|
† |
January 6, 2008 |
|
|
|
Starlight Isa. 60:1-6; Matt. 2:1-12 Dr. Dennis L. Johnson Baptist Temple, Charleston, West Virginia I imagine most of us have probably packed away our Christmas decorations for another year when December 25 rolls around again. But did you know that earlier Christians celebrated Christmas on January 6? Still to this day the tradition for Eastern Orthodox is to make much more out of Epiphany than Christmas. Christmas is more like a prelude to Epiphany when they celebrate the Theophany—the appearance of God, the Three-In-One, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Today, Epiphany, our Latin American brothers and sisters always celebrate the coming of the Magi. In Puerto Rico the children leave straw and water for the camel, horse and elephant of the 3 Kings on Epiphany eve. And they wake up to find small gifts left for their kindness. The spiritual heart of this day is the revelation and presence of Jesus Christ for all people and the coming of the nations to Christ, the Light of the world, the bright morning star. The light of Christ reaches to the distant East and Magi come to the Light. They travel in darkness at night to follow a single point of starlight. They are not daylight travelers. They are starlight travelers. They are travelers who remind me to Robert Frost’s poem: O Star (the fairest one in sight), Say something to us we
can learn
It gives us strangely little aid, The Magi as astrologers--star-readers--chose a star to stay their minds on and be staid, be securely settled in the starlight. And with their minds staid on that star, “his star,” they found their way to Bethlehem and saw with their eyes the Light of the world. They journeyed by starlight to discover the Child of the star. “Choose something like a star/ to stay our minds on and be staid.” God in Christ gives starlight to keep our lives steady, to direct us to God’s holy will, to watch over us on all our journeys. And, of course, as Frost says of the star, “darkness is what brings out your light.” If we are going to ride with the Magi, reading and following the starlight to Christ, our travel will be in the darkness for only then shall we see the starlight. Dark times come to all of us and in those times the fairest star in sight “asks of us a certain height” to fix our sight and mind on. In dark times of loss or loneliness, despair or disappointment, painful memories or uncertain future, “choose something like a star to stay your mind on and be staid.” Night is part--an essential part--of starlight. It is when we travel in dark times that the starlight shines the brightest, for “dark is what brings out your light.” This is the day we celebrate the manifestation of Christ and the mission of Christ-followers. The light of God’s love and salvation made visible and available in Jesus shines on all people and the mission for those of us who have seen the light of Christ is to share the light and good news of Jesus with the whole world. The Bright Morning Star leads and draws us here to this place of worship where offer our praise and prayers and gifts, as the Magi long ago entered a house in Bethlehem and presented their gifts to the newborn king, the Christ of the star. And then from here we go forth into the world to share the light we have seen. As Isaiah proclaims, we are to “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” It won’t do and it isn’t true worship if we only receive the light. We must share with all the world the light we have received and the gospel we have embraced. Author Edith Wharton said once that there are 2 ways of spreading light--to be a candle or to be the mirror that reflects it. We are not the light or the source of light. We are not the fire. We are only candles that carry the fire. Christ-followers live as mirrors reflecting the light and image of Christ. We witness to Christ as the Light of the world, the brightest and best of the stars of the morning. It is only in the gospel of Matthew that we read of these strangers from the East, the Magi seeking and finding and worshipping the Christ child. And it is in this same gospel of Matthew that Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount tells his followers, “You’re here to be light. God is not a secret to be kept. I’m making you light-bearers and putting you on a light stand. Let your light shine. Be generous with your lives. Open up to others and you will prompt people to open up with God.”[2] When the apostle Paul sat in the darkness of prison, he wrote to his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ at Philippi. He said that the world is twisted and diseased and that they are to live lives that are wholesome and sincere as God’s children. Then he told them that living as God’s children, they are shining like stars in a dark world.[3] We are candles spreading the Light. We are mirrors reflecting the Light. Living and sharing the image of Christ, we are stars shining in a dark world. The other day after Christmas, Julia stopped me in her office and said she wanted to read something to me that had struck and blessed her from her morning devotional reading. It was from the Christmas Day message King George broadcast to his people during England’s darkest days in 1939. “A new year is at hand,” said King George. “We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle we shall remain undaunted. In the meantime I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines…I would like to say to you. `I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’” Those who go out into the darkness and put their hand into the hand of God and follow the Christ of Starlight must reflect that Starlight. Those of us who have seen and found the Light must arise and shine. Those of us who choose something like a star, the Bright Morning Star of Christ, to stay our minds on and be staid, share with others what we have experienced in him and invite them to put their hand into the hand of God and follow the Starlight with us as we travel in the company of God, whose hand shall never let us go.
|