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Where’s Waldo? How many of you – Young and not so young – Have seen this book? It is written by Martin Handford and was first published over 20 years ago. Waldo is a British chap, a young man, who sets off on a worldwide hike. With his backpack, binoculars, and sleeping bag, in his signature red and white striped shirt and hat, Waldo travels to the beach, the ski slopes, the train station, the museum, the circus, and several other spots. Where’s Waldo is one of those “eye spy” books, and so you “read” it by looking for Waldo in each of the locations – not always an easy task. Each page is crowded with people, buildings, and things related to the particular location. The pages of filled with color, Much of it red and white, So that Waldo is camouflaged, hidden, And you have to look really, really, hard to find him and his friends who are accompanying him on his journey. I remember looking at this book – and others like it – with Kathryn and Rose. Where’s Waldo is a question that can occupy a child – or a child’s parent (especially after they went to bed) for hours or days on end. There’s a question in our biblical story this morning as well. Did you hear it? Where is the child? the Wise Men ask. Where is the child born king of the Jews? This, too, is a question that can occupy a child, a parent, a disciple, a Christian, for hours and days, for months, even for a lifetime. It is a question for all of us who are searching for meaning, or searching for understanding of God and God’s purpose and plan, discerning the next steps in our journey of discipleship. Where is the child? Where is Christ in our lives and in the life of the world? When reading the Where’s Waldo books, I was often amazed how Kathryn and Rose could spot Waldo almost immediately on the page. Even after they pointed Waldo out to me, I sometimes had a hard time seeing him. Or I would see him for a fleeting moment, and reading the book later in the day they would have show me Waldo all over again. It seemed as if Kathryn and Rose could see something I couldn’t see. Well, it’s the Wise Ones who do the same thing in Matthew’s story of the Epiphany. They see something that others cannot see: something that the scribes and priests and King Herod could not – or perhaps would not - look at. For the scribe’s life and Herod’s life was crowded with power – The power of religious scholarship or governmental power – that blocked them from seeing the signs of glory of God, the love of God, right in their midst. Even today, we might ask ourselves: Aren’t our lives just as crowded? Our lives our full of busy-ness and activities, with possessions, maybe even with worry or anxiety. Aren’t our lives chock full with keeping up with our neighbors, with text messages, instant messages, FACEBOOK messages? And don’t all these things keep us from seeing the signs pointing to the living God already in our midst? We hold the truth in our hands, friends - That Christ has been born for us and among us - And yet we are not able to touch the living God. That’s why, I think, we need to hear the Epiphany story over and over again. We need reminding that the stars, that point the way to God are indeed all around us. We need reminding to look up from where we are, To open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to see those signs. We need reminding of a truth in Matthew’s story and in the story of our lives: God is determined to be found! In Matthew’s story, it is a group outside the Jewish community who ask the question and who seek for God. And even today, friends, God is able and willing to use those people whose lives and stories are different than ours, but who have the desire to seek out and worship God. Where is the child? Where is the child who is born king of the Jews? This question – like many, maybe all - questions of Scripture take us beyond the page, beyond the book. We don’t search for the child the way we search for Waldo, for Christ is also present beyond the words of the Bible. Searching for Christ is to become like the Wise Ones, First leaving our places of comfort and security – Sometimes even leaving our homes – to search for the living God. Where shall we go? And how shall we go? Let’s follow in the footsteps of the Wise Ones, Let’s go where they go: To the places God leads us, to places that we would not initially choose or think would be the places where God might reside. Because the Wise Men were looking for a child and a king, they headed right off to the palace when Herod summoned them. I think that’s because they thought a palace was a natural place for a king to be born. But that wasn’t the case 2000 years ago, And it isn’t the case today. God is not always found in halls of power or the halls or holiness. Rather, God is manifest – God is shown, in the simple and poor places like Bethlehem, in places unimagined or anticipated. Later, when this child/king grows up, he will preach the same: wherever you find the hungry and the lonely, the imprisoned and the homeless, there you will find me, there you will have an opportunity to serve me. And how shall we go as we search for the living God? Let us go with confidence and commitment, Just as the travelers from the East first went to Jerusalem. Confident in what they had seen – the star in its rising – They continue searching until they reach the place where Jesus lay. In their confidence, though, They weren’t afraid to ask questions, To take a chance, Even to come face to face with danger. The Wise Men weren’t afraid to ask for help – even if it meant taking a chance on a king who wasn’t really out for their best interests. So, friends, what questions about life, about faith, about community do we have today, questions that will lead to a greater or deeper revelation of our God? where in our individual and communal lives do we need to ask another to give us a hand, to show us the way, to point us in the right direction? Matthew tells us the Wise Ones return home; wise men and women and girls and boys always return home, I think. But the travelers from the East go home a different way, because they were open to another Epiphany, this time in a dream. And they go different way and they are different people because after you meet Christ, nothing is ever the same. The old road just isn’t right; There’s a new way and a new road that calls to you. Let us pray the same is true for us today and each day ahead: That we are open to see the stars and signs, That we will find Christ and worship him, And that God will guide all our dreams and lead us home. Amen and amen. |