Sermon.
8 January 2017. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford
Epiphany
Isaiah
60.1-6; Psalm 76.1-7, 10-14; Matthew 2.1-12
So,
when did you take your Christmas decorations down? Have you? I was
involved in a discussion about this on social media in the week. And
one person said: 'Oh I take my decorations down whenever I feel like
it; I am not superstitious.'
And
that struck me. I'd completely forgotten that time was when it was
bad luck to leave your
decorations up beyond Twelfth Night. There was also a whole
discussion about when precisely Twelfth Night was. But, whenever it
was, decorations just must be
down by then. It was a form of social control – a ridiculous form,
of course, since as Christians we don't believe in such things as
'good luck' or 'bad luck' – but a pretty harmless form of social
control, to make sure we did not leave our decorations up too long.
How
times have changed! With decorations going up earlier and earlier, it
can seem a real struggle to leave your decorations up as long as to
Twelfth Night. I know more than one family that does this. They just
about manage to stay up till, oh, maybe 1 am on New Year's Day, then
sleep in, and by teatime on New Year's Day the decorations are down
and packed away. The next day, the gym pass is found and dusted down
(though not, note, necessarily used). And chocolates are not thrown
away (Gd forbid), but eaten with the thought 'when this box is gone,
it had better not be replaced'. In other words, for many in the
world, as opposed to the Church we are already entering Lent.
But
in the Church we are only today marking Epiphany and the coming of
the Magi; the second story of Christmas. Should we worry about this
mismatch between the world and the Church?
Well,
some of you may just perhaps guess where I am going with this. I am
going to say this. Let's go to Spain. Or Catalonia, or Mallorca
(where my sister lives). There, there is no mismatch. Epiphany is
still if anything more important than Christmas Day. Do you remember
what I've said about it?
It
is called Los Reyes,
or the Kings, the Three Kings. And men dress up as the three kings,
and given their traditional names, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
They are dressed to represent different parts of the world – the
Middle East, the Far East and Africa, which was the known world at
the time the tradition was developed. They come in on horses, or,
failing that, tractors. In the big cities at least, there may be
other parades/displays, telling other Bible stories, from Adam and
Eve on. They dismount, and pay homage to the Christ child in a crib
scene in church – often a real baby. And then they set about the
important business...
They
go from house to house of those homes where there are children, and
give them their presents. It's the big present-giving time of the
year. Can you imagine how magical that is, if you are a young child,
to have a king come personally to your door and hand you your
presents? (And if, over the years, the suspsicion grows that your
parents may have dropped off said presents in the town hall some time
before, well, that takes away less than half the magic, maybe.)
And,
for completeness' sake, let me get round to the bit you are most
likely to remember. That the kings, as they enter in... scatter
sweeties right, left and centre.
[Scatters]
That
never fails, by the way. I've scattered sweets like that in hospitals
and churches – and also in institutes of Higher Education. Even a
gathering of professors will scramble for sweeties, I promise you.
Believe
it or not, I was not just looking for an excuse to tell you about my
sister's family and scatter sweets at you. Something serious is also
going on here.
Today's
story, the story of the Magi, takes up just twelve verses, in just
one of the gospels, Matthew. It's a passing detail. 'Magus' means
someone somewhere in between a learned expert and a cunning magician.
It doesn't mean king. The magi become kings by making the link with
Isaiah and the Psalms – see the Old Testament readings for today. We
have no reason to think there were three of them. That comes because
three gifts are named, gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are not
named, and we are not told where they came from, other than the
utterly vague 'from the East'.
So,
let us be clear, the 'composite' story as we have it - as the Spanish
live it out with great joy - takes a handful of biblical verses and
does something very creative with it. And it is worth asking,
perhaps, if we approve of that. If we approve of making Christmas
festivals out of something which, as we re-tell it, is very unlikely
to be historical. What do you think?
Unsurprisingly
(since I like visiting my sister and getting involved in such
things), I am going to say it is perfectly acceptable and good to
enjoy such a festival, though it be an amalgamation of various
stories and ideas. That, because the central idea is perfectly clear.
When the Kings scatter their sweeties – throw them at you
with recklessness – they are giving us a clear and real-life hint –
a hint about the generosity of Gd.
I'd
say this. Unless we get a lively sense that
Gd
loves us,
and
loves us to enjoy a celebration, a feast, a party,
loves
us to invent reasons to party,
and
loves to scatter [scatters again]
sweet blessings upon us...
then
something utterly serious, solemn even, is missing from our
understanding.
Brothers
and sisters,
I
do not believe that life in our part of London is set to get easier
in the year ahead.
I
do not believe life in our nation is set to get easier in the year
ahead.
I
do not believe life in our world, or for our world (for creation)
is
set to get easier in the year ahead.
Whoever
is standing here, and relating the Bible to our lives and the news
around us will have to say hard and difficult things in this
still-new year. It has to be that way.
However,
let that never be all we say and hear. Let all that be in a context
where we hear – where we catch –
the conviction that Gd's love is generous. Gd's love is not in short
supply.
There
is enough for us,
us
and our friends,
us
and our friends and strangers,
us
and our friends and strangers and are enemies.
And
still [final scatter]
there
is plenty left over.
Happy
Epiphany.
Amen.
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