At the Turn of the Road
Matthew 2:1-12
Rev. Heather Leslie Hammer
Byron United Methodist Church
Epiphany
January 6, 2019
The first time I came to this church was in 2006, when I was waiting to be appointed to my first church. I had drawn a circle mentally on a map, with my home in Livermore at the center. There was a certain radius I figured would be possible to drive. In seminary, the United Methodist students used to say, “I just hope the Bishop doesn’t send me to Winnemucca!” (No offense to Winnemucca, NV, but if you are married to a person whose job is in Livermore, Winnemucca is a long way away!) I figured it would be possible to be appointed here in Byron. Well, that was when Dan Sturdivant was your pastor. I remember driving over the hills from Livermore on Vasco Road, turning right onto Camino Diablo, and then left onto Byron Highway. Then almost right away, the road takes a turn, and just after the turn there’s the church on the right. After that first time here, I always have thought of the church being “at the turn of the road.”
And here we are together—now for six months—at the turn of the road. It’s a place—a lovely older building with its own charm, but it’s so much more than just a place. It’s hometo a congregation that has worshiped here and found hope here for 150 years. It’s the Church, the body of Christ, broken but to be restored again and again in God’s love. We are at a turn of the road—we don’t know what will happen here at Byron United Methodist Church, but we have made a turn, and the future is before us.
January is always a new beginning. The holidays are past. Perhaps you’ve kept the tree up until today, Epiphany Sunday, the 12thday of Christmas. But it’s soon to come down. The wise men have come and now they have gone.
Our scripture reading is very familiar: the story of the magi who come from the East following the Star of Bethlehem. The passage begins and ends significantly.
The beginning reads: “In the time of King Herod.” The context could not be more charged.
In 30 BCE, Herod became King of Judea, “King of the Jews.” His family had converted to become Jewish, but when he rebuilt the second temple and adorned the gate with a Roman eagle, pious Jews demonstrated against this sacrilege, and Herod had them all arrested. He was one kind of “King of the Jews,” a power‐hungry, paranoid, evil king; in name a Jew, but in name only, not a practicing Jew who would orient his life around the laws of the Torah. Not a king who wanted the best for his people. Everyone knew and hated Herod. He had a reputation: he even killed his wife and two sons! It was certainly in character for him to have ordered all the boy babies of Bethlehem to be killed, as the Gospel of Matthew later tells us he did.
So, Matthew, the writer, introduces us to Jesus’ birth by bringing on the mysterious wise
men from the East—only in the Gospel of Matthew. (It doesn’t say there were 3, but we all
know there were 3 because we learned that in the carol, “We Three Kings”!) And they stop
by Herod’s palace in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the
Jews?” “Hmm, another ‘King of the Jews’?” thought Herod, when he heard what the wise
men said. Herod then said, “Come back and tell me about this baby.” The wise ones, being “wise,” figured out quickly that this Herod was not to be trusted, so after they went to visit the Baby and were warned in a dream, they returned “by another road.” You see, like everyone, they had a choice: they made a conscious decision, not to report back to Herod. By taking “another road” and thereby defying this evil king, they put into place a different chain of events.
The beginning of the story is “in the time of King Herod,” and the end of the story is “by another road.”
Our faith teaches us not to be afraid to take another road—listen to your heart, listen to your dreams. At each fork in the road, imagine which path is the path of love, and then consider choosing that direction.
Most of us have sadness and loss in our lives. We have experienced many turning points. Think of a cancer diagnosis, how it comes with such a shock. Life takes a lurching turn; it almost stops. But then there is life with cancer—a regime to follow, treatment, healing, remission—not always, but often. And there can be a new direction to take in life, a greater appreciation for the gift of life itself, a new priority about how to spend time—precious time. I have a friend whose cancer brought her closer to her husband. She appreciates so much how he went to appointments with her and coached her through physical therapy. Having this turn of events in her life made her focus more on her own physical health and what she could do about it; she walks 4 miles every day now. She decided not to feel sorry for herself. It was a decision.
This church has gone through a rocky time. Some folks have left. There is loss and pain. I am here to say, we can work through this. If you are back after being gone, welcome back. We want you to be part of the church. If you are still away and hear about a new pastor named Heather, and you hear this second-hand, I hope you will be open to joining in again. We care about you. If you are here because you love this church, thank you—we love you too. This is the place where all can belong. We don’t have to agree on everything; we don’t even have to like each other always. But here we love Christ, which is to say, we love the idea of peace and reconciliation. We love the idea that love mends all wounds. We want to trust that love; we want to embody that love: we want to be the body of Christ.
As individuals we are at a turn of the road. As a church we are at a turn of the road. And as a society, we are also at a turn of the road. Poverty is on the rise. Nearly 20% of American children are poor; 9% of seniors live in poverty. Some of these folks live here in Byron and Brentwood and Antioch and even in Discovery Bay. Some of us here find it hard to make ends meet. Some of us are struggling with addictions and broken relationships and disappointments. How can we help one another? How can we work for the common good in our society? How can we mend the world?
A beloved American poet, Robert Frost, wrote in his poem “The Road Not Taken”: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” How can we make a difference? How can we choose to bring hope to our society?
Today we have followed the Star of Bethlehem, over the Judean hills, and we have taken a turn and moved into a New Year. Will we take another direction from here, like the wise men who when they saw the Christ Child were changed?
I invite you to ask yourself what difference Jesus makes in your life. What new directionwill you take because love has come into the world?