Words of Welcome

  Matthew 2:1-12 Most creche scenes feature both shepherds and the three kings who kneel before the baby Jesus lying in a manger. While this setup makes for a nice Christmas scene, Matthew and Luke tell very different stories about Jesus’ birth. Luke offers us shepherds while Matthew tells a story about magi who follow a star to Judea. In other words, the shepherds and the three kings come from two different stories.  This morning we’re following Matthew’s version, in which Matthew’s magi from the east, who follow a star to Jerusalem where they visit King Herod. They ask Herod where they might find the newborn king of the Jews, whose star they saw rising in the sky.  This request made by the magi frightened Herod because he didn’t know that such a child had been born in his kingdom. Besides, he didn’t welcome possible rivals to his rule over Judea. Nevertheless, the crafty king asked his advisors where the Messiah was to be born. They pointed the magi to Bethlehem b...

Matthew 2:1-12 You thought that Christmas was over, but here in the church the Christmas decorations remain. There’s a reason for this. We have one more thing to do – we have to put the wise men into the story. As everyone knows, a complete manger scene needs wise men. A complete set has Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, a few animals, and of course three kings. There’s only one problem with this set up. Luke doesn’t have magi or a star and Matthew doesn’t have a manger or shepherds. On Christmas Eve we heard one story, now we hear the other, and as we listen to this story we transition from Christmas to Epiphany. Matthew really doesn’t have a Christmas story, instead he tells an Epiphany story. An epiphany is an appearance of God and such an appearance is often a moment of enlightenment. Since the magi represent the east, maybe we could use a Buddhist term here: – a word like "mindfulness." The Buddhist writer Thich Nhat Hanh defines mindfulness as the "kind of energy th...