Pastor's Message

December 2005

As we begin a New Year together we also enter into the church season of Epiphany. A major theme and image of the Epiphany season is the celebration of light, with the prophet Isaiah singing out: “Arise, shine, for your light has come!” It is a time for rejoicing in the light that shines in our darkness, the light that reveals both our sin and the one who comes to forgive it.

A theme of this season that may be worth noting is the way that gifts are given and received. We remember that those who came bearing gifts for the Christ child were probably dark-skinned people, visitors from the East, come not on the basis fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures, but in recognition of a “new light in the world” for all people.

Another theme of Epiphany is the way God uses surprises. God comes to those who least expect it: the boy, Samuel and the tax collector, Levi. Healing is given to those not worthy of it. And forgiveness to those who do not even ask for it. And as the Epiphany season ends with the Transfiguration of Our Lord, revelation comes even to those who persistently misunderstand it. “Behold,” says God, “I am about to do a new thing” (Isa.43:19).

Here is a starting question for our understanding of Epiphany: Where does the good news begin? We enter these weeks having just come from an affirmation of the beginning good news at a manger in Bethlehem. Epiphany reminds us that in other places, other traditions have marked the beginning of good news. Matthew starts the story with a visit from Eastern sages. Mark sets the beginning with John the Baptist encountering the man from Nazareth at the Jordan. Both of these events launch the season of Epiphany. It is time to look for revelations, disclosures, flashes of light and glory. This time of year is especially good for such searching. The energy of the holidays comes to a close. Tinsel and ornaments, confetti and noisemakers all get packed away. It is time to get back to business as usual, which comes with an inevitable letdown, but it gives us a clue to something important about this season. How do we get back to “business as usual” if God has come among us? How do we operate in “ordinary time” if the heavens above Bethlehem have been shattered by angel song and God has pushed the divine self into the world?

The fulfillment of the Christmas promise is not yet complete. Christ has come, but he will need to come again before we will fully know what all the good news means. And so we are interim people, those called to be faithful in as much as we are able, while the fullness of salvation continues to unfold. We are interim people who have seen the light of the world, and long for a time of eternal brilliance.

St. Paul’s is in interim time now, striving to maintain order and normalcy, while looking for signs of a future yet to unfold. We should not be shocked if in the midst of epiphany moments we glimpse gifts coming from unexpected sources, even slightly strange bearers (like a Lutheran interim pastor), or of surprises that God may have in store for us. Let us trust Isaiah’s words, “Behold,” says God, “I am about to do a new thing for St. Paul’s United Church of Christ.”

Pastor Cluley