The Light of Epiphany: Mercy Over Argument

• Epiphany and the Nature of Christ's Light 00:22:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines Epiphany as the season where Jesus reveals God's kindness, justice, and mercy, describing this light as subtle and shining in strange places rather than in power or wealth.
• The Magi as Outsiders 00:24:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights the Magi as Gentile outsiders who followed the star, illustrating that the light of Christ is for all people, not just religious experts, and that they had to leave their old ways behind.
• Contrast with Artificial Light 00:26:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the light of Epiphany with the 'neon glow of consumerism,' 'harsh glare of political warrior rhetoric,' and 'flickering screens of social media,' which isolate people.
• The Incarnation and Human Dignity 00:29:16 ▶️ 📄
  > Citing Thomas Merton, the pastor argues that because God became human in Jesus, every person is 'shining like the sun,' elevating humanity to the gates of heaven.
• New Year Resolution and Community 00:30:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to resolve to see all neighbors, even those they dislike, as made in God's image, and to create a community of welcome and peace.

• Sermon Illustration 00:21:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his granddaughter giving him a gift, noting she is cute so she gets a pass, and joking that he won't shake hands unless it's an experiment due to distance protocols.
• Sermon Illustration 00:29:16 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Thomas Merton's observation on a busy street corner, realizing that every person is 'shining like the sun' because of the Incarnation, comparing being human to holding a winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake.

• Pastoral Charge 00:30:24 ▶️ 📄
  > Resolve to see all neighbors, regardless of differences or dislike, as shining with the image of God.
• Pastoral Charge 00:32:47 ▶️ 📄
  > Create a welcoming community, practice kindness/forgiveness/mercy/humility, speak for the dismissed, and love neighbors as God loves them.
• Pastoral Charge 00:33:59 ▶️ 📄
  > Follow the example of the Magi by taking a different road and being the light of Christ in the world.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:13:05] I invite you to stand. Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let us pray.
[00:13:21] O God, by the leading of a star, you revealed your only Son to the peoples of the earth.
[00:13:28] Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now
[00:13:44] forever. Amen.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:13:46] Remain standing. The scripture is from the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 2, beginning

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:24] with the first verse.
[00:18:28] In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, 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
[00:18:53] this, he was frightened, and all of Jerusalem with him. And calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him,
[00:19:11] 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
[00:19:26] ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod secretly called for the 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
[00:19:49] me word so that I may 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
[00:20:09] 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
[00:20:30] not to return to herod they left for their own country by another road This is the gospel of our Lord.
[00:20:39] Praise to you, O Christ.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:20:41] Good morning.
[00:20:54] I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and beginning to the new year.
[00:21:03] We did.
[00:21:04] We enjoyed a great time with family and all the gifts and celebration, including the gift that I think my granddaughter gave me, which I'm still dealing with.
[00:21:16] But she's cute, so she gets a pass.
[00:21:19] at least for now. I shouldn't blame her. Half the house had something, but I could be mad at them.
[00:21:28] They're not cute, but the kids, they're too old, but she's still a sweetie, so I'll give her a break. So I won't shake your hand today unless you just want to try out an experiment,
[00:21:42] and I'm not going to serve communion, not because I'm not engaged and in worship, but it's just better if we keep a little distance this morning. On Tuesday, the church will celebrate a day that in parts of Christianity rivals Christmas. You may know it as Three Kings
[00:22:02] Day. On our calendars, it's quite often listed as the Feast of the Epiphany, which simply means appearance or manifest or manifestation or revelation, something to that of fact, and it's a season of the Christian year between Christmas and Lent. Christmas ends
[00:22:23] tomorrow. Epiphany begins on Tuesday and runs us through up to the season of Lent. And it's the season of the Christian year where we reflect on the concrete, in-the-flesh kinds of ways that Jesus shows us what God is like and what it means to live a fully human life. In other words,
[00:22:50] epiphany reminds us that Jesus is the revelation of God's kindness and justice and peace and mercy, forgiveness, love, and salvation. He's a light shining in a world that is often very dark, a light, John says, that is so stubborn the darkness cannot overcome it. And so in the
[00:23:11] season of Epiphany, we're asked to consider not only how God has revealed God's self to us in Christ, made God's self known to us in Jesus, but also to think about what does this mean for us
[00:23:26] and how we live our life together as church. That is, having seen the glorious presence of God in Christ, having seen the light of God's love dawning, how are we called to respond?
[00:23:45] How are we called to be instruments of that light, to be a people who make Christ manifest in the world? In today's reading from Matthew, we meet the magi, the wise men, Gentile outsiders, strangers from a far-off place, likely the area that we know today as Iraq,
[00:24:09] Not the good religious folk of the day, not the experts living by the temple, but outsiders from a distance who've traveled at the appearance of the light.
[00:24:26] In part, they're showing up in the story as Matthew's way of reminding us that the light born in Bethlehem's manger is not only for Israel, but it is for all people.
[00:24:37] No matter what they look like, sound like, where they're from, it is a light for all the world and isn't it interesting that many of the people who were supposed to know god missed it while these strangers these foreigners these outsiders
[00:24:58] followed a star to find it the magi saw the power of god not in a palace but in the frailty of a child. In the weakness and frailty of Jesus' humanity, they saw the power of God to heal and
[00:25:18] save the world, and they were drawn to it. And so as Raymond Brown notes, when they offered their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, they weren't just giving presents, they were actually giving up their old traditions. They were letting go of their old securities, leaving behind the
[00:25:39] old maps, the old ways of making sense of the world. They met Jesus and they were different.
[00:25:48] They couldn't even go home the same way. They had to take a different road. I think sometimes when people miss the light of Christ, it's because it's not the kind of light we've been trained to look for. In this new year, we're surrounded by all kinds of artificial light.
[00:26:14] We have the neon glow of consumerism, the harsh glare of political warrior rhetoric.
[00:26:24] We have the flickering screens of social media that often leave us feeling more isolated and alone.
[00:26:32] We look for the light and power and popularity and wealth and winning the next argument.
[00:26:39] But the light of epiphany is a different sort of light.
[00:26:44] It's subtle.
[00:26:45] it's a bit like the first ray of light in the morning as night gives way to the day it's it's like the flicker of a candle in a dark room and it shines in strange places and in back alleys
[00:27:04] and forgotten neighborhoods in the weak and the vulnerable and those on the margins of life it shines on the people we've been told are the problem we've been told to fear them to overlook them. It shines in the dark corners of our own hearts, the places we try to hide. It's a disturbing
[00:27:26] light because it unmasks our pretensions. It's why King Herod reacted with violence.
[00:27:36] He didn't want a light that would reveal his true self. He wanted to stay in the dark where his power felt absolute. The innocents are often slaughtered for the aspirations of the powerful.
[00:27:51] you don't go on a murderous rampage unless you're afraid the light is about to reveal who you truly are there's no hiding from this light it will find us it will reveal us it will unmask us and
[00:28:10] it will disarm us and so in the presence of this light the magi show us a different way you can step into it there's no need to fear this light because in it is freedom the freedom to cast
[00:28:32] aside our pretending our masks our false selves our efforts to measure up in in the light we this light we find the freedom simply to be to be our god-given god-beloved selves epiphany stands at the beginning of a new year to open our eyes once again to the to the glorious
[00:29:02] beautiful radiant life that's being offered to us in christ it's a reminder that by becoming one of us god has elevated our humanity to the very gates of heaven and we should never forget that
[00:29:16] thomas merton once had an observation an epiphany while standing on a busy street corner watching people go by, he realized that because God became one of us, human, in Jesus, that every single person, Merton said, every single person was walking around shining like the sun because of
[00:29:43] the incarnation. He goes on to say, being a member of the human race is like holding the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake because God chose to become one of us. What if we actually
[00:30:01] leaned into that truth? What if we saw our neighbors, all of them, it's hard for some of them, but what if we saw all of them? If we resolved together to do nothing else for the rest of the
[00:30:24] year but to see all of our neighbors the ones who look or speak or love or worship differently the ones who come from different places the ones who live in different places the ones who maybe
[00:30:40] we dislike the most what if we resolve to see all of them as someone shining like the sun because God chose to become one of us what if that were our single priority in the year I've
[00:30:59] told you before most of my sermons are things I say to myself and then I say them out loud to you so this is a reminder to me as I was writing this sermon of all the people I was thinking about
[00:31:10] yeah but not that one it's a lot harder to shame or to demonize or to hate or to scapegoat or to exclude someone when you realize their humanity has also been elevated to the very gates of heaven
[00:31:32] The Magi were drawn to Jesus because they saw the light of His love shining like the sun.
[00:31:41] They saw a better way home.
[00:31:42] They saw a different way of being human.
[00:31:45] A different future for humanity.
[00:31:47] A future in which God's kingdom draws near and we're then free from darkness and sin and division and death.
[00:31:56] as we start 2026 the world isn't going to be saved by better arguments or more entertaining worship or programs or even having the right people in the right offices in the right places of government the world will be healed and saved because god is merciful and forgiving
[00:32:21] and because god loves and the world will know the light of god's love by how well we love jesus was explicit about this they will know that you belong to me he said by how you love that's our invitation our resolution for a new year to create a space
[00:32:47] a community where everyone is welcome and can belong, to show that peace is a viable option in a world that really never tries it, to practice kindness and forgiveness and mercy and humility, to speak up for those who are often dismissed or ignored, to see all of our neighbors
[00:33:11] as made in the image and likeness of God, and to love them the way God has loved us.
[00:33:19] everything we do here is for that purpose and no other from worship to youth ministries to studies to to mission opportunities music all of it all of it is for the purpose of our being together a living epiphany we are here to help the world heal and to show our
[00:33:48] neighbors that they are loved beyond measure so my hope for us my prayer for me and for you is that we can follow the example of the magi and take a different road this year
[00:33:59] walk into the new year not just looking for the light but being the light walking around every last one of us shining like the sun for the sake of the world that christ loves amen i invite you

[00:34:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:34:30] just stand as we affirm our faith. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the one true church, apostolic and universal, whose holy faith let us now declare. We believe in God the Father,
[00:34:45] infinite in wisdom, power, and love, whose mercy is over all His works and whose will is ever directed to His children's good. We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, the gift of the Father's unfailing grace, the ground of our hope, and the promise of our
[00:35:06] deliverance from sin and death. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the divine presence in our lives, whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ and find strength and help in time of need. We believe that this faith should manifest itself in the service of love,
[00:35:26] has set forth in the example of our blessed Lord to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth.
[00:35:35] Amen.
[00:36:36] You may be seated.
[00:36:40] And I invite you to join with me now as we go to God in prayer.
[00:36:49] Let us pray.
[00:36:53] Almighty God, on this Epiphany Sunday, we give thanks that we are recipients of your love and grace in the birth of Christ.
[00:37:03] God, in response to such love, May we love, love you and love others without restraint and with great joy.
[00:37:14] Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
[00:37:19] God, as we hear the story of the Magi bringing gifts to Jesus, we give thanks for the many gifts in our lives.
[00:37:27] Lord, give us faith, faith like the wise men, to seek Jesus ourselves, to bring our very best to Him, trusting that He's glorified in our giving.
[00:37:42] Lord, in your mercy.
[00:37:44] Hear our prayer today for peace in your world and our prayer for your church, its leaders, for all leaders, that they would seek to lead with humility and with mercy.
[00:38:04] And we thank you for the ministries that have emerged in recent weeks because of our anticipation and joy over Christ's birth.
[00:38:14] we pray today for those who are still in need after the holidays have passed and pray you'll continue to move us to be people of compassion give us generous hearts God throughout the year as we pray for all who
[00:38:31] suffer because of poverty or injustice all whose worlds are darkened by pain or illness or war or violence God shine the light of Christ upon them help us radiate your light Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
[00:38:55] Lord, while Christ's birth has brought good news of your love, we recognize that the holidays were difficult for many, especially those experiencing the pain of loss.
[00:39:05] So we pray for all who grieve, for those hurting from loneliness or isolation or depression, and we pray that you'll hear us today as we lift up our own concerns and joys, both aloud and silently in our hearts
[00:39:28] as we pray now for.
[00:39:39] Surround us all, God, with Your comfort and love.
[00:39:43] Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
[00:39:47] And Lord, as we enter this new year, enter our hearts.
[00:39:51] Prepare us to be new creations, those who are both led by the light of Christ and committed to being His light in the world.
[00:40:01] All this we pray in the name of our incarnate God, Jesus, who is the light of the world. Amen.
[00:40:13] Well, good morning and welcome to Davidson United Methodist Church on this second Sunday of the Christmas season. So Merry Christmas still, and for us also Epiphany Sunday. We're so glad that you are here, that you're with us, that you're joining us online. Especially grateful if you
[00:40:32] are worshiping with us for the first time. And so I hope you'll take just a moment after the service to join us in the gathering space behind you at our welcome table so that we can say hello
[00:40:41] and offer you a small gift for being with us today. We're grateful for the presence of everyone.
[00:40:46] As we move into this new year, we have lots of opportunities, new opportunities to connect with one another and to be in ministry in the world. One of those is our new Make a Difference collection
[00:40:58] throughout the month of January. It's for all in Guatemala. They're collecting pens and pencils and toys, all kinds of items that you can read about in the bulletin today. You can bring those to the church throughout the month of January. We have a blood drive tomorrow. It'll be right
[00:41:14] behind you in the fellowship hall from one to six o'clock in the afternoon. If you'd like to give blood, you can please make an appointment with Liz Powell and her information, contact information is in the bulletin as well. In a new year, we often like to try to figure out ways that we can
[00:41:31] deepen our faith and get closer to God. And if you are in that position, and I hope that we all are, there is an opportunity for us to join a new group that's going to be getting together,
[00:41:42] not this week, but the following Wednesday. It's called Becoming Disciples of Christ.
[00:41:47] They'll meet on Wednesday evenings beginning on the 14th of January all the way through May.
[00:41:54] And if you'd like to learn more about that, again, there's information in the bulletin. And also, if you click the QR code, it'll take you there. Finally, our United Women in Faith is having their
[00:42:04] first meeting of the year, unit meeting, next Sunday. A week from today, that'll be the 11th of January. They'll meet after the 11 o'clock service around noon in the Fellowship Hall.
[00:42:15] Special guests will be Diane Hunt from Changed Choices, which is a ministry with incarcerated women. And all women are invited to be a part of this UWF meeting next Sunday afternoon.
[00:42:31] Again, we're so grateful for all that you do, all the ways you give of yourself that allow us to be

[00:42:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:42:36] able to connect and to be a ministry in the world. Thank you for your generosity. Gracious God,

[00:48:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:48:10] your generosity overflows. Accept our gifts so that with your blessing, we may use them to proclaim Christ in our community and beyond. Amen. You may be seated. Christ our Lord invites to his table today all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace
[00:48:38] with one another. As we come to his table, I invite us now to confess our sins before God and one another. Let us pray together. Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
[00:48:52] in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
[00:48:59] We have not loved you with our whole heart.
[00:49:02] We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
[00:49:05] We are truly sorry.
[00:49:07] We humbly repent.
[00:49:09] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.
[00:49:21] Amen.
[00:49:23] Hear the good news.
[00:49:24] Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.
[00:49:27] That proves God's love toward us.
[00:49:29] In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
[00:49:36] Glory to God. Amen.
[00:49:38] I invite you to stand as you're able now for our great Thanksgiving.
[00:49:42] May the Lord be with you.
[00:50:09] Lift up your hearts.
[00:50:12] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
[00:50:17] It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.
[00:50:24] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
[00:50:31] Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
[00:50:38] Hosanna in the highest.
[00:50:40] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[00:50:44] Hosanna in the highest.
[00:50:46] Holy are you and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation.
[00:50:54] You sent a star to guide wise men to where Christ was born.
[00:50:58] And in your signs and witnesses, in every age through all the world, you have led your people from far places by his light.
[00:51:06] By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and spirit.
[00:51:18] The night in which Jesus gave himself up for us, he took bread, he gave thanks, he broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take and eat, for this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And when the supper was over, Jesus took
[00:51:33] the cup. He gave thanks. He gave it to his disciples and said, Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of
[00:51:42] sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And so in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice
[00:51:55] in union with Christ's offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
[00:52:00] Christ has died.
[00:52:02] Christ is risen.
[00:52:03] Christ will come again.
[00:52:06] Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and cup.
[00:52:11] Make them be for us the body and the blood of Christ that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by His blood.
[00:52:18] By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, one in ministry to all the world.
[00:52:23] until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
[00:52:28] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.
[00:52:39] And now with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
[00:52:43] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:52:48] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:52:53] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:53:02] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:53:06] For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
[00:53:11] Amen.
[00:53:14] The bread we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.
[00:53:19] And the cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
[00:53:27] The table is prepared, and Christ is our host.
[00:53:30] He invites everyone to his table, today and always.
[00:53:33] You may be seated.
[00:53:34] Let us pray together our prayer of thanksgiving.
[01:01:29] Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us.
[01:01:36] Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit to give ourselves for others.
[01:01:43] In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

[01:01:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:01:46] Friends, in this new year, walk in the light, the beautiful light of Christ's love,

[01:05:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:05:43] and find therein the freedom to be the light for others until the whole world is shining like the sun. And as we do, let's remember our mission that we will be the body of Christ in our community
[01:05:58] through worship, education, fellowship, and service. Go in peace.