Epiphany Sunday

January 3, 2010

Omaha, NE

Rev. Steven W. Plank

“After the Party’s Over”

Text:    Matthew 2:12 – “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”

Scripture Lessons:       Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

Proposition:  What happens “After the Party’s Over”?  The guests leave, wrappings are recycled, gifts are put away, and decorations are taken down.  So what comes next?

Prayer for Illumination:  God of mercy, you promised never to break your covenant with us.  Amid all the changing words of our generation, speak your eternal Word that does not change.  Then may we respond to your gracious promises with faithful and obedient lives; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

What’s your favorite kind of party?  And no, you may not answer “Republican” or “Democrat!”  What kind of party do you like to give or do you like to attend?

Some people love birthday parties!  They go all out… decorating just the right cake in just the right way.  They put a lot of thought and energy into finding the perfect gift for the birthday person.  They love putting together lists of guests and of party games to play.  They love to plan out the whole event, down to the last minute detail.

Some people love Halloween parties.  They love to dress up.  They love to use their imaginations.  They love to see how other people dress up.  For them, it’s not a matter of scary things as much as it is a matter of fantasy and play.  Perhaps they enjoy finding a costume that portrays them in a way that is completely unlike who they usually are.  Perhaps they enjoy finding a costume that is so elaborate that they hope other people will have a difficult time even knowing who they are.  Perhaps they just enjoy a costume that is fun.  Caroline and I went to a Halloween party years ago, and I decided that I wanted to go as a Scotsman, and Caroline made the kilt to go with the rest of what I was wearing that night.  It was fun… but I discovered that Scotsman are tougher than I am when it comes to wearing something like a kilt in the winter… and so are women who wear dresses or skirts in weather like this.  My hat’s off to all of you!

Some people love karaoke parties… you know, when people get up and sing in front of others, watching a machine that dances the words across a screen, while the appropriate background music is playing for the song that they are singing.  To be honest, I always thought that watching people lip-syncing to a song seemed like a pretty silly thing to do, especially when some of the things I’ve seen on TV always tend to show people who can’t really carry a tune!  However, I did go with a group of people years ago to a place where there was karaoke… and it was amazing and so fun!  Of course, it helps to do karaoke when you’re with people who are in musical theater!

In the last city in which we lived, all of our family were involved, in one way or another, in community theater.  I think it was Michael who first was in a play.  Then David joined him.  Caroline began helping design and paint scenery and help with costuming.  I picked up acting again, and also learned some technical aspects of theater, working backstage.  Cast parties… and especially the cast parties that were at our house, were always a treat.  Theater people are just fun folks, barring the occasional, proverbial drama queen, who always feels that every performance is Oscar worthy.

These past few days, we’ve had an extended party at our house.  We had a reception yesterday, of course, for our son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Lauren.  They were able to drive out early, arriving Tuesday night.  Lauren’s parents arrived Wednesday night.  Then a nephew and niece of mine came in Friday night from Arizona… our son, David, got home late Friday night… and three of Lauren’s cousins came yesterday.  It was an amazing, wonderful time, filled with laughter and stories and an abundance of love to share.  But as of this moment this morning, everyone is on their way home.  Our dogs can settle back down again.  We can settle back down again.  Our lives can get back to normal.  And we’re looking forward to it.  As good as these past few days have been, we’re looking forward to getting back to normal “After the Party’s Over.”

That’s what we do, isn’t it?  Whether or not a party goes well or doesn’t, it eventually ends, and we settle back into whatever passes for “normal” in our lives.  We go back to familiar routines… to setting the alarm clock… to having a normal amount of food – healthy food – in the house again… to resuming a schedule… to being able to keep the house picked up easily… to being able to have your bathroom back, without makeup bags, dopp kits with shaving paraphernalia in it (something my bathroom hasn’t seen in about 30 years!), and a plethora of curling irons, dryers, and hair brushes!  There is a part of us that, “After the Party’s Over,” longs for some semblance of normalcy to return to our lives.  Don’t you find that to be true?

In the Church season, this is the second Sunday after Christmas.  Christmas… the divine Party of all parties!  It is the remembrance and celebration of the birth of the Messiah.  It is the observance of the Incarnation… of the reality of God’s entering into human existence in the flesh… the Creator becoming the creature.  It is our reminder that we are not alone… are never alone in this life.  It is an occasion to remember how deeply and dearly we are loved by our God.

And what happens “After the Party’s Over” from Christmas?  We work to get back to normal again.  We put away the tree.  We carefully repack the Christmas decorations.  We bring out the boxes that held our Christmas ornaments and rewrap each one, putting it back in its place so that we can bring it out next year.  We take down all of the Christmas lights, working carefully to not get the electrical cords tangled… something which they somehow manage to do anyhow during the next 340 days or so when they are in a box in the dark!  (Another Christmas miracle, perhaps?)  We vacuum up the needles from the Christmas tree for what will be the last time this year.  Most all of us wind up our Christmas parties with rituals that get us back to a so-called “normal” life.

But what happened after that first Christmas party with the magi… those three wise sages from the East who came to observe and bear witness to the birth of the Messiah?  We know the story about them.  They were astrologers and astronomers in Persia, which, until 1935, was the name of the country we now know as Iran.  They believed that there were truths in the world that could be discerned if one carefully studied the skies.  We remember their observance of a strange star, which they followed… a star they believed would lead them to a new and mighty ruler being born somewhere to their west.  They came to Israel and had an audience with King Herod.  Apparently they were students not just of the heavens but also of human nature, because there was something about Herod that they instinctively mistrusted.  So when Herod had consulted with his theologians about the probably birthplace of the Messiah as was foretold in the scriptures… and after they left him to continue their quest… and after they found Mary and Joseph and the Christ Child… they left.

The magi came to observe and bear witness… but something happened.  They became participants in the Story.  The Gospel writer records their participation.  We remember and retell their participation.  Children act out their participation in Christmas play after Christmas play down through the centuries!  They have a small part in the divine Story, mentioned only in three verses in the second chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel.  However, they occupy an important role in our remembering and retelling of the Story of the Nativity.

And so what does our Gospel lesson this morning say about what they did “After the Party’s Over?”  This is how our text put it:  “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”  Now, it seems clear that they did that to avoid having to talk with Herod again… and they most certainly were not going back to report to him the exact whereabouts of the Holy Family!  And, as we know from the Gospel accounts, they were, indeed, wise men not to do that.  Herod clearly had other plans in mind… devious plans… horrific plans which he ultimately exacted from the parents of all male babies who were born in a two-year period in and around Bethlehem.  God’s angelic messengers were busy during that time, not only telling shepherds about Jesus’ birth and singing their alleluias in praise at the wonder of Immanuel, but also in warning Joseph, in comforting Mary, in guiding the magi.  There were forces already at work to undermine God’s redeeming, loving act in Jesus Christ, and the angels were tasked with protecting the Baby and others until a much later time when other things would unfold as were needed at the time.

However, I believe there may have been some other reason the magi returned home “by another road.”  I believe that, in some way, the magi remind us of how we should respond “After the Party’s Over” from Christmas.  We, too, should become participants in the Story, adding our parts to how the Story of Christ winds its way through succeeding generations.  The magi invite us to consider the response that they had as well.  Instead of working so hard to so quickly return to our “normal” lives… perhaps, just perhaps, we are invited to move past Christmas “by another road.”  Perhaps, just perhaps, our lives aren’t supposed to get back to “normal.”  Perhaps, just perhaps, our lives really are supposed to be changed by the coming of Christ into our world.  Perhaps, just perhaps, we are invited – maybe even expected – to live our lives by a new definition of “normal”… our lives reflecting more compassion, more love, a deeper sense of awe and wonder at God’s mysteries, a renewed commitment to peace and to justice.  Perhaps, just perhaps, our lives ought to reflect a new kind of “normal,” one that we renew each remembrance of Christmas.

So what now?  What happens today and this week, “After the Party’s Over?”  I believe that we are invited to ease back into our routines “by another road”… with a profound sense of love:  for ourselves, for each other, for the creation, and for our God.

Merry 10^th day of Christmas!  AMEN!