EPIPHANY SERMON JANUARY 8, 2017 ~ THE REV. KATHLEEN M. STURGES

What is it that you are seeking? Everyone is seeking something. People go to Google everyday searching for countless things - the latest news, celebrity gossip, perhaps a recipe for dinner, or something that I am quite interested in during this time of year, a search for the fastest way to de-ice your car windows especially when you are running late for church! But again I ask, what are you seeking? Maybe it’s not something that you can find on the internet. Perhaps you are seeking truth or peace or hope? Everyone is seeking something.

In our reading from the gospel this morning we have the well-known story of seekers. Wise Men have traveled far from the east and have arrived in Jerusalem searching for the child who has been born king of the Jews. Upon hearing the news King Herod also becomes a seeker. He, too, wants to find this child – but for sinister reasons, in order to extinguish any threat to his power. The chief priests and scribes are consulted. They say the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. However, they are not interested in going with the Wise Men to see, rather they seem to be seekers of the status quo. So the Wise Men set out on their own on their final leg of their journey towards Bethlehem and it is there that the star they are following stops and they are overwhelmed with joy. As they enter the home of Jesus they have found the one whom they have sought.

Everyone is seeking something in the story: Herod, the chief priests and scribes, clearly the Wise Men. But there is one more seeker that we have yet to mention - God, the ultimate Seeker of our Souls. It has been so since the very beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. God seeks Adam and Eve in the garden. And later in time God seeks out Abraham and makes the people of Israel his own. Then as the generations pass, God sends prophet after prophet calling the people to turn back to God. Finally, in the fullness of time there is the ultimate act of seeking - God becomes one of us, God with us in the person of Jesus.
Now as we move from the celebration of the Incarnation at Christmas to the new season of Epiphany, the season of manifestation, our attention turns towards how God goes about revealing that very good news that he is with us. In the Church, we always begin Epiphany with the story of the coming of the Wise Men. They are lauded and admired for all they do to seek the king of the Jews. But did they know that the Great Seeker was also at work? The Wise Men saw the star, but did they know that there was One who put it there? The Wise Men travel a treacherous journey, did they sense someone keeping them safe? When they inquired in Jerusalem, did they recognize that God had proclaimed through the prophet to look in Bethlehem? And when those men arrived in the home of the child born the king of the Jews, it was this same One, this same God in the flesh who greeted them.

In Epiphany we see more clearly the nature of God. God’s nature is to come to us, to search us out, to meet us on the journey, to make himself, to make herself, known to us. God desires to be known and that is why the Wise Men found Jesus. All the work and effort that the Wise Men did was in response to the Holy One who sought them first.

Everyone is seeking something. My guess is that among other things, we come here today genuinely seeking God. Do you know that God is seeking you, too? Granted, sometimes it’s hard to tell. I am mindful of the fact that there were countless people who looked up to the heavens and saw the very same star that the Wise Men did and yet did not understand the message it proclaimed.

It’s so easy to get confused. You may have heard the one about the three young boys who were playing the Wise Men in their Christmas pageant. As they came up to Mary and Joseph the first one handed over his gift with one simple line, “Gold.” The next one came forward with his gift and said, “Myrrh.” The third young wise man placed his present down, pointed and said, “Frank sent this.” Frank sent this…that makes total sense when you have never heard of the word Frankincense before nor have any idea what it is.

God is seeking you and me. There’s no doubt about it for that is God’s nature. The question then becomes how? What is going on in your life right now that God is using as a way to reveal himself, herself, to you? Could it be through an unexpected opportunity? A new relationship? A stirring in your spirit? Or even a crisis or a loss? You know what made those men truly wise is that they remained open to the Spirit. After that long journey they were very clear about what they were looking for. They expected to find a future king. But instead, because of their openness, they were able to not only see a king, but to encounter the living God.

Everyone is seeking something. As we seek for God let us rejoice and rest in knowing that God is seeking us, first and always. Sometimes we’ll see the signs and get it, sometimes we won’t. There may be times when the Spirit is whispering something like “Frankincense” and all we can make out is the equivalent to “Frank sent this.” Even so, God will never give up seeking us. Just as he did for the Wise Men, God will meet us on our journey. God will surely make herself, himself, known so that we, too, may be found by the One whom we seek.