Among the favorite sights or sounds of our religious commemoration of Christmas has to be the image of the Three Magi or Wise Men at the manger with the Holy Family, as we have here to my right in the church, and embroidered on my vestments, and which we especially celebrate today in the Feast of the Epiphany.
There is this unlikely but pleasingly harmonious meeting of a poor family with a newborn alongside these elegantly-dressed men from afar. And I think part of the appeal goes beyond the visual; it’s that we all probably grasp the deeper meaning at the heart of this encounter. The Three Magi from the East are Gentiles, and they represent that — from the very beginning — everyone was included in Jesus’ mission. God’s light is a beacon for all; unity is God’s desire and plan for our world.
Fast forward to today, and we know as Christians we still have to fully absorb and live that message much better. There’s so much division and polarization in our world, in our church, even in our families.
Here’s a depressing recent example of the work we still have to do. This year, for only the 5th time in the last 125 years, as you might know, the Jewish feast of Hannukah began on Christmas night. On their Facebook, X, and Instagram social media accounts on Christmas Day, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops posted simple greetings of light and joy to our Jewish brothers and sisters. In response, the comments were overwhelmingly negative and hostile to the Jewish people and to the conference of bishops. Horrible stuff, even by the low standards of social media. It got so bad that the bishops had to issue a clarification reminding the vile commentators of the church’s positive relation to non-Christian religions.
The Epiphany invites us to consider how we work toward the fulfillment of Christ’s unitive promise. How do we get beyond our echo chambers and tribalism and widen our perspective and our circles? This consideration is surely one of the practical takeaways from this feast. And to make it even more practical, here’s an opportunity for us: coming up next month, for one week, February 2-8, Bound Brook Presbyterian Church is looking for volunteers from our church to help them cover parts of seven nights of hosting the Somerset County rotating overnight homeless shelter. This is a wonderful opportunity to team up, to do good, and to be helpful beyond our church walls. I’ll have more information in coming days, and sign-up sheets soon.
The Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr recently wrote: “The divisions, dichotomies and dualisms of the world can only be overcome by a unitive consciousness at every level: personal, relational, social, political, cultural, in interreligious dialogue and particularly in spirituality. This is the unique and central job of healthy religion – re-ligio means “re-ligament.” As Jesus put it in his great final prayer, ‘I pray that all may be one.’”
So from his final prayer all the way back to his infancy, unity is a hallmark of Jesus’ life. As we celebrate Epiphany, we’re reminded that his legacy is our mission.