Jack McKinney
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church
January 6, 2008 – Epiphany
Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12
Stories of Attraction
When I was in high school I moved with my mother from our small town to the big city of Austin. After settling there I began attending a large, conservative church. And on one of my first Sundays at that church I took note of a cute brunette who was playing the piano. Her name was Sarah, and she was something of a virtuoso on the piano, and did I mention she was really cute?
Before I knew it I had the first full-blown infatuation of my adolescent existence. Whenever I was around Sarah I would start to sweat, and my tongue would get thick, and my heart would race. When I wasn’t around Sarah I would try to think of interesting conversation starters, something like: “Is it hard to play the keyboard with your hands and push the petals with your feet at the same time?” Safe to say my nickname was not Casanova in high school.
In time I worked up the courage to call Sarah and ask her out on a date. To my great relief she agreed, and only later did I discover this would be her first date ever. On the way to the restaurant I got lost and drove for almost half-an-hour looking for the place before abandoning the search and going somewhere else to eat. I also learned later that Sarah knew exactly where the restaurant was but was so nervous she didn’t think to say anything. Yes, to say the least, it was an awkward and quiet evening.
We had a few more dates, but then I moved away and the relationship was quickly over. I later heard Sarah started dating another boy not long after I moved and ended up marrying him. I guess she worked out the kinks with me and decided she was ready for the big-time.
Do you know what I remember now, almost thirty years later, about that whole awkward experience? I remember how alive I felt. Being attracted to Sarah was my first experience of what happens to the brain and body when your senses are suddenly on fire. That conservative church was quick to denounce the sins of the flesh, so I was happy they couldn’t read my mind when I was near Sarah. Something tells me excommunication might have been in store for me if they could.
When our senses are attracted to something we quickly find ourselves taking notice. Maybe it is the smell of our favorite dish cooking, or the sound of a melody we love, or the sight of a gorgeous sunset; there are countless examples of our senses being awakened and suddenly we feel drawn to something or someone. And the beauty of it is that each time one of those attractions hits us we suddenly feel alive.
On this Sunday we have read the biblical texts traditionally associated with Epiphany. Epiphany, meaning a revelation or manifestation, is the day when the church commemorates the coming of the magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentile world. Also known as Three Kings Day in Latin culture, the story we find in Matthew 2 of the strange visitors from the East bringing their gifts to the child of Bethlehem is one of the best-loved in all the Bible.
Along with the famous Gospel lesson we have heard those beautiful words from Isaiah 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and God’s glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Spoken by a prophet centuries before the birth of Jesus, this passage looks forward to the day when all people will be drawn to the light of a restored Jerusalem.
So, one text speaks of three visitors from the East drawn to the birth of Jesus, and the other passage describes people from around the world seeking out the holy city of Jerusalem. Do you see the similarities? They are both stories of attraction. They describe what can happen to the soul when we suddenly yearn for answers we do not have.
The attractions that enliven our senses and the attractions that awaken our soul are not completely different. Often times, when our senses are brought life, we have opened a door for soulful exploration. Beautiful art or music or poetry can be the gateway to deeper questions and yearnings. Our souls long for truth, truth about God, about ourselves, and about the world we live in. And more often than not it is through some sensual experience that we find ourselves starting a quest for some new truth. Kind of like three astrologers who see a new light in the sky and decide they must follow it and find where it will lead them.
Having said that, I am aware that the attractions that awaken our senses can be satisfied far more easily than our soulful longings. We may love the smell of our grandmother’s cherry pie, but a store-bought cookie will satisfy our hunger. But the soul cannot be manipulated so easily. The truths we yearn for and the meaning we seek cannot be substituted with store-bought products that will bring satisfaction.
So, where do our soulful attractions and yearnings find their fulfillment? In places like this. In a sacred space where we open our hearts and minds and begin to wrestle with all manner of ideas and feelings. And wrestle we do. Truths that we have clutched for a lifetime may suddenly seem empty and void. Truths that we have never considered, and quite frankly scare the pants off of us, may suddenly disturb our sleep until we embrace them. And just as when our senses are attracted to something and we feel alive, the same thing happens with our soulful longings. The most alive you will ever feel is when your soul desperately seeks understanding and suddenly finds it.
Fifty-seven years ago the congregation of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church held its first service in this sanctuary. After many years of struggling to raise the necessary funds and construct this space, it was finally completed. Why did they do it? Was it to fulfill a sensual longing for a pretty church? Maybe that was true for some in the congregation, but I doubt that was what motivated most of the members who contributed to the project. I would speculate that what drove them to sacrifice so grandly to build this room was a soulful yearning. A desire to create a space to encounter the Spirit of the living God; a desire to fashion a room where truth could be explored; a desire to build a church where all people would be embraced. And now, almost six decades later, think what has happened in these pews. Imagine the soulful wrestling that has taken place here. Imagine the truths that have been discovered. Imagine the people who felt like there would never be a church for them and found it here. Like those magi of old following the light, and the nations of the world drawn to the hope of Jerusalem, thousands of people have been strangely drawn to this space in search of truth. And some have even found it.
Today we will break ground on a new fellowship hall, chapel, missions space, and children’s classrooms. Why? Why do this when it has taken so much time and energy and cost us so much? Why put up with the months of mess and frustration that will come with the construction? Is it so our senses can be satisfied and our church will look more appealing? No. I think we have made this commitment out of our own experience in this church. We know what this place has meant to us. We know what truths we have discovered here. And we believe that there are others who long for the same experience. People who have given up on the church and think they will never go back. In the decades to come, long after most of us are gone, the yearnings of people’s souls will still be finding fulfillment in the space we break ground on today. That’s why we do it.
I imagine the three magi never felt quite as alive as they did on their quest that would lead them to Bethlehem. Indeed, T.S. Eliot captures that sentiment in his famous poem “The Journey of the Magi.” Written from the perspective of one of the aging wise men looking back on the experience, he says: “All this was a long time ago…and I would do it again.” Years from now, when we look back on the journey we begin today, I pray we will be able to say the same thing.