Light of lights--today is the Epiphany of our Lord and that sheds much light on the new welcome to all humanity. "Arise, shine, for your light has come," says the prophet.

The gospels, of course, bring us along the caravan of Gentiles guided by the heavens to infant Christ. We’ve got much to celebrate this week as we let the light of God that shines brightly in the Incarnation of the Son into human history.

Sermons:

• Giving Like Magi   Matthew 2:1-12      (see below)
  by Rev. Randy  Quinn               
   

• WHICH WAY HOME?  Matthew 2:1-12
  by Rev. Rick Thompson             
   

• A Revelation  Ephesians 3:1-12
  by Rev. Randy Quinn      
   
• Dance of Joy, Ephesians 1:3-14, Randy Quinn  
   
• Strange Sightings in the Sky, Mt 2:1-12, Frank Schaefer
   
• The Magi, Matthew 2:1-12, Tom Hall   
   

• The True Light That Enlightens, Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12,
  Douglas L. Moschella Clark
    

• Joyful Service, Ephesians 1:3-14, Brad Hall  

New Year's Sermon:

• Another New Year Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11, Luke 2:41-50
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer

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Giving Like Magi
a sermon based on Matthew 2:1-12
by Rev. Randy  Quinn

Most of you know exactly what it’s like because you’ve done it before.  But if you’ve never done it, you can probably imagine what it’s like.  You take the time to purchase some gifts – special gifts; maybe several gifts.  You carefully wrap them and pack them into the trunk of the car.  Then you choose clothes and pack them into suitcases and squeeze them in and around the presents.

The hardest part might be making sure the kids have their suitcases packed – as well as whatever games and books they may want to take with them.

When everything is packed, you “hit the road.”  You may be going to “grandmother’s house” or you may be going to see your brother-in-law.  You may make the entire trip in the car; it’s also likely you will find yourself changing from car to bus or train or even airplane.  The cost of the gifts may become insignificant compared to the cost of transportation, depending upon how far or how long you will be traveling.

How many of you have ever done that?  How many have never done that?  Most of us have at some point in our lives.  We may plan our trip to coincide with Christmas, but it may also be an early or a late celebration because the costs of plane tickets are so high – or there are other places and other family celebrations we have to attend.

Maybe for you it was a different kind of celebration altogether.  On my way back from Ft. Worth in December, for instance, I spoke with someone who had gone to Dallas to help celebrate a friend’s 60^th wedding anniversary.  They flew down in the morning and came home that same evening.  I don’t know what kind of presents they took with them, but there wasn’t any luggage to worry about with that kind of a trip!

But there is always planning involved.  And always some expense.

It’s probably safe to assume, though, that when you pack your suitcase, you already know the people you are going to visit.  You know the recipients of the gifts you bought, wrapped, and packed.  And there is some excitement on your part as you anticipate their surprise when the presents are opened.

But, have you ever gone through that much effort for someone you didn’t know?  (I will give them time to think about it while I look for someone who may have done that.)

All week I’ve been thinking about gifts and gift-giving.  I’ve been trying to figure out why we give them and to whom we give them.  It’s almost always to or for someone we know; someone we love.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a birthday, an anniversary, a wedding, or even a baby shower.  We almost always know the recipient.  We might even look forward to the “thank you” card.

In fact, other than things like “Christmas Angel” Trees, I can only think of one time when we give gifts – rather than money – to people we don’t know; can you think of any? The only exception I could think of is a house-warming gift to someone who moves in near us – a way of welcoming a stranger into our community or neighborhood.  The hope is that we will become friends with them, but we don’t know them when we give them our gift.

So, what does it mean when we realize the magi came from far away, carrying precious cargo with them, and leaving it with someone they’d never met?  They clearly spent some time planning, including packing gifts for this baby, a baby whose name they didn’t know.  In fact, they didn’t even know for sure where the baby was to be found!

We know about the gifts they left, but have you ever wondered what kind of traveling expenses they had along the way?

They went to an extraordinary effort to bring their gifts – more than many of us have ever done.  So what does it mean that when they leave Bethlehem we never see or hear from them again?

I know that most of our mental pictures of the magi come from hymns and children’s plays rather than the scriptures. [continue]