Let’s take an informal poll this morning. Raise your hands: how many of you consider yourselves “morning people”? Are you up at the break of dawn (or before), bright eyed and bushy tailed, energized and ready to face the day? I have some family members like you. They say things like “once I’m up, I’m up,” and they have smiles on their faces even before a cup of coffee is in their hand. I, on the other hand, am not a morning person. Actually, I’m just not a “waking up”’ person. I like a quieter, slower start to the day if possible. Those don’t happen very often anymore. But most of my jarring wake-ups have come in ministry, believe it or not. Especially with youth at camps and conferences. In one church, each morning at camp began with their favorite song, complete with hand motions and jumping akin to Montreat energizers. I won’t make you stand and dance (unless you want to), but I will invite you to sing the chorus with me – to that children’s song about Noah and his “Arky, Arky”:
Rise, and shine, and give God the glory, glory;
Rise, and shine, and give God the glory, glory;
Rise, and shine, and, give God the glory, glory;
Children of the Lord!
Admittedly, there is something that happens to your spirits when you get up and moving with a catchy tune.
“Arise, and shine” the prophet Isaiah calls out to the people of Israel, “for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1). This is a wake-up call with an equal amount of optimism and pep, spoken to the people of God who might have wanted to pull the covers back over their head. Here Isaiah presents a vision of hope and restoration, not just for the people of Israel, but for all of the nations. It offers timeless images of majesty and power, and God’s reign breaking into everything.
These words remind us of those we spoke on Christmas Eve from Isaiah 9:2:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.
They follow-up on the promise of Isaiah 42:19:
I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.
It is obvious that the author of the third part of Isaiah wanted to renew the hope of a community familiar with the imagery of light, inspiring them in ways that would make an impact. This portion of the book is believed to have been written sometime in the 6th century BCE, perhaps just after the first wave of exiles had returned from Babylon. If these earlier references are sparks, our verses from today in chapter 60 see the blaze truly come alive. The imagery is powerful and magnificent, moving from clouds and confusion to brightness with full illumination and splendor. Isaiah metaphorically pulls open those wide black-out curtains to reveal staggering morning sunlight streaming in through the window. The glory of the Lord is shining. Wake-Up!
Today is Epiphany! This morning, we gather for worship in search of our own epiphanies, big and small, in light of the greatest discovery of all as we celebrate the arrival of the Magi who followed the star to the Christ child. What a wonderful way to begin a new year together, seeking and searching for God. Both Matthew and Isaiah remind us that the start of another calendar year can be more than just about resolution – it is about revelation, specifically God’s revelation to the world.
- Richard Niebuhr likens revelation to a moment when we are reading a “difficult book, seeking to follow a complicated argument, [and] we come across a luminous sentence form which we can go forward and backward and so attain some understanding of the whole.[i]”
I think Isaiah 60:1’s “rise and shine” can be one of those sentences, crystallizing our experience of faith, a moment in which, as Kendra Hotz says:
an important truth suddenly becomes clear, and we can reinterpret our past and rethink our way forward in light of it. . . now the past makes sudden sense; now the future calls for a new direction.
The prophet calls our attention to the ways in which God breaks into our world and illuminates our very existence. Look around, the prophet cries, and pay attention! God is here! Yes! Here! Your Christmas decorations might be packed away (or not, no judgement here), but God-among-us, Emmanuel, is not. Jesus Christ is alive and present in our world here and now. Don’t crawl back under the covers, or hit the snooze button. Rise! This is news worth getting up for.
What gets you up in the morning? Is it the pressure of an alarm clock with the knowledge that your day is fully booked with work or school or appointments? Is it the desire to get a jump on your to-do list, or go for a morning run? Is it the opportunity to catch the sunrise on your porch with a cup of coffee? Isaiah might have us take a new direction with our days, beginning with an eagerness for what God is doing, or might do, in your life or in the world. How might our days be different if we adopted this perspective each morning – of looking for God’s glory in the world? If we saw it, we would bask in that light and be radiant ourselves, with hearts that truly were thrilled and rejoicing as verse 5 describes.
What might help us look? For the magi in Matthew’s gospel, it was a star’s light that caught their attention. Their focusing on that light is what put everything else into motion. They knew it was significant, and by following it, they were able to discover the greatest news the world has ever known. So today, in honor of their following the star, we will join other churches in a spiritual practice of receiving “star words” on this Epiphany Sunday. Each star has a word written on it that might provide you insight, direction, or inspiration in the coming year, or provoke you to look at things in a new way. You will be invited to pick one from the table, without looking at the word first, as you come forward to receive communion. There are no “star-police,” but try to be open to how the Spirit might speak to you through even an unlikely or seemingly random work in the coming year. Prayerfully reflect on it and pray for how it might guide you. You might be surprised by how it works into your life – whether that is in January, June, or even next fall.
Last year, my word was “focus,” which I initially thought would be great because I tend to get distracted easily. So I put it on my desk, and when I found myself drifting or bouncing around in the office, it was a reminder to stay focused on one thing at a time. But as the year developed it took on a new shape as I prayed it into my life. I realized the great gift of focus as a harmonizing concept, and the need in my own life to balance the many things that seem to demand my attention. In October, I got to practice it in a beautiful way, with the gift of two full months of full-time maternity leave to focus on a sweet little baby and what that meant for our lives now as a family of four. In full disclosure, while I’m planning on picking up a star this morning, I’m also going to leave my “focus” star from last year on my desk, because I still have more work to do on this in my life.
The stars are a tool that can help us bring more intention to our living. First, by helping us to “look” at things through a different lens, and second by prompting us to “live” in a different way as a result. As Isaiah says, not to just “rise,” but to “shine” also. Karen Pidcock-Lester contends that these words from the prophet are more than just beautiful poetry of light. She writes:
This is not an invitation. It is a command. The light has not come merely to rescue a chosen few from darkness. The light has come so that others will be drawn out of the darkness into the circle of light. . . . Those who are privileged to stand in the light have a responsibility not just to receive the light, but also to respond to it[ii].
Just as our candles on Christmas Eve made us bearers of light to each other and the world, these stars should remind us to shine brightly, in the hopes that we might be reflections of God’s glory to others. As poet Marianne Williamson writes:
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same[iii].
So friends, rise and shine! For the light of the world has come, and our work is just beginning. Amen.
~sermon by Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford, Heritage Presbyterian Church, January 6, 2019 (Epiphany)
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[i] As quoted by Kendra G. Hotz, “Theological Perspective: Isaiah 60:1-6,” Feasting on the Word, Year C Volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).
[ii] Karen Pidcock-Lester, “Pastoral Perspective: Isaiah 60:1-6,” Feasting on the Word, Year C Volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).
[iii] Marianne Williamson, “Our Deepest Fear”
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