonal, if you were to complete the pattern all the way around. This is no coincidence, for the number eight symbolizes the eternal eighth day of Jesus’ resurrection and new life that never ends into which each of you have been baptized and become a new creation bearing God’s own holy Name.

Thus, today, on this last day of the secular calendar year, and the first day of a new year, we remember and celebrate the Circumcision and Name of Jesus, because He bore our sins in His own flesh and redeemed us from our sin and death. “And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the Name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” By the way, this is the shortest Gospel reading in the Church’s lectionary! St. Paul expounds upon the meaning of Jesus’ circumcision and name in his Epistle to the Galatians saying, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” And, Paul further explains that Christians receive the benefit of Jesus’ circumcision and name through Holy Baptism and faith: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Through baptism and faith in Christ, you have been circumcised with a circumcision made without human hands, a circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit that your hearts may be made pure from all sins. Through baptism and faith, Jesus’ circumcision, name, baptism, obedience, death, resurrection, and ascension are also yours. All that the LORD gave to His people of old through covenants and signs and wonders, now He gives to you in His Son Jesus Christ.

However, one of those covenant signs prefiguring Jesus was the blessing the LORD commanded Aaron to bless His people with: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” Of course, you know that blessing very well since every divine service and most prayer offices of the Church send you home with this blessing still today. In this Aaronic Benediction [blessing] the LORD sends you out with the blessing of His Name upon you. This blessing bespeaks God’s Word and attitude towards you, that He cares for you and provides for you, that He favors you, and that He is at peace with you, and you with Him, in and through Christ Jesus. These are not just some words spoken for the sake of tradition, but they are the active and performative Word of God proclaimed to you by your pastor in the stead and by the command of the Lord. This blessing is God’s Name bestowed upon you in Jesus Christ. You became a new person in Holy Baptism, literally born again according to the spirit. You were given a new name, God’s Name, marking you as one redeemed in the holy shed blood of Jesus. Therefore, as we begin a new year, we remember and give thanks that our Lord Jesus is making all things new, including ourselves.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.