It’s Epiphany today! And, in case you haven’t noticed, the wise men have been over on the mission table since the beginning of Advent. The holy family has been on the altar, and the wise men have been over there. Traveling to the Holy Family.
Today is the year in the church calendar when we celebrate the arrival of the wise men. Today is the day we cheer for their journey. That’s what we are going to talk about today – what it means to pray and have a purpose. But first…
Let’s Pray
The song that the band sang this morning is a David Wilcox song. It’s called “waiting for a miracle.” When I heard David Wilcox last year he played that song. He said that the song was inspired by his Sunday School career early in life. He said he remembered sitting in Sunday School and hearing a story told of the wise men – the story was told out of a story book and he remembered seeing a giant star in the storybook. A giant star that filled the whole night sky.
And he thought to himself…if the star was that big, everyone would have followed it. It wasn’t that big. It was a star. And most of the folks just ignored it. Most of the folks just sat home waiting for a miracle.
The youth went to go see the movie “The Nativity Story” in December. If you haven’t already seen the movie I would encourage you to see it. It’s not too late. In the movie the wise men play a large role. You meet these three wise men in the movie (and really – it could have been more or less than three – we just say three because there were three gifts) and you discover that they have spent most of their lives learning about the prophecy of the promised one and it’s not even their religion. And they’ve studied the stars – they have managed to spend their whole lives as scholars of hope.
Those men certainly had purpose in their lives. And, like David Wilcox song says,
“The star was dim and distant to those who stayed at home. But every heart that follows, behold a light was shown.”
Not everyone had enough purpose to trust. Not everyone prayed enough to know that following was the thing to do.
But the wise men did. They not only prayed, they knew their purpose. They understood that their purpose in life was to study the great prophecy. And then, having studied they knew enough to take a risk and go looking for it.
Prayer and a sense of purpose leads to pluck and perseverance.
Or at least that’s what we can take from the lesson of the wise men. They prayed, they studied, they had a sense of the purpose they had been called to, and that’s what gave them the pluck to travel to a distant land on the strength of a far-off star. That’s what gave them the ability to persevere until they arrived and, in the end, that’s what sent them home by another way preventing Herod from find that great prize that was their purpose.
I like both the David Wilcox song that we heard this morning and James Taylor’s song “Home by another way.” The James Taylor song came right out of scripture and talks about the wise men being warned about Herod in a dream and then going home another way.
I like both of those songs because they are based in scripture and there is another thing that unites those to songs. Both songs talk not only about the wise men – but also about our own call to prayer and purpose – our own call to pluckiness and perseverance.
In the David Wilcox song he says:
Right outside my window, quiet as can be. All that time making up my mind, the angel waits for me.
In the James Taylor song he says:
Maybe me and you can be wise guys too and go home by another way.
In both songs you and I are seen not just as passive bystanders waiting to see how God’s story unfolds. Instead we are all called to be participants in this great drama. We are being called to put our story in THE STORY. To make sure that we don’t just stay at home with our lights so bright that we never see our own star calling.
During this season of Epiphany we are being asked by the Conference to pray for New Churches. That’s a nice thing, and important thing, to pray for. New Churches are the quickest and one of the most effective ways of reaching people who don’t already have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They are a great way to offer the good news of Jesus to all the nations.
And to start new churches we need wise men and women. And I’m not talking about smart people – I’m talking about the wise guys that David Wilcox and James Taylor are talking about – I’m talking about praying people who are willing to embrace their purpose who are willing to take risks for God and persevere even when they sometimes fail.
Do you believe that there were times when the wise men didn’t want to be out on the trail following that star? Can you believe that there were times when they wished they could have remained scholars and not crossed over into the realm of adventurer?
There’s a scene in the movie The Nativity Story (and I don’t think that relating it here will ruin the story for you) where the three wise men are traveling together and the pluckiest of the wise men – the one that came up with the original plan to actually go following this star – asked the most reluctant wise man how long they had been on the road. “One hundred and four” was the reply. And then the plucky wise man said “and how often have you complained about the journey.” And the reluctant wise man said, “One hundred and five – I’m counting tomorrow.” That was funny in the movie.
And the truth is that even the complaining wise man was plucky. The ones that weren’t plucky were the ones that stayed at home – too afraid, or reluctant, or sedentary to pursue their purpose on behalf of the God of the universe.
The folks that agree to pastor new church starts have got to be like these wise guys. They are going into uncharted territory. Sure, like the wise men of the Bible they have studied. Like the wise men of the Bible they are looking for the promised Messiah – looking for them with all their hearts. And, like the wise men in movie, they may have days when the actual journey seems overwhelming. And yet, they still do it. They travel to a place where there is no church and no land and no building and no history and sometimes not even a group of people that knows how to be church and they build a community of believers earnestly seeking God.
That’s a heck of an incredible journey brothers and sisters. And that’s what we are going to pray for this week.
In your bulletins you got a card – there are some card-sized magnets on the back table for you if you’d like to make your card into a magnet. Over the next several weeks we are going to pray – for new churches, for new church start pastors. For the boldness to go into places where there is no Christian community to build up Christian community. That’s what we are going to do. And each week in your bulletin you will see a prayer written for the week. This week it’s on the back of you bulletin in the little box. Use the card as a reminder to pray – you can make it into a magnet and then let it hold your bulletin.
Prayer changes things brothers and sisters. It changes the world, it creates wonderful stars to follow and most of all it changes us. As we pray for those who have the pluck and the perseverance to start new churches, as we remember the wise men who had the prayer and purpose to boldly follow the star we are also being transformed.
We are being transformed into wise men and women ourselves. People who are willing to see our purpose in life and are then plucky enough to persevere until we get to where God is leading us. And then, having arrived, we will become the kind of people that let God bring us home by another way.
Because this message of prayer and purpose of pluck and perseverance isn’t just a remembrance of the wise men and it’s not just a hope for the new church start pastors that are to come. It’s our call as well.
As children of God we are created for a purpose. All of us – we are called to make manifest the glory of God that is within us – each in our own unique way. And when we pray we are gifted with the pluck and the patient endurance to travel the road to get us to our Messiah.
This week we are praying for the New Church start pastors that are already serving in our conference and that will serve soon. And we are also praying for the kind of boldness we need to spread God’s Gospel message – the good news of Jesus Christ – in our own neighborhoods.
This year, we are all wise guys. Amen.
Questions for reflection
1. What is your favorite part of the wise men story and why?
2. In what ways are you already a risk-taker for God?
3. How can you be better at sharing the good news of God with your neighbors?
