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Pastor Installation Sermons: Brent Wiescamp, Donna Greene, Erin Tyler, 1/4/15

Sermons Celebrating the Installation of Rev. Melissa St. Clair

Senior Pastor, Heart of the Rockies Christian Church

January 4, 2015

“So What is Epiphany?”  Brent Wiescamp

So what is Epiphany? It is the revelation of Jesus as the Christ or God in flesh. There are three events that are used to mark this. The three Magi recognizing Jesus as God. They are the first Gentiles to do so. Jesus first miracle – the changing of water to wine at the wedding in Cana. And Jesus baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. What Epiphany is to me is the beginning of a new season of relationship between God and God’s children.

It also marks the end of the Christmas season. Most of us celebrated Christmas a little over a week ago on Christmas day. I did too which is a rarity for my family. We have so many health care providers that we usually end up celebrating Christmas during the weekend before or after Christmas. That was the case last year and so I was home in Loveland for Christmas day. I went up to Rocky Mountain National and took one of the best hikes I’ve ever taken. There were several feet of fresh snow waiting for me to break a new trail.

The goal for the day was Emerald Lake. But with all the new snow I knew that even Dream Lake might be out of reach without snow shoes. I made it to Nymph Lake without any problem and even the trail winding up towards Dream wasn’t too bad until it widened out and the snow had room to pile up. Soon I was knee deep and then waist deep in snow. I was too close to Dream Lake to turn around so I pushed on for another quarter mile or so and finally crested the last hill before Dream Lake.

What greeted me was a frozen Dream Lake mostly free of snow but with one very distinct set of footprints frozen onto the surface of the lake. I have seen similar footprints before but never a set that traversed one end of the lake to the other, finally disappearing into the snow on the other side of the lake.

That remains the best day I have ever spent on that trail. The sky was clear and that exceptionally brilliant Colorado blue. There was no wind. The pines were heavy with the fresh snow. The air was crisp but not cold. It was the stuff of dreams.

I returned to a completely thawed Dream Lake this last summer. I imagined that the suspended molecules that had formed the footprints had melted into the lake. Maybe some were still in the lake. Maybe some had evaporated. Still others had flowed down Tyndall Creek into Glacier Creek and the Big Thompson, the Platte, Missouri, Mississippi and finally into the Gulf of Mexico.

I returned again a few weeks ago. There was another set of footprints frozen onto the lake. They started and ended at pretty much the same points as the set last year. But this set took a slightly different path. They wandered more towards the center of the lake before returning  to the same point and disappearing into the snow on the other side of the lake. I’m going to take a little artistic license here to make a point. I wouldn’t call it lying but how I remembered it when I wrote this last week.

The footprints looked smaller. Maybe a woman’s. There was more space between each one. Maybe the steps were taken at a quicker pace. Maybe the pace of someone younger. And yet they ended at nearly the same point on the other side. A hiking path is generally pretty narrow but some do widen from time to time. This can be more true in the winter when you can walk across a lake rather than around it.

There are many seasons in the life of a church. There have already been many seasons in this church. Today we are celebrating the beginning of another in the life of this church. The path from here may not look exactly the same but we’re still going to love God, serve others and change lives.

“Discovering Jesus,” Donna Greene

So after weeks of preparation for Christmas, here we are celebrating the final days of this Christmas season.  We’ve had prophets proclaiming, angels announcing, and dreams depicting events for the birth of the Messiah. Now we focus on a star, a star that compelled prominent astrologers from the east to embark on a long journey in search of the one whose birth was announced even in the heavens. The magi searched until the star stopped over the very home in Bethlehem where they discovered Jesus. They brought gifts intended only for a king, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – and they bowed down and worshipped him.

Epiphany, as celebrated in western Christianity, commemorates the visit of the Magi and celebrates the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Epiphany is also defined as “a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way.”  Epiphany was, and is, an “aha” moment full of the good news that the light of Christ and the infinite love of God is for the whole world.

The biblical story of the Magi is told only in Matthew’s gospel. Considering the brevity of Matthew’s account, I can’t help but wonder about some things. What was their reaction when they realized King Herod was “frightened, and all of Jerusalem with him?” Why were the Magi “overwhelmed with joy” when they arrived at the house where Jesus and his family were staying? How did they feel about the gifts they offered?   Were their lives impacted in any significant way by this event? Did they share any news upon their return home? Was there anything they understood in a “new or very clear way?”

My husband grew up Catholic and one of the best things about that for me was learning about Advent and Epiphany because they were not part of my southern Baptist upbringing.  When David’s family set up their nativity scene each Advent season,  the manger was left empty until Christmas morning. In fact his parents would hide baby Jesus and he and his siblings had to find him before they could exchange presents. We continued this tradition with our sons because it kept a focus on the importance of Jesus in the Christmas narrative. David’s family would also place the three kings far off to the side, hopefully the east side, because the gospel of Matthew tells us the Magi didn’t arrive until some time after the birth of Christ.  Each day David was allowed to move the wooden figures a bit closer to the Holy Family huddled in the stable. Then, on January 6^th, his family would celebrate King’s Day with a King cake – an oval shaped cake decorated in green, purple and gold to resemble the crown of a king. Hidden somewhere inside the cake was a small baby representing the Christ child. So again, the tradition focused on the importance of discovering Jesus. As the cake was served, each child secretly hoped they would be the lucky one to find baby Jesus in his or her slice of King cake.

So what is the importance of Epiphany for us as we enter a new year and a new chapter of life at Heart of the Rockies?  As you ponder this, here are a few additional questions for reflection.

• Where is it that you discover Jesus?
• What gifts can you offer to help manifest the light and love of Christ in the world?
• What is it you might see in a new or very clear way in the coming year?

One of the places I see the love of Christ is right here, in the servant hearts in each of you. I often see our youth reflecting the light of Christ in our church and in our wider community in places like Pine Ridge and Joplin. God is evident in how we conduct the business of the church in decisions made with prayerful discernment and leaders who lead by example and active engagement. This congregation desires to walk in the way of Jesus, to serve others, and with God’s help, to change lives.  In response, God has been faithful to bless us with many gifts and resources for ministry. One of those blessings, I believe, was God’s call on Melissa’s heart to join our ministry at Heart of the Rockies.

So, here we are in the life of this church, deeply grateful to Jeff and Janet Wright for the solid foundation on which this church was built and for their many years of leadership and dedicated service. Here we are, welcoming our new associate pastor and his family.  And most importantly today, here we are celebrating the installation of Melissa as our new senior pastor

Melissa, we celebrate you and are grateful for your many gifts for ministry. Your beautiful prayers and thoughtful sermons are a gift to us. Your work ethic, humility and wisdom indicate you are cut from the same cloth as those who have served before you. We acknowledge that this congregation is blessed with many gifts and we look forward to sharing those in ministry with you.

In closing, I would like to offer you this blessing. May you continue to discover Jesus, taking care to keep your senses tuned for God moments in your personal and professional life. May you see God in every human being and in the ordinary events of each new day. May your devotion to God and spiritual maturity sustain you in service as our senior pastor. May epiphanies help you see things in new and very clear ways.  And may the illuminating love of Christ always light your way in ministry.   Thanks be to God.

“Definition of Epiphany, “ Erin Tyler

The definition of an epiphany is “a moment of sudden revelation”. Each year in the church we celebrate Epiphany- the wise men searching and finding Jesus as a baby and bringing him gifts. These gifts may not have been what new parents thought they needed at the time, but they were the most precious gifts to the Wise men.  These gifts were probably not gifts to be used one time only, but over the course of the Christ child’s life. The gold probably helped the young family out as they made their way through life, raising this child into a Savior, and learning how to become parents at the same time. The frankincense and myrrh were sacred oils, and even are today. They may have been used to help a sickness, to cleanse a wound, and then, much later, perhaps they used the oils prepare his body before placing him in the tomb.

Even though the definition of epiphany is just about one moment, I have found that the most important epiphanies are not singular. They come up again and again, as reminders of the gifts we were given and the gifts we have to give. Just like we didn’t celebrate the Christ child being born only once, or the Wise Men giving their gift once, we celebrate these times each year to remind us.

In my life, I have had epiphanies, times where I felt God calling to me, reminding me of the gifts I have been given and the gifts I have yet to give. Nine years ago, I was running a photography business, and I felt a tug to volunteer as a photographer with an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. It is an organization that provides infant remembrance photography for families. Those times, connecting with the families and helping them in such a small way during one of the hardest days of their lives, were so important to me. I felt like I was doing God’s work. While it is our photography that is providing a gift, it really is a greater gift that we are allowed into the love, the grieving and the emotions of those days that hardly anyone sees. One day specifically provided an epiphany for me. It was for a family who had a little one who was born with spinal muscular atrophy. He was on life support and the family had decided to remove it. I was there to document this transition. During these types of sessions, usually the photographer would document some photos before and then step out to let the family have some time, and then finish the session once the family was ready again. Instead, the family wished for me to stay. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever experienced, this family loving their little one into heaven.

This amazing God of ours works in mysterious ways, and eventually, with many little (and big) nudges from Him, I felt the call to start school and get on the path to ministry. In December of 2013, after a courageous battle with cancer, I received the call that my best friend of 26 years had little time left. With the help of many here at Heart of the Rockies, I made it out to Nebraska just in time. My friend Megan lay in a hospital bed in her mother’s dining room. Three of us girls had the privilege of taking care of her all night long, giving her medicine every fifteen minutes, talking to her, and watching her slowly slip into deeper sleep. The next afternoon, I sang to her as she left this earth.

Why am I telling you about some of the saddest things I’ve experienced? Because I have found that sometimes epiphanies come in packages that we least expect.  I have been reminded so many times of the gifts I have been given and of the gifts I have yet to give. Gifts of love, remembrance, music, friendship, and the reminders of a calling to be there for those in their hardest moments.

We all have our own unique gifts to give- they are treasures to give and to receive. We have a treasure in our staff, our leaders, our congregation and our community. I am so thankful for the gifts that have been given to this church and the gifts we have yet to receive- including this gift of leadership in Melissa.

Maya Angelou defined an epiphany as “…a million definitions. It’s the occurrence when the mind, the body, the heart, and the soul focus together and see an old thing in a new way.”