The Epiphany of the Lord (January 7-8, 2017)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?”
The magi, the wise men, arrived from the East seeking to find the newborn king of the Jews.  They are called wise men; they are called kings; I would also invite you to see them as seekers.  They journeyed to Jerusalem looking for the newborn king but they did not know where to find him.

In many ways, so many of us can identify with the magi.  We are seekers who wish to discover Jesus more fully in our lives.  The world is full of seekers.  Some of these seekers are men and women at the end of their rope, desperate for a liberator, longing for deliverance from poverty, some addiction, human trafficking, mental illness, war, violence, or injustice.  Some are seekers are of another sort, longing not for deliverance but for a life worth living, a life with meaning and depth, with purpose and love. 

In our discipleship of the Lord Jesus, we are seekers --  seeking to encounter the Lord Jesus more fully in our lives.
 

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#1.    Christ has told us to seek him among the poor.
I had an inspiring encounter with some of God’s poor the Tuesday Evening after Christmas.  Four of us from St. Joe’s  --  Deb AuClair, Adam Greenly, his son Josh, and myself – joined with parishioners from the downtown St. Mary’s Church on their monthly outreach to the homeless in downtown Rochester.  St Joseph’s both tithes and are active participants in this ministry under Katie Denecke’s leadership.

The wind was howling this particular Tuesday evening and the poor we encountered were grateful for the blankets, for the toiletries, and the food we provided in their flimsy makeshift housing along the railroad tracks near the Genesee River and also in what is called “Tent City” along the fencing of route 490.  In a strange way, we walked on the holy ground of the homeless where they lived calling to mind for me the simplicity and the poverty of the Bethlehem crib.

Two of the homeless accepted our invitation to take them to Motel Six where they would enjoy a shower, a comfortable bed and some warmth for the night.  The hope the following morning is that they will engage with willing social workers to help them help themselves in finding more quality in how they live their lives.  Others thanked us for our friendship and the food we provided but chose to stay where they were in the humblest of human surroundings.  The folks who spoke to us from within these tents were among God’s beloved.
 
In our encounter with these beautiful homeless people, we were encountering the Lord who once again lives among us in the simplicity and poverty that characterized the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem of Judea.

I was grateful to move outside of the comfort zone of St Joseph’s Church which I am most familiar with to walk and to share with God’s poor who are homeless under the bridges of our city.  We all need to encounter God’s poor in some way.

#2.  Christ has also said that He is to be found where two or three are gathered in his name.  That is to say, Christ is to be found in the Church; Christ is to be found in the faith community of St. Joseph’s.  We are the Church of St Joseph’s  -- not just a bunch of isolated individual Christians who happen to live in Penfield and in the surrounding communities.  Jesus is very clear that he is here among us when we gather together as a community, as a Church in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is present in the Scriptures that we proclaim and listen to.  Jesus is present in the mystery of the Eucharist in which we encounter in the celebration of the Eucharist.  Jesus is also present in the relationships that we have with one another.

I am so grateful that we gather Sunday and Sunday to give thanks to the Lord our God in the celebration of the Eucharist.  Not in place of the Scriptures or the Sunday Eucharist, but what I would like to emphasize with you that Christ is also present in the informal dimensions of how we are Church, in the more casual ways that we are gathered in His name.  When we simply share a cup of coffee with each other, when we simply exchange our good wishes with each other as well as the times we comfort each other in the grieving moments of life, it is in this context that Christ is present to us as we are two or three we are gathered in His name.

The great St Theresa of Avila said that Christ was to be found among the pots and pans of our kitchen service to one another.  What St Theresa had in mind was to say in the simplest and humblest ways that we serve one another, Christ is present.  There is no dimension of our lives with one another that Christ is not present.

Pope Francis is forever telling the clergy to get out of the sacristy of the Church and get into the streets.  Pope Francis is telling us that Christ is to be found in our service of one another.  When we think of how Christ is present in St. Joseph’s Church, we are to go beyond the four walls of the Church and to be aware of all the ways we come together in friendship and support of one another.

Getting back to the magi, looking at them as seekers who came to Jerusalem to find the newborn king, may we also see ourselves as seekers who wish to encounter the Lord more deeply in our lives.  We are to be stars to each other in all the ways we lead each other to encounter the Lord.

Have a blessed day.