A few years ago, I served a church in Wichita, Kansas. The church, St. James, sat on the main drag through the city. Next to us, on the same side of the road, was the Roman Catholic Church. Our parking lots were divided only by a small side street.
It did not take long for me to realize that there was a war going on between the Roman Catholics and the Episcopalians over parking spaces. One Sunday morning, a woman rushed into church late and looking red in the race. After the service was over, I asked her if she was OK. She told me what had happened to her...
She was running late and couldn't find a good parking space. The service at the Catholic Church had already started and she noticed that there were a number of parking spaces open, so she decided to park there. She was pulling in, a couple got out of their car nearby and stared at her. She got out of her car.
"Which church are you going to?" they asked.
"I am going to worship at the Episcopal Church. I noticed that you had a few parking spaces open. I thought no one would mind."
The woman glared at her. And this is what she said, "Well... I MIND."
Not wanting to get into a fist fight, she got into her car and drove to find a space somewhere else.
The Catholics started talking about putting pictures of the Pope on our cars if they found an Episcopal car in their parking lot. Our folks talked about putting The Episcopal Church Welcomes You bumper stickers on their cars. Finally the Roman Catholic priest and I met. We talked about putting up signs that said something like..."Didn't Jesus say something about loving your neighbor? That DOES apply to parking spaces..." Or even "Thou shalt share thy parking spaces."
We are so concerned about reserving a spot for ourselves in life. What is my role? Do people like or respect me? What is my place in society, in my career, in my family? Where is my PLACE? People from both churches obsessed about the past, how the Catholics parked in our spaces before. Or they mused about the future: if they take our parking spaces, maybe we will have none left... All of this caused nothing but division and discord.
Today the Wise men finally arrive at the manger. We call this day The Epiphany. It is the final day of the Christmas season.
We do not know for sure how many Wise Men there were. We do not know that they were kings. There is a lot of folklore surrounding the story. What the gospels actually say is that they came from the east and they were wise. There could have been two, or four or fifty of them. They brought gifts fit for a king: three gifts to be precise, which is why we assume that there were three of them. They brought gold, frankencense and myr. That's all we know.
The only adjective used to describe these men is the word WISE. They were WISE.
What does it mean to be wise? How can you and I be wise? The implication is that it was their wisdom that enabled them to find Jesus. I want to be wise so I can find Christ too...
Let's look at what these wise men did.
They watched the skies. They lived in the present moment, asking themselves, what is God doing now? It was their awareness and their attention to the skies that enabled them to see Christ. They were, quite simply, awake. And not at all concerned about their parking spaces.
This is an incredible lesson. You cannot get wise by examining the past or by predicting the future. The Wise Men were wise because they were paying attention. They were aware, awake in the present moment. And they were willing to leave behind their parking spaces and follow the light of a star.
Have you ever spoken to a sailor who has navigated by the stars? It is rarely done these days. Following the stars means constant vigilance. There are no other landmarks. You must constantly place yourself in reference to the cosmic event that you are observing. You are in a living and moving relationship with the stars, for your place with them is ever shifting and changing. You cannot fall asleep. You must keep your eyes open.
We really have two options in life. We can focus on where we are parked and where we will park or we can let go of our parking spaces and move out into the unknown darkness of the present moment. God does not move in the past or in the future, remember. God's name is not I WAS or I WILL BE. It is I AM. So to see God, to find God, you must be present in this very moment and you cannot hold onto anything. To find God means to be truly awake.
We have a parishioner who has been given a difficult diagnosis. His name is Ken Wilburn. Doctors say that Ken has a rare brain disease. The doctors predict that he will live for about six months. So we are praying for a miracle. He wants to ask you to join me in praying. And so far, he seems to be defying all the expectations of the doctors.
Another miracle has happened to Ken and to his wife Sharon in this period. They have become wise. You see, this diagnosis has pushed Ken to live in the present moment. He cherishes every single little thing: the beautiful sky outside his house, his granddaughters artwork, his music. He is alive and present more than ever before. We do not know what God will do, but we do know one thing. Ken is awake. He is teaching us how to live. And what does he love to do? He loves to come here, to this Cathedral, with a cross around his neck and talk to people about God.
They say that in the time of the birth of Jesus three stars merged to create a cosmic event that was spectacular. It makes me wonder. Why were there not huge populations of people who left their homes to follow that magnificent event? Why were there not whole crowds?
I guess too many folks were scared of loosing their parking spaces.
There is an old Indian folk tale about awareness. In the tale, a man is running from a tiger. The tiger chases him and he runs off a precipice. As he is falling down, the man grabs hold of the roots of a tree that protrude out of the earth. He holds on for dear life and looks up to see the tiger pacing and growling above him. He looks down to see a cobra slithering and hissing in the grass below. He looks at the tree roots and notices that a small mouse is nibbling at the roots. And right above him, hanging on a branch, is a honeycomb. The honey drips quietly onto the back of his hand. The man licks the honey and it is so sweet.
That is the story of our lives. Our past is the tiger, who hunts us down and paces around, hoping to seize our minds and devour them with all the mistakes we made or with a voracious longing for the way things were. The future is the cobra, who slithers around waiting to wrap us up in fears and hopes and plans for tomorrow. Even the present moment is nibbled away by the mouse. But in this very NOW, the sweetness of God is available for us to savor. It comes to us as a free gift, sweet and rare and beautiful. It is up to us to taste it.
Do you want to be WISE? Do you want to find God? Then wake up. Be aware. The light of a star is shining upon you.
