Epiphany 1 Sermon

The Stars Shift
There’s a line in one of my favorite John Lennon songs, “Beautiful Boy,” that says “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” We find ourselves busy with our daily lives, doing what comes normal for us every day and wham- something comes along and our plans change- life happens.
When I read the story in Matthew about the Magi, I see people who were busy making other plans and who had their lives turned upside down.
These magi- mysterious members of the cast of characters in our Epiphany gospel today-were probably people who made a comfortable living trying to divine the will of God or The Gods through what they saw in the stars. (If they lived today we would probably call them Astrologers- and would read a column by one of them in the daily paper).
Then, one day, the heavens moved- something new appeared in the eastern sky. A constellation moved a bit, or a new, bright star- perhaps a Supernova exploded- or a planet passed close by the earth much like Mars is doing now. Something miraculous happened, and they had to go and see what it was.
These people were observers- scientists, of sorts. The heavens were orderly for them, moved in pretty predictable patterns and made sense, most of the time. Then one day a new light appeared in the east and they started seeing strange things in the skies that were once so familiar to them.
Jesus birth, the gospel writer tells us, put their stars out of whack.
They were to pack up their stuff, load their animals and trek to a little town nine miles east of the seat of power in Jerusalem to Bethlehem (what we are to believe is hundreds of miles) to find the origins of this astrological change.
Imagine with me for a second the scene that Matthew tries to paint for us in this story. I see their departure from the camel yards, heavy laden with their telescopes and water jugs and formal turbans, talking excitedly about what they’re going to find underneath this new star. One jokes with the others that there might be some good parties for them when they get there, complete with dancing girls and music and a huge spread of food. They all figure that a person great enough to warrant a change in the skies will be full of pomp and circumstance and power. Little do they know what awaits them at the end-a humble child of working parents-a son of a carpenter and teenage girl.
This story has all the elements of a great adventure story. It is even complete with a maniacal, angry, frightened king who wants to find our hero, Jesus, and kill him because he feels threatened. Harod meets with our Magi and asks them to find this king “so I can come and worship him.” (We know better, though- and know that Harod wants to find the source of this astronomical change and snuff it out).
I also imagine their surprise when they see that the stars point to wherever this child, this poor child is living. I see them checking and re-checking their calculations. I hear one turning to the other and saying “This can’t be right” and the other telling him “I know I am right” and the third maybe saying “I told you we should have asked for directions back in Judea!!”
Upon arriving at the humble dwelling where Jesus and his family are living, they shrug their shoulders, hop off their camels pick up their gifts, and approach the humble dwelling from which they hear the cries and coos of the Christ Child and take their gifts to him in puzzlement.
We are pretty certain now that there were not three of these men. There probably were no camels. (And in deference to my friends at Mary and Martha’s place- )we don’t even know that they were men, either. The Gospel story tells us that there was no manger when they came by- they visited a house in Bethlehem. We do know that there were gifts for this “king,”this Christ child, living beneath the star. Much of the rest that we assume to be true about the Magi is legend- adornments to the story that have been added through the ages.
We do recognize them as a vital part of the Epiphany- the truth made plain – about Jesus Christ.
I like what Walter Bruegemann says about them- he says that “rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganize their wealth and learning, and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with no credentials.”
How can we reorganize our lives around a “baby with no credentials?”
Epiphany calls us all to allow the presence of Christ in our lives to put our stars out of whack- to let Jesus shift our constellations- make us see things in a new light.
It is no accident, I think, that custom has us make resolutions during this time of the year - to make changes for the new year that will (hopefully) make our lives better. All of us, every year, try to re-align our own stars with promises to exercise more, eat better, sleep more, read more books, fight less with our big sisters or brothers.
I like how one writer I read this week put it. He said that instead of making “resolutions” for the new year we should “re-solution” our lives. I like that. When we “re-solution,” or come up with new ways to see the light in others and ourselves, we are following the Epiphany star. How will we “re-solution” our lives this year?? How can we drop what we are doing, let the Christ child happen to us while we go about our lives, making other plans?? I had a few:
-Instead of looking for new worlds to conquer, perhaps we can find new worlds to save.
-Instead of making our voice heard, perhaps we can learn to listen more.
-Instead of indulging all our appetites, perhaps we can find ways to want less.
-Instead of filling our lives with more stuff, maybe we can “re-solution” by clearing out space in our lives for more people.
-Instead of trying to lead through dominating others, maybe we can we can lead by serving all.
-Bringing this home to the Anglican Communion- now that a rift is a foregone conclusion, instead of being angry with the folks who have left us now, perhaps we can look at the folks who have left The Episcopal Church with compassion, realizing that in the end, whether we like it or not, we are still all the body of Christ and we need each other. They still need us.
Epiphany tells us that seeing the star is not the end of the journey.
In the end of our story the magi, being warned by God in a dream that Harod is out for the life of the Christ Child (and now perhaps them as well) , returned home by another road.
Once we meet the Christ child, the road we walk down is never the same. Christ calls us to continue seeking his star- continue being saved by him day in and day out through the power of one thing and one thing only- love.
Christ has come- the stars have changed for us now and we must walk a new road home with a new plan. Amen.