Home By Another Road

Scripture Lessons: Matthew 2: 1-12 Sermon Title: Home By Another Road Preached on January 3, 2021 A couple weeks ago, Keli Gambrill, who is a member of our church and one of our county commissioners, called to ask me if I’d be willing to put together a short article for her weekly newsletter. She’s launching a new section of her newsletter dedicated to asking members of different churches and other organizations in our county the same question, in the hopes that our answers will reveal that we have more in common than we realized. So, Commissioner Gambrill and I decided to ask several members of our church: how has 2020 made you a better person? Members of our congregation answered this way: - Wow, I can think of a lot to say about 2020 but, can I say it has made me a better person... I'm not sure. Maybe a stronger person? Together, we have all endured a devastating pandemic and a very divisive election. It has been hard not to fall into depression! - As our social activities narrowed, we spent more time with family. - We now have closer relationships with our grandchildren. That time was exhausting but precious. It forced me to slow down and relearn patience. - This spring was especially beautiful, so we spent more time outdoors. - With so many neighbors working/learning from home, everyone was out walking and biking. I met many neighbors and participated in events to assist local restaurants/food trucks etc. Relearning the importance of community was a definite positive. - I can't say for sure I am a better person, but I think I have become a better friend and family member this year. We lost my dad and a friend battled cancer (successfully so far!) and, even though those are difficult walks, I feel relationships got stronger. I worked on not worrying about what I can't change and letting it go to God. Despite this year's losses and disappointments, as it comes to a close, I am hopeful. - 2020 has made me a better person as I have found myself really taking time to learn about myself because I am now alone sometimes not seeing anyone in person for days. As an extrovert I have spent time with friends and family on the phone really talking about our lives. - I am more compassionate than ever before. My heart aches as I try to relate to the suffering that is all around us this year. I have been more giving than before. I also have grown to cherish the importance of family and will never again take the time spent together for granted. What I hear in those responses is that something big has happened to all of us. Something has disrupted our routines and changed the way we live and see the world. It’s been bad, but it hasn’t been all bad, so now, as some of our friends and family are receiving the vaccine and we can all start thinking about getting back to normal, I hope you’ll first take some time to think about the parts of normal you hope to never get back to. That’s important to think about, because experience tells me that unless I make a point of not, I’ll just go back to being the same person I was, living my life the same way I did before. Unless I try, I’ll fall into the routines of traffic and rushing. I’ll just go back to being over committed even though being less committed has been so good for me. I’ll forget, because that’s what people do. And so, I ask you: How has this strange time changed you for the better? And what will you do to keep yourself from reverting back to the way you were before? While I don’t imagine that any of us will ever look back on this year nostalgically, what’s true is that some events call us, not to the same road we’re used to, but to journey by a different road. That’s what the Magi did. Our Second Scripture Lesson ended with the verse: And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Considering everything we’ve been through and still are going through, what new road might we be called to? That’s my question for you today, on this Sunday we call Epiphany. Today we remember when these wise visitors gave gifts to the Christ Child. I’m deliberately not saying there were three of them, because we know, not their number, just the number of their gifts. I’m also not saying that they were all wise men, because there must have been some wise women among them, considering how they stopped in Jerusalem to ask for directions. Our Gospel lesson begins: “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, they came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” We know that part. Listen closely to this too: “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened.” We know about what happened next. We know what he did. It’s hard to even say out loud. He said he also wanted to pay the child homage, though really, he wanted him destroyed. And I ask you to consider both reactions, the reaction of the Wise and the reaction of the King, because while some encounter the miraculous and allow it to change them forever, we can all be too stubborn to change, fighting to keep things the way that they are or once were. While some manage to open themselves up to change, others fight to put life’s genies back into their bottles. While some see something that makes them stop, take stock of their lives, and adapt, others live unexamined lives that lead to death and destruction. While the wise offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, then left for their own country by another road, Herod would sooner kill ever male child in the region than lose a grip on his power. These are two options, and as things open back up over the next few months, we’ll also have to choose whose example we’ll follow. Our world has forever been changed by, not just the COVID-19 Virus, but more especially, the birth of the Messiah, only how will we allow these changes to change us? The wise found him, gave him precious gifts, and then went home by another road. On the other hand, is King Herod, who sought him out, and coming to terms with the truth of the Messiah’s birth, was renewed in his determination not to change anything. It’s the same, common, event, but their reactions were so different. It reminds me of two men, both who suffer a heart attack, but one gives thanks to God and changes his diet, the other stops for a Big Mac on the way home from the hospital. The Messiah was born, and they all knew it as we do, but the reality of his birth brought the wise men joy and made Herod afraid. Having seen him, they left for their own country by another road, but Herod doubled down on the road he was on. If you are listening to me this morning, then I bet that you’ve seen him just as they had. This Christmas, maybe you saw him in an act of kindness. Maybe you saw him in the embodiment of joy. Or maybe you saw him in some experience of the holy, a healing, a miracle, a change of heart. Regardless, I’m sure that you’ve seen the Messiah somewhere, but now what? Our Gospel Lesson offers us two choices. Which will it be for you? In the last year we’ve all suffered under the same fear and we’ve all been frustrated by the same virus. Will this common virus enable you to see our common humanity? Will you acknowledge that just as this virus affects us all, it proves that we’re not nearly so different or as divided as we’ve been told? Right now our eyes are open to the same hardships, and we’ve all seen such tremendous acts of kindness and sympathy which have the potential to bridge all our division, but watch for some will try to push us back into the same kind of partisanship we’re not yet rid of, denying the reality that we so truly all care about the same things. What’s true is that this virus and this season has the potential to call all of us to greater unity, and the vaccine, developed in record time, reveals just what we can really do, but that well-worn road of division and indifference feels to some as comfortable as going home. My friends, is where we were really our home? Is a new earth not calling us? A new realization? A new way of being? A new kingdom, without borders? A new life, without old hatred? A new realization, that we are all of us, brothers and sisters? The world has changed, over the past nine months, but we don’t have to change with it. We must choose to change. Now, in this season of New Year’s Resolutions, will you, who, after giving the Christ Child gifts, be like those wise who “left for their own county by another road.” Will you take some time now to think about what your Saturdays have been like, and will you fight to keep some time set aside for Sabbath rest? Will you consider how good it has been to talk more with your brother or your sister or your mom, and will you make it a priority to keep calling them every week? Will you remember how nice it was to have groceries delivered? Will you rejoice in how nice life is without an hour of traffic every morning, and will you fight to keep it that way? Will you hold close the image of a line of cars in our church parking lot, waiting to receive meals, and will you remember that our church can always make a difference to those who are in need so long as we work together? Will you be changed, though being changed means leaving an old life behind? Let us never go back to what was normal. Instead, let us journey with the wise by another road. Amen.