* We know it's been a while since our last post, and we will try to do better. This Wednesday marks Epiphany, an often forgotten about time of Christ's birth that we sometimes roll into Christmas. The "Epiphany," or the awareness of Christ's arrival, is the celebration of the wise men searching and finding the Christ-Child. The post below is a sermon preached about two years ago for Epiphany by Mary and we thought it would be good to give a little light to it here, so that we can remember to search for Christ all year (and to remind Whitney and Mary that more posts need to happen in the new year!). Also, please remember that the below text was written to be spoken, so please forgive an grammar mistakes, Mary is not always good at writing in complete sentences when writing a sermon. :)

_________________________

¹⁵For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^a]">[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. — Ephesians 1:15-20

A long time ago, in a small Italian village, a young woman was sweeping her house. She was considered one of the best housekeepers in town, and all the villagers knew that if they needed anything they could come to this young woman and she would do everything she could to help them. The woman was kind, sincere and loyal, so it was no surprise when three strange men entered the town the villagers sent them to the young woman to make them feel at home. The woman welcomed the men into her home, she knew there was something special about them, each one was dressed in colorful robes, they had long beards, and they carried with them all sorts of amazing things.

The men sat around the woman’s table and told her a story. They said they had been watching the night skies for months and months and they believed that they were on the path to finding the Christ child. The woman was amazed and asked how the men knew, they explained that they had been following a star and it was leading them toward Bethlehem. The woman stayed up all night with the three men and when the morning came they asked her to travel with them to find the Christ Child.

The woman thought about going but looked around her little home … she could tell the chimney hadn’t been swept in a while, there was family coming later for dinner, and she couldn’t remember the last time she got around to mending socks, so she turned to the three men, shook her head no, and returned to her work. After much thought the woman changed her mind and began to look for the Three Wise men and the Christ Child, however, they were long gone. La Befana, the Italian gift giver, missed her chance at the opportunity to meet Christ.

A few weeks back I was sitting in a Bible Study class and was asked, "have you had an epiphany in this study? "The question really got me thinking about what it really means to have an epiphany from God. We read in today’s scripture that Paul hoped that the Ephesians would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know God, then he says one of my favorite things in the Bible, he says “with the eyes of your heart enlightened.” Now, what more is an epiphany than having the eyes of your heart enlightened? But really, what is an epiphany and does God really provide them for his children? Well, according to the good book, and I mean the other Good Book, that of Webster’s Dictionary, an epiphany is an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure. Now, I don’t know about you, but having your heart enlightened would be an illuminating discovery, don’t you think? But, how many times, like the legend of La Befana, does God reveal something to us and instead of leaving our chores behind and following him, we decide to turn and look the other way?

It’s really quite interesting when we look at our lives. As believers each one of knows that Christ has come. And like the wise men, at one time in our lives, we have searched for Christ and found him. But, are we still searching? It’s easy to see Christ if we are looking, but how often are we looking for him?

But, let’s go back to the Epiphany, shall we? How do we know that God has placed something before us to be an “illuminating discovery?” Well, I think that all depends on how you are looking at things. I know a lot of you parents out there hear a lot about teachable moments with your children, but how many times do take those opportunities as a revelation from God that it’s time to talk about some of the more serious subjects …

And what about those little things that we sometimes seem to miss, those phone calls we don’t return because we are to busy to reach out to a friend in need, the card we didn’t write to someone who’s going through a rough time, the dollar we didn’t give to the man on the street because we didn’t know where he would spend it? Were those our teachable moments? Were those epiphanies from God that we ignored? When I recite those questions, I can see so many things that I have personally let slip, so many good intentions that never came to pass, the little ideas I had to bring a smile to someone’s face and I didn’t because I thought I was too busy. The laundry had to be done, the floor needed sweeping … did I miss my chance to meet Jesus face to face?

Of course we all have missed a moment that may have been from God, but it’s not all bad news! Ephesians tells us today that God will give us a spirit of wisdom, because of our faith; he will enlighten the eyes of our hearts. So that next time, when the moment presents ourselves, God will reveal to us what we should do. He’ll give us the Epiphanies that we are looking for. And, if we stay in faith, we will know when God has done so. Sometimes it’s the littlest things that teach us about God. Back in the Bible Study class I shared one of my own Epiphanies, I shared how God had opened my eyes to seeing the Christ child in everyone’s face, and being able to reach out to those who were really in need. I knew that through that class God had taught me about being loving and compassionate to every soul that I meet. It was a small thing, a simple revelation about the nature of Christ, but something that I was so thankful for.

But sometimes, we forget to look for ways that God is calling us the teachable moments that he has put in our paths. There are things going on in your life, there are circumstances that only you and God know, but if you are searching for his answers, God will give you your epiphany. And he’ll always want you to keep searching through his word until you find it.

Searching, that’s something La Befana knows something about. You know, that night when she went out looking she never did find the Christ Child. But legend has it that each year she travels leaving gifts on the day of Epiphany for every good child she sees. She may have missed her chance once, but if the Christ child returns, she’s not going to miss him a second time.

We may have missed him too; we may have been so busy getting ready for the Holiday, that when Christmas got here, we missed seeing Jesus. But now, after all the presents are unwrapped, the ham has become sandwiches and Wal-Mart is already decorated for Valentines Day, will we stop and look up at the star?

Will we search for the one who was the word, who became flesh, and came to shine in our hearts? Will we be like La Befana and take care of the here and now, or will be stop what we are doing, follow the signs and look clearly at Jesus’ face. Think about it — Have you found an Epiphany yet, or are you still waiting for God to reveal it? Have you even been looking for one?

Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh." Genesis 18:10-15

Oftentimes we find ourselves wondering what God's plan for our life must be. Things seem to be going along just fine, we've found our place in the world so it seems and then, out of nowhere, life changes so suddenly, our plans don't seem to make sense anymore, and we have to stop and ask God, "Hey, what just happened?"

This must have been how Sarah was feeling when she was sitting inside her tent eavesdropping on her husbands conversation with the "Lord" outside. She was old, she and Abraham had been married for quite some time, and honestly the opportunity for her to have children had passed. I'm sure she had mourned in her youth for a child. Her heart must have broken each time a woman in her village walked by with a protruding belly. I'm sure her womb ached with envy when a newborn was placed in her arms. So, is it any surprise that now that years had passed that Sarah LOLed at her house guests?

What is interesting about Sarah is that she had traveled with Abraham all over the world, she had a strong marriage, she had slaves, she was very well-off. The one thing she didn't have, was a child of her own. So, when she laughed out loud and the "Lord" asked "Why did Sarah just laugh," it's strange that she would deny it. It seems that Sarah had ever right to laugh, the idea of her getting pregnant at such an old age was UNHEARD of ... it was down right funny. Why not laugh?

Because laughing proved a small truth about Sarah, and all of us. Her laughter proves that for a brief moment she doubted God. The God that had protected her family thus far, the God that had given her gifts galore, she doubted could give her the one thing left of her heart's desire ... a child. We see Sarah's weakness in her faith later on in this story, when she doesn't get pregnant right away, she sends her slave into Abraham so that he can have a son with her. These two actions prove that even though Sarah was blessed beyond measure, she still doubted that God could do all he promised.

However, when I read this chapter in Genesis, I love that Sarah laughed. Because it shows how human she really was. It reminds me that we all laugh in the face of who God sometimes, and that, even though it happened, God STILL gave Sarah a son of her own. Even though she made mistake after mistake, even though she doubted, God didn't give up on her, God gave her everything that she asked for.

Sarah laughed because it seemed impossible, later, I like to imagine, Sarah laughed because it all came true. Sarah first laughed out of fear and doubt, but, in the end, it seems that God and Sarah ended up laughing together. Yes. You did laugh.

Discussion Questions:

1. When have you gone through a time when something seemed impossible but God made a way?

2. How do you see Sarah, was she wrong to laugh? Right?

___
Sorry it's been a while on the blog, life has been crazy. We are working on updating more. Please comment and let us know what you would like us to explore.

The title of this series is "10+1," and we are looking at all the commandments that are given in the Bible. However, the more I researched this (and maybe this will make up for how late this post is) I found there are other "commandments" hiding out in the New and Old Testament that we sometimes overlook. So, really, we should have called this "10+how many other commandments can we find in the Bible."

One of these commandments is listed above. Christ tells us, I am giving you a new commandment, to love each other, and by that love people will know that we are his disciples. This really makes me think about how we present ourselves to others. I heard a great sermon last week on having influence on people and that everything we do influences someone, be it our coworkers, or friends, our kids, families, whatever, we are making an influence. The question was said, it isn't IF you are making an influence it is what TYPE of influence are you making?

This really got me thinking. I try my best to stay positive and strong, but lately I have been a little discouraged by some things that are happening in my home church and I was complaining about it to people who didn't go to church ... I was hit smack in the face when one of those people said to me, "this makes me not want to go to church." CRAP.

In my complaining, I gave the entirely wrong impression of what church was, and I realized that because I was not offering a whole lot of grace to my current situation, I wasn't doing a good job of showing grace overall. My influence, even though I didn't mean it, ended up being the wrong kind. Luckily, I was able to discuss this again with the person and I think I have cleared it up, but talk about MOUTH, INSERT FOOT.

So, we are to love each other. Even when we are mad, even when we are upset, even when things don't go the way that we think they should. We should give this love out freely and openly, like Christ did. We should be a positive influence on others and, well, get over ourselves. Or, at least that's the message that I am working on for my life. "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples," it's enough to change the world.

Discussion starters:
1. Have you ever put your foot in your mouth when talking about religion with others?
2. Where is it hardest for you to show "love for one another?"
3. What advice would you give others to help show love to the world?