The Church of the Redeemer

January 5, 2002

The Feast of the Epiphany (Transferred) 

At the age of nine, I made my first foray towards autonomy from my parents when I choose to attend overnight camp at our Diocesan Camp three hours drive from our home in Irving, Texas.  As I think back over my first camping experience, there are two things I still remember distinctly.  First are the tears I shed each late afternoon before dinner as homesickness would overcome me during this down time in activity and the second is the friendship that I formed with another camper named Googe.  To this day, I cannot tell if Googe was his real name or not.  I believe it was and may still be his nickname, whatever the case; this was the name that he wore across his sailor’s cap and the name to this day that I remember him by.   What made our friendship so memorable was the fact this was the first time I had had a friend who was black.

 As I have mentioned, I spent the early years of my youth in Irving, Texas, one of the handful of cities and towns that over the years has become part of the Dallas Metroplex.  And, despite the fights for desegregation in the late fifties and early sixties, Texas in 1972 was still largely segregated by neighborhoods, which meant the elementary schools that served the various neighborhoods were also segregated.  But at Camp Crusis, life was different, it was a place where white children from the affluent suburbs played, slept next to and worshipped with children of color from the inner-city neighborhoods of Dallas.  Camp Crusis was a place where the threads of black and white, rich and poor, young and old were harmoniously woven together as the tapestry of the universal church. A multi-racial tapestry that gathered together each night in the outdoor chapel to celebrate God’s love for us through the Eucharist. 

The tapestry I found at Camp Crusis is the same tapestry that St. Matthew began weaving for the Church when he chose to include the three wise men in his telling of the nativity.   As we listened to today’s Gospel, I hope you noticed a few inconsistencies with our common understanding of the Nativity Story.  First, the story of the three Wise Men does not occur in the same Gospel our beloved story of Christ’s birth appears in, the story we hear read each Christmas Eve. The story that Christmas Pageants are based on with angels and shepherds, this story is fournd in St. Luke’s telling of the story.  The Wise Men only appear in St. Matthew’s Gospel and not at the time of Christ’s birth, but at a time when Jesus is referred to as a child.  A final inconsistency to note is St. Matthew never refers to these men as the kings we see portrayed in our precious nativity sets, or in the way we romantically like to think of them as we parade our children up the aisle each year in paper crowns and capes made out of fabrics in royal hews.  Instead, they are referred to as the Magi, men of Persia who studied the stars.  Or as biblical scholar Scott Hoezee more colorfully describes, “These magoi were the ancient equivalent of “magicians” – they were astrologers and stargazers who tried to get the hang of the present by what was in the stars.  These were the Jean Dixons of old Persia, writing the daily horoscopes for the Baghdad Gazette based on the movements of the Heavens.  The Magi were what many would call today quacks and maybe even charlatans.  The Old Testament actually provides even choicer language for such persons: the Bible condemns the Magi types as deceivers to be avoided by godly folk.  Indeed, a Jewish rabbi wrote shortly before the birth of Jesus: “He who learns from a magi is worthy of death.” 

            So why does Matthew include this less than desirable crew as part of his very succinct telling of Christ childhood?  For the same reason all the Gospel writers tell of Jesus eating with tax collectors, beggars and whores.  Because right from the start Matthew wants to convey that the community that gathers around the cradle of Christ is inclusive of all people, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, proud and humble, that the salvation of Christ is available to all, and that we as the Body of Christ should reflect that reality.

            I am happy to say for the most part, the passive acceptance of the overt segregation and racism I grew up within the South is no longer accepted in today’s politically correct society.  This was made evident by the consequences Trent Lott endured after his most inappropriate remarks last month.  However, this does not mean the issue is resolved or over.  Instead, the ugly head of racism or bigotry is raised in the far subtler and less obvious ways of elitism or under the newer umbrella term classism.  This is an issue that we are all guilty of either consciously or unconsciously.  It begins when we are very young, when we begin to discern what makes us different from others.  Then as we develop and become more cognizant of our own insecurities or because of a lack of ego strength, we attempt to order the world around us in order to fabricate a greater sense of security.

            The need to order the world around us is a natural part of personal development and is most obvious during adolescence.  In fact countless movies have been made focusing on the trials and tribulations of adolescent classism.   Maureen and I have heard our children stereotype members outside their social cliques using the same class labeling system we used in our own day. There are what they refer to as the popular kids, the geeks, etc. and for some mysterious reason, these groups of kids see themselves as very different from one another and off limits to each other.  This adolescent system of classification is not just present in the large public school system, as I have listened to many of our young people here at the Redeemer, it is very clear that while they deny a cast system within their own schools, their words and actions indicate they are clear which independent schools are preferred over others.  I have even listened to some of them discuss, in at times less than positive detail, the stereo types of the individuals who attend certain institutions and why the students of their school is preferred. Sadly, I have also heard the opposite, as young people have told me why their school is inferior to the others.  As we listen to teen banter, we accept that part of what we hear is an inherent attribute of adolescent.  But to some degree, their system of classification and attitudes towards others is sad because much of their behavior is unconsciously learned from us -- their parents and grandparents.

            None of us would ever consider ourselves elitists or snobs.  I know I don’t, but subconsciously we all are, and our words betray us each day. I was made painfully aware of my own snobbish tendencies, an issue I still struggle with to this day, while I was working my first job out of seminary.  There I was, brash, 24, about to graduate, and working in a black community house located in the projects of the New Haven, when a client in very colorful language, angrily called me a bigot.  Hurt and feeling rejected I sat and sulked in my office until a woman I supervised by the name of Miss Snow walked in, sat herself down in front of me and said, “ Craig, you know she is wrong, there ain’t a bigoted bone in your body, but honey, you sure is a snob, but that’s a different issue.”  Then she proceeded to lovingly explain to me how I betray my cultural assumptions through innocent statements. We all betray ourselves each time we ask questions such as where another was schooled, or where one summers or vacations, or when we make the statement so and so is from a fine family, as if one’s lineage is an indicator of one’s personal character. These are all subtle techniques that we use to order our world to our satisfaction.            

Classism, elitism, racism, sexism, whatever ism we choose they are all rooted in the same adolescent need to bring order and security to a dark and chaotic world.  But the story of the magi tells us, that it is within this dark and chaotic world the light of God exists. As people who profess a faith in Christ - we need to walk out of our own light, into the darkness, gather with the magi around the light of God, and allow ourselves to become woven into the tapestry of God’s people, united by the common thread of God’s love and grace.     Amen 

The Rev. Craig R. Swan

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