Christmas 2 Sermon by Johnson Ramsaur (Guest Preacher/Seminarian)

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

In the Christian life that observes the liturgical calendar that is centuries old, this is a fascinating and strange time. As the broader culture around us starts celebrating Christmas, we start the new church year in Advent. As we finally arrive at the incarnation and commemorate Christmas for twelve days, life around us moves quickly to the commemoration of the new year.

Growing up in a tradition that grew to appreciate the liturgical calendar more and more as I aged, I have come to this season with a different angle every year. Until serving as organist at Divine Street United Methodist Church in Dunn, which enabled me to attend here weekly in the 8 o’clock service, I had never attended a service that actually even commemorated the day or season of Epiphany. I got a double dose of it last year, even with huge figurines of the three kings that stood on the organ console at the Methodist church, if I remember correctly.

As I learned this past semester at Yale Divinity School, Epiphany is probably an older Christian tradition than Christmas. A time that commemorated many of Jesus Christ’s beginnings and celebrated God’s human manifestation on earth.

This may be why the Episcopal church differs from the Revised Common Lectionary readings on this Sunday every year. We have three rather unique options for the Gospel readings. The first, the refugee story as a friend of mine has called it, telling the story of Joseph and his family fleeing from Herod. The second, the story of a young Jesus found teaching in the temple by his parents. And the third, the Magi story. Another way this time of year seems to point in so many different directions. The Gospel chosen for our service tells the story of the Magi. This is the only Gospel story that speaks to this event and only seems to give enough information as necessary for this narrative.

The Church and the cultures surrounding it have embellished this story significantly such as making the wise men into three kings from three specific far off lands, with three specific names, and with specific spiritual connections to each of the three gifts. This tradition has led to Three Kings Day, a huge celebration in many communities, especially South America, and to moving portrayals of this story like in the operetta Amahl and the Night Visitors.

But if we look closer at this text, we will see that these individuals are actually only identified as wise men from the east. No numbers except for three gifts, no clear land of origin, and no title description other than being wise. Many interpreters say that they may have been astrologers, kings, or even connected with Zoroastrianism. But the text establishes that they had interpreted the words of the prophet, saw the star and picked up their lives to depart on a journey to see this Messiah.

They aren’t afraid to raise a ruckus in their search in Judea that gets them into a conversation with the top dog, Herod who is understandably insecure at the news of a divinely appointed king and later ruthlessly lashes out in an effort to protect his authority which we commemorated this past week on Holy Innocent’s Day. They finally find Jesus, worship him, and are led to go in a different direction than they had come.

Origen, who was an early Christian theologian recognizes a primary identity of the second person of the trinity as Wisdom. He draws attention to the way that Jesus Christ points humanity to the knowledge and wisdom of God through time,most notably being personified in Proverbs as Lady Wisdom. John 1 also speaks toward this in telling that the Word was with God and was God and all things came into being did so through him. Jesus is this great Wisdom or Word becoming incarnate, which we continue to celebrate today and seek to follow.

These wise people sought to become wiser through their study of the prophets and looking toward the heavens. After being convicted of what was going on, they departed on an extensive journey, travelling with expensive gifts to an indeterminate location to seek this Messiah. I think we might agree that this is pretty risky and peculiar to get up and go do. It also probably seems radical or even irrational to most of us; rather different from the pretty and romanticized image of the three kings at the manger. Sometimes we become so familiar with these stories, we forget we can’t fully understand them.

But these individuals the Bible calls wise. Seeking to be wise individuals is tough work. This example of the Kings is just one Biblical example of responding to the radical wisdom revealed particularly in the figure of Jesus Christ. Paul, Augustine, and many other Christian writers acknowledge that the wisdom of the Gospel appears to be folly to those around us while the wisdom of the world appears to be folly to us. This is particularly confusing in a divided, tension filled, and allegedly dying Church and a world moving past a post-modern perspective.

So how are we to respond to this great Wisdom that has come and that we are continuing to celebrate on this tenth day of Christmas? How do we act wisely when we still are often confused about what this Wisdom really means in our daily lives? How do we act wisely when easy answers do not come for how to solve the multitude of problems in this world, or even in our personal lives?

We keep our eyes on God, allowing ourselves to be transformed by Wisdom. Keeping our eyes on God means setting ourselves apart, namely in the way that we live our lives.

In thinking of how we pursue to be transformed by wisdom, I am reminded by a book shared with me by Father Jim at some point in my time here: Sanctifying Life, Time, and Space by Marian Hatchett, a long time professor at Sewanee. Hatchett points to the power of rituals in the human life and how they transform us. From important events like baptism, confirmation, or a wedding; or, other rites of passage like gaining a driver’s license and significant birthdays; and even in yearly commemorations like Christmas and celebrating the new year, we are changed. But even more so, how we live our days and what we allow ourselves to interact with changes us. One example of this, of many in the Christian tradition, and particularly of us in the Episcopal Church, is found in the words and practices of the Book of Common Prayer which provides vivacious means for this to occur in our prayer, radically influencing our lives.

In my first visit to an Episcopal church, I was struck by the reading of Scripture and humbled by the importance that was given to simply listening to it, followed by silence and reflection. I was even more struck by the expository nature of the sermon. I walked away thinking that since all of the Scripture read wasn’t discussed that it was assumed that everyone had read and studied before they came. I have later figured out that wasn’t exactly the case. But, my experience does point to the expectation for transformation to occur and the gaining of wisdom through this encounter with Wisdom or Christ in the service of word & Eucharist. How awesome.

The wise men went another way after they left. If we pursue Christ, we will continually be transformed which will impact our actions. While they started in the story looking for Christ, once they encountered Christ, their next action was directed. While we may not often be directed through dreams, God does continue to transform us through his Word and his continuing action in the world.

As the writer of Ephesians said to the church in Ephesus in today’s Epistle reading:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.

May this great transforming Wisdom grant us strength and courage to demonstrate this transformation through our actions. Amen.