One of the sure signs that a new year has begun is the debut of a new season of “The Biggest Loser.” The Biggest Loser is a reality television show that challenges the overweight contestants to be the one who loses the most weight. The show is now in its eleventh season, and it is not showing any sign of declining in popularity. The show has grown to the point that they are offering people the chance to buy the same recipes and workout regimes that the contestants use. They even have an at-home challenge which offers cash prizes to those who lose the most weight on their own. The show is popular because obesity is a growing problem in our North American society. It is also popular because it shows the enduring power of a New Year’s Resolution to turn our lives around and make a change for the better.

 

Now I am not about to lead you all on a weight loss program for the new year. Although I do think as a church we could lay off the high fat and sugar in our diet for a bit. I do believe we as a church should be undertaking our own New Year’s resolution. It is a resolution every Christian should be undertaking every year. In the Methodist tradition, the New Year was rung in with a service which encouraged everyone to recommit their lives to God. And that is what I want us to do here at Dominion-Chalmers United Church in 2011. I want us to commit our lives to God. I want us to go into training to become better Christians. To be more Christ-like in how we live each day. It’s been said that the greatest challenge the church faces today is to be authentic disciples of Jesus. In order to do this, we need to take Jesus’ message as seriously as we take our entertainment, politics, and our economics. So instead of being ‘The Apprentice’ of Donald Trump, I want us to be Christ’s apprentices. Instead of chasing around the world after ‘The Amazing Race” I want us to seek after ‘The Amazing Grace”. 

 

This is why it is important for us to be in the habits of prayer, studying scriptures, and worship. This is our gymnasium for the soul. This is where our Spirit gets its workout. We come to church because we hope to see the radiant light of God's face.

In the presence of this divine light we hope that we too will shine. We want our lives to be changed, just as those contestants on the Biggest Loser hope their lives will be transformed. When you look at those contestants on the first week at the weigh-in, it is hard to imagine that in just four months time, they will be running a full marathon. That’s a huge accomplishment. In the same spirit, we come here hoping there will be a way for us to change, to grow, to be transformed. We yearn for joy to be possible. We long for a life which will be worth living.

 

The light of Christmas symbolizes for us this dream. Now the Wise men, the magi, actually are in Matthew’s gospel, and is a completely different story from Luke’s account with the shepherds and angels. We often put the two stories together and as a result we lose a bit of the special message Matthew’s gospel has for us. The Magi, those wise kings followed the Star of David that had been prophesied by another foreign magus, many centuries before. (Balaam in Numbers 24). This radiance had led them from the East to the land of Judah. When they announced their quest to King Herod, the radiance of this divine light generated fear in the city. When the three kings arrived at the place where the child was, the star stopped and they were filled with exceeding joy. The radiant light of God has a double effect—fearful darkness comes upon those who oppose it, and blessings for those who seek God's face.

 

So it is at Epiphany, the feast of the shining, that we find the fulfilment of a spiritual journey which began six weeks ago with the prophet’s announcements of the coming of the Lord. The invitation to walk in the light of the Lord has now been shared with all people.

 

By the light of their divine encounter, we are taught by the Magi to value the One who lies in the manger. With each gift we are offered a way to shift the weight of our heart to a new direction. The Magi offer him gold, which indicates a king. Surely we can identify with this first gift, for we are a people who do love to worship our gold. We are willing to support an economy which creates vast amounts of Gold, even though we are killing ourselves and our planet in the process. If Jesus is our king, is there not a better way to seek Gold which doesn’t involve selling our bodies, our souls and our planet in the process? 

 

Then the magi offer the child frankincense, which indicates a priest. Incense speaks of the mysterious presence of God. Except this God is not in the temple. This God is not found in a golden sanctuary. This child who was born in a stable is now living in a peasant’s hut. Perhaps the Magi are inviting us to tiptoe out from under the delusions of our sacred canopies, to be drawn into the real world where our God actually does dwell.

 

The magi also offer him myrrh, which indicates a prophet's death. Even at his birth, we are reminded of the rest of his story. The Magi invite us to lighten our hearts. We learn to shine when death loses its hold over our desires. When we do not fear the cross we become free. When we no longer fear the power of death, we are reborn into a fuller life.

 

The good news of Epiphany is this light shines for all of us to see. It is not reserved just for the prophets and kings of this world to behold.

 

Brother Roger of Taizé was the founder of an ecumenical Protestant monastery in France. Brother Roger once said ‘It is not only the leaders of nations who build the world of tomorrow. The most obscure and humble people can play a part in bringing about a future of peace and trust. However powerless we may seem to be, God enables us to bring reconciliation where there are oppositions and hope where there is anxiety. God calls us to make his compassion for human beings accessible by the way we live."

 

Compassion is the act of caring for others. The spirit of Christmas is usually associated with acts of Charity. But only the rich get to show charity. Only people with money in their pocket get to show charity. Compassion is something everyone gets to show. 

 

Compassion is the act of choosing to love others instead of judging them as inferior. Compassion is to welcome the stranger in instead of treating them with fearful contempt. Compassion is to offer forgiveness instead of seeking retribution.

Compassion is the pure light of God’s love, burning brightly in your heart.

Compassion is how we let the light of Christ shine in our lives every day.

Compassion is the light we all need to see every day, if we are to live.

 

And Jesus said “Let your light shine out before others,

so they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father in heaven.”(Matthew 5:16)

 

In the light of Christ’s compassion, our journey as his disciples has begun. Amen.