Christmas 2c 2025; 5 Jan.
Matt 2:1-12; Jack Hardaway
Hidden
7, 8, 9, 10. Ready or not here I come.
Hide and go seek. I have always loved that game. And all it variations like Sardines, or Kick the Can, Ghost in the Graveyard and I forget what else.
It seems like I played it constantly as a child, and then with my little brother and sister, and with youth groups and cousins and my own children.
We would hide until it was time to end, the street lights started turning on, or we couldn’t find everyone, or something better came along, and someone called out “Olly olly oxen free.”
A mysterious magical turn of phrase that set us all free, canceling all debts.
Olly olly oxen free.
Sometimes I’d hide so well that I couldn’t be found and the game would end and everyone go back home and I’d still be hiding in the dark rejoicing in my hiddenness.
Hiding. Seeking. Finding. Chasing. Tagging. Playing. Out foxing. Out clevering. Rejoicing and exaltation in the shared company.
All out, full speed playing.
Its been a while.
Today and the next two Sundays we hear three of the ancient stories of the faith that are called The Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
The idea is that God is made known to all the world.
The three stories are the visitation of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, and the miracle at the wedding in Canna.
They all involve a revealing, a bringing of light, an event making God known in history, in the real life flesh and blood of Jesus.
So here is the mysterious thing about all three of these revelatory events, they all involve in some way the hiddenness of God as well.
Hide and Seek with the Holy One.
All out, full speed at play with the mystery of life, and love and redemption, being set free.
Olly olly oxen free.
The wise men sought the hidden child guided by a star, Herod hunting the child, the wise men sneaking away by night, and the holy family escapes to Egypt.
High risk hide and seek, the salvation of the world is at stake.
The hiddenness of God, usually in plain sight.
It could be that God is reclusive and selective, or that we are preoccupied, or we don’t recognize, or we don’t accept the possibility of the holy infringing the ordinary stuff of our lives.
Maybe all that and more.
Sometimes I wonder if God is simply playful, chasing and hiding, seeking and finding, rejoicing in the company, at play.
Jesus, the playfulness of God lighting the night.
God’s infectious freedom most fully known in being playful.
I do know that I feel the most free when I am playing, playfulness and being free seem to be deeply entangled.
The Epiphany.
The manifestation of God’s hide and seek, of god at play, all out full speed.
God calling out, “Olly olly oxen free.”
And we all jump up and go home by another road.
7,8,9,10 ready or not here I come.