In the office
today, I learned that Tina’s husband is a bit of an amateur astronomer. What brought that to light was our discussion
of the comet that is currently in our celestial neighborhood. Tina talked about living a bit out of the
city, so I asked if she was far enough out in the country to see the
comet. For those of you unaware this
evening, there is a comet that is either about to or just completed its orbit
of the sun. That means it is burning
rather brightly in the night sky. It
started off in the constellation Orion, which is easy enough for most folks to
find, and will progress at some 3 degrees per day to the north. Once it gets up somewhere around the
constellation Taurus, it will become impossible for us to see with just our eyes. Not too long after that, it will become a
challenge for most of us to find even with our telescopes and binoculars.
Why the focus on
the comet? As we were talking, we
remarked about the beauty of the night sky.
No matter where we live, there is an amazing view when we cast our eyes
to the heavens. Yes, the constellations
may be in different places or there may be different constellations visible,
but the immensity of the universe cannot be ignored. And then, every so often, something
spectacular happens. It might be a meteorite
streaking across the sky and exploding.
It might be a wonderful green-tailed comet such as the one you will all
be looking for later this week. It might
be the birth of a nebula or the sight of a new, different colored star.
More amazingly,
from our perspective, this vastness seems so ordered and predictable that we
begin to name the objects and mark their paths.
Our constellations and planets follow a predictable path across the sky. Comets such as the one that bears the name of
Mr. Halley return on predictable dates.
And now, thanks to the unfiltered view of the Hubble telescope, we can
watch stars and black holes collide, see quasars spewing forth their energy in
light, and we can even watch for bobbles in other stars that help us determine
the presence and size of planets far outside our solar system. It is incredible to behold, and it is far
more incredible to fathom. How much are
we not yet seeing?
This night we celebrate the Feast of the
Epiphany. This is the night when we
remember the arrival to the household of Jesus of the three magi who followed
the Star. A couple years ago, I came
upon an internet site that allows us to plug in dates and locations. Essentially, it recreates the window of the
sky for a particular area. My focus
tonight is not the symbolism of what can be seen, but it sure was clear. There was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
and one other planet, I cannot remember that moved through Leo three
times. Together these “wanderers” kept pointing
to the fact that something important was happening in Judea. So significant was this celestial event that
the three magi packed up their presents and necessary items for such a journey
and headed off. To them, this
conjunction and its travel signified that the king of the Jews had been
born. As the planets journeyed, it led
them to Jerusalem and then, as we read tonight, even to Bethlehem where the
motion stopped from their perspective.
A couple years
ago, when I discovered this site and preached upon it a bit, I spoke of the
care and concern our Lord must have had when He set the planets and stars in
their courses. All those stars and
planets, each travelling at various speeds and distances from us in different
orbits and different rotations around the galactic center aligned this season
to alert the world that something significant had happened. God had become Incarnate in human flesh. To put it in the words of St. Hilary, whose
feast is just next week, the voice of the God who thundered on Sinai could now
be heard in the wail of a baby in His crib.
Can you imagine? How could He
remain silent?
The significance
of that event, of course, directly impacts most of us gathered here tonight to
remember that day. I daresay few of us
have Jewish ancestry. That means this
manifestation of the glory of God was intended for our ancestors and for us,
that we and they might turn to the Living God and be saved! Epiphany, as the name suggests, is all about
manifestation—seeing and understanding.
The magi, from their homes in India or Persia or wherever they were
from, saw something significant in the skies.
That event led them on a journey where, face to face, they encountered
the glory of God. The Child to which
they paid homage, the Child to which they brought those wonderful gifts, was
not an illusion, a figment of the mind, or a quaint idea. That Child was the Incarnation of God. Rightly they fell down in worship. Rightly they gave those treasures. Rightly they returned home telling those from
whence they had come, what and Who they had seen.
Our
responsibility, brothers and sisters, is not all that different from the magi
in the story. You and I have been drawn
into His saving embrace. Maybe you never
saw the Star, but you saw or experienced something of the Child whom the Star
marked. From that moment of your
encounter with the manifestation of the glory of God, nothing for you has ever
remained the same. Once experienced,
that manifestation cannot be ignored. His
glory can be accepted or rejected, but it cannot be ignored. And then, like those kings who journeyed long
and far, through storms and wildernesses and cities and wastelands, you and I
are sent on our journey, proclaiming His glory to those whom we encounter,
manifesting His glory to those around us!
Epiphany has always
been one of those fun seasons in the life of the church, not that the others
are bad. Epiphany, it seems to me, tries
hard to remind us to be bridges between the immanence and transcendence of
God. We will always fall short because
it is, in the end, a holy mystery, but consider: it falls to you and me, as we
pick up our crosses and follow the One who picked up the Cross, to manifest God’s
glory to the world around us. How we do
that, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is probably as countless as the stars that
dot the night sky. Whether it is through
feeding someone hungry, clothing someone poor, providing coins for a mother to
do her laundry, making sure the church leadership is aware of the needs of a
family, rescuing a slave, or simply a smile or a hug in His Name, you and I are
called to be His hands, be His feet, be His smile, be a part of His mystical
Body here on earth that all might be drawn into His Kingdom, His family. But even as we do that, even as we work to
share His love and His hope and His joy with those around us, you and I are
reminded that He has plans for each one of us who claim His Son as Lord. As magnificent as what He did with the
heavens to signify the birth of His Son, as awesome as the theophany from Sinai
sounded when He gave Israel the torah, and impressive as was the deliverance
from Egypt, all pale compared to what He has in store for each of us. That same Lord, that same Father who so
glorified the birth of His Son and manifested His glory to us, has promised
that we will share in His glory for all eternity. The next time you look up and see a star, a
planet, a comet, or any other body that reminds you of His magnificence,
remember that He who ordered those things you see, in some cases thousands of
years in the past across interstellar distances, has put in the same planning,
the same care in you and your future with Him.
Can you even begin to imagine what He has in store for all of us, His
beloved children?
Peace,
Brian†
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