Open to Revelation

" Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see
  Way up in the sky, little lamb? Do you see what I see?
  A star-- a star dancing in the night!-- with a tail as big as a kite.'

  Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, 'Do you hear what I hear
  Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy? Do you hear what I hear?
  A song-- a song high above the trees!-- with a voice a big as the sea.'

  Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, 'Do you know what I know,
  In your palace warm, might king? Do you know what I know?
  A Child-- a Child shivers in the cold. Let us bring him silver and gold.'

  Said the king to his people everywhere, 'Listen to what I say!
  Pray for peace, people everywhere.
  Listen to what I say:
  The Child-- the Child sleeping in the night--
  He will bring us goodness and light.' "

                                                 (Noël Regney with Gloria Shayne Baker)


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Tomorrow, the Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate "The Feast of the Epiphany."  The calendar date for "Three Kings Day" is traditionally January 6th (also the 12th day of Christmas.) But here in the US, for a variety of reasons regarding accessibility, we celebrate this day on the Sunday before the 6th.

At Good Shepherd, our choir director will hunt up "3 Wise Men (or Women)" from among the elementary children at Mass. Ideally, some kids should have volunteered or have been volunteered by Mass time, but not often is the case. They will wear the same capes and crowns our Magi have worn for years, and they will carry up their gilded gifts in the procession in order to lay them before the Christ Child in the Nativity scene. They will sit in the front pew and, during the homily, be acknowledged by Fr. Louis. Fr. Louis might even trot out a lame joke. (He also likes to tilt everyone in the procession off-kilter by singing the "other" second line to "We Three Kings of Orient Are... Smoking on a rubber cigar." Come offertory time, the "Kings (Queens)" will bring up the gifts. They will also process out, with hopes of dashing to the choir room before they're asked by family to take a dozen pictures.

We do this year after year after year. And everyone, as tradition will have it, will still be confused by the who/what/where/when/how.

The "Why" we also have to relearn.

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This Epiphany, I have "Children's Liturgy of the Word."

???
Children's Church, if you will.

For my lesson, (technically, it's not a "homily" since I am not ordained,) I will teach about being open to revelation.

Our word "epiphany" comes from a Greek verb meaning "to appear" with a connotation of "manifestation."

During Advent, I taught the children about preparing themselves for the coming of the Lord as foretold by Isaiah and proclaimed by John Baptist. The mountains they could lower are the mountains of pride and anger. The valleys they could fill are the valleys of prejudice and social injustice. The rough paths of sadness and doubt need God's strength to smooth. The crooked paths of selfishness and sin need God's forgiveness to straighten. If their actions and words were feeling like a stark desert, God's love-- if they allowed Him-- could flow like a stream and give them life.

But we need to further prepare by being open to the experience. It is often said that miracles are what God does in our lives when we aren't paying attention.

The song above is so simple, but says so much. The wind asks the lamb, and lamb is willing to look. The lamb looks, and then HEARS! The lamb asks the shepherd, who listens, and then GOES! The shepherd asks the king, who learns and then SHARES! We should look, and listen, and go, and learn, and share. We should be open to discovery-- to FIND!

The Magi were open to discovery. They had studied many, many things. They observed many, many things. They discussed many, many things. But at the end of their knowledge, they went forth to discover. They were open to learning more things, to seeing new places, to talking to people different from themselves.

They were open to revelation and found that what they were seeking was more wondrous than they expected!

The Holy Family openly received the strange travelers and their odd gifts. And Mary pondered all these things in her heart.

Holy Joseph and the Magi were so open to revelation, that when they received dire warnings in dreams, they heeded the angelic words and took actions, actions that were inconvenient but necessary.

God has given us a wonderful gift of ourselves. To the best of our abilities, everyday, we should use our senses-- our minds-- our lives-- to be open to the wonderful revelations of God.