“Epiphany Gifts”

Luke 3: 1-4, 15-23

Sermon by the Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

January 7, 2024

Please tell me I’m not the only one who still has various Christmas debris scattered around my house. Decorations that didn’t quite make it back into their bins (or bins that haven’t even been refilled yet). Gifts that haven’t found a proper home yet. Taylor Swift says “we can leave the Christmas lights up til January” but, in our house, we just leave them on our deck all year long to simplify things. 

I always tell myself that Christmas is a SEASON that doesn’t end until Epiphany on January 6th. As such, it’s completely FINE to not even think about cleaning anything up until the SEASON is over. Right? Right. 

Those of us who are slow to close out the season can also take comfort in our sacred stories. After all, in some traditions, the magi weren’t said to have visited Jesus until he was about two years old. Now THAT’S a long time between Christmas and Epiphany. Much longer than the 12 days we typically celebrate. 

Regardless of how long it took Mary and Joseph to take down their Christmas lights, the story of Christmas isn’t quite complete without Epiphany. The story of the magi highlights what is at stake here and sets the stage for the power struggle between the ways of Empire and the ways of Love - the foundational story of Jesus’s life. Without the story of the magi we are missing the global implications of Christ’s birth - the widening of this story to encompass life far outside Bethlehem. Without the magi we might forget about the fearful evil that creeps around the infant’s manger - but with Herod’s words, “Go and search diligently for the child,” we suddenly feel worried about the sweet baby in the manger.

Without the magi, we’re also missing a key component to our Christmas celebrations: the practice of presenting gifts to one another. Yep, that’s why we give gifts on Christmas - because the magi brought their gifts to Jesus. 

Gifts can be small or large, handmade or store bought, silly or serious or delightful or interesting or beautiful or useful or all of the above. I always say the BEST gifts are the ones that you open and think, “Oh, I didn’t even know I wanted this but I do!” Those gifts are the ones that show that the giver has really paid attention to you and seen you. And that, of course, is the best gift of all. To be seen, known, appreciated, loved. 

And then there are the ridiculous, goofy practices we’ve developed around gift-giving. White elephant gift exchanges are one of my very favorites. One person’s trash becomes another person’s treasure. Or maybe just something to inspire a good belly laugh. Our youth group had a white elephant exchange this year and I highly recommend asking some of the teens what they received because there was a lot of hilarity. I love the gift I received (hold up notebook with “White Elephant Gift Under $10” written on the front).

The Manhattan Ministerial Association always has a white elephant and this year I received this little doodad (show toy). It’s a great stress-reliever for my desk and a lovely reminder of the colleagues that I treasure. At that exchange we were asked to share one of our favorite Christmas songs with each other and I told the others about the John Bell piece, Who Would Think that What Was Needed:

Who would think that what was needed

To transform and save the earth

Might not be a plan or army,

Proud in purpose, proved in worth?

Who would think, despite derision,

That a child should lead the way?

God surprises earth with heaven,

Coming here on Christmas Day.

I love this sweet little song because it names the joy of God’s surprising gifts. This is at the heart of our Epiphany stories, too: the magi were some of the least-expected characters to come and present Christ with gifts, of course. But we also have the other two traditional stories of Epiphany: the wedding at Cana and the baptism of Christ. 

The story of Jesus turning water to wine we’ll save for another time. But I’m fairly certain everyone at that wedding was surprised!

Jesus’s baptism is also full of Spirit-surprises. First, that Jesus would need or desire to be baptized at all. Second, that John would be the one baptizing Jesus, rather than the other way ‘round. And, of course, the surprise of the heavens opening, a dove descending, and a voice proclaiming, “You are my child, the beloved. With you I am well-pleased.”

It turns out that gift-giving during this season isn’t just about carefully-wrapped presents under our trees. It’s also about opening ourselves to receive gifts from the Spirit - in all their many and varied forms. We are invited to remember our baptisms - to remember the good news that, like Christ, we are all God’s children, all beloved, and that with us, God is well-pleased. If you haven’t yet received that gift and you’d like to be baptized, now or on another day, please let me know. We’d be honored to offer that sacrament to you. 

Epiphany also encourages us to remember the unexpected ways God surprises earth with heaven. Arriving alongside magi from another land - some of the last people most would expect to find at the manger. The magi are remembered for the gifts they shared, but we would also be wise to remember the great gifts that God gave them for their ministry: the gift of wisdom, of listening with an open heart and mind. The gift of incredible courage as they put their lives on the line for the sake of this young stranger - defying Herod’s orders to protect Jesus. 

This Epiphany, as you pack up your Christmas ornaments and find room for new gifts in your home, I want to invite you to follow the lead of Jesus and John and the magi. Can we open ourselves to receive the good gifts God wants to give us this year? Can we listen for the movement of the surprising Spirit as she bestows gifts that may surprise or shock us? 

Later in the service, we’ll receive our Star Words for 2024. This relatively-new Epiphany tradition is one way of opening ourselves to receive God’s surprising gifts each year. You will choose a word at random. It may be one that makes you smile or groan. A word that immediately makes sense or doesn’t. You’re invited to carry this word with you into 2024. Perhaps you use it as a focus word for your prayers. Maybe you create art with it. Perhaps you journal about why you love or hate it. Maybe you don’t know what to do with it at all, so you just hold onto it and maintain a posture of openness to the movement of the Spirit. 

The season of giving and receiving gifts doesn’t end with the 12th day of Christmas. Let us go into this new year ready to receive the gifts the Spirit bestows in the coming year.