WEEK SIX INTRODUCTION 
TITLE: ENTER INTO THE JOY OF THE LORD: TIMELESSNESS
January 1–January 7

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4).

In the days following December 25, our attention turns to Epiphany, January 6, which is celebrated around the world as Three Kings Day. Epiphany means “to bring to light,” or “make manifest,” or “to reveal.” In the West, January 6 is celebrated as the manifestation of Christ made known to the Gentiles. In the East, Epiphany, or Theophany as it is commonly called, focuses on God revealing his beloved Son at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River. In addition, Christ’s first miracle at the marriage at Cana is also remembered. Epiphany is a season of the church year that spans the weeks between the end of Christmastide and the beginning of Lent (five to nine weeks, depending on the date of Easter). During this time, the church emphasizes the unfolding glory of Christ as it was made manifest to the world. 

This final week of the Advent Project, “Enter Into The Joy of the Lord,” will cover various aspects of the season of Epiphany in light of eternity. The ultimate joy of Christmas and the Christian life is the blessed hope that we will forever be with Christ in heaven. Our finite minds can’t fully comprehend timelessness and the unending joy of being at home in the presence of our Savior permanently. But Christians wholeheartedly live their lives with eternity’s values ever before them, realizing that this old world is not their final destination. Matt Redman so powerfully sings, “One day we will see face to face, Jesus, is there a greater vision of grace? And in a moment, we shall be changed on that day.” “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).

Day 36 - Sunday, January 1
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Title: GREAT JOY AT FINDING CHRIST, THE PRICELESS TREASURE
Scripture #1: Matthew 2:9–11
And behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. 
Scripture #2: Matthew 13:44-46
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Poetry & Poet:
“A World Without Objects Is a Sensible Emptiness”
By Richard Wilbur

The tall camels of the spirit
Steer for their deserts, passing the last groves loud
With the sawmill shrill of the locust, to the whole honey of the arid
Sun. They are slow, proud,

And move with a stilted stride
To the land of sheer horizon, hunting Traherne's
Sensible emptiness, there where the brain's lantern-slide
Revels in vast returns.

O connoisseurs of thirst,
Beasts of my soul who long to learn to drink
Of pure mirage, those prosperous islands are accurst
That shimmer on the brink

Of absence; auras, lustres,
    And all shinings need to be shaped and borne.
Think of those painted saints, capped by the early masters
With bright, jauntily-worn

Aureate plates, or even
    Merry-go-round rings. Turn, O turn
From the fine sleights of the sand, from the long empty oven
Where flames in flamings burn

Back to the trees arrayed
    In bursts of glare, to the halo-dialing run
Of the country creeks, and the hills' bracken tiaras made
Gold in the sunken sun,

Wisely watch for the sight
    Of the supernova burgeoning over the barn,
Lampshine blurred in the steam of beasts, the spirit's right
Oasis, light incarnate.

GREAT JOY AT FINDING CHRIST, THE PRICELESS TREASURE

These two passages from Matthew descend rapidly.  Within the space of a sentence in Mt. 2, we plunge like a meteor from a star burning in the night sky to an earthborn, infant child hidden in a house like a light under a bushel.  Likewise in Mt. 13, the ‘kingdom of heaven’ falls like lightning down to a particular field, a particular treasure and one particular pearl.  God apparently loves the shapes and hunks of this world he created down to its smallest things–into which he then delights to pour disproportionate meaning. 

We, on the other hand, tend to like big things, awesome things, and particularly ‘spiritual’ things–if that means something that whisks us away from our littleness and earthiness. We are finite, common, particular people, hemmed into particular places, working in particular fields, sometimes ashamed of our mustard seediness. The psalmist in Psalm 8, looks up to “the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you [God] have set in place.” He then looks down, wondering, “what is man that you are mindful of him . . . that you care for him?” 

What indeed?

It seems that humans have a special place in God’s creation. We–small as we are–are uniquely capable of representing who God is.  We are the image of God, which is to say, we can be little moving pictures of who God is in ways that other things cannot. Bigger is not necessarily better in God’s kingdom. While stars certainly can flame out impressively the majesty of God, they can neither receive love nor give love, nor cultivate and care for other stars.  And if God is love, then, well . . . you get it.  As our poet, Richard Wilbur, names it, we are ‘light incarnate,’ but more like tea lights–close to the ground.

Of course, we ourselves tend to reflect Him poorly at times.  It can be discouraging, really.  But take heart.  Thank God for this particular Child, whose appearance (Epiphany!), whose life, death and resurrection, showed us in so many words and deeds that the Kingdom of God was among us and would be within us. So today, go about your day with your particular life in your particular field, looking for that particular pearl–a thought, word or deed–that marks the point of entrance. May it remind you like a string around your finger of this Child born in one particular place, who not only died for us, but living for us called us to live in our little places, as St. Paul said, “shining like stars in the sky” (Phil. 2:15).  

Prayer:
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, kindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Todd Pickett
Dean of Spiritual Development
Campus Pastor
Biola University

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