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The Epiphany of the Lord, Jan. 8, 2017, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

Once upon a time . . . in a far-away land there was a “truth” [Hold up 2 tablets, joined together] that fell from the skies. As it falls, it breaks into two pieces; one piece falls here and one falls far away. One day, a man is walking and finds one part of the tablet. He reads it [Show the words]. It says   “You are loved.” It makes him feel good, so he shares it with the people in his town. The thing sparkles and makes the people who have it feel warm and happy. It becomes their most prized possession, and they call it “The Truth.” They look at it, cherish it, reflect upon it.

 

But these people start becoming protective of it. They begin fearing those who don’t have it, that is, those who are different. And those other people want it for themselves.   They say, “This was meant for us, not you.”   Arguments start between the groups.   Fighting starts as each group tries to steal it from the other.

 

A little girl is troubled by the growing violence, greed, and destruction in her once-peaceful world. She goes on a journey and she finds a tablet that looks like the one in her village.

[Show the other half of the tablet.]   She brings it back to her group, but the people are too busy fighting and complaining about “those bad people” that they don’t notice that she sets it next to the first tablet . . . and it fits perfectly. The other half says, “And so are they.”   And the world begins to heal.

 

You know, we are a funny group . . . because we are like that first group who recognizes that God loves us.   This is accurate. But somehow we think that anyone else who is not from our group is bad. That is, bad because they look different, sound different, have different names for God, color of their skin is different, they don’t support the same values or principles. And so they must be bad because we are loved and look “like this,” and “talk like this,” and “share the same name for God” and so WE ARE LOVED.

 

The story of the three kings (from the gospel) is not only a story of travelers coming from far away who worship the baby Jesus, but it is a story of the Holy Family welcoming them into their home.   I assume that the travelers looked different, talked different, maybe even had different colored skin . . . yet they are welcomed.

 

The Epiphany story is the story that God’s love isn’t just for one group . . . not just to Catholics, or to “perfect” Catholics, or just to Christians. God’s love is for everyone. And if God can love everyone, why can’t you?

 

Every year, the US Catholic Bishops challenge us to look at Immigration on Epiphany Sunday.

This coming week in called Immigration Week. There is an insert about it in the bulletin.

 

The US Catholic Bishops wrote, “The theme for National Migration Week 2017 draws attention to Pope Francis’ call to create a culture of encounter, and in doing so to look beyond our own needs and wants . . . to those of others around us.

In the homily given at his first Pentecost as pope, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of encounter in the Christian faith. Francis said: “For me this word encounter is very important. Why? Because faith is an encounter with Jesus, and we must do what Jesus does: encounter others.”

 

The Bishops declare, “With respect to migrants, too often in our contemporary culture we fail to encounter them as persons, and instead look at them as others or render them invisible. We do not take the time to engage migrants in a meaningful way . . . as fellow children of God. We remain aloof to their presence and suspicious of their intentions.

 

If we are loved, so are they.

 

So we at Christ Our Light welcome all people. Perhaps we need to start seeing each other as fine gems and who come in all sorts of colors whether we be jade, black onyx, agate, pearl, topaz, garnet, sapphire, sitrine or opal . . . or maybe our skin color best resembles wood and we are mahogany, red cedar, walnut, chestnut golden oak or ash color.

 

Whatever your color, may you be welcomed here. Actually we welcome you not just based on color. We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost and wound up here by mistake.

 

We welcome you whether you can sing like Adelle or just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re just browsing, just woken up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope or haven’t been to church in ten years.

 

We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you're having problems, are down in the dumps or don’t like organized religion.

 

We welcome you who are single, married, divorced, widowed, straight, gay, confused, filthy- rich, just comfortable or dirt poor.

 

We extend a special welcome to wailing babies and excited toddlers.

 

We offer a welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or are here because grandma is visiting and you wanted to make a good impression.

 

You see immigration doesn’t start out there somewhere. It starts in our neighborhoods, our schools and here in Church. Welcome.

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