Tag: star

Which Star?

We tend to read and to think of the stories describing the birth of Jesus like they are one continuous, unified narrative. Like the authors of Matthew and Luke sat down together and said, “I will tell this part of the story and you tell that part.” But that is not what happened. And even though we read them together on Christmas Eve and push them together in our creches and cards, the narratives around the birth of Jesus are distinctly different and deserve to stand and to be thought about on their own.The account in Luke has one cast of characters. Matthew has another. Luke includes Caesar Augustus, Joseph and Mary, angels and shepherds and Jesus in a manger.
Matthew has none of that.
Instead, Matthew’s Gospel the primary actors are a star.
And, strangers from the East.
And Herod.
Frightened (read scared to death) by the arrival and the question of the magi.
In the part of the story we read as we began our worship,
Joseph is non-existent.
Mary is passive.
Jesus barely mentioned.
There is no arduous journey to Bethlehem while pregnant.
No angels in the sky.
No shepherds in the field.
No Jesus in a manger.

And, while we didn’t read it this morning (and don’t often read it because we want to keep the Christmas narrative wonderful and beautiful and miraculous), for the sake of this morning and what I found myself thinking about as I read and reread this story, I realized we also need to pay attention to what comes next in Matthew’s gospel. When the wisemen don’t return to Jerusalem as he instructed them to do, Herod becomes enraged. He sends in his soldiers to slaughter all the children under the age of two in and around Bethlehem while Joseph and Mary and Jesus run for their lives. This, also, is a part of the Christmas story.

Here is the tension.
And, ultimately, the choice Matthew’s Gospel presents.
On one side are these strangers from the East who come looking for Jesus. Who, if you remember the earlier part of the story when Joseph is about to dismiss Mary because she is pregnant, an angel appears telling him not to do that and informing him the child, when born, will be called and known as Immanuel which means God with us. On the other side of this story is Herod who slaughters all the children in a desperate effort to kill that same child, Immanuel, in order to maintain his power and control. Got it?

Which leads me to this question: Which star do you see and which star will you follow?

I know the way we often think about this story is that somehow, suddenly this wonderous, mysterious, miraculous star appears in the sky. All sorts of possible explanations have been offered about what that star might have been. Halley’s comet. A unique alignment of planets or stars. A new star suddenly appearing and then disappearing. Personally, I love the imagery. But this year I realized maybe none of that is important or what this narrative is really about. And to spend our time talking about how and why and what the possibilities might have been only serves as a distraction to keep us from grappling with what the real point and message of the story.

You see, what I realized in reading and thinking about this story again this year is there were and there are many stars in the sky. Many stars we might see and follow.
Herod saw clearly and was following his star.
|His star was power and control maintained by intimidation and brute force.
But, there were and are other stars, as well.
There is the star of win at all costs.
Or, the star of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
Or, the star of me first.
Or, the star of I deserve this.
Or, the star of I can’t do that.
Or, what if we fail.
Or, I am only one person.
All those stars are there in the sky and the narratives they represent surround us. They flow through the air we breathe and are in the water we drink. They are the stories we were told as we grew up.

Which star will you see and which star will you follow?

And then you come to church.
And here, you are reminded…
Here we are reminded…
There is another story.
Another narrative.
Another star in the sky we might see and follow.
This star has something to do with God with us.
With each and every one of us.
This star has something to do with treating others as we and they would like to be treated. This star has something to do with the last being first and a table big enough for all. This star has something to do being peacemakers and peace on earth. This star has something to do with light and grace and welcome and resurrection.

No wonder Herod was afraid.
Those Magi with their question and that star which they saw and chose to follow called into question EVERYTHING he had built his life around.

And because we believe the Bible is not just about then, but also about now. And not just about them, but also about you and me. The question which confronted both Herod and the Magi is now asked of you and me.
Which star will you see and which star do you follow?

Let me end with this.
What I often say when I finish reading a portion of scripture on Sunday mornings.
May the same Spirit which inspired the Gospel writer to record these words help interpret their meaning for our lives this day.

What Star?

We know the story, don’t we?
A new star appears.
And, the Magi, whoever they were and wherever they were from, see it.
Tradition has transformed these little known stargazers into kings and given them names – Melchior, King of Persia, Gaspar, King of India and Balthasar, King of Arabia – but who they really were remains a mystery. The word magoi, which we know as wisemen, might be the name of a Persian priestly caste or it may mean magician, which is how the word is translated elsewhere in Christian scripture or it may refer to astrologers which, in this case, seems to be the preferred translation mostly because the primary actor in this story is the star. Regardless of who they were they not only see the star, but determine it is a sign and decide to follow it.
The star leads them first to Jerusalem and Herod.
Then to Bethlehem and Jesus.
And, arriving in Bethlehem, they bow in reverence to the child.
And offer their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Like you, I know the story.
But, to tell you the truth, I don’t really get it.
I don’t understand why the author of Matthew’s gospel composed it the way he did.
And reading commentaries on the text, I am not sure many Biblical scholars do either.
No one seems quite sure why Matthew, which scholars believe was written primarily for a Jewish audience, begins the gospel this way. There is speculation, of course. Maybe it is an attempt to piece various prophetic verses together. Or maybe it Is an attempt, in narrative form, to ask why it is that it is the Gentiles who see and follow the star and find their way to Jesus to worship him, while those who should be watching for some sign from God, miss it all together? Who knows?

As I thought about this story, shining star and wandering Magi. and, what it means for us today, I found my imagination spinning off in an entirely different direction from the way we usually think about the text. My day dreaming began during Advent, as I wrote this short reflection on the word Star.

To see stars
You have step from the light into the darkness.
And stand still.
And look up.
Or, lay on your back.
And gaze into the depths of space.
And dream dreams
Big enough and bold enough to reach from here to there.
But we are too busy for such nonsense.
And, too cautious about the darkness.
I imagine the Magi of old not as great and noble kings,
But more like Tom Sawyer
And Huckleberry Finn
Lying on their backs and looking at the stars.
And, saying to one another
“Look! There is another one. It looks like a bear”
“And another, it looks like a fish.”
“Look! There’s a new one we’ve not seen before.”
“I’m ready for an adventure. How about you?”
“Yes, Let’s go and see where it leads and what we find.”

What if the story behind the story of the Magi is more like that then like We Three Kings?
I don’t want to downplay the astrologers of old who were probably more closely related to the astronomers of today than to the check out counter horoscope writers, but, it does leave me wondering.
For us today, what does it take to see a star;
To see some new sign of God that others don’t see or don’t pay attention to and then to leave what we know behind to see where it leads? Isn’t the ability to do so more Huckleberry Finn-ish than We Three Kings-ish? Isn’t it more about stepping beyond what is practical and acceptable and expected and respected and stepping towards almost unbelievable dreams? Maybe even like the dreams wrapped up in the promises of Christmas. Dreams of swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and eace on earth. Good will towards all. Dreams of Enough for all and a place for all and of our doing our part to help bend that long arc of history in the direction of justice. While others do their best to pretend it is not there or that nothing can be done about it, you and I are to risk standing face to face with the very real darkness of degradation and violence and despair and hatred and dare to dream dreams and to see visions.

Granted, given the world as it is, glimpses of God are sometimes hard to see.
Glimpses of goodness and kindness and compassion and justice are hard to see.
Glimpses of those moments and circumstances where differences are set aside in favor of our shared humanity and glimpses of those places where peace is risked are hard to see. To catch a glimpse of them requires the same attention and the same perseverance and the same dedication that is required of seeing one new star in the midst of the millions that are already there.

But, it is not just seeing, is it?
It is also following.
However we are able.
In whatever way we can.
Following the star which we see.
Following the dream of how the world might be that is planted in our souls.
Following, the best we know how, the way of peace.
Following Jesus into the world which we believe God continues to love so very much.

I grew up in a small town just outside Pittsburgh, PA.
Our family lived on Third Street between Center Avenue and Eastern Ave.
It was a town of houses built closely together with each house having a very small backyard, if it had any yard at all. Because of that, the alleys, which ran between each of the streets, became our neighborhood playground and the gathering place for all the neighborhood children. Besides wiffle ball, our favorite summertime game was Hide ‘n Seek. In the alley behind our house you could find countless bushes and doorways and corners to hide in or around. The goal of the game, as you know, was to hide so well you would not be found. But the game also involved a seeker. The person whose task it was to look for and to search for and to find everyone else who was hiding. In the game Hide ‘n Seek, you want to be among those who hide, but this morning, as we remember and retell the story of the Magi, I would invite you to pay attention to what it means to be a seeker. To be the one who looks for and searches for and finds that which, sometimes, seems to be hidden.

You remember how Matthew tells the story of the birth of Jesus.
Astrologers or wisemen from somewhere in the East, see a star and take it to be a sign.
They then follow the star, first to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem, seeking the child whose birth they believed the star’s appearance foretold. As I read this story again, in preparation for this morning, here is what I found myself thinking about.
It is not the star.
It is not their gifts.
It is not that we have transformed these astrologers into kings which is important.
What is important is that the Magi were seekers willing to leave the comfort and security of where they were, not knowing for sure where they would end up, in order to look for that which they knew to be important, but which they did not completely understand.

And, that, I think, is the lesson for us.
The take away from Matthew’s story of the Magi.
You and I are called to be like them.
We are called to be seekers.
Star followers.
Dream chasers.
Continually looking for and searching for and asking about that which lies at the center of who we are and who we are meant to be, and at the center of what it means to live together as the human family which, when we step away from all the doctrine and all the dogma and all of the layered on traditions, is what any faith perspective is about.
Seeking to find and to follow that which we know and name as God.
Seeking to recognize our shared humanity and what it means to be human.
Seeking to understand what it means to live compassionate, courageous, hope-filled lives.
More than any other name or label that we might put on ourselves or others – Christian, Spiritual but not Religious, Believer, None of the Above – what if we first saw ourselves as Magi? As seekers?

Here is what I believe.
We are called to leave behind our certainty and even our uncertainty.
And, to risk a journey.
A journey towards peace and sufficiency and a world where all have enough and all have a place.
In the language of our Christian tradition…towards God’s Kingdom come.
Following a star or our heart or our head or each other.
Trusting that, in the end, we will find our way.

https://paulalcorn.com/1078/

Wise Men? Really?

Every once in a while I read a portion of the Bible which I assume I know when out of the blue something in it or about it suddenly sounds out of place. And I find myself shaking my head and saying, “Really?” And so it is this morning.

Here we are at Epiphany.
In the Christian community, today is the last Sunday in the season of Christmas.
And even though we read their story on Christmas Eve, today we hear the story of the wise men one more time before we put Christmas away for another year. You probably know the story as well as I do. And, we began our service this morning hearing it again.

Strange, unnamed foreigners from somewhere east of Israel see a star.
They take it as a sign, and follow the star to Jerusalem.
Then, ratcheting up the tension in the story, they stop in at the royal palace to ask King Herod where the new king is who has just been born. In frantic reaction to the news, scribes and scholars are sent scurrying to search scripture for the answer. A little while later they report back.
“In Bethlehem,” both the wise men and King Herod are told.
Then, leaving one King and in search of another, they see the star again and follow it to Bethlehem.
There they find Jesus and offer their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Then, because of a dream (this after following a star), they head back home by a different way in order to avoid both Jerusalem and Herod.

As I read the story again in preparation for this morning, here is what I found myself wondering about. In the original Greek, the word used to describe those who came in search of Jesus is magi, the plural of the word magos. When and how and why, I began to wonder, did those star gazers/star followers become known as and referred to as wise men rather than the more accurate translation of the original Greek word which means astrologer? And, why, even in this day of more and more accurate translations, does this mistranslation persist?

But, before I go any further, a word of background in case you wonder if there is any historical accuracy to this story. Scholars speculate that around the time of the birth of Jesus there was a priestly group located in the area that is present day Iran and Iraq that was known for its astrology. Members of that group may have had the financial resources to undertake a several month journey from someplace like Bagdad to Jerusalem. 550 miles one way. 25 miles/day if you travel by camel. And, at that time, astrology was highly regarded as a science. So they were certainly learned, but, as you and I know, that being learned doesn’t necessarily mean being wise.

So, I am still left with my question.
Why persist in mistranslating the word?
Why wise men?
And, is there really anything wise about packing it all up and following a star?

So, allow me to play with the text for a moment.
Hopefully to help make my point.
I am showing my age with this question, but how many of you remember the comedian Bill Cosby? When I was growing up, my family loved to listen to his comedy sketches on the LP records we had. One of those sketches was a conversation between Noah and God with God telling Noah to build the arc. Some of you may remember it. As I was thinking about our text for today I could imagine a similar conversation between the magi/wise men and their families that might go something like this: (With my sincere apologies to Bill Cosby…)

Honey, I have something to tell you.
Oh no, not again.
Well, it is different this time.
Really?
Yes. I have seen a star.
Great. I can see stars, too. Now can I get back to work? (You don’t seem to do any.)
No, this star is different. It’s almost as if it is speaking to me.
Do you need to see a doctor?
No, really. It is telling me to follow it.
You do need to see a doctor.

I wish I was smart enough and/or funny enough to go on, but my point is this.
In real time…
Maybe even for those magi of old…
Those individuals who see and follow stars are rarely considered wise.
Instead, more often than not, they are considered foolish or misguided or dreamers, at best. Or troublemakers or subversive or crazy, at worst.
Think about it for a moment…
Who would you name as those who saw and followed a star; a vision of how life and world could be that significantly altered our understanding of normal or significantly transformed our sense of the status quo? Here are several that I would name:
Martin Luther King, Jr. in our country?
Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu in South Africa?
Archbishop Romero in Central America?
Maybe even Bedford Presbyterian Church when it agreed to provide shelter for those who had no place to stay when few in the community would even acknowledge there were homeless among us.
I am sure you could name others in your particular discipline or field of expertise. Visionaries/star gazers who were, at first, discounted or discredited or told that what they were doing was not possible or was too disruptive at the time only to be honored and understood – considered wise – at some later date.

My point is this.
Those who step outside accepted norms and accepted ways of thinking about life and world and how life and world might be…
Those who see and dare to follow stars that the rest of us can’t or won’t see…
Are better understood and better accepted looking back rather than in the moment in time in which they have to decide and to act.

Which brings me to this.
Are there stars that wait to been seen right now?
What are those signs around us of something new that is about to be born?
Stars and signs that turn us in the direction of the best impulses of our religious traditions – peace and sufficiency and inclusion and understanding?
Stars and signs that await someone with enough vision and enough courage to see and to follow and to lead the way?

Here is what I believe.
If what the Bible says here is true…
Not necessarily factual, but true in the best and deepest sense of that word…
If this Epiphany story of stars in the sky and magi or wise men who follow is true…
Then it is not just about then, but also about now.
And, not just about them, but also about you and me.
Which means the story from back then waits to unfold again this day.
And, standing as we are in the tradition of those magi of old;
It means that you and I have some part to play…if we dare.
If we dare enough to see a star.
If we dare step beyond what we know or what is safe.
If we dare to undertake the journey…
Not quite knowing where it will lead or what we will find.

Honey, I have something to tell you.
Oh no, not again.
Well, it is different this time.
Really?
Yes. I have seen a star.

Let me end with this.
From a Franciscan Benediction:

And, may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world; So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

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Several things I believe: