“LET IT BE”
Matthew 3:13-17
Faith United
January 13, 2008
The Bible is full of water
It’s absolutely drenched
In the beginning the darkness was over the deep
there were dark, churning waters at the beginning of creation
At the end of the Bible we hear of the river of the water of life
flowing from the throne of God
and in the last chapter of Revelation,
it says, “let anyone who wishes
take the water of life as a gift…”
And in the middle of the Bible,
in the Psalms, there’s water everywhere
he leadeth me beside still waters, he restoreth my soul…
Water is a source of life, of sustenance
of cleansing and renewal
it flows in rivers, it rages in the seas
it parts for Moses, and it is where Jacob
has the wrestling match of his life
Water drenches the Bible
And here in the third chapter of Matthew
we see Jesus coming to the river Jordan
to be baptized
We’re not really sure WHY Jesus came to be baptized
John the Baptist, that lunatic preacher out in the desert --
was baptizing people with the baptism of repentance
He was preaching that we need to repent,
to turn around, to live cleaner lives
to live lives worthy of God
And he offered them a physical way to make that commitment
and people came from all over,
swarming the desert
lining up at the Jordan to be baptized
by this lunatic in the camel hair suit
John the Baptist was no pushover, though
man, when the Pharisees showed up for baptism
he just about lost it
The Pharisees and the Sadduccees knew that it would look good
to be baptized by John in the desert
I guess, to be “one of the people”
do what they do
like kissing babies at the county fair
or serving BBQ at the local picnic
looking like regular people
But John wouldn’t have it
He would not allow them to USE GOD
for their own gain, or for a good photo op
to get votes or to be seen as good religious men
and he lets them have it
screams at them,
how DARE they come and pretend!
How DARE they use this sacred blessing
for their own gain!
You brood of vipers, he calls them
he calls them a bunch of snakes!
John’s not concerned about bad publicity
or what others will think of him
he calls them the snakes that they are
for thinking themselves so important
for using religion and God’s name
to get popularity for themselves
Bear fruit, he says, bear fruit worthy of repentance!
in other words, show your lives to be good and clean
not for show, but to be in right relationship with God
After he calms down a bit,
Jesus shows up for baptism
and John is speechless--
which hardly ever happens--
His voice is still hoarse from the good tongue lashing
he gave those hypocritical Pharisees
He was silenced, humbled now
he knew who Jesus was,
Jesus didn’t need to be cleansed
Jesus didn’t have anything to repent of
John said, “Wait a minute,
if anyone needs to be baptized here,
it’s me…. I need to be baptized by YOU
and you come to ME?”
All around them, children are crying
and running, splashing thorugh the water
being chased by harried mothers
and drawn back into line
men are talking about the latest happenings in town
or in agriculture
the prices of wheat and grain
The Pharisees are walking away,
figuring out what to do about this rebel preacher
who publicly humiliated them
everything is buzzing,
no one is really paying attention
to the conversation between those two men in the river
life is going on all around them
and Jesus whispers to John,
“Do it, let it be so now,
to fulfill all righteousness.”
In other words, maybe he was saying,
“Just let it be,
bless me, John,
and let it be
I can’t explain it right now
but later we’ll all understand…”
And so with trembling hands
John the Baptist pinches Jesus’ nose
and takes him in his arms
and gently immerses him in the water
Jesus comes up wiping the excess water off his face
perhaps shaking the water out of his hair,
smiling
and he pauses
because something beautiful happens --
right there while the children are splashing
and the mothers are scolding
and the men are gossiping--
the heavens are opened up to Jesus
and he hears a gentle, intimate voice
somewhere inside of him
while he could swear he sees a dove
coming down to land on his shoulder
“This is my Son,” Jesus hears
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
and perhaps Jesus laughs with joy,
claps John the Baptist on the shoulder
and gives him a hug
before splashing away to the other side of the river
and walking away
And that was the beginning
he set off to do what he was born to do
with the river water trickling down his back
and the voice of God in his heart, telling him he was beloved….
I like to joke about the fact
that my husband spends many of his days
bathing other women
I’m ok with this
For those of you who may not know what I’m talking about
Larry is a hospice aide
and a large part of his job is to give baths
to people who are dying
And I’ve come to see that act as a sacrament
Most of us take a shower or a bath every day
--at least I hope we do—
and we take it for granted
but I know that to someone who spends their days in bed
who is facing the end of their life --
a bath, the simple act of being gently cleansed
by another human being
is an act of mercy
a gift of grace
One of those people told me how wonderful it was
to simply be bathed by another
To feel fresh
to be gently cared for
After the bath, Larry gently rubs them with lotion
and makes the rough places smooth and silky
it’s like a massage
and to his patients, I believe it is a sacrament
a blessing
and sometimes they may admit,
it feels like the gentle touch of God
A sacrament, defined by the church
is a an outward and visible sign
of an inward and spiritual grace…
In other words, it’s a way of offering the grace of God
in a physical way
We eat bread, we drink juice
but we believe that in those acts, we are receiving
a blessing, a gift from God
Because God works through the ordinary stuff of life
to nourish and sustain us
We sprinkle water on the head of a baby
or an adult
and remember the waters of the womb
` that nurtured Jesus into life
we remember the waters at the beginning of creation
the parting of the Red Sea
and the river Jordan in which Jesus was baptized
A sacrament is a blessing
that conveys the love and touch of God
We have our formal sacraments, baptism and communion
but I believe we receive and give sacraments every day
or at least we have the opportunity
For there are many ways to give and receive a blessing
Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and writer
spent the last decade or so of his life and ministry
at LÁrche in Canada
a community of severely physically and mentally handicapped people who could not take care of themselves
He told the story of one of his friends there
who was quite handicapped but in his words,
a wonderful, wonderful lady
She said to him, “Henri, can you bless me?”
And so Henri walked up to her and made the sign of the cross
on her forehead
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
She said to him,
“That doesn’t work,
no, that’s not what I mean.”
He said he was a bit embarrassed and said
“I gave you a blessing.”
“No,” she said, “I want to BE BLESSED.”
Henri didn’t know what she meant
They went on and had their usual worship service
among the community members that day
After the service, Henri said to the group,
“Janet wants a blessing.”
Henri was wearing his pastor’s robe
with the stole around his neck, and a cross
Janet walked up to him and said again,
“I want to be blessed.”
She simply put her head against his chest
and he spontaneously put his arms around her
held her, and looked right into her eyes
and said, “blessed are you, Janet.
You know how much we love you.
You know how important you are.
You know what a good woman you are.”
She looked up at him, her chin still on his chest
and said, “Yes, yes, yes, I know!”
Henri said he saw all sorts of energy coming back to her
She seemed to be relieved from the feeling of depression
because suddenly she realized again that she was blessed
She went back to her place and immediately
other people came forward and said,
Ï want that kind of blessing, too.”
The people kept coming up to him and
he found himself embracing all of them
After that, one of the people in the community
who also works with the handicapped-- a strong burly guy
who was a former football player --
came up to Henri and said,
“Henri, can I have a blessing, too?”
Henri, being kind of a puny, short and skinny guy,
reached up and laid his hand on the man’s shoulder
and said, “John, you are blessed.. you are a good person
God loves you. We love you. You are important.”
Don’t we all need to know that?
That we are important?
That we are not invisible, easily ignored
that we are loved and blessed by God?
About 4 years ago,
I was on the leadership team for a clergy retreat
up in New York State
I was there very reluctantly
I was burnt out on ministry and depressed
Larry and I were both serving a large church
that had been torn apart by the previous pastor’s
sexual misconduct
The church was very broken
and we were basically sent in there to take care of it ourselves
and we were very, very tired
I think at that point, both of us were ready
to leave the ministry altogether
and find something else to do
But I was partly in charge of worship
for this clergy retreat that winter
a place where I really didn’t want to be
As part of the worship
some of us stood up front with a bowl of water
that had shells in it
and people were invited forward to come take a shell
out of the water, let the water roll over their hands,
even touch their own foreheads with it,
and remember their baptism
All I had to do was hold the bowl
and say, “remember your baptism and be thankful.”
After about half of the congregation of clergy
had come forward,
a man I didn’t know, hadn’t seen before
came to me
I said, “remember your baptism and be thankful”
He just stood there a moment and looked at me
then he smiled
He gently reached into the bowl of water
and picked up a small shell
Still looking me right in the eye,
he gently touched the shell to MY forehead,
to each side of my face
and then gently touched the shell to my lips
he smiled, replaced the shell in the water
and walked away
Larry was sitting nearby
and I glanced over at him and he just smiled
he knew
Neither of us knew who the man was --
turns out it was the speaker for the whole event
but at the moment, he was a stranger
and in that moment, he blessed me
He touched my head, my face, my lips
with the baptismal water
as if to say, “remember who you are
you are a beloved child of God
and God loves you”
I never forgot that moment
how did he know what I needed?
No one else saw it,
no one else knew that something holy
had just happened
Almost right away another person came
to receive the water from my bowl
and the service went on
and yet…. I was blessed
and it was a memory I took with me
through more difficult days
when I wanted to quit the whole thing
I remembered being touched by the water
and God saying without words,
“You are my beloved child
and I love you”
and that was the bread I needed to go on
Have the heavens ever opened up to you
have you ever felt the tender touch of God
and known in that moment, if only for a moment
that you are beloved?
Because you are
every one of you
every one of you is a beloved child of God
and no matter what we’ve been through
no matter how we’ve been hurt or worn down
or pushed beyond our limits
no matter how we may get to feel like nothing special
God sees us,
delights in us, like a parent nuzzling a freshly bathed baby
when they smell so good
God is willing to open the heavens
and bless us with a touch, a look, a gift
and say to us, “You, yes, you,
you are my beloved child, my own creation
and with you I am well pleased.”
Let it be
Let the heavens open up
Let the waters of God’s love and grace
wash over you, and gently bless you
heal you, strengthen you,
and make you stand a little bit straighter
knowing who you are
The rest of the world goes on in all it’s craziness
and yet in the midst of it all,
God can, and God will bless you
so that we can go on
and be a much-needed blessing to others
who are thirsty, who are aching
for a gentle touch of grace
Remember who you are, you are a beloved child of God
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
She's A Butterfly
In May of 1984, a close friend of our family was very sick. We didn’t know it at the time, but she was just days from the end of her life.
Sandie was a classy lady. She had style in the way she dressed, the way she lived, and the way she presented herself. She was also a perfectionist. She was an artist, and could make beautiful things. She was known to make gifts for people, that were always more special, therefore, than anything she could have bought. That last week that we stayed with her and her family, I noticed that she didn’t have the energy to get herself ready the way she used to. She wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants that week, didn’t dry her hair, and wore no make-up. She usually wore a lot of silver jewelry, but she didn’t even do that. With her outfit of sweats and slippers, she wore only one piece of jewelry-- a silver butterfly ring. At the time, I was too young and oblivious to think much about the significance of that one piece of jewelry. I was too focused on her illness, and the fear of losing her. But in the years since, I’ve thought about it a lot. Now I realize she knew she was dying of melanoma, leaving her husband and two small children behind, through no choice of her own. But she wore that butterfly ring in those last days, every day. I think it was a reminder to her of HOPE. She loved beautiful things. She loved to create, and work with colors. She loved living near the Hudson River of New York, and worked as a freelance artist/decorater in historic buildings that were being restored in the area. She loved LIFE.
I was a pretty intense, serious teenager and young adult. Sandie always tried to push me off center, to take myself less seriously. Once she grabbed me off the couch, dragged me down the hallway, got a couple of my Dad’s many hats off the closet shelf, plopped them on our heads, and led me in a kind of Rockette-type dance through the living room. We ended up falling onto the couch laughing till we cried. When I was too shy to play my guitar for anyone else, she made me play for her, and then for the rest of the family. That’s how I started singing. We’d stay up late at night, her working on her craft projects, and me playing the guitar and singing her requests. When I got all worked up about something in school or something, she’d often laugh at me and tell me to “lighten up.” She’d also get me talk to late into the night over a cup of tea (decaf), after everyone else had gone to bed. She had a way of making you feel beautiful.
2007 was a hard year. I, for one, am ready to start a new one. I know that doesn’t guarantee that the new year will be easier than 2007, but it’s one way of starting over, of HOPING. Here in Nebraska, we started off 2007 with an ice storm and a few funerals. We ended the year with more loss and grief—so far, no ice. Several months ago, I found a silver butterfly ring in the store, and had to buy it. I rarely take it off. It not only reminds me of Sandie and her great passion for life, but of the hope and the colors and the love and beauty that she offered with her short life. Which is what I hope to offer with mine. It reminds me of RESURRECTION and new beginnings and love that heals all wounds. It reminds me of new possibilities, and how much greater is God’s imagination than ours, thank God. I find myself stroking my ring a lot, or just looking at it, as I say goodbye to 2007-- somewhat gratefully—and hope in a new year, a new day, and renewed faith-- faith in God’s future, God’s possibilities, and God’s dreams. One day at a time, as the song says. And today I believe in LIFE, love and the power of God; all of which lasts forever.
Sandie was a classy lady. She had style in the way she dressed, the way she lived, and the way she presented herself. She was also a perfectionist. She was an artist, and could make beautiful things. She was known to make gifts for people, that were always more special, therefore, than anything she could have bought. That last week that we stayed with her and her family, I noticed that she didn’t have the energy to get herself ready the way she used to. She wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants that week, didn’t dry her hair, and wore no make-up. She usually wore a lot of silver jewelry, but she didn’t even do that. With her outfit of sweats and slippers, she wore only one piece of jewelry-- a silver butterfly ring. At the time, I was too young and oblivious to think much about the significance of that one piece of jewelry. I was too focused on her illness, and the fear of losing her. But in the years since, I’ve thought about it a lot. Now I realize she knew she was dying of melanoma, leaving her husband and two small children behind, through no choice of her own. But she wore that butterfly ring in those last days, every day. I think it was a reminder to her of HOPE. She loved beautiful things. She loved to create, and work with colors. She loved living near the Hudson River of New York, and worked as a freelance artist/decorater in historic buildings that were being restored in the area. She loved LIFE.
I was a pretty intense, serious teenager and young adult. Sandie always tried to push me off center, to take myself less seriously. Once she grabbed me off the couch, dragged me down the hallway, got a couple of my Dad’s many hats off the closet shelf, plopped them on our heads, and led me in a kind of Rockette-type dance through the living room. We ended up falling onto the couch laughing till we cried. When I was too shy to play my guitar for anyone else, she made me play for her, and then for the rest of the family. That’s how I started singing. We’d stay up late at night, her working on her craft projects, and me playing the guitar and singing her requests. When I got all worked up about something in school or something, she’d often laugh at me and tell me to “lighten up.” She’d also get me talk to late into the night over a cup of tea (decaf), after everyone else had gone to bed. She had a way of making you feel beautiful.
2007 was a hard year. I, for one, am ready to start a new one. I know that doesn’t guarantee that the new year will be easier than 2007, but it’s one way of starting over, of HOPING. Here in Nebraska, we started off 2007 with an ice storm and a few funerals. We ended the year with more loss and grief—so far, no ice. Several months ago, I found a silver butterfly ring in the store, and had to buy it. I rarely take it off. It not only reminds me of Sandie and her great passion for life, but of the hope and the colors and the love and beauty that she offered with her short life. Which is what I hope to offer with mine. It reminds me of RESURRECTION and new beginnings and love that heals all wounds. It reminds me of new possibilities, and how much greater is God’s imagination than ours, thank God. I find myself stroking my ring a lot, or just looking at it, as I say goodbye to 2007-- somewhat gratefully—and hope in a new year, a new day, and renewed faith-- faith in God’s future, God’s possibilities, and God’s dreams. One day at a time, as the song says. And today I believe in LIFE, love and the power of God; all of which lasts forever.
Shine In Our Hearts, Lord Jesus
“HOME BY ANOTHER ROAD”
Text: Matthew 2:1-11
Faith United
January 6, 2008
We like road trips in our family
In fact, often the trip itself is more fun than the arrival
The three of us are alone all day in the car
with no one else to distract us or demand anything from us
We have time to talk, to be silly, to joke
or to listen to music
read a book
We set our own pace, we figure out our own directions
and we stop at interesting places along the way
Traveling removes us from the everyday routine
our comfort zones, our usual home base of reference
You always have to adjust
to road construction, a strange bed, noisy neighbors in hotels
someone else’s food
sometimes getting on the road is a good way to
get some perspective on things
If you don’t ever get out of your comfort zone,
you may end up having very narrow view of the world
We set out, usually, with a planned route
on the map
but often we find things along the way
that force us to change those plans
we have to adjust
and take another road
which always runs the risk of getting us lost
My brother Stan has a nifty new car
that has a built in GPS system
His car tells him where to go
My mother was so impressed by this
that she was telling everyone about this car
that talks to you, gives you step by step instructions
right down to the last few yards to your destination
So when we all decided to go off to a place called Bude, Mississippi
to a catfish house
Mom volunteered Stan to lead the way
because his car would tell us how to get there
Well, we got lost
Several times, the car told us very nonchalantly
“at the next opportunity, take a U turn.”
We took a lot of U turns
Sometimes the car would calmly tell us,
‘”you’re entering into unverified territory.”
We got lost
There were two other cars following us
trusting us in Stan’s car to know the way
because the CAR would know the way
but the thing is, the car had never heard of Bude, Mississippi
much less Michael’s Catfish house
so finally, much to my mother’s disappointment
we had to stop and ask directions
at a gas station
The thing is, with a GPS system, you have to know basically where you’re going
in order for it to get you there
If you don’t have an address to program into it
it can’t tell you where to go
the car doesn’t do all the thinking for you
and when you wander off into unverified territory,
the car basically tells you, you’re on your own
I don’t know why those men took the trip
in the first place
We always say that there were three
and it works for Christmas programs
but the story never says how many there were
We know there were three gifts, so we assume
there were three men
We remember them as wise men
They were some sort of scholars
maybe astrologers, maybe magi
anyway, they were smart people
a learned, very educated group of men from ancient Persia
Why did they make that trip?
When they set out, did they how long they’d be away?
They must have known that it would take a long time
to find this child
by following a star
Did they pack enough for their journey?
Did they find good hospitality on the road?
What made them set out on a journey
willing to face all the inevitable obstacles, frustrations
and tedious details on a long trip
on foot?
Turns out the trip would take them two years to make
Two years of wandering in unverified territory
with only the stars as their guide
They had to trust strangers on the way
They had to be careful, to ensure their safety
They were foreigners, wandering into another country
Traveling is disorienting enough
but to travel to a different country is another whole ball of wax
When I was in college,
I went with my parents to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
we had to take adaptors to plug in our appliances
I did actually blow up one curling iron on the trip
I’d somehow contracted poison ivy or oak or something itchy
right before we left on the trip
first time ever that I’d had poison ivy
and the symptoms didn’t pop up
until we were already on our way
So we spent the first few days in London
looking for rubbing alcohol, anything to relieve my itching
They even took me to an emergency room
to get my rashes examined
and the nurses and the doctors had never heard
of poison ivy
We asked where we could get some alcohol
they told us to go to the pub down the street
They didn’t know what rubbing alcohol was,
but we finally figured out that they did have Witch Hazel
at the 10th apothecary that we tried
Fortunately, we had brought along some Benadryl
so I spent most of that trip drugged
and therefore asleep
What was it like for the three magi
to travel out of their own country
did they face hostilities and danger?
Suspicions?
What made them take such a huge risk
not to mention, a huge chunk of their time and energy
to travel, with very little directions
trusting in the stars?
They got off track
They’d traveled so far for so long
one of them must have finally insisted
that they stop and ask for directions
And so they go to Jerusalem
I mean, if you’re looking for a king,
that’d be a great place to start
go to the capital, the center of it all, the power city
There they requested an audience with King Herod
King Herod was at the time, literally, the King of the Jews
but he was absolutely whacko
He was incredibly paranoid and insecure
about his position of power
He didn’t have a lot of power, all of the power belonged to the Romans
so he was more a puppet king
and his actions were usually controlled by the Romans anyway
Herod was known to kill his own wife and children
when he felt that they were a threat
he had no regard for human life, even those close to him
He was crazy
and a crazy person with any amount of power
is very scary
But the magi, wise as they were,
didn’t know just how crazy Herod was
or how dangerous
They were from a different country
and they didn’t have CNN or the New York Times
to give them the low down on other nations’ leaders
So they came to Herod and innocently told him
that they’d been on the road for almost two years
looking, searching, seeking a king
a king to be born to the Jews
If they said why they were so interested in this king
the story doesn’t tell us
They were scholars, people in love with learning and discovering
something about this king whose story was written in the stars
fascinated them, and made their hearts pound
“Where is the child who is to be born king of the Jews?”
they asked Herod,
who was, at the time, the King of the Jews
Herod, understandably, was disturbed
Apparently he didn’t read his Old Testament
he didn’t know anything about his people’s longing for a Messiah
and where this Messiah would appear
But he held it together for the magi
He cleared his throat, exuded his kingly authority
and told them to wait in the waiting room
he’d be right back
So he gathered all his religious advisors
the people who actually KNEW the Scriptures
and lived by them,
loved them and cherished them
and he asked them what this was all about
And they told him, perhaps with some amusement
that this one, in a place of power over his Jewish people
had no clue about their traditions, their beliefs
their longings and dreams
They told him, “It is written, that the king of the Jews
is to be born in Bethlehem of Judea….”
That rinky dink little town over there
So Herod discreetly, which I guess means,
he snuck around the paparazzi,
he called the wise men out of the waiting room
and learned from them, just exactly when
this star had appeared
when they started following it
And he told them to go to the small town of Bethlehem
to search diligently for the child
and when they found him, to tell him
so that he, too, can come get a photo op with him
I mean, come pay him homage
When they got out of the city
they saw the star again
and followed it to a little house
Two years on foot
traveling into all kinds of towns and countries
feeling a bit foolish
because as scholars they were used to following their heads
but something stirred their hearts enough
to gaze into the sky and trust
to look like fools, actually
But when they saw the star bearing down like a spotlight
on a tiny little home,
they could hardly contain themselves
and these were men who were not prone
to outward displays of emotion
but, it says, they were overwhelmed with joy
They knocked, and when the door was opened,
they saw the young woman there, on the floor
playing with a toddler
An ordinary toddler, waddling around the small room,
drooling and giggling and getting his face dirty
Is that what they expected?
Were they perhaps expecting an older child
dressed in fine clothes, sitting on a throne
having servants respond to his every need
Instead, they find a giggly, dirty, slobbering two year old
playing with his mother on the floor
And you have to wonder,
what happened??
Why didn’t anyone know?
What happened in those two years
between the time that the shepherds showed up at the stable
and the magi showed up at the house?
Did no one believe the shepherds?
After all, they were just shepherds
who normally didn’t mix with other people
who lived with sheep 26/7 out in the fields
did the story of the angels singing
ever get out?
I mean, this was a small town,
how did the story stay under wraps all that time?
Did people just think it’s just another crazy rumor?
Just another attention-getting strategy?
Were people in town kind to Mary and Joseph and their baby
as outsiders living among them?
How did that amazing story get lost in between
the shepherds and the magi?
We’ll never know
it’s a blank page in our faith history
But these educated, sophisticated, learned scholars,
weary from a long, long, journey
lay gifts fit for a king at the feet of a drooling toddler
maybe feeling a bit foolish,
and yet awestruck at the wonders of God
We don’t know what was said, how long they stayed
if they explained their very impractical gifts for the child
or if those gifts just remained another picture in Mary’s scrapbook
that she would only understand many years later
after Jesus was grown and revealing himself
to be the Christ, the Savior of the world
That night, the magi all slept better than they had in two years
they’d found what they were looking for
even though they couldn’t quite put it into words
they trusted that someday they would understand
all of this
as if it were all pieces to a great mysterious puzzle
that would take decades, centuries, even
to put together
I wonder if they sensed their part in it all
their role in revealing the Christ Child
not necessarily that day, that year
but as their story got told over the centuries ahead
it made more and more sense
We know what they brought on their journey
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh
but what did they take with them?
They left with fewer possessions,
fewer valuables that they had to protect from thieves
but what did they carry in their hearts
from this incredible journey?
What would they tell others back in their own country?
What did they talk about at their campfires
on the journey home?
That night, they all had the same dream
telling them to not return to Herod
that he was crazy, that he would kill the child
if given the chance,
to run, they were told, go home a different way
go nowhere near Jerusalem and the crazy king
They were outsiders, they weren’t Jews
They weren’t ones who practiced the Jewish faith
or believed in the Jewish God
They were foreigners, outsiders
who were interested in where the star led them
interested in what it meant not only for them
but for the world, both now and in the future
The Jewish king himself
had no idea of the Messiah
He claimed to be a Jew, to love what the Jews loved
and yet he knew nothing about what they cared about the most
Who knows?
Maybe it was Herod that squashed the credibility of those shepherds
two years ago
maybe Herod threatened anyone who believed their story
maybe he was able to discredit them
and therefore the story of the angels
singing over a stable
of an overcrowded inn
during the time of the census
maybe it became a joke, dismissed as another urban legend
to protect the power of the king
But it was people who didn’t normally follow the Jewish traditions
the religious traditions of the common people
it was outsiders, foreigners,
who came and shed light on the gift
who gave the insiders the perspective and the vision they needed
to dream again, to hope again,
to LOOK AGAIN at what was right in front of their eyes
and see it all differently
It was the ones who didn’t take Jesus for granted
who struggled against the obstacles and demanding journey
of finding the one under the stars
As we learned from my brother’s GPS system
you have to have a clear idea of where you’re going
in order for it to work
Expectations tend to cloud our sense of direction
We expected the car to know where to go
and so we got lost
and ending up making U turns
in unverified territory
When the magi left Bethlehem
they discovered that their old maps didn’t work anymore
that their old maps wouldn’t get them home
but instead, they had to take a different road
a road perhaps, that they’d not taken before
and trust the stars to lead them home
They brought their best to Jesus, not their leftovers
or hand-me-downs
and so I wonder, as we begin this new year,
what do we hope to find?
What do we bring?
Are we tired out from the journey already?
Or are we willing to hope again
to trust in the stars and the light of God
to lead us into places we may not have been before?
Do we bring God our best when we come
or do we just bring what’s left of us
after we’ve given our best away?
Are we willing to trust new maps?
Take roads we’ve never taken
and trust that God will never leave us
or lose sight of us,
but will guide our steps all the way….?
You have to know where you want to go
or at least what direction you want to move toward
before you can truly find your way
Let us be on our way, trusting in the light of the stars
to provide light in the darkness
as we stumble and search
as we make wrong turns
and have to turn around
as we come to dead ends
as we sometimes give up and cry
Let yourself bathe in the joy of starlight
even for a moment
and remember those moments
when you feel you’ve lost your way….
Text: Matthew 2:1-11
Faith United
January 6, 2008
We like road trips in our family
In fact, often the trip itself is more fun than the arrival
The three of us are alone all day in the car
with no one else to distract us or demand anything from us
We have time to talk, to be silly, to joke
or to listen to music
read a book
We set our own pace, we figure out our own directions
and we stop at interesting places along the way
Traveling removes us from the everyday routine
our comfort zones, our usual home base of reference
You always have to adjust
to road construction, a strange bed, noisy neighbors in hotels
someone else’s food
sometimes getting on the road is a good way to
get some perspective on things
If you don’t ever get out of your comfort zone,
you may end up having very narrow view of the world
We set out, usually, with a planned route
on the map
but often we find things along the way
that force us to change those plans
we have to adjust
and take another road
which always runs the risk of getting us lost
My brother Stan has a nifty new car
that has a built in GPS system
His car tells him where to go
My mother was so impressed by this
that she was telling everyone about this car
that talks to you, gives you step by step instructions
right down to the last few yards to your destination
So when we all decided to go off to a place called Bude, Mississippi
to a catfish house
Mom volunteered Stan to lead the way
because his car would tell us how to get there
Well, we got lost
Several times, the car told us very nonchalantly
“at the next opportunity, take a U turn.”
We took a lot of U turns
Sometimes the car would calmly tell us,
‘”you’re entering into unverified territory.”
We got lost
There were two other cars following us
trusting us in Stan’s car to know the way
because the CAR would know the way
but the thing is, the car had never heard of Bude, Mississippi
much less Michael’s Catfish house
so finally, much to my mother’s disappointment
we had to stop and ask directions
at a gas station
The thing is, with a GPS system, you have to know basically where you’re going
in order for it to get you there
If you don’t have an address to program into it
it can’t tell you where to go
the car doesn’t do all the thinking for you
and when you wander off into unverified territory,
the car basically tells you, you’re on your own
I don’t know why those men took the trip
in the first place
We always say that there were three
and it works for Christmas programs
but the story never says how many there were
We know there were three gifts, so we assume
there were three men
We remember them as wise men
They were some sort of scholars
maybe astrologers, maybe magi
anyway, they were smart people
a learned, very educated group of men from ancient Persia
Why did they make that trip?
When they set out, did they how long they’d be away?
They must have known that it would take a long time
to find this child
by following a star
Did they pack enough for their journey?
Did they find good hospitality on the road?
What made them set out on a journey
willing to face all the inevitable obstacles, frustrations
and tedious details on a long trip
on foot?
Turns out the trip would take them two years to make
Two years of wandering in unverified territory
with only the stars as their guide
They had to trust strangers on the way
They had to be careful, to ensure their safety
They were foreigners, wandering into another country
Traveling is disorienting enough
but to travel to a different country is another whole ball of wax
When I was in college,
I went with my parents to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
we had to take adaptors to plug in our appliances
I did actually blow up one curling iron on the trip
I’d somehow contracted poison ivy or oak or something itchy
right before we left on the trip
first time ever that I’d had poison ivy
and the symptoms didn’t pop up
until we were already on our way
So we spent the first few days in London
looking for rubbing alcohol, anything to relieve my itching
They even took me to an emergency room
to get my rashes examined
and the nurses and the doctors had never heard
of poison ivy
We asked where we could get some alcohol
they told us to go to the pub down the street
They didn’t know what rubbing alcohol was,
but we finally figured out that they did have Witch Hazel
at the 10th apothecary that we tried
Fortunately, we had brought along some Benadryl
so I spent most of that trip drugged
and therefore asleep
What was it like for the three magi
to travel out of their own country
did they face hostilities and danger?
Suspicions?
What made them take such a huge risk
not to mention, a huge chunk of their time and energy
to travel, with very little directions
trusting in the stars?
They got off track
They’d traveled so far for so long
one of them must have finally insisted
that they stop and ask for directions
And so they go to Jerusalem
I mean, if you’re looking for a king,
that’d be a great place to start
go to the capital, the center of it all, the power city
There they requested an audience with King Herod
King Herod was at the time, literally, the King of the Jews
but he was absolutely whacko
He was incredibly paranoid and insecure
about his position of power
He didn’t have a lot of power, all of the power belonged to the Romans
so he was more a puppet king
and his actions were usually controlled by the Romans anyway
Herod was known to kill his own wife and children
when he felt that they were a threat
he had no regard for human life, even those close to him
He was crazy
and a crazy person with any amount of power
is very scary
But the magi, wise as they were,
didn’t know just how crazy Herod was
or how dangerous
They were from a different country
and they didn’t have CNN or the New York Times
to give them the low down on other nations’ leaders
So they came to Herod and innocently told him
that they’d been on the road for almost two years
looking, searching, seeking a king
a king to be born to the Jews
If they said why they were so interested in this king
the story doesn’t tell us
They were scholars, people in love with learning and discovering
something about this king whose story was written in the stars
fascinated them, and made their hearts pound
“Where is the child who is to be born king of the Jews?”
they asked Herod,
who was, at the time, the King of the Jews
Herod, understandably, was disturbed
Apparently he didn’t read his Old Testament
he didn’t know anything about his people’s longing for a Messiah
and where this Messiah would appear
But he held it together for the magi
He cleared his throat, exuded his kingly authority
and told them to wait in the waiting room
he’d be right back
So he gathered all his religious advisors
the people who actually KNEW the Scriptures
and lived by them,
loved them and cherished them
and he asked them what this was all about
And they told him, perhaps with some amusement
that this one, in a place of power over his Jewish people
had no clue about their traditions, their beliefs
their longings and dreams
They told him, “It is written, that the king of the Jews
is to be born in Bethlehem of Judea….”
That rinky dink little town over there
So Herod discreetly, which I guess means,
he snuck around the paparazzi,
he called the wise men out of the waiting room
and learned from them, just exactly when
this star had appeared
when they started following it
And he told them to go to the small town of Bethlehem
to search diligently for the child
and when they found him, to tell him
so that he, too, can come get a photo op with him
I mean, come pay him homage
When they got out of the city
they saw the star again
and followed it to a little house
Two years on foot
traveling into all kinds of towns and countries
feeling a bit foolish
because as scholars they were used to following their heads
but something stirred their hearts enough
to gaze into the sky and trust
to look like fools, actually
But when they saw the star bearing down like a spotlight
on a tiny little home,
they could hardly contain themselves
and these were men who were not prone
to outward displays of emotion
but, it says, they were overwhelmed with joy
They knocked, and when the door was opened,
they saw the young woman there, on the floor
playing with a toddler
An ordinary toddler, waddling around the small room,
drooling and giggling and getting his face dirty
Is that what they expected?
Were they perhaps expecting an older child
dressed in fine clothes, sitting on a throne
having servants respond to his every need
Instead, they find a giggly, dirty, slobbering two year old
playing with his mother on the floor
And you have to wonder,
what happened??
Why didn’t anyone know?
What happened in those two years
between the time that the shepherds showed up at the stable
and the magi showed up at the house?
Did no one believe the shepherds?
After all, they were just shepherds
who normally didn’t mix with other people
who lived with sheep 26/7 out in the fields
did the story of the angels singing
ever get out?
I mean, this was a small town,
how did the story stay under wraps all that time?
Did people just think it’s just another crazy rumor?
Just another attention-getting strategy?
Were people in town kind to Mary and Joseph and their baby
as outsiders living among them?
How did that amazing story get lost in between
the shepherds and the magi?
We’ll never know
it’s a blank page in our faith history
But these educated, sophisticated, learned scholars,
weary from a long, long, journey
lay gifts fit for a king at the feet of a drooling toddler
maybe feeling a bit foolish,
and yet awestruck at the wonders of God
We don’t know what was said, how long they stayed
if they explained their very impractical gifts for the child
or if those gifts just remained another picture in Mary’s scrapbook
that she would only understand many years later
after Jesus was grown and revealing himself
to be the Christ, the Savior of the world
That night, the magi all slept better than they had in two years
they’d found what they were looking for
even though they couldn’t quite put it into words
they trusted that someday they would understand
all of this
as if it were all pieces to a great mysterious puzzle
that would take decades, centuries, even
to put together
I wonder if they sensed their part in it all
their role in revealing the Christ Child
not necessarily that day, that year
but as their story got told over the centuries ahead
it made more and more sense
We know what they brought on their journey
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh
but what did they take with them?
They left with fewer possessions,
fewer valuables that they had to protect from thieves
but what did they carry in their hearts
from this incredible journey?
What would they tell others back in their own country?
What did they talk about at their campfires
on the journey home?
That night, they all had the same dream
telling them to not return to Herod
that he was crazy, that he would kill the child
if given the chance,
to run, they were told, go home a different way
go nowhere near Jerusalem and the crazy king
They were outsiders, they weren’t Jews
They weren’t ones who practiced the Jewish faith
or believed in the Jewish God
They were foreigners, outsiders
who were interested in where the star led them
interested in what it meant not only for them
but for the world, both now and in the future
The Jewish king himself
had no idea of the Messiah
He claimed to be a Jew, to love what the Jews loved
and yet he knew nothing about what they cared about the most
Who knows?
Maybe it was Herod that squashed the credibility of those shepherds
two years ago
maybe Herod threatened anyone who believed their story
maybe he was able to discredit them
and therefore the story of the angels
singing over a stable
of an overcrowded inn
during the time of the census
maybe it became a joke, dismissed as another urban legend
to protect the power of the king
But it was people who didn’t normally follow the Jewish traditions
the religious traditions of the common people
it was outsiders, foreigners,
who came and shed light on the gift
who gave the insiders the perspective and the vision they needed
to dream again, to hope again,
to LOOK AGAIN at what was right in front of their eyes
and see it all differently
It was the ones who didn’t take Jesus for granted
who struggled against the obstacles and demanding journey
of finding the one under the stars
As we learned from my brother’s GPS system
you have to have a clear idea of where you’re going
in order for it to work
Expectations tend to cloud our sense of direction
We expected the car to know where to go
and so we got lost
and ending up making U turns
in unverified territory
When the magi left Bethlehem
they discovered that their old maps didn’t work anymore
that their old maps wouldn’t get them home
but instead, they had to take a different road
a road perhaps, that they’d not taken before
and trust the stars to lead them home
They brought their best to Jesus, not their leftovers
or hand-me-downs
and so I wonder, as we begin this new year,
what do we hope to find?
What do we bring?
Are we tired out from the journey already?
Or are we willing to hope again
to trust in the stars and the light of God
to lead us into places we may not have been before?
Do we bring God our best when we come
or do we just bring what’s left of us
after we’ve given our best away?
Are we willing to trust new maps?
Take roads we’ve never taken
and trust that God will never leave us
or lose sight of us,
but will guide our steps all the way….?
You have to know where you want to go
or at least what direction you want to move toward
before you can truly find your way
Let us be on our way, trusting in the light of the stars
to provide light in the darkness
as we stumble and search
as we make wrong turns
and have to turn around
as we come to dead ends
as we sometimes give up and cry
Let yourself bathe in the joy of starlight
even for a moment
and remember those moments
when you feel you’ve lost your way….
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