The Epiphany !

I share this story because I believe it is important. Whether it ever happen is not important, it is important because it is a moment in time...set aside to communicate a shift.
Almost 20 years ago when I first started my journey of recovery and finding myself and relationship to my Higher Power I had attended a retreat for men in Malvern Pa, at St Joesph on the Hill. I was my first foray away from my safety of the AA rooms and support system... I chose this weekend because it is a way to remember the moment, and it was a gift to myself...
So I share the below story by a friend who is a Minister...
Thank you for reading, and for Following your Star!



FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY - THE MAGI ARRIVE IN BETHLEHEM

MATTHEW 2:1-12

    "In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi (wise men) from the East 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.'  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah (or the Christ) was to be born.  They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

        'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        Are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
        for from you shall come a ruler
        who is to shepherd (or rule) my people Israel."

    Then Herod secretly called for magi (wise men) and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, 'Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.'  When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.  Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  And  having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road."  (NRSV)

Use your imagination today.EE

There are many details in this all too familiar story that we can most likely tell off the cuff, without reading it.

Put the paper down and try telling the story to yourself or another person.

What have you included in your telling of the story?

What details?

What have you left out?

What have you put in that is not there?

(For an interesting account of this story, see the following website which is "The Four Fold Gospels, published in 1914.  It is a chronological harmony of the Gospels and the Life of Christ.  Here is the page pertaining to the Magi story.  http://www.ccel.org/m/mcgarvey/ffg/FFG013.HTM)

Did you include the names of the three magi?  Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.  During the middle ages, as the above article tells, their names were discovered and there is a shrine at Cologne Cathedral in Germany that can be seen to this day.

But were these really their names?
In addition, is it really necessary that we know their names.

Perhaps the most import parts of the story are that
    They traveled
    They heard
    They saw
    They came
    They worshiped
    They returned
    Different.

But, what is left out of the story?  Doesn't one wonder what was going through their minds as they stood in front of Herod?  Ponder that.

In the story, there are several times that they arrived one way, and traveled on or left another, changed persons.

Didn't seeing the star change them?
The audience with Herod must have changed their thinking?
The arrival at a most unlikely birthing room, surely got their attention.

Each time the magi encounter a different aspect of their journey, they are changed, if just a little.

I've been noticing the evening "star" these past few nights.  It "rose" several nights ago, close to the moon.  Brilliant in the early evening sky.  Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."  A few hours later, that "star", which is actually Venus, has marched across the sky, separating itself some from the Moon, yet maintaining its intensity.  Each night that evening "star" has come and "looks down" upon us, wherever we are on planet earth.

David Giles, one of my favorite District Superintendents in the United Methodist Church used to say, "When my faith is gone.  When I am alone and lost.  The one thing that brings me back into the fold is the stars.  I look at the stars and I know, God."
What must the magi thought as they traveled, met Herod, and finally reached a destination.  One thing for sure we know.  Their arriving at the site of a birth was not the ending, but the beginning for them of new birth.

If it were not so, they would not have traveled home by another route.

What route are you traveling on your life's journey?

Look, see, and follow the star!

    MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH
    www.thepaintedbear.com
    OUR CHURCH'S MISSION IS TO CLAIM OUR BIRTHRIGHT
    GROW IN WISDOM
    SERVE IN GRATITUDE,  SHARE GOD'S LOVE