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Wake Up To Your Preciousness Isaiah 43:1 – 7; Psalm 29 There was a picture in the paper this week of the Japanese Royal family. Finally — after 42 years — a boy has been born and the country can be at ease that the Emperor’s line will continue. I am sure there are many stories being woven about that child’s birth and needless (from our perspective!) worries set aside. The birth of leaders — political and religious — often spark the interest and intrigue of the public. Biographies and autobiographies capture the attention of readers because of the way the life of a particular person has begun — especially if it is at odds or much less humble than wherever the person has climbed successfully during a lifetime. Think of the stories we know about Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin, Moses and his early ride on the river in the bull rushes, Samuel and his birth to a woman who was willing to give up her baby to the priests (if only she could become pregnant), John the Baptizer, and Isaac born to very aged parents. Today we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus; the story is not set at the manger scene but, rather, some time later when the magi – those wise wanderers from the East – finally showed up and brought what we would consider inappropriate baby shower gifts. It was clear they were looking more for the baby boy who was born in Japan recently than the one who was born in a stable and put in a cow’s feeding trough. The importance of this day of celebration in the church is neither about the wise men nor their gifts. Today we celebrate Epiphany because it designates a time of revelation. Up to this point the people who acknowledged Jesus’ birth were fairly local — Mary and her extended family; the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem; Simeon and Anna who realized the importance of this child as his parents brought him to the temple. Now — with the magi following a star — the world beyond the neighborhood was made to realize that the child, Jesus, was born. We don’t know how far west they had traveled, but the reality is in those times East met West and the world then knew of this revelation! An epiphany occurs when light shines in such a way that there is new understanding. An epiphany occurs when an ‘aha’ helps us connect something we never quite understood before with a clarity of sight, feeling or thought. An epiphany occurs when we finally ‘get it’ — whatever ‘it’ may be that we have not before been able to wrap ourselves around. Sometimes that epiphany has to do with knowledge. Sometimes the epiphany has to do with finally understanding someone else’s feelings. Sometimes the epiphany has to do with accepting something – anything – that previously we had guarded ourselves against. An epiphany is a wake-up moment to whatever had been asleep Our scripture passage this morning from Isaiah was written to the people of Israel in the hopes that it would bring an epiphany experience to them. This is a love letter from God to a people who obviously didn’t ‘get’ how much God loved them. Isaiah was given the charge — the revelation — to share with the people in hopes they would have an epiphany. “Do not fear,” says God, “for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine …because you are precious in my sight and honored AND I love you.” I will do amazing things for you. The hoped-for epiphany in this circumstance was not about the personal love of God for individuals. This was bigger than that. This message was for the nation; for the people who The message itself (from Isaiah) is trying to allay two basic fears. The first is fear at the appearance of God. The second is the fear of being in danger or threatened. Isaiah was telling the Israelites not to be fearful of the overwhelming and sudden appearance God might make at any time. He was saying that they did not need to fear the enormous presence of the divine, because, after all, God had called them into being and had actually given them their name. Therefore, God could be understood as tender and gentle. Secondly, they needn’t fear any danger because God was going to lead them through all the travails of their life and, in fact, deliver them from other nations who had overpowered them. The Hebrew people needed to hear this. They certainly needed to receive this revelation. They were going to have to wake up — have an ‘aha’ experience around these issues of fear if they would be able to continue in their existence. Their epiphany was a consequence of accepting this message. As we study Biblical texts, it is very important to hear the message that was being given to the people that needed, first of all, to hear it. Allowing these texts to speak well in other contexts is another form of study and work. We are not living in the same days of Isaiah; our national issues are not the same as the Israelites then. But I believe reading the Isaiah text could produce an epiphany experience for many of us. Being assured about the fear of God’s appearance is probably lost on most of us. In post-modern times (which is what we are supposedly living in now) God has been more trivialized than given due power. Many of us — many of our culture have grown out of, or perhaps we think we have grown up from this fear. Where priests (both Jewish and Christian) of former times would admonish their people not to be so fear-filled of God and God’s power and to allow the closeness/the immanence of God to touch people, I believe the opposite teaching is probably more helpful. Chatty familiarity with God or dismissiveness of the mere existence of God is more the norm we have today. The message that the presence of God — the overpowering and enveloping attendance of God — should take us to our knees, should melt our hearts and should wrap our souls. That seems to be more what we need in today’s society where we perceive we can control just about anything we put our minds to — even God. The epiphany needed now is exactly the ‘fear of God.’ In fact, we need to be overwhelmed BY God. Think about the times when you have been in the presence of an awesome character; when you were with someone who seemed to possess a spirit that was pure; when you were walking with someone who didn’t have to think about justice but lived it; when you have been sitting with someone who overwhelmed you not by ego – but by genuine care. Most of us can name those people and those experiences on one hand, but if we have had the privilege of such experiences they were life-changing and spirit boggling. Some of you have even had opportunity to shake the hand of a President or wanna-be president. Remember that thrill. OK, I can still get goose bumps remembering when I got to sit in the front row of the Indianapolis Coliseum to see the Beatles on the first American tour — to scream and watch other girls swoon. And years later to have a similar experience at Madison Square Garden with Neil Diamond. Well, shouldn’t being in the presence of God be more of an overwhelming – more of a swooning…more of a total epiphany…. light-on, aha experience than those…YES…. and we ought not be as much afraid of them…as being afraid we DON’T have them. But the other side of fear that our prophet shares in this passage also strikes us individually. We all have fears, threats, dangers that can eat us alive. We all have sleepless nights — aches, pains and indigestion due to stress and worry. God, in this love letter, is pleading with us to let go of the fears that are overwhelming us. When the rivers of terror seem to want to sweep us away, know that we are being carried through those waters. When we have moments of hopelessness, remember that we – each of us – was precious, enough to be identified, loved individually, called into a particular character by God and God has no intention of losing even one of us. What a concept – what a revelation – what an epiphany?! Hearing those words and believing them ought to be an awakening to us…ought to be the ‘lights on’ experience of a lifetime. That’s the message that God has been sending since the beginning of time. That’s the message that Jesus would make his own. That’s the message of the church throughout the world. Everyone needs to hear and know and believe that. Every child of this universe is hungry for the epiphany of knowing they are beloved, precious and honored. Julia Cameron – who, years ago wrote The Artist’s Way has recently written Love Letters from the Divine. I would like to close with one of her prayers: “The future unfolds one day at a time. Respect that pace. Do not hurry forward into tomorrow. Allow me to lead you, to enter your days and fill them with peace. I have a peaceful heart for you. Enter my heart and allow me to share my abundant sense of well being. Unfold your days with me and lose your sense of panic and loss. This earth is abundant. It holds joy for you, and contentment. Bring me your restless heart. Allow me to gentle your soul. “Give me your sense of urgency. Allow me to transform it into a sense of purpose. Give me each day and I will give it back to you transformed and shining with love.” (New York: Penguin. 2004. P. 35) May this day of revelation – this day of light – bring an epiphany experience to us all! SW |
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