Last Ephiphany I told the following story and since many of you were not there I’m going to risk telling it again.

A woman from New York tells the following story about a time she was traveling through a small Texas town where she came upon a "Nativity Scene" that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. “But one small feature bothered me,” she said: “the three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets. Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left.
“At a ‘Quik Stop’ on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, ‘You darn Yankees never read your Bibles!’
“I assured her that I did, but simply couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible.
She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and riffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face she said, ‘See, it says right here, 'The three wise men came from afar.'"

Well, you were very wise to come here this morning. Why? Because you have the opportunity to worship God. We have probably heard clergy say, “Let’s worship God,” “Welcome to our time of worship,” “Come and worship Christ this Christmas.” We use the word “worship” a great deal in the church. What does it mean to “worship” God? What pictures fly into your mind as you think about “worship”? It is true, we believe that the believer’s whole life is an act of worship. But today, we are talking about the public worship service. What are the ingredients of worship?

Well, we have our hard pews, at the 10:30 service we have music and singing, we have our praying, our readings, our standing, kneeling and sitting. We have a sermon. We have communion. Sometimes baptism. That’s worship, right? There is one thing, though, that is a part of coming to worship – something you experience probably every time you come to worship. Do you know what that is?

It will become clear as we look at the story of the wise men. They were called “magi” in ancient times. They were highly educated men, students of the stars. They lived somewhere east of Israel, perhaps from Persia or Arabia. Somehow, they knew that a Messiah, the Christ, would eventually be born in Israel. And then one day God caused a special star to appear to them. And as those wise men studied that star, God revealed to them that this was a sign that the Christ had been born.

These men were thrilled! They decided to travel to Israel to see the Christ with their own eyes. Traditionally, we always think of three wise men, but in reality, we don’t know if there were three or thirty. They packed up their camels, their servants, and the whole entourage headed west, to the land of the Messiah, because they wanted to worship the Christ.

Part of their worship was overcoming the obstacle of distance. They didn’t live right next door to Bethlehem. This was going to be a big trip; probably expensive, time consuming. They would have to put forth a lot of effort – distance was an obstacle. But for the Magi, it was worth it.

Distance is a worship obstacle that many people today don’t overcome. I laugh when I think of a guy who was a member of my church in Centralia, Washington. He and his family had to drive almost an hour to get to church. It was always funny when people who had to drive fifteen minutes to get to church would complain in his presence about the distance they had to drive to church. When you think of the distance the wise men had to travel to worship the Christ, you realize that true Christians will overcome distance to worship their Savior. I like to say, “A church alive is worth the drive.”

As the wise men traveled, they encountered another obstacle – unbelief. They arrived in Jerusalem, and no one seemed to know or care that the Messiah was born. I’m sure the wise men looked at each other and said, “I can’t believe no one knows or cares about the Christ!” They visited the king, Herod. He didn’t have a clue. In fact, he was disturbed by the news, and all Jerusalem with him. The Jewish chief priests and teachers of the law were there. They knew what the Bible said about the Messiah – that he would be born in Bethlehem, but you could see that they didn’t believe. There was no faith in Jerusalem, no joy that Christ was born. No one believed. No one cared. You would think that the wise men would have been discouraged by all this unbelief, but they weren’t. They headed to Bethlehem.

And as they sought to worship Christ, they encountered another obstacle – lowliness. Bethlehem was a lowly place – a little cow town just outside of Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph were lowly people – common peasants. I’m sure it was obvious to the wise men that Mary and Joseph weren’t the king and queen of Israel. And Jesus – just a lowly baby, nothing special to look at.

Do you see the obstacles the wise men had to overcome to worship the Christ? Distance, unbelief, lowliness, - all those things could have discouraged the Magi, caused them to turn back. But for them, Christ was worth it. We are told, “when they saw the star (stop over the place where the child was), they were overjoyed.” They rushed to the house where Mary and Joseph had now taken up temporary residence, bowed down and worshiped the Christ child. They presented him with their gifts. They pushed those obstacles aside and worshiped their Savior.

That is a big part of worship, my friends. Worship is more than just sitting in a pew, with comfortable temperatures, nice music, singing, reading, and praying. Worship is also overcoming obstacles.

For some of you, it’s distance. If you are a Christian who has to travel more than a quarter of a mile to worship Christ, then you are following in the footsteps of the Magi. Another obstacle is unbelief. Some of you are surrounded by people who discourage you from worshiping Christ – unbelieving relatives, friends, coworkers; maybe your neighbors look at you a little funny: “Are you one of those ‘Holy Rollers’?” they ask. Our society in general will tell you that if you want to use your time to worship Jesus, that’s nice, but really, you’re wasting your time. You could be working around the house, watching TV, doing something productive. You are surrounded by unbelief, and as you push that aside to come here this morning, you are following the footsteps of the Magi.

And finally, there is the lowliness of Christ – that’s an obstacle too. After you travel to get here, and overcome the unbelief around you, here you find the Christ. But he’s so plain! You can’t even see him. There are just some symbols here – a cross, a book, some bread and wine. We’re Americans – we want glitz and glamour – we want to see the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop every Sunday with special effects and Dolby surround-sound. But Christ doesn’t choose to reveal himself that way – he’s so plain, so lowly – he comes to you through his lowly Word, just through his Sacraments. Have you ever noticed the lowliness of Christ? Once again, you are walking in the footsteps of the Magi.

But that’s worship – overcoming obstacles – and there are many more than what I have talked about this morning. And as we think about these things, we cannot help but feel guilty. Because deep down, we know that we prefer worship where there are no obstacles, no uncomfortable pews, no prayer book we use every week, not much variety in our worship services, the time and inconvenience of travel to get here, many obstacles. I don’t want to have to overcome anything to come to church. I want worship to be easy. And when obstacles get in my way – maybe a strange look from an unbelieving relative, maybe this Sunday it just seems like too much work – when obstacles come my way, what am I tempted to do? “I don’t think I’ll worship Christ today. It’s not worth it. I think I’ll just stay home, drink my coffee, read my paper, watch my TV. Christ is not worth it.” Have you ever fallen into that temptation?

This morning, Jesus looks at you and says, I forgive you of that sin.” Isn’t that amazing? Just think of the obstacles Jesus went through, so that he could say, “I forgive you.” On that first Christmas, he traveled from heaven to earth, from power to the puniness of an infant, from riches to the poverty of being a peasant. When you see the word “distance,” think of the distance Jesus traveled to be your Savior.

And finally, there is lowliness. But Jesus didn’t shy away from that either. To become an infant wasn’t lowly enough. He lowered himself even more, to the level of public humiliation, publicly beaten, and finally publicly hung on a cross. There he experienced a lowliness that you and I will never have to feel. When you see the word “lowliness,” think of the lowliness of the cross that Jesus suffered. And he went through all this, so that he could say to you today, “I forgive you,” “I love you,” “You are my child,” Welcome to my family,” “Welcome to eternal life.”

That is why we worship him. You and I are the modern-day Magi, overcoming obstacle after obstacle, because we believe the Christ is worth it. Today we bring our gold, frankincense and myrrh – we call it our offering. But that’s not all we offer – we offer to him our lives. Obstacles will always be a part of worshiping Christ, but wew won’t let them discourage us. Because there, in the arms of Mary, is God in the flesh, who gave his life, so that you could have eternal life. “O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem, come and behold him, born the king of angels.” Push those obstacles aside, and come, let us adore him. He is Christ the Lord.