Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 1/4/2026
Lessons:
Matthew 2: 1-12
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Good morning and welcome to the New Year!
I am so excited to be starting 2026 with you!
I hope your holiday was restful and enjoyable - and all it needed to be - which may have included some reading - or movie-watching - it did for me - we had a triple-feature on New Year's Eve with movies chosen by all 3 children!
A cartoon, a mystery, and a gory thriller - I'll leave it to you to decide who chose what -
But in any case, our family, maybe like yours, ran across some masterful storytelling!
And you may have seen or read a very famous and specific literary and theatrical device which I'd like to talk about this morning.
It's called 'Chekhov's Gun.'
It's so well-used in story-telling that you've probably seen it without even knowing it!
Mention of this device first appeared in a letter from, playwright Anton Chekhov to a fellow writer in 1889, Aleksander Lazarev, who was being given advice on a play he was writing –
This is when Chekhov famously wrote -
"One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it... 'If, in the first act, you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there.'"
Of course, Chekhov is not talking about weapons and stages - he is talking about the promise the writer makes to the audience. Chekhov would later write, not about a gun on a stage, but a nail on a wall, saying that, "if you spend time describing a nail on a wall, someone eventually has to hang a coat on it or hurt themselves on it." And, of course, the writer is not concerned with nails and walls, but promises made to the audience.
If a weapon is here, if a nail is here, if you and I are here, then there is a promise from the writer to the audience - that it will be used.
Welcome to 2026: A year that you will be used!
This is the Master Playwright's promise to the audience!
Being a Christian means taking the notion very seriously that we are here - we have been put on stage - written into the story by the Master Playwright - to play a unique and invaluable role in moving the plot along! Don't think that The Master Playwright put you here to ignore you - you're not a Red Herring like Tarantino might use - you're the Prop on the Wall - given purpose and meaning, simply by your existence.
And this has a long history in Christianity!
Think of the places we find the Prop on the Wall in the Bible:
Think of Exodus 12 as Act One, when God gives specific instructions to the Israelites on the Passover. Verse 46 says 'Do not break any of its bones.' At the time, it seems like a rule to keep the butcher's block clean. But it's also the 'prop on the wall.'
Because when we fast forward to the Christian Scriptures and the Crucifixion of Jesus we see the Roman soldiers breaking the legs of the three who have died on Good Friday. However, when the Romans get to Jesus they see he has died! And they decide not to break the his legs.
And so we read in John 19:36 - John pointing to the Prop on the wall and saying, "These things happened so that the scripture might be fulfilled, 'Not one of his bones will be broken.'
We can see a second example in Numbers 21 - as the Israelites are wandering in the desert - and are being plagued by poisonous snakes. You may remember when God told Moses to make a snake out of bronze and put it on a pole along with the instruction in verses 8 and 9 that anyone who looks at the bronze snake curled around a pole will be healed of their bite.
Fast forward to the Gospels when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, and Jesus is describing his role, when he reaches back to that dusty shelf in the Book of Numbers and points to the Prop on the wall by saying, "Just as Moses is lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up."
And then there's the story in Genesis 22, of Abraham famously climbing the holy mountain to seemingly sacrifice his son Isaac. At the last second, there is a ram caught in a thicket by the horns. This ram will take the place of Isaac the first-born, and only son of father Abraham, as the sacrifice made out of thanksgiving and love.
We then fast-forward to the Gospels where Jesus, the only begotten son, carries the wood of the cross up the same mountain. He is crowned with thorns - wearing the thicket upon his head - and becomes for us the ultimate expression of love for all humankind.
Throughout history, God has used the Prop on the Wall to unfurl the story of salvation to the world - and God continues to use the Prop on the Wall - to advance that story through you and me.
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As many of you know, one of the biggest props on the wall for me came in November of 2023 - that's when a landscaper working at my home fell victim to a garage door that I had installed illegally and on the cheap - got caught in that door - and was killed.
There, on the wall, hung that tragedy for a couple of years before I met a woman named Maryann, a guy named David, women named Kim and Anita - and together we founded what has become a significant international support group for those who have accidentally harmed others - which now has a million dollars in the bank and is ready to hire its first Executive Director - and continue to help even more people.
Into the story of my life had come a tragedy - an unwanted and unrequested horror - a prop on the wall that was actually used as a catalyst for one of my life's biggest plot points.
Another prop on the wall a consistent desire I have - to read. I love to read books, magazines, online articles. I buy, borrow, review, write, underline, and give away books.
And 30 years ago, I read about a self-help course in California. Made note of it, like I do. And much later in my life, I had the opportunity to go on that course - and it completely changed my life.
Another prop on my wall is being slow to anger. I have found that in pressure situations I can have a long fuse. I can get honked at by impatient drivers, I can get flipped off by people who don't like to see guns chopped up, I can hold an inconsolable infant with warmth and care.
And this has helped me be a better pastor and community leader - it has helped me in my career find a little, and bring a little, peace to tense situations, deadlocked board decisions, and mired times of transition.
So, as you've just heard, I have made 3 observations, identified 3 props that the Master Playwright has hung on the wall as part of the epic production of my life. I've listed for you a tragedy, a hobby, and a superpower - because right now, I would like you to do the same thing.
You see, the Master Playwright has made promises to the audience!
So I'm going to ask you to indulge me:
Please close your eyes and allow me to lead you through this - first with a prayer - so take a deep breath.
Great and Holy One! Our Creator and Sustainer - who is love - and who gave us love incarnate - and on this Epiphany gives us our own Epiphany - our realization that you are love and that you, your love, lives inside of us.
We take a moment to bask in that love - to listen to our spirits within - that are radiating with that love!
We take a moment to sense the warmth of your presence inside of us right here - right now! So come, open our eyes, awaken us to the vastness and wonder of the ongoing story you are unfurling in the universe and in our lives.
Now, let us call to mind a tragedy, heartbreak, challenge, or difficulty that we've faced. You remember mine with the garage door. Maybe it's something we're ashamed of - something we did - or was done to us. This is a prop on the wall that was unrequested and unwanted. But there it hangs. Call it to mind.
Now consider: How has that been used in your life? What role has it played in the great drama that the Master Playwright is bringing about? What have you learned? How have you been shaped or molded? Or has the time not yet come for its role to be revealed? Are we still waiting? After all, the story is not over! New scenes, new acts, await! Let us patiently make connections, anticipate them, but more importantly, be aware of the prop on the wall - because there's a reason it's there.
Now take a deep breath.
And call to mind a particular hobby, enjoyable activity, a skill or practice that brings you delight. Mine was reading. This is a prop on the wall that warms your heart, puts a skip in your step, and a smile on your face. What is it for you? How has it been used in your life? What role has it played? What have you learned? How have you been shaped or molded? Or has the time not yet come for its role to be revealed? Are we still waiting? After all, the story is not over! New scenes, new acts, await! Let us patiently make connections, anticipate them, but more importantly, be aware of the prop on the wall - because there's a reason it's there.
Now take a deep breath.
And call to mind a superpower that you have. For me it was patience. This may be a quiet resource you keep backstage. It's often something so obvious for you that you don't pay attention to it - but others notice in you! You may have to think of what others say to you when they compliment you. But what is that superpower?
Now consider, How has it been used in your life? What role has it played? What have you learned? How have you been shaped or molded? Or has the time not yet come for its role to be revealed? Are we still waiting? After all, the story is not over! New scenes, new acts, await! Let us patiently make connections, anticipate them, but more importantly, be aware of the prop on the wall - because there's a reason it's there.
Now take one last deep breath, and open your eyes -
Friends, Epiphany is about Revealing - it's about noticing, it's about making connections -
I hope that this exercise has helped us reaffirm that God has been working in our lives - through tragedy, gift, and skill - that there is nothing that we've enjoyed or endured that goes without use in this great drama!
The joy and excitement that lies before us on this first Sunday of the new year is rooted in our faith in the Master Playwright to continue to write, produce, and debut this unending story - and I am absolutely thrilled to be doing it with you, as we are bound and knit together, called and cast, to act out this great drama in 2026 - or, let's face it, we're St. David's - so it's probably not a drama, more like a comedy!
I love you - Happy New Year!
Amen.