The Feast of Epiphany, 2010
Memorial for Dick Carpenter
The Rev. Jerry Kistler
St. Stephen’s Reformed
Episcopal Church
+ In Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
We mark this day, January 6, as a great feast of the Church – the Feast of Epiphany, or of the Shining Forth of Christ to the world – a day of celebration and of rejoicing. But tonight we also mark this day as a day of sadness and sorrow, a day of mourning for our friend, our brother, our father and husband, Dick Carpenter.
Celebration and sorrow. Rejoicing and mourning. Those may seem like strange conjunctions. But in reality, as I said to the folks the other morning, this is really what our faith is all about – being able to rejoice in our sorrows, being able to celebrate even while we mourn; that in this dark vale of tears we have something that gives us light and peace. And that something is hope. And the hope that we have, we have because Christ has entered the world – has entered our world, our vale of tears – and through His death has given us life. And that is cause for rejoicing. As we say in the burial service in the prayer book: “In the midst of life we are in death.” But in the midst of death we have hope.
We prayed tonight to the eternal Lord God, who holdest all souls in life, that He would vouchsafe to His whole church, both in paradise and on earth, His light and His peace. We trust and believe that Dick has entered into the light and peace and joy of the Lord, because Dick was a Christian, and he entrusted his soul to the One who can hold him in life for all eternity.
But it’s it fitting that we would pray this prayer for light and peace on this Feast of Epiphany. The Feast of Epiphany is called the Feast of Lights because it reminds us that light and peace have already entered the world – that the light and peace of the Lord are not just for those saints above who have made it up the mountain, so to speak; but it’s also for us who remain down here in the valley.
It’s written in Matthew, “The people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of
death light has dawned” (Mt.
As I said, Epiphany is about the revelation, or the shining
forth, of Christ to the world. And at this time of year we’re especially
celebrating that greatest of the revelations of Christ that we read about in
the New Testament: His Incarnation and birth among us as a tiny baby in
One of my favorite stories comes from the book of Daniel. It’s a story that I reminded Maggie of as she was still with Dick in the hospital. It’s the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. You remember them. They were the three Jewish boys, the three friends of Daniel, who wouldn’t bow down and worship the golden image of the king. And the king threatened that if they didn’t bow down he would throw them into a fiery furnace. Of course, they didn’t bow down. And the king ordered that the furnace be made seven times hotter than usual. And then he bound the three of them and had them caste into the fire. But then as the king looked in through the opening of the furnace, the Scripture says he was astonished, and he asked those around him, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the fire? But look!” he said, “I see four men loose and walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
You see, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was revealed in His glory even way back in the book of Daniel. But where was He revealed? Where did He choose to reveal Himself to these three faithful men? In the midst of the fire. In the midst of that terrible ordeal. And isn’t it true, that so often it’s when we go through the fires of life that we see Him most clearly, and are more keenly aware of His presence with us? That’s why he doesn’t let us not go through the fire sometimes. That’s a double negative, I know. So let me put it in the positive. That’s why He causes us to go through the fire sometimes – because He wants us to turn to Him, and to seek Him and to see Him in our lives, and most of all to trust Him with our lives.
You see, ultimately what Jesus values the most is not our comfort, or our happiness, or even our long lives. What Jesus values the most is our faith. Because our faith gives us Him. And with Him we have eternal life.
That’s what’s most remarkable about this passage. It’s the faith of these three men, these three boys. When they’re about to be thrown into the furnace, basically they say this to the king: “God will deliver us. But if not, it’s okay.” Have you ever heard a great statement of faith than that? That they could go into the fire trusting that whatever happened it would be okay. That’s real faith. To be able to receive the good and the bad as both from the hand of the Lord, that’s a faith that can withstand the flame and even be made purer and stronger by the flame. We don’t always know whether we have that kind of faith. But God know, and so He promises never to test us beyond what we’re able to bear. But he does promise to test us, “that the genuineness of [our] faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:7). You see, the fire will not ultimately hurt us, if Jesus is with us. And He is with us. He has been revealed to us. And we see Him now by faith.
It is okay. It is well, because Dick is with the Lord in light and peace, and his body rests in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead. And we can rest in that faith as well.
“I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from the labours.”
So now, as we say in the Lessons and Carols service, “Let us remember before [the Lord] them who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in greater light; that multitude which no man can number whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.” Let us keep the feast, for tonight, with angels and archangels and with that newest of all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify the Name of the Lord for giving us the light and knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ His Son. Amen.