Listen to the story of the Three Wise Men.

Based on the Gospel reading from Matthew 2:1-12

Discovering The Epiphany

Well, my friends, The Feast of the Epiphany will be celebrated this coming Sunday. Only four days from now. The Epiphany has much to teach us. Like all good scholars we must start with a definition of terms. If we don’t know what we are talking about, we don’t know what we are talking about, so it is important to understand the language used in any discussion so that we better can construct some meaning out of it all. That means that anytime, anyplace you have the freedom to ask for a definition of terms; that is, what does that word mean or how are you using that word. That’s an important lesson.

Epiphany is an interesting word. What does it mean? What do we celebrate at the Feast of the Epiphany?

The same is true with Magi. What does Magi (or singular) Magus mean?  It means “wise people” or in the sense of this story “wise men.”  It had its origins in Persia (today’s Syria) and refers to people who could “divine” what would happen in the future. Our word “magic” comes from it.

So what does Matthew say about the Epiphany? Three Magi from the East “divined” a star in the heavens represented the ascendancy of a new king of Israel. They went to Jerusalem and told the reigning king, Herrod, that they had traveled a great distance to worship this newborn King. Herrod didn’t want newborn King because he was the King and didn’t want to be dethroned. So, he tried to trick the three men into finding the child and then coming back to him and telling where they found him. When they didn’t come back to Herrod after visiting Jesus, Herrod became terribly angry and sent his soldiers to Bethlehem and the surrounding area in order to kill all of the baby boys two years old and younger.

Magi brought to Jesus three gifts: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. The three gifts are symbolic. The gold represents a King because Kings tend to have a lot of gold. Frankincense is an incense which is caught on fire and the smoke billows up toward the heavens. This stands for godliness. And Myrrh is a spice for embalming which represents “humanity.”  Put all together they gifts were “saying” that this little child was a King that was both human and divine.

But the Magi made a mistake and it is worth talking about. They went looking for the new king of the Jews at the kingly Palace in Jerusalem. You would have to think that made a lot of sense. You would naturally find a King in the palace of his kingdom. But they were flat out wrong. In fact the currently reigning king did not know as saying about it. Here are three non-Jews, that is, Gentiles were telling him that a new Jewish King was born and I wanted to worship him! Matthew doesn’t say they told Herrod they came to worship him but to worship a little baby who would be King. All of this upset Herrod quite a bit. Three “unclean” Gentiles were telling him what was going on in his own kingdom. Furthermore, we’re not quite sure if the Magi worshiped. Herrod much at all. I probably made him jealous and furthermore this new baby King had a star in the heavens. Nothing is said that Herrod had a star that he could call his own, so this probably made an egocentric, power-hungry, ruthless fellow rather upset. To be sure, is Herrod was not an effective control.

Like most people, the Magi were looking for a King in the great gold halls and finery of the palace. They did not know that Jesus was to be a different kind of King. Jesus was a King that would show not only the Jewish people, but the entire world, exactly what it meant to seek and find salvation. They did not know that Jesus’ message of love, mercy and forgiveness was the “edict” that he would put forth to the entire world for all time. They did not know that they would actually find the new “King of the Jews” in the most humble of surroundings. Surroundings not of gold and not of power; but surroundings of humility and poverty; suffering and sacrifice.

They were looking for love in all the wrong places. Just like so many human beings do. Seeking to fulfill their love and belonging needs by aspiring for great power and wealth, material and influence. While there is nothing wrong with acquiring some of these things and used wisely can actually help our community, Jesus would tell his Church that that is not where you first go looking for Love because you’ll not likely find it there. This new King would say that before being able to fully love, one must fully experience humility, poverty. One must have a passionate desire and a firm commitment justice for all people, not just the influential or powerful ones. To fully experience love, Jesus came to say and to show that we must serve the least of the people in our human community. Wow! This was quite a different king than the Magi had anticipated. Can you imagine what they talked about on their long camel ride back to the East?

This remarkable story speaks to “Epiphany.” Undoubtedly, Mary and Joseph developed a new understanding of their son with the visit of these three men bearing gifts. The three Magi experienced an Epiphany, some revelation of what Kingliness actually means. We viewing the story from our distance can see most clearly from the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, that he came as God’s son to say that no one, however humble, however poor, however ignorant, however despised, however ostracized and reviled falls outside of the mantle of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

As we close this reflection, I would like to ask you, young and old, that in hearing this ancient story, what is your Epiphany? What is the revelation that you see in the story? What is the manifestation that you hear that makes sense to you? Are you seeking love and belonging in “all the wrong places?” Are you, like Herrod, being deceitful, small minded and mean spirited?  Are you like the Magi seeking God with the gifts that you have in a spirit of openness and awe? Are you, like Mary, willing to bear burdens that you do not fully understand? Are you, like the Magi, willing to take another route home instead of betraying a pure and holy creation? Are you willing to stand for justice? Can you stand up for someone who is being bullied? Or do you capitulate to power and peer pressure? These are the questions that I ask you this morning to wrestle with, and then I have one more question for you:

What are you going to do about it?

Please enjoy our Christmas Wishes followed by the STPCS Trio, singing the song; Breath of Heaven.  Written by Chris Eaton and Amy Grant.  Arranged by Craig Courtney.

Please, when listening to the Trio sing, have a tissue handy!  Your eyes will tell the rest of the story!

Have a wonderful Christmas break!

Please enjoy the Chapel Reflection podcast, ending with the Fourth Grade class singing “Some Children See Him”.

Sight beyond the Mountains looked down at his gnarled and callused hands and marveled at how the years had done their work so well. He placed the heavy lid upon the iron pot which gurgled over the open fireplace. It was filled with a good rabbit stew which laced his small cabin with an aroma of wild seasons and herbs that he had picked from the side of the mountain.

He was a very old man born a Cherokee Indian well over 100 years ago but he remembered well the time when Andrew Jackson signed a law that took his people from their homes in north Georgia and forced them to march 1000 miles to a land they did not know and way of life that was not their own.  Growing up, he heard stories of how Chief John Ross wrote letters filled with truth to ask the government’s leaders for the right of the Cherokee to stay on their own land.  But the “double tongues” were filled with trickery and their hearts were twisted with pride, fear and greed so much that they became that which had twisted them.

The old man showed remarkable wisdom very early in his life and so his parents named him Sight beyond the Mountains for his ability to see things that were not in front of him and to know things that only the Great Spirit could have taught him. In a special ceremony, they dedicated him to the Great Spirit and put him in the protection of the loving Earth mother. While hunting as a boy, he was captured by some very mean men on horseback. They put a rope around his feet and dragged him a long way until they thought he was dead and then cut him loose. But life was in him and though he was disfigured to the point that no one could even recognize him, his earth mother nurtured and cared for him, giving him food that was everywhere but no one could see and shelter in obscure places that no one could find. When Sight beyond the Mountains had regained his strength, he asked his earth mother to guide him to his real home and she did. She sent an eagle to show him the way and told him that when he saw the eagle land, that would be his home. And so many hundreds of miles he walked and at the end of the each day he did not see the eagle. But in the morning the eagle would be circling overhead. He followed the eagle to a mountain somewhere between Tennessee and Alabama and then down the side of it where the eagle disappeared. Before he reached the bottom he came to a big hollow in the mountain and when he stopped to rest, Sight beyond the Mountains saw the eagle perched in a hickory tree looking down at him.  He knew he had found his home, built himself a cabin and had lived there alone for years learning wisdom and joy from the great Spirit and mother Earth.

And this is where the Rock House Kids found him, now a very old man living in harmony with the great spirit and under the protection of mother Earth. Sight beyond the Mountains’ cabin was covered in moss and a meandering stream of smoke trailed from the strong, stone fireplace.  If it were not for the motion of the smoke, they would have likely not seen the cabin that blended perfectly into the mountainside.

When they entered, slowly and very cautiously, the only light within the cabin was emitted from the small flickering fire on the left side of the room. A warm voice from the far back of the cabin simply said, “Do not be afraid.”

“Who are you?,” Hopalong said.

“I am called Sight beyond the Mountains,” the voice said. “Please, do not come any further. You are not ready to see me.” “Please make yourself at home if you wish.”

All 12 of the Rock House Kids sat down in a semi circle facing the voice and the conversation that ensued was magical. Sight beyond the Mountains shared his story and the children asked him many questions. For the rest of the fall, The Rock House Kids returned to the cabin where they learned many things about the great mother and the Great Spirit. But Sight beyond the Mountains, always stayed in the warm shadows at the back of the cabin. They began to love the old man and marveled at his stories and the wisdom inside them. He taught them of the beauty of the mother and the awesome wonder of the Great Spirit. He taught how to forgive those who had wronged you terribly and showed them that forgiveness and mercy was what you had to always carry in seeking the fullness of life along the pathway of love. As they listened to him day by day they began to understand the wondrous ways of life and wisdom. They began to be filled with the Great Spirit and started to see the loving Mother with a new vision.

“When can we see you?” they asked.

“When your eyes are ready to see,” Sight beyond the mountains replied.

Then one day after a visit filled with wonderful stories, Sight beyond the Mountains emerged from the shadows and sat on one side of the circle in which they were sitting.  His face was broken and scarred. His eyes were clouded. They had ceased to see. His nose had been badly broken and healed improperly.  His body was bent because of the shattered vertebrae.  By the world’s account, a poor creature, torn, blind, broken and abandoned from the world.

They all looked at him carefully and beyond his slight smile, they saw themselves, each with their differences, each with their own beauty, in his face each child gazed upon their own uniqueness.

And as Sight beyond the Mountains looked at them through his blind eyes, all he saw was love.

The End

Advent and the new Church Year of Mark – the Lion

What do you stand for?  What will you not stand for?

Jesus, John the Baptist and Dorothy Day

Chapel Reflection, 30 November 2011

Today I want to tell you about a person who understood Jesus. She understood that Jesus was a revolutionary with revolutionary thoughts that made him reviled by those in power. So much so that they found a way to kill him.

But first, I want to teach you a song. It is a simple song but a very powerful one.

I Shall Not Be Moved

I shall not be ….
I shall not be moved
I shall not be………….

I shall not be moved
Like a tree planted by the water

I shall not be moved

Repeat.

Yesterday was the anniversary of her death. She dedicated her life to serving the poor and being steadfast in her belief that we as human beings do not have the right to kill another human being.

She tended the poor, fed the poor, clothed the poor…. she lived with the poor.  She went to mass every day and confession every week.

She was brilliant and a prolific writer. She wrote numerous books and many articles. She established a newspaper and also a movement called “The Catholic Worker.”

As a young woman she marched with other women in order that all women would received the right to vote in this country. She went to jail for it. She also marched in various peace movements and went to jail for those protests to.

She was a gentle person but a very strong person.

She was not always a Catholic but became a Catholic later in her life.  Her mother was a remarkable model for her and showed her at a very young age that she had a responsibility to take care of the poor.

And just like all followers of Christ, she was a revolutionary. She rejected the cultural norms of materialism (always wanting to have more things), consumerism (always wanting to buy more stuff), the Puritan ethic (of other things, that being poor is God’s response for being sinful), violence (believing that violence is a solution to human problems).

She has much to teach us in the lesson of her life. She lived her life as if it were the only Gospel anyone would ever read. And so let me ask you this:

What do you stand for?  If somebody ask you today who are you? What do you stand for? How would you respond?

If somebody looked at your behavior and said what do you stand for? How would your behavior speak?

And as importantly: What will you not stand for? What is it that when you see it, or hear it or feel it… that you will say emphatically… I do not stand for that. I will not abide that. I do not believe in this. And I shall not be moved.

Is it gossip? Is it unjust criticizing, blaming and complaining? Is it cheating? Is it lying? Is it racist jokes?

The person that I am honoring today is Dorothy Day. Ms. Day knew what she stood for and what she would not stand for. She had the courage to speak her mind and to show in her actions both on a prayerful level and on a social action level that she was an authentic saint.

Like all the great saints……. She knew where she stood and would not act contrary to her beliefs.

And so I repeat: What do you stand for, my friends, and what at the end of the day will you look somebody in the eye and say… I believe this ……and I shall not be moved.

I Shall Not Be Moved

Oh, I shall not be ….
I shall not be moved
I shall not be………….

I shall not be moved
Like a tree planted by the water

I shall not be moved

I’m going on in Jesus name,

God’s been so good to me

Standing on the rock

Nobody can move me

Amen!

Go Wolfhounds!

Go Wolfhounds!