People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: Arise and Shine! ~ Sunday of the Epiphany '19 Yr C

For Sunday, January 6, 2019, Sunday of the Epiphany, Year C, Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you…Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. [Isaiah 60:1, 3]

For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the oppressed who has no helper. [Psalm 72:12]

Of this gospel I have become a servant accord to the gift of God’s grace…This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him. [Ephesians 3:7a,11-12]

“Go and search diligently for the child…” When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. [Matthew 2:8b, 10]

EPIPHANY IS BIG! It brings us a bright shiny and HOLY revelation. Yet, unless on Sunday as this year, the Epiphany seems to be somewhat ignored in these times. It IS the continuing and the expanding of the celebration of the birth of our Messiah, and his importance to us all, but perhaps we are worn down. We have come through the four weeks of anticipation in Advent, the hustle and bustle of preparation for gifts and food and gatherings, the familiar rush of the time of year, followed by the pageantry and the glorious music, and then the usual “let down.” Perhaps Epiphany, the 12^th Day of Christmas, has become an anti-climax, the end of the story, the time to take down the decorations. Yet it is in truth a beginning. We open new chapters of the Story that will take us from Jesus the Baby, to Christ our Redeemer. While we celebrate the birthday with great fanfare, the Epiphany moves us into the reason for which this Child was born of a woman, the revelation of God’s eternal purpose is upon us. A theophany then ~ the manifestation of God visible to humans ~ a re-discovery now.

At the Nativity of Jesus, Luke tells us that the angels appeared to the shepherds who received the good news of great joy, but Luke never mentions the Magi. Matthew never mentions the shepherds or even the birth itself except for a brief phrase: "...until she had borne a son; and he [Joseph] named him Jesus." But Matthew did tell us of the "...wise men from the East..." They saw a great star revealing to them the need for a journey to pay homage to a new born king of the Jews. Herod gets involved and we begin to see the ominous cloud moving in to shadow the glorious star. But having heard this story so very many times are we listening as it is read again? Have we tuned out rather than engaging with the experience? Or, have we re-awakened to the wonder and pondered what it could possibly mean for each of us in our own time?
These three “Kings” have trekked long distances to tell Herod, and us all, of the power and majesty this Child brings. It is a new dawn, another chance to listen and to hear deep within. In the compression of time given in the Gospels and the Church calendar, it is a short season indeed before we begin the unfolding of the ministry, miracles, teaching, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is time again to rediscover the astonishment, the amazement, the true adoration in this event.

Hear the story as if for the very first time – know that we have been given an extraordinary gift, Christ, Our Lord, has been born to us! Let us be overwhelmed with joy! Let us search diligently for the child within us and around us. Epiphany is the time to seek the Magi-cal gifts in my own life that call me to pay homage, follow and live into the light and life of Christ in boldness and confidence through faith in him. Arise, shine; for your light has come!

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Holy Messiah, Heartbeat of God, as we arise in the shining Light of Your glory, help us to come together as Your people, to seek the joy that You bring to us again and again, and to share in Your eternal promise.

Jesus, Light of Heaven

RESPONSE: Our Strength and our Redeemer

~ Holy Messiah, Heartbeat of God, guide all nations to come to Your light, and all leaders of governments to the brightness of Your dawn. Let us model the very compassion and peace needed in the world to reverse the damage of violence, oppression, and injustice in our own time. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Jesus, Light of Heaven