1.6.08 Toward One Faith for the Whole World
WESTMINSTER PULPIT
The Rev. Dr. David Thompson
January 6, 2008 “Toward One Faith For the Whole World”
Epiphany is a very interesting celebration in the church year. It celebrates that at the beginning of the Christian tradition that the Magi showed up at Christ’s time of birth. We think that the Magi were probably Zoroastrians from Persia. So what were they doing at Christ’s birth?
We cannot know whether this story is true or not. But we do know that Magi paid homage to Nero at Naples in 66 A.D. and that they returned home by another route. So Magi did travel to visit great leaders. They thought that stars could be the ‘fravashi’ or the angelic counterpart of a great man so they paid attention to the heavens...
Scholars and scientists have studied the sky for that time period between 2 B.C. and 12 B.C. looking for candidate stars for the star of Bethlehem. Haley’s comet shows up in October 8th 12 B.C. and makes a pass across the sun. Jupiter and Saturn were in close conjunction three times in 7 B.C. which to the naked eye doubles the brightness.
In your bulletin there is an astrological theory that shows that in 2 B.C. if we draw lines as astrologers do between the arrangements in that sky of the planets, that we get what is called the Seal of Solomon a six pointed “star”. According to this piece of literature this happens once every 40,000,000 years. The author writes “The Seal of Solomon is superimposed upon a Grand Cross… presenting this grand celestial display as the star which informed the magi of the birth of the Christ, a star which was invisible to all except the Magi.” This theory goes that only Magi who studied the sky would notice this unusual arrangement. So according to this astrologist to look for a comet or a special star or conjunction of planets is to miss the fact of Matthew stating that the wise men were astrologers. The word in Greek is literally ‘magi’.
Let’s suppose for a moment that the story is not true. We still have it in the New Testament written by a Jewish man. It is unique in the New Testament and has no parallel in the early writings of the church, for these pagan men were adoring the Christ child- worshipping him. To magi great leaders were both human and divine. So why would St. Matthew put this strange little story in the New Testament?
What stands out for me is something I have long believed: That if there is a Deity, the Deity would have been active with all peoples of the world from the dawn of creation until now, on every continent, in every tribe and in every nation. Does it make sense as our Victorian ancestors believed that people who didn’t know Christ were lost and without God? What about other nations around before Judaism? Were they too without knowledge of God? What about the Bushmen of Africa who were the oldest inhabitants of Africa? They were around possibly as long as 8-25 million years ago depending upon who you listen to. Do we really believe that God didn’t care about the Bushmen? Did the Bushmen have no revelation?
Epiphany is in the New Testament to remind us of some Biblical teaching that we can gloss over. God is active with other nations and peoples. Solomon got this truth when he built the Temple “as a house of prayer for all the nations”. He actually built into the Temple a place for gentiles to pray. The only instance we have in the New Testament of the anger of Jesus takes place when he finds that the court of the Gentiles has been taken over to sell materials and animals and birds for sacrifice. His anger is recorded in St. Matthew when he quotes Solomon’s vision of the temple as “a house of prayer for all the nations.” Jesus is upset that there is no place for gentiles to worship the one true God, and that ‘rip off’ artists have taken over that sacred space…
When St Peter first started to preach he talked about “God having no favorites but that the person in any nation who did what is right is acceptable to God.” St. Paul taught the same thing that God had no favorites. Listen to St. Paul: “For instance pagans, who have never heard of the law but are led by reason to do what the law commands, may not actually possess the law but they can be said to be the law. They can point to the substance of the law engraved on their hearts- they can call a witness that is their own conscience—they have accusation and defense, that is their own inner mental dialogue… on the day when, according to the good news I preach, God, through Jesus Christ, judges the secrets of mankind.”
On Mar’s Hill in Athens St. Paul spoke this amazing statement: “The God whom I proclaim is in fact the one you already worship without knowing it….God gives life and breath to everyone. From one single stock He not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but He decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And He did this so that all nations might seek the deity, and by feeling their way towards Him, succeed in finding Him. Yet in fact He is not far from any of us, since it is in Him that we live and move and have our being, as some of your own writers have said.”
Listen to the inclusiveness of Isaiah:
Arise shine out for your light has come
The glory of Yahweh is rising on you
Though night still covers the earth
And darkness the peoples
Above you now Yahweh now rises
And above you his glory appears
The nations come to your light
And Kings to your dawning brightness
It is for these reasons that I love the direction that Westminster is taking as it encounters the modern world. Our Mission statement has the theology of Epiphany at its core:
It says: “We pray for understanding as we reach out to those without faith and listen to those of other faiths, accepting all as sisters and brothers in one family of our creator God. We value all people as Children of God to be welcomed and honored.”
This is the message of Epiphany and it leads towards a Faith for the whole world. What that faith will look like I don’t know but it will take all of us: Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians and indeed all the faiths of the world where people are able to look into a mirror of their conscience and find God.
Truth is one, as is mercy, hope, faith, forgiveness, compassion, justice, peace and kindness.
Epiphany teaches us what the word Emmanuel means, God is with us. To understand Epiphany is to recognize the actions of God with all peoples, in all times and places in every tribe and nation.
As a former Pastor of Westminster, the eloquent Bill Creevey has written in his Christmas letter: “With you we celebrate God’s presence--closer than breath, nearer than hands and feet- in every time and place.”
If we do that we will discover a common core and that common core will be to understand that God is love and that although life is fragile, LOVE IS NOT! Love, will take care of us both in this life, this coming year and in the life to come, for the God of all the earth, is a God of love.
Email List
Stay up to date on upcoming events, sermons, and more!