So begins an epic film
of the struggle against the forces of evil.
So begins the quest
for the emergence of true humanity.

If you have seen the film, "Lord of the Rings,"
you will know that of which I speak.

If you have not seen the film,
you will still know,
for Tolkien's story is real,
and it is universal.

The place is Earth.
The setting in time
is that critical point
of emergence of humanity.

Mythically speaking, in Tolkien's language,
it is the end of the age of beings
such as Hobbits, Dwarfs, and Elves.

The few humans struggle to survive,
for they are very much subject
to the wiles and lies of evil
- very likely to become twisted of heart
and lost.

In the story, Sauron, the evil one
seeks ultimate power,
until then shared with other beings
and represented by a number of rings
forged in the depths of the earth.

(Well, why not rings?
We still use rings to signify power.
Rings were used until recently to sign papers.
Royalty use rings to make proclamations.
Bishops have rings signifying their oversight.)

So, rings -
A Ring is held by each of the nine lords of the earth,
and their hearts have become twisted and dark
They join Sauron
to seek the last ring, and ultimate power.

They once were princes.
Now, they have become
dark horsemen of the apocalypse,
- frighteningly evil.

So, in the face of that evil,
simple little Hobbit, Frodo Baggins,
becomes the bearer of the one remaining ring
- the last counter-balance against evil.
He is joined by Sam, Merry, and Pippin,
other simple Hobbits;
Gimli, the wonderful armored dwarf,
who looks ever so much like an Armadillo;
and various Elves, the archers.

Together, with two struggling humans,
they set out to insure that the ring
does not fall into the hands
of the twisted Lords
and of the Evil One.

They call themselves, "The Fellowship of the Ring."

In the story
portents are seen and felt
by the gentle and good Wizard, Gandalf,
who warns and assists the fellowship
in eluding evil.

Tolkien was a creative genius
with a whole stable of monsters in his dreams,
But, the story is one
with which we can identify,
especially now that evil
has again been overtly unleashed in our world
for all to see.

Something further, much further:
The Gospel story on this the Day of the Epiphany
is a very powerful representation of Truth
regarding this same struggle.
And it too, becomes real and powerful for us
in this time after the eruption of evil.

The time was 4 BC, by our current calendar.

Evil was abroad,
hunting down the innocent
even as the infant, Jesus,
lay in the manger that holy night.

The Lords of the Earth
had become twisted
by the unbridled exercise of power,
and could not stand to be challenged.

Did you know that December 28th
- the third day after Christmas
is called in the Church calendar
Holy Innocents' Day?

The Gospel story on that day
shows King Herod, the Dark Lord,
sending his evil horsemen
out to kill all infants in the province,
trying to eliminate the threat
of a rival king Jesus being born.

It was crazy, for Herod was ill and near death
but evil cares not.

Magi from the East
perceived a portent in the heavens.
In that day they would have expected
the coming of a King of kings
to be heralded by such.

The word, Magi, does not mean king.
It means wizard,
- people schooled, literally,
at some Mesopotamian Hogwart School of Wizardry
along with Harry Potter.

They were people unacceptable
to the Jewish scholars
and held in great suspicion by the powers in Judah.

No one who was anyone wanted them around.
They were hard to control,
talked crazy stuff,
and were such … foreigners…

Some fundamentalists around Judah
would undoubtedly have burned their books.

But, they had their eyes up,
off their own problems and temptations
and they saw the Star.

They gave up everything,
and they came,

They came, and they brought gifts,
Gold, the stuff of power of this world
- they gave it up to the child of God.
Frankincense, the stuff of mystical, priestly power.
- they gave it up to the child of God.
Myrrh, the stuff of martyrs,
- they gave it up to the child of God,
for only in trusting the life, death, and
rising again of the Christ of God
can we have our own Star
by which to live faithfully.

This was a to be a different kind of king.
This was to be the King
to change the hearts of humans,
and to institute the age of true humanity,
in spite of all the lying
and twisting,
evil can do.

The wizards visited Herod,
who tried to get them to find Jesus
for his killers.
Dark, evil horsemen rode the night;
but the child remained safe,
and Angels sang.

Simple folk,
folk with no concern for their status,
power, or wealth,
shepherds, neighbors,
even sheep and goats,
and my little dog,
came flocking to that manger:
- the Hobbits, Dwarfs,
- Elves, and fledgling Humans
of Tolkien's story.

The struggle is portrayed with stunning clarity.
Who are the players in God's Drama?
What part have we in God's reality? God's dream

What Star do we have to follow
when clouds of smoke cover Manhatten,
and evil is unleashed all over the world?

The Lord Jesus is our Star,
heralding a new age
of true humanity,
in spite of the lure of the rings,

This is the age when we join the quest
or not.
And this is the age
when we find that we, too, have gifts
to give to the Child of God.

We give up the gold of the world
that otherwise corrupts our hearts.

We give up the Frankincense of pretension
that we know more than does God
about what makes the human heart
human.

We give up the myrrh of our own arrogant
sense of martyrdom,
for only Christ can save,
not we of ourselves.

It's all there.
The Star is there.
Our fellowship of the faithful is there;

The struggle for perfect humanity continues,
and, hope abounds.

Lift up your eyes, and see.

"For, darkness shall cover Earth,"
writes Isaiah in today's first reading.

"and thick darkness, the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

"Lift up your eyes and see."