“Following the Star of Joy”
Text: Psalm 72
and Matthew 2:18-25
Aldersgate
1) Stars in the night Sky
a) When I was a child I found a lot of comfort in
watching the stars in the night sky
i)
While other
aspects of my life shifted dramatically
(1) the stars in the sky offered a sense of security
(2) that I needed as a young child
ii)
Last week at my home in
(1) invited them to follow me out into the night
(2) so we could gaze at the stars in the sky
(3) I raised them so they know about my oddities
iii) Now as I approach 60
(1) You notice I said approach
(2) I’m not there yet
iv) It feels as though my life is shifting even more
dramatically than it did when I was 10.
(1) So I spend even more time looking for stars,
(a) And when I find them I feel the majesty of God
(b) I wonder that he cares about me
(2) And I am more willing to trust God’s oddities rather
than human logic
b) The magi evidently also found a lot of meaning in the
night sky
i)
They were star
gazers
(1) They practiced astrology and fortune telling, things
we might label as occult
(a) They were not Christians
(b) They were not even Jewish
(c) May have been Zoroastrians who worshipped their own
gods
ii)
Yet “God’s epiphany in Jesus reaches out to them on
their own terms, and they are drawn to celebrate.” (Lectoinary
Homiletics, p. 44)
(1) They come, they celebrate, and they leave returning
to their own country by a different root
(2) The magi are not Christian, but “They are most
certainly allies of Jesus.” (Ibid)
(3) They stand outside the Judeo-Christian culture and
are able to see in a different way
c)
Those looking for an epiphany experience of their
own, might do well to pay attention to these magi
i)
I suspect that
several of us are still looking for an experience of God’s epiphany
(1) Some here this morning are overwhelmed with
responsibility at work and in the home
(2) Some may feel that want to help at Aldersgate, but not sure how
(3) And in a more theological sense, others are wondering
when God will finally send a leader to shepherd the people and provide justice
and peace
ii)
Our vision as a congregation:
(1) to be a beacon of God’s love radiating faith, hope, and
joy … everywhere!
(2) Suggests to me that we want to be God’s epiphany, a
manifestation of God in our world
(3) There is joy in the star of
(a) We know it
(b) We believe it
(c) But are we ready to share it?
(4) Are we ready to experience God’s Epiphany, so that
the world around us might see God’s light
iii) Perhaps by joining the magi as seekers of God’s
epiphany, we might learn to follow the star of joy
2) The magi offer clues to help us follow Christ’s star
and experience God’s epiphany
a) The magi are willing to search for God outside their
own experience
i)
The magi did not
assume that God was so present among them that they did not need to search
elsewhere
ii)
Sometimes we have to get out of our own culture and
experience in order to recognize God in our lives
(1) Bob Falla
(a) Who, before he moved, was a key leader in our
covenant with Sierra Maestra in
(b) told me several times how he felt closer to God when
he was in that country
(c) outside of his own cultural experience
(2) in a similar way when I spend time talking with a
recent immigrant to this country
(a) if I listen and try to understand what they are
saying
(b) I see my own world with new eyes
b) With joy, they freely offer their gifts (The magi
have a joyful commitment to freely and generously offer their gifts
i)
Perhaps we miss
our epiphany experiences because of our human tendency to hold onto what we
think is most precious
ii)
One of my favorite Epiphany stories teaches
generosity
(1) a man has left his three sons 17 camels
(a) To the first left ½
(b) To the second 1/3
(c) To the third 1/9
(2) Sons argue for days as to how to divide up the camels
(a) knew that 17 is not divided evenly by 2, 3, or 9
(i) would the first son get eight or nine camels?
(ii) and what about the last son? Should he get one or two?
(3) Now the argument was fierce because they understood
that a dead camel was not worth much
(4) Finally decided to let a wise woman figure out the
dilemma
(a) She considered their dilemma
(b) and then surprisingly gave them her one and only
camel
(5) now they had 18 camels and the wise woman
(a) divided the 18 by 2, 3, and 9
(b) Giving 9 to the first son
(c) 6 to the second
(d) and two to the third
(6) And the miracle is that she had one left over, her
own camel
iii) some times we are so busy trying to hold onto what we
think is ours, we are unable to look at the whole
c)
They are willing to change their course of action
(The magi are also open to changing direction)
i)
They went to
(1) Only to find Herod threatened by the prophecy of a
baby’s birth
(a) Not even the baby
(b) Just the prophecy
(c) And how can someone be threatened by a baby
(2) The surprise of this good news text is Herod’s fear
ii)
So the magi changed course and found a different kind
of power
(1) A power that speaks to us from Psalm 72
(a) Prayer for the installation of a ruler
(i) Petition that God give the king the ability to rule
justly in particular for the poor
(ii) Also a connection to this justice and prosperity of
the land
(iii) Rather than being one of the oppressors, or making it
possible for others to oppress, the pray is for the king to defend against
oppressors
(b) On the eve of the
(2) This Psalm suggests that joy is found by all when
power opens to justice
(a) The magi knew and recognized this
(b) Power only comes from God and is intended to be
exercised with justice
(c) So they changed course again, returning home by
another root
(3) We will not find God’s epiphany experience in the
usual places of power and authority
(4) The Magi tell us that we need to change direction and
look elsewhere
3) Perhaps a contemporary version of this story will
open our eyes to that new way
a) A friend and gifted preacher,
i)
Heather Murray
Elkins
ii)
Shares a story of her family
b) in a sermon called “The Magi Moment”
i)
Her family had
decided to collect some gifts and take them to a needy family they had heard
about
(1) So they loaded up the car just before Christmas
(a)
(b) Crayons and books
(c) Blankets and an old bureau
(2) Destination was Yaqui
Indian migrant camp
(a) They’d been told that it was easy to find
(i) Down the main road
(ii) And turn on an unmarked road
(iii) Then they would come to a field
(b) And somewhere in the field “the village”
(c) find the family in the north corner of the village
(i) A name
(ii) But no address
(3) They weren’t worried, even though it was late and
dark
(a) the family knew they were coming
(b) and someone would be waiting
ii)
“They found the road and the village, and maybe the
north corner, but that was it. They
couldn’t find the someone they were sent to find, …
[Like the magi, they were lost, but] they certainly weren’t alone; people were
everywhere, peering in the windows [of the car] and pressing around them.
iii) “No Christmas illusion could survive this razor’s
edge of existence. … they drove past hovels of
cardboard and rusty sheets of tin. They
circled shoeless men. The fiery sparks
from burning oil drums flickered in the eyes of children. They understood without saying so that the
children of the poor were children to fear.
What good was the tree tied to the car?
It was needed for fuel.”
iv) “… Perhaps in the daylight, the urgent poverty that
pressed and pulled on them would have produced pity. But in the darkness, in the confusion and the
unknowing, it bred fear.”
v)
Questioning their good intentions, they almost
decided to leave, but then a sign
vi) “Over the doorway of a shelter of cardboard and
scraps hung a blanket. Someone had moved
the blanket … and the light from inside reached out into the darkness. [It was almost a star and close
enough for the family to get out.]
vii) “Someone was waiting.
This was the place. They knew
it. … It was more than a graceful
mother, grateful for the odds and ends of Christmas; … it was even more than
the newborn baby sleeping in a cardboard box on the dirt floor. Perhaps it was the parallel, too obvious for
tears, between the ancient story of straw and light and swaddling clothes. …in that light, for whatever reason, the Magi
moment came.
viii)“The discarded bureau became a baby’s bed and a
treasure chest and a table. Bringing the
tree had been a last-minute decision, and the oranges were tied with ribbons
and hung for decorations. … The smaller children put bows in their hair and
danced to their own inner rhythm. Songs
in at least three known languages were tried on and passed around….
ix) “The parting came late and with reluctance. Promises were made, but the future was
shadowed by the threat of principalities and powers. [This] “holy” family
were migrants, Yaquis, illegal refugees from
oppression, who could not be acknowledged for political reasons. They knew the weight of Herod’s hand. They knew what it meant to flee for the sake
of the children.”
c)
at the end of her story Heather makes a confession:
i)
she was not with
her family when they made that visit to Yaqui home
ii)
she had chosen to stay at home so she could be Mary
in the Christmas play
iii) she waited at home smugly believing that her family
was missing Christmas
iv) “[But] Christ had not arrived in the middle of [her]
marvelous program. He had hidden,
waiting to be found behind a migrant blanket.”
v)
She warns us that “somewhere in the world, someone is
waiting, and if you don’t go looking, if you don’t risk getting lost and being
late, then you will miss your Magi moment.” (Abingdon Preaching Annual, 1991,
pp. 18-22)
d) I also learned from Heather this week that some of
the earliest plates for communion had a star carved in the center
i)
May we come to
communion this day ready to experience that star of joy.
ii)
May we be willing to search for God outside of our
own experience
iii) May we make a joyful commitment to freely and
generously offer our gifts
iv) May we be willing to change course and experience
God’s epiphany, discovering the joy of Christ’s star.