The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
Sandwich,
Massachusetts 02563
January 6, 2008 The Epiphany
Today’s sermon is taken from
Matthew and Isaiah.
In 1987 I took a sabbatical
from the church I was serving in Connecticut.
My family and I traveled for two months across the United States. As we drove across South Dakota (it was near
the Badlands), I can remember that my son Ted, who was then fourteen, said,
“It’s so flat out there, you can look farther than you can see.”
I think that’s a great
phrase: “You can look farther than you
can see.” I think if we go out on the
beach on a clear day, and we walk along the beach here in Sandwich, we can look
out, and a lot of time we can look farther than we can see.
I want to talk for a few
moments today about looking farther than you can see. Many of you will remember when President
George Bush, the elder father of our current president, was criticized for not
focusing on long-term goals and strategies.
The former president agreed that he wasn’t very big on what he called
“the vision thing.”
Now we are engaged in another
presidential election year, and as always, we hope we can elect a president who
has this vision thing down pat. We need
people who can look farther than they can see.
The world, I believe, needs a vision.
Critics of the war in Iraq
clamor for a vision of how to extricate ourselves honorably from this bloody
conflict. All of us look at the
challenge of terrorism and long for a vision, a cure for this deadly
scourge.
People of conscience look at
our public healthcare system and cry for a new vision of how to care for the
uninsured.
Scientists look at the
troubling signs of rising global
temperatures and hope for a new vision of how to stave off potential crises.
Many of us long for a vision
that will again unite us as a people, and even as an Episcopal church.
The vision thing - so
important! Many of us need a vision for
our own personal lives. Some of us are
bogged down in a sea of guilt and regret.
Others of us feel something is missing from our lives. If only we could see something that we
haven’t seen before.
Let me give you an example of
what I mean by vision:
Every week in the paper you
see ads for tag sales. If you drive around,
particularly in the warmer months, you see people that are out having tag
sales. I’m always amazed by tag sales
because we had one in Connecticut just before we left; and it was kind of the
stuff that we wanted to get rid of. It
was the kind of stuff that we would have had to take to the dump. But, you know, some people look at tag sales,
and they just see trash, and others see wonderful treasures. The difference is vision.
What do you see? How you look at your world and how you look
at yourself will determine, to a great extent, what you will contribute to the
world and how great you will feel about your life.
An African-American clergyman
led a thriving church in Memphis. Many
of its members were actively serving in surrounding Memphis community. Asked the secret of his success, the pastor
responded, “I hold a crown above my people’s heads and watch them grow up into
it.” And that’s the power of vision. Nothing happens in this world without
vision. The world hungers for people
with vision, for people who look farther than they can see.
In the year 7 BC, the planets
Jupiter and Saturn appeared very close together in the night sky, casting a
bright glow similar to that of a single large star. The following year, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
were also closely aligned. Some of the
scholars believed one of these two events produced the bright light in the sky
that the wise men followed when they came to Bethlehem two thousand years ago. You know the story.
What fascinates me is
this: Hundreds of thousands of other
people living in that part of the world saw the bright light in the sky, but
they did not leave their homes to go and find the new-born king. What was different about these Magi. I think it was vision. First of all, these Magi were searching for
something that was real - something that would transform their lives. I think that God loves searchers.
An Apple computer ad appeared
a while back that celebrated the searchers of this world, and it went like
this: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the
misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the
ones who see things differently. They
are not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them; about the only thing you
can’t do is ignore them because they change things.”
John Lennon of the Beatles, I
believe, was a searcher. He never
completely found what he was looking
for, and it’s easy to see why. Remember
his song Imagine. “Imagine no
possessions, I wonder if you can. No
need for greed or hunger A brotherhood
of man.” John Lennon’s vision was a
radical one - one that offended many people.
John Lennon envisioned no countries, no religion, no private possessions
- nothing to divide people from one another.
Nothing to fight over or die for.
Only peace and love and mutual benefit.
His was a secular vision routed strictly in the secular world.
The world that John Lennon
envisioned, however, is not that much different from the biblical vision of the
Kingdom of God, except, of course, that John Lennon omitted God. How he thought such a perfect world could be
produced without God is a mystery.
Simple humanity cannot produce of its own volition a perfect world.
A different kind of vision is
found in the contemporary song I Can Only Imagine, by MercyMe. It is a vision of what it would mean to be in
God’s presence. “I can only imagine what
it would be like when I walk by your side.
I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before
me. I can only imagine.”
Now I mention those two
powerful songs because of the similarity of the words Magi and
imagination. Imagination is from the
word image, meaning a form, a picture, and is descended to us from the Latin imago
which in it’s turn was derived from the old Semitic route ma - the same
route word from which the word Magi originated.
Now, this Sunday is called
Epiphany on the church calendar; and it’s a celebration of the coming of the Magi. In our secular language, an epiphany is a new
way of seeing or understanding. It is so
appropriate that we should begin a new year with an epiphany - a new way of
seeing, a vision, an image of what our world can be, of what our lives can yet
be. And like the Magi of old, we need to
open our minds and stretch our imaginations.
Someone once said, “We all
live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon. I believe today is a day for expanding our
horizons, to scan the skies, to become searchers. Of course, there’s always a danger. The world hates the crazy ones, the misfits,
the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes; the ones who
see things differently. Be forewarned;
sometimes they crucify such persons. As someone
has said, “Those who dance appear insane to those who cannot hear the
music.” But this is where change begins
with those who are searching.
Did you come searching this
morning? Or have you found all you need
in your new iPod, or your work, or your family, or your school, or a new
hobby? Are you so content with the
things of this world that you no longer hunger for a fresh encounter with God.
I think that God loves
searchers. The wise men, first of all,
were searchers. They were searchers who
set out on a journey of faith. I think
that this is important. There are many
journeys that people take. Some people
journey into destructive lifestyles.
Some journey into alcohol and drugs.
The Magi had a specific goal
in mind for their journey. We find it in
the very first verse in the Gospel from Matthew for today. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked,
’Where is the one born king of the Jews?
We saw his star in the East
and have come to worship him.’” No
wonder they called them wise. They were
looking for the king of the Jews, the Messiah, so that they might worship him.
So many people are taking
destructive journeys in our world today; following so many false stars. There are many journeys we can take in
today’s world, many voices that we can listen to, many stars that we can
follow; but only one leads us into the path of abundant life.
I want to challenge you this
morning to set on a journey of faith in this new year. Get deep into our faith: Join maybe a Bible study, spend more time in
prayer, focus more intently in worship on God’s purpose for your life. The wise men were searchers who were on a
journey of faith. Their goal was to bow
before the new-born king, and when they found him, they bowed down before him
and offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. These were expensive gifts. Maybe this is why tradition calls them the
three kings. And some treated these
gifts as symbolic: Gold to represent
Jesus’ kingship, myrrh to represent his death on the cross, and incense as a
homage to God. Perhaps - we do not know
- neither do we know what became of those gifts.
You know, I sometimes
wonder…maybe Joseph sold them to finance their perilous journey to Egypt. The Bible doesn’t tell us that, and it
doesn’t matter. These gifts represent,
most of all, the Magi’s devotion. They
gave of themselves. And here I think is
the key to life: Give of yourself. Give of yourself to God. Give of yourself to others. Give of yourself to God’s ministry in this
world.
About fifteen years ago, one
of my favorite people (he was on PBS quite often) - I loved to read his books
and I loved to listen to him - his name was Leo Biscalia, a psychologist and
psychiatrist. I just thought he had a
wonderful view of life. He taught at the
University of Southern California.
He once told a story of
something that happened while he was a professor there at the University of
Southern California. He had a student
who was brilliant and was filled with potential. Joel, however, had lost his meaning and
purpose for life. Joel had been brought
up in the Jewish faith, but like many young people, he had wandered away. And God had become a meaningless symbol. Joel had no motivation to live another day,
and no one could convince him otherwise, so he prepared to take his own
life. On his way, he decided to stop at
Leo Biscalia’s office. Fortunately, the
good doctor was in. The student told Leo
that he had lost lots of money and clothes and cars. He had been accepted at several of the top
engineering schools to work on his master’s degree. He had everything going for him, even good
looks. Women circled around him like
sharks, yet he had nothing inside. There
was no fire or passion in his belly. He
had no vision, no joy, no enthusiasm, no peace, no harmony. Leo Biscalia said, “Before you take your
life, I want you to visit some old people at the Hebrew home.” (The home was
adjacent to the University of Southern California campus.) “What for?” the young man asked. And Leo said, “You need to understand life
through the eyes of your heart.” “The
eyes of my heart?” the young man asked.
“Yes, you need to experience what it is like to give to those who have
lost their connection to a meaningful life.
Go to the desk and ask if there are people there who have not been
visited for a long time by anyone, and I want you to visit them.” “And say what?” the young man asked. “I don’t know.” Leo Biscalia said. “Tell them anything that will give them
hope.” Now notice Leo Biscalia’s
strategy: We get back what we give.
And Leo did not see the
student for months, and in fact, he largely forgot about him. Then one day during the fall, he saw him
coming from a bus with a group of seniors, some of whom were in
wheelchairs. Joel had organized a trip
to the baseball game with a group of his new senior friends who had not been to
a game in years. Leo and Joel chatted
for a moment, and just before parting, Joel said, “Thank you for helping me
find the eyes of my heart.” Leo Biscalia
nodded and smiled.
And there it is: Epiphany - seeing life with new eyes. Vision.
Seeing in the world new possibilities.
And that is what I wish for each of us this morning. That is what I wish for St. John’s
Church. The Magi came searching. Their search took them on a journey of faith,
and when they found the new-born king, they offered him gifts, gifts that
represented the best, the best that was in them. And this is the kind of vision we need as we
begin this new year: A vision to build
new lives, a new church, and a new world.
Amen