"In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?'"

That's how Matthew introduces his story of the Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, that is so familiar to us as the culmination of the Christmas story of all the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. The sign of the coming of the Christ is complete when outsiders, foreigners, Gentiles who are not part of the covenant between God and Israel, Zoroastrians most likely--the sign is complete when outsiders come seeking to pay homage to the newborn king who is to bring God's reign into their world. That's where the Epiphany story begins in the Gospel--and in a way, that's where the Epiphany mystery begins for our experience, too. Because we also look for Jesus, we also seek the presence of Christ in our lives, we also look for the light of God shining into our strange and tortured world--so we also want to know: Where will we look for Jesus? Where can we seek the presence of Christ being born into the world that we inhabit?

One place we can look for Christ is where the wise men in the story look for Christ: in the cosmos, in the natural universe, in the stars. The wise men were astrologers: it was their profession to observe the cosmos, to watch the stars, and from the stars to interpret the Divine's will for the world. They came to Jerusalem looking for a new king because they "observed his star at its rising." They looked for the manifestation of God in the stars.

And we today can do something very much like that: we can look for the manifestation of Christ in the stars, we can look for the signs of the Creator in patterns of the Creation as we have come to understand them.

I read an astronomy book once where the author pointed out that everywhere we look in the universe, at every scale, we see structure, we see smaller, simpler entities gathered together in relationships, in patterns and interactions that are larger and more complex and make those entities more when they're together than they would be on their own. Stars shine because of nuclear fusion, where smaller atoms come together in new relationships to form larger atoms and to release tremendous energies in the process. Stars are gathered together in solar systems, and binary pairs, and stellar nurseries, and globular clusters, and galaxies. Galaxies are gathered together in local groups, and clusters of groups, and families of clusters of groups. At the very edge of our observational range, as far out into space as we can see with adaptive optics and orbiting telescopes--even there we see structure, groups of galaxies arranged in sheets and strings and formations as far out as we can see. Everywhere we look in the universe, we see structure: smaller, simpler entities coming together to form larger, more complex relationships, relationships that make things more together than they would be on their own.

Now, on the human level, in our human experience, we have a name for that kind of relationship, a relationship that makes things more together than they would be all alone: we call it love. It is not too much to say that when we look into the universe, when we study the stars, when we see things gathered together in patterns that make them more than they would be on their own, then what we are seeing is love at work. And if God is love, and Christ is the manifestation of God's love in the world, then when we look up into the stars, we see Christ, when we look at the patterns of Creation, we see Christ, when we look at the delicate relationships of our ecosystem, we see Christ, the sign and the presence and the work of Christ. So one of the places we can look for Christ is in the cosmos, in the natural universe, in the stars, in what is always all around us.

Another place we can look for Christ is where the scribes in the story look for Christ: in the scriptures. When the wise men come to Jerusalem looking for a newborn king, the scribes search the scriptures and find the words of the prophet: "And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel." Based on their reading of scriptures, the scribes can tell the wise men where to look for the Christ.

The scriptures tell us where and how to look for Christ as well--especially when we read the scripture not just literally, not just for facts about the biography of Jesus; but when we read scripture spiritually, with our imaginations and our emotions and our creatively interpretive powers fully engaged.

That's why we put so much emphasis on Bible study and Dwelling in the Word when we talk about how to revitalize our parish life: because we believe that when we engage the scriptures with our whole selves--not just our intellects but our whole selves--then we encounter not just words about Jesus, but we encounter the Living Word who became incarnate in Jesus. The same creative power that makes the worlds can come into us through our imaginations when they engage the scriptures, and can form in us God's Living Word addressed to us and our needs and our situations right here and now. And the great thing about reading scripture together, imagining with scripture together, is that we can hear from each other the ideas and images and insights and inspirations that each of us has--ideas and inspirations that might not occur to us unless and until we hear it from someone else. Studying the Bible together is one way we can look for Christ in the scriptures.

There is yet a third place where we can look for Christ, and that is in the place symbolized by the gifts the wise men bring in the story. The gifts--the gold, the frankincense, the myrrh--belong to the wise men, they come forth from the wise men's treasure, they represent the wise men's abilities and aspirations. But they also represent Jesus: gold for a king, incense for God, myrrh to anoint the sacrifice, the wise men's gifts reveal what it means for this child Jesus to be the Christ. The giving of the gifts is where Christ is revealed in Jesus, and at the same time where Christ is revealed in the wise men who give those gifts for Jesus' sake.

And we can look for Christ in that place, too. When we give our gifts, when we open up our treasures and give of ourselves generously, then Christ is revealed in that giving. One of the functions of the Church is to teach us about our gifts, how to identify those particular skills and abilities that God inspires in us, how to recognize the gifts of others that may sometimes be very very different from our own--and then, having taught us about gifts, one of the important jobs of the Church is to give us opportunities to use those gifts, ministry occasions and service projects and mission outreach that connect our talents with the real needs of the real world. I think one of the worst things the Church does is spend so much of its time and energy recruiting people to volunteer to do church tasks. Don't get me wrong: the Church has a lot of tasks, and it is good for people to do them. But there is a difference between a volunteer who takes on a task assigned to them by the Church, and a disciple who identifies a gift and a passion to reveal something of Christ for the world. The volunteer takes on something designated from without; the disciple shares something that comes up from within. What would it look like for us as a church if we really spent time identifying our gifts and lifting up each other's gifts? One person might have a gift of prayer, so they organize a group to knit prayer shawls. One person might have a gift of listening, so they come forward to become part of a lay pastoral team or BeFrienders. One person might have a gift of community organizing, so they help create a neighborhood council to address needs and promote justice in the neighborhood. One person might have a gift of silence, so they maintain a practice of contemplative prayer and quietly teach that prayer to others. One person might have a gift of administration, so they offer to be nominated for the Vestry. One person might not think they have any gifts at all, until their friends and fellow disciples reflect back to them what they see and discover just below the surface gifts that have always been there. What would it be like for us as a church if we consciously and intentionally made opening up our treasures and bringing forth our gifts one of the most important things we did together as a congregation? How much of Christ might we see, how much of Christ might we reveal, how much of Christ might we epiphanize then? One place we can look for Christ is in the giving of our gifts.

The Epiphany story begins when wise men came asking "Where can we find the one who is born to be king of the Jews?" The Epiphany mystery continues when we ask, "Where can we find Christ here and now?" The Epiphany grace of God to us is that we may find Christ made manifest to us in the cosmos, in the scriptures, in the gifts we give and the gifts we receive. That is the Epiphany we celebrate today, and that is the revelation for which we give God thanks and and we give God praise. Amen.