ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
January 6, 2023
Today is Epiphany, which means the Christmas decorations will start coming down around my house. It will probably be a two or three day process, but all the Christmas stuff will soon be well organized and placed in its proper storage area. Let me be clear: It will come down and be well organized because of my spouse. Though Cypress Creek won’t celebrate Epiphany until Sunday, today is technically the official day. And yes, it is an attempt to acknowledge how the Magi did not arrive with the shepherds or even while Jesus was a newborn. It was months, maybe even a few years later.
The story of their journey guided by a star is brimming with fascinating insights and starting places for sermons, but one in particular speaks to me today. The Magi were probably astrologers (some translate the word as sorcerers). There are others who suggest they were Zoroastrians, a monotheistic religion that existed for more than five centuries before the birth of Jesus. Whatever the case, these people of faith (some faith) were not afraid of exploring the boundaries of their own religious convictions, even stepping beyond what might have been considered orthodox within their tribe. Had they chosen to be confined by what the fearful and fretful had determined as the limits of exploration, they never would have experienced the Christ. Christianity, before it was Christianity, was bringing down those limitations born of exclusionary religion, yet it quickly fell into the very same restrictive behaviors. From his conception, Jesus was defined, not by limits, but by love. And, of course, God’s love knows no bounds.
Holy Light, continue to gently guide me beyond what the timid have declared to be the boundary of faith. It is there, on the far side of the known and comfortable, that I’m certain to meet you anew. Amen.
