Matthew 2:1-12    NT p. 1 or 1558

[1] In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

[2] 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."

[3] When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;

[4] and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

[5] They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

[6] 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.' "

[7] Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.

[8] Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

[9] 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.

[10] When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.

[11] 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.

[12] And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

[NRSV]

Revelation 21:1-7 NT p. 241 or 1418

[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

[2] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;

[4] he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."

[5] And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

[6] Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

[7] Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

[NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

Modern technology is great. You know I'm a gadget junkie. Some of you, and I won't name names, have even called me Rev. Gadget. I have to admit I like electronics. But believe it or not, modern technology is making it harder and harder to unwrap Christmas.

Modern technology has given us shrink wrap and bubble packaging, both of which defy all attempts to tear. We have fiber strapping that some knives won't cut. And we have adhesives that you can't get off with dynamite. I ran across a poem dealing with this subject, by Mary Elizabeth Counselman.

"Hats off to you makers of gadgets galore.
Hooray for your shipping and stackage.
But why do you make it so hard, more and more,
To take all your wares from the package?

Your cartons and bags, I can't cut with a knife.
The strength of your cardboard - fantastic!
I'm sure I've spent easily half of my life,
Just fighting my way into plastic.

Your labels resist any solvent on earth.
Your tape is as tough as an ox.
I've paid for my purchase - but what is it worth,
If I can't get it out of the box?" (1)

Did you have any packages like that on Christmas morning? Yeah, we all did. I guess that's just become part of the modern Christmas tradition.

Half the fun of Christmas morning is seeing the excited look on everyone's face as they look at all the brightly wrapped and packaged gifts under the tree. The other half is opening those packages. Some you savor and take your time opening the gifts like our family. You parcel them out one at a time, sharing them with each other in a sedate quiet manner.

Others of you take the piranha or Tasmanian Devil approach. Everybody grabs a package with their name on it and you all start ripping away until everything is open and everyone falls in an exhausted heap of used bows and crumple up wrapping paper.

I. UNWRAPPING IT ALL:

This morning we come to unwrap the last layer of Christmas. Yes, it still is the Christmas season. Today is officially the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Tonight many people with celebrate Twelfth Night. What's so important about this date? The Twelfth Day of Christmas is Epiphany. The day we celebrate the visit by the Wisemen and the gifts they brought to Jesus. Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. That's the liturgical significance.

But today is much more as well. Today has a deep significance for our congregation. As our readings for this week have said, today is the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end.

With the reading of today's readings, today marks the end of our year long Grand Sweep Bible Study. And congratulations to everyone who stuck with it and made it through.

This is also the first Sunday of a New Year. 2002! Can you believe it? It was only yesterday that we were celebrating the beginning of the new Millennium. A Brand New Year. And I can't think of any better day to end a study because we get to celebrate what God said in Revelation, "I am doing a new thing.." And we will all be "doing a new thing." Most of the Sunday School classes have already chosen their Sunday School curriculum and are ready for next week's lesson.

This is also the Kick Off Sunday for our Stewardship Campaign, Consecration Sunday. You've seen the posters. "It's Coming, Sunday Jan, 27th." Consecration Sunday is something new, and a new way of doing something. It's a new approach, for us, at looking at our Stewardship. To me that's exciting.

And then of course, this is the first Sunday of the month, the day we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Now we can celebrate the Sacrament any time we want, but through long years of tradition, we've set aside the first Sunday as the day we come to the Lord's Table. We've set it aside as a day of preparation for the rest of the month and a day of new beginnings.

Wow, that's a lot to cover in one short Communion Mediation isn't it? Let's see, that's about a twelve point sermon. How do we unwrap all of that in one sitting? Especially since none of these things seem to be connected.

But really they are. They all have one major connection. That connection is the center of everything we do and are and believe. That connection, of course, is Jesus.

A. Look at our Bible Study. We didn't undertake the Bible Study just to read the Bible, though we certainly did that. We learned more than we ever wanted to know about the genealogy of Israel, remember all the begats? And we definitely learned more than we ever wanted to know about sacrifices. Remember Leviticus? Today we are reminded in Revelation that no matter what, the bottom line is still the same. Jesus is going to win.

Now our Bible Study all seemed pretty tedious at times didn't it? But we didn't do it because we had to. We didn't do it so we could brag that we've read and studied the entire Bible for a solid year. Though that certainly gives us some bragging rights if we do it with humility. We undertook the Grand Sweep Bible Study as a Spiritual Discipline. Our goal was to grow closer to and learn more about God through Christ Jesus, our Savior, as we encountered them in God's Word. And we did that. Jesus was at the center of our purpose.

B. Stewardship is simply about honoring God. Jesus is at the center of our Stewardship. He teaches us about honoring and serving God with every aspect of our lives. It too is a Spiritual Discipline that draws us closer to God as we offer thanks and praise to God through our lifestyles and our giving.

C. And then there's the New Year. The New year is about starting with a clean slate and starting over. There's nothing quite like looking at a clean calendar is there? There is nothing on any of the pages. No one else's agenda has intruded itself into our nice ordered lives. There is nothing on the pages except holidays and possibilities.

That's exactly what the new life in Christ is all about. Jesus is at the center of that new life. That's exactly why Jesus came. He came to erase the debt and guilt of our sin and offer us a second chance, a new life in Him. Like that empty calendar. we get to start over with a clean slate.

D. And then there is Epiphany. Epiphany is about the journey of the Wisemen, how they stayed the course for two years to fulfill their mission. It's about the gifts that they brought in honor of the newborn King, Jesus, whom they found wrapped in swaddling clothes.

We never really stop to consider the Wisemen much, they almost seem incidental to the Christmas story. And yet it was their gifts that started this whole gift giving tradition. It was their unselfish generosity that inspired St. Nicholas. And we know who that inspired.

And yet all of it was because of Jesus. The Wisemen remind us that in our own Stewardship, and our own journey of faith, we too should be unfailing. Jesus should be at the center of all we do. And we should offer our very best to God, just as they did.

E. Because the Lord's Supper definitely reminds us that God in Christ spared nothing but gave the very best that He had to offer, His only Son, for our sakes. The Lord's Supper is about remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross and at the tomb. It reminds us of the wonderful gift of grace that we have been given.

The Wisemen had to have felt some of that gift, even if they didn't know the complete story yet. They came and knelt at the manger just as we kneel at the communion rail.

They came and left their gifts. We come and leave something else. We kneel filled with grief, heartache, and guilt from the sins we have committed. And when we confess and repent of those sins we leave them there and rise, freed from the burden of guilt. We are set on a new path, filled with nothing but possibilities. And because that burden has been lifted, we feel like everyday could be a holiday.

So, maybe modern technology hasn't made Christmas and this day so hard to unwrap. Maybe we just needed to look at it through the right set of eyes, the eyes of Jesus and the eyes of faith.

CONCLUSION:

Maybe, as we consider our blank calendars filled with all of those possibilities;

as we consider our level of participation and our Stewardship of prayers, presence, gifts and service;

as we celebrate the completion of one Spiritual Discipline and consider what new discipline we ought to take up;

and as we prepare our hearts and our spirits to receive the Sacrament of Bread and Wine

and as we celebrate the excitement and anticipation of the long awaited ground breaking

maybe we ought to hear the promises of our reading for today one more time:

[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

[2] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;

[4] he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."

[5] And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

[6] Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

[7] Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

[NRSV]

Wow! What greater promise could there be than that. "I will be their God and they will be my children."

What greater promise could there be to build our lives and our future upon? It is "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

No matter how we wrap it. No matter how hard it is to unwrap or get out of the package, it all boils down to the same thing. It all boils down to the One who is and was and always will be. The one who constantly reminds us that ours truly is "A Wonderful Life" because of Him. And that this truly is "A Wonderful Church" because of Him and we live for Him.

And you know Who I'm talking about, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the real Star of Christmas and of every other day. This year, if you haven't done so already, make Jesus the center and the Star of your life.

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