Across the Pastor’s Desk by Ken Jensen

Last Tuesday marked the end of the 12 days of Christmas, although many within the Orthodox family of faith celebrate the birth of our Lord on this day.

Known as the Festival of the Epiphany, Tuesday commemorated the appearance of the Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to honor the infant Christ.

The word epiphany means “to show, to reveal, to make manifest, to shed light upon.”

We picture it as that of a light bulb which suddenly turns on over the head of a cartoon character.

In Matthew’s gospel the appearance of the Magi was a sign that the birth of Jesus was not only God’s gift to his own ethnic people, it included the Gentiles and all people on Earth.

The Apostle John put it this way: “In him was life, and that life was the light of man.” (John 1:4 NRV)

As I reflected upon the significance of the epiphany, unlike in the church in Asia and Africa it appears the light is flickering and its life endangered in much of Europe and North America.

A friend recently lent me a book titled “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer. Rainer estimates that in America, roughly 10 percent of our churches are healthy, 40 percent show signs of sickness, 40 percent are very sick and 10 percent are dying.

The Business/Money section of The Star Tribune (Dec. 14, 2014) carried two unrelated stories about church life in America.

One story noted that 70 percent of U.S. workers no longer belong to a church. The other reported that church building is at its lowest level since records began in 1967. Construction is down 80 percent since it peaked in 2002.

The candle, the church as many of us perceive it to be, may be flickering.

But the light is not about to go out.

In Christ Jesus there is a life, and in him there is a light to enlighten the hearts of humanity. The light will remain. However, it may shine from a different candle than that to which we have become accustomed.

Thirty years ago Gil Stricklin founded Marketplace Ministries, a nonprofit organization to provide chaplains to companies willing to offer their employees and families with 24/7/365 confidential pastoral care services.

Currently, Marketplace Ministries employs 2,755 chaplains to 635 companies in 1,041 cities.

Instead of investing in infrastructure, Veritas United Church of Christ in Hagerstown, Maryland, rents space in a renovated former shoe factory.

“I don’t want to sit at a table and worry about how to get the roof replaced. I would rather focus on how to reach out to the kids in the community,” said the Rev. Apgar-Taylor.

Pope Francis is as a new broom sweeping dust and cobwebs from the corners of the church (not merely his own faith community), a church imbedded in a world view of centuries past.

“We never did it this way before” may be the response of his critics, but change is in the air.

As we begin the new year, we are mindful of the circumstances and threats which breed fear and anxiety within. For people of faith, there remains a light shining in the darkness. Epiphany is not limited to one day in the year. Every day is a day when the Lord is a beacon piercing the night.

 

Ken Jensen a retired ELCA pastor living in Blair, Wis.