Highly quoted author, speaker and consultant in Lutheran
circles, Peter Steinke, has noted the root of the word “disaster”. Do you know what that word literally means?
It comes from the negative Latin “dis” (connoting not being able to do something, or a lack of something) and “aster”
(star). So literally a disaster is when
you have no star to follow.
Interesting isn’t it?
Especially in the context of this Epiphany story?
So ancient sailors loosing their way at sea in the fog and
the clouds, no star to follow: that’s a disaster.
Contrast that to the journey of the Magi (btw, the text
doesn’t say how many magi there were, just that there were 3 gifts, so artists
have always assumed that 3 wise men
went with those 3 gifts, but there could have been a hundred star-following wise
women and men and their children all hiking through the sands from the East…)
The point is, they had a star to follow, and they did.
Disaster is when we have no star to follow. Problem is, there are lots of stars in the
sky. [pause]
Which star do you follow this new year? Is it the star of fame and glory? The rock star? The pop star?
The sports stars? Shooting stars…like the housing market? Sometimes it’s hard to find the star of
Bethlehem amid all the competing stars.
But here’s a clue: STOP
LOOKING UP. [pause] For Christ always comes
to us from underneath—from where you’d least expect—from the manger, from the
shepherds, from the poor, from earthly stuff like wheat, grapes, and water. The magi, the text says, bowed down, to pay him homage. Bow down, look around on the floor of our
world, to find the Christ child. Look to
Bethlehem, that is, the most out-of-the-way, insignificant, underneath place. And that’s where the star, the light of Christ, stops and stays.
This is such a wonderful story. Because it has cosmic implications. This love and presence of Christ, that comes
from below, has the ability to move the stars!
To call people from all corners of the earth to gather, to praise, and
then to go home by a different road: changed.
It means God’s love for you, calls you, as far off in a
distant land as you might be—as downtrodden, or hopeless or sick or afraid as
you might be—God’s light, albeit hard to see at times, God’s star rises in the
east—the bright morning star—symbolic of hope and a new day—Christ Jesus’ star
rises in the east and lights your way this new year of 2013, this new year of
life that God has given us!
The same star that world leaders saw, “Three Kings” as the
songs and art pieces go, world leaders, the wealthy and powerful and wise—the
same star that guided them, that came to them, and lit their path, comes to you
and guides you…even today. That’s how
dear you are to God. Not forgotten in
some far-off land, but forgiven, and guided.
What a gift that Bethlehem, eastern star in the sky is for us!
God’s love for you moves stars! What a gift!
And so in response, not because we have to, but because we can’t help
it, we bring our gifts – our gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And, looking down, bowing down, kneeling
down, we pay him homage. How can we do
that with our lives? What can we bring? How can we serve and give and trust evermore
in this Christ child?
For we need not dwell in dis-aster. For we have a star to follow! A star of love, a star of life, a star of
hope, and a star of forgiveness.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, we too have been changed, by
this star. So changed, so transformed
that we are about to pray for people beyond just those we like and love. Prayers of intercession, prayers of the
people that reach even to far-away lands, countries and people and situations far
from our own. We pray even for our
enemies—the Herods—of our world. That’s
how transformative this Christ light is!
We have been changed, by this star. So changed, so transformed that we have hope,
in the midst of darkness, we have a way, and that way is Christ, and that way
is Love, and that way reaches beyond borders and oceans. Even when the world comes crashing down
around us, God’s people, looking
down, not gazing up, looking down at the world, God’s people find the hurting, the oppressed, the sick and the
lost, and there with them is Christ. “A
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” That’s how changed we are!
We have been changed, by this star! So changed that we go home now by another
road. So changed that we “gonna lay down
our sword and shield, down by the riverside” as the song goes, “hammering our
guns into gardening tools” to modernize Isaiah’s vision. We are so changed that now we practice peace
(not just pray for it, we practice it).
We’re not going back to Herod, the road of violence. We’re going home by a different road.
“Star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright.” “Christ be our light, our hope, shine in our
hearts, shine through the darkness.
Shine in your church, gathered today,” we’re about to sing.
God has given us a star.
We are free of dis-aster,
sisters and brothers in Christ, for we have
a star. And in that star is the hope,
and the salvation, of this whole universe.
And in that star is your freedom and everlasting life. For in this star is peace. AMEN.
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