The ‘Aha’ Moment or Starstruck!

Sermon Matthew 2:1-12 January 4, 2015 Epiphany

The ‘Aha’ Moment or Starstruck!

It was only two weeks ago that we sat in the pews and witnessed our children and adults present the story of the birth of Jesus. We were in the midst of pageantry and costumes, we were in the throes of song and cheer, we were in the height of wonder and amazement.

The work of Christmas was at work within us.

A spark,

a light,

the Light of Christ gave birth in our hearts once again and we were renewed

and

touched by the love of God.

Something compels us each year to be drawn to this story. Something attracts our attention to come back to the manger and propels us forward toward the wonder of this miracle of God come to live among us.

What did we see?

What got our attention?

We wonder what drew those magi, those wise men from far away to even consider traveling to claim the babe as king.

Only Matthew’s gospel felt this part of the story worthy of retelling. There was something in the sky that drew their attention. Something in the sky caught their curiosity and drove them to engage with this mystical appearance.

Yes, we have rationalized that they were astronomers and studied the heavens. We say they were men who studied the religions of the world and so were acquainted with the prophecies of the Messiah to come.

Yes, we say they were men who had already traveled far discovering the world and the heavens around them.

But, the power of God was at work as we listen to this story of a star in the sky that guided magi.

It was a star that brought them to their ‘epiphany’, their ‘aha’ moment! It’s okay to say that these men were ‘starstruck’.

The star is a reminder of God’s power in the world to steer nature to point the way to the Savior. As Augustine wrote, “Christ was not born because the star shone forth, but it shone forth because Christ was born.”

Dante wrote, “God is the love that moves the stars.”

Sometimes it takes foreigners, people unacquainted with the faith we speak to point out the very faith we hold in our hearts. Often it is those who walk around without any faith in God who demonstrate the very things of God’s love that we yearn to have in our lives.

Perhaps this story of the magi holding up God’s Word to God’s people to point to the truth of God’s Word taking on flesh is what needs to be heard in every age.

King Herod and his scribes and Biblical scholars feared what the magi told them. 

They couldn't imagine a king, a messiah would come in their lifetime 

and rather than rejoicing they felt threatened by the truth of God.

King Herod felt so threatened by the presence of another king that it caused him to do what he could to rid the world of this child.

The threat of God living and dwelling among humanity continued as Jesus grew. While many flocked to him in faith, many others were afraid and could not, would not believe.

Yet, God is determined to be known and to be found. And so, these unlikely characters become the agent of making God known to all the world. They open the way for all people to know they have a place with God.

Truly it was an insatiable curiosity that brought these men to the manger. The star stopped over the manger. It was a star that guided them all the way to Bethlehem and then it stopped where Jesus was and they were overwhelmed with joy.

When I read this story about their willingness to look to the stars and to seek to understand and to follow them I am reminded of my father. I cannot get past his childlike behavior when it came to the stars.

His insatiable curiosity in the heavens was contagious.

It drew his children into his wonder and amazement at looking up at the sky. He was so enthralled by those twinkling lights that he built his own telescope, he started his own amateur astronomer’s club and built an observatory.

He dragged his children in a blue rambler station wagon from Miami up to Cape Canaveral to watch the Apollo launches. He was caught up with the desire of the nation to launch rockets to reach the stars.

Through his energy and excitement we received our moments of joy and wonder. When he pointed to something that he had not seen before he shared it with us and we gained even more curiosity to learn about these stars in the sky.

What is it that stirs our curiosity? What is it that guides us? Where is our growing edge?

Howard Thurman says, “

Look well to the growing edge. All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born; all around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against a time when there shall be new lives, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge! It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one more thing to try when all else has failed, the upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavor. This is the basis of hope in moments of despair, the incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason, the source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of a child — life's most dramatic answer to death — this is the growing edge incarnate. Look well to the growing edge!" 

That's the point, isn’t it?

To have a beginner's mind,

and see with the eyes of a child,

but not to be a child, nor a beginner.

But to be able to see a world being born all around us. "wow!" (Andy Parker).

The story of the magi is perhaps then to spark in us the will to look up.

The story is a way to get our attention,

to pay attention to the things of this Christmas season that have created

                                             a new beginning and to see things in a new way.

In this New Year, on this day of epiphany, may we too find our ‘aha’ moment, may we be ‘star-struck’, may we believe God incarnate in Jesus Christ, may we be stirred with curiosity and find our growing edge.

You will be given stars this morning and on them there is a word. (STARWORDS)

You may use it as a guide or a ‘watchword’ for this year. You may use it to guide your prayers, your devotions, your Bible study and your family time. Let us be as open as the magi were to be guided to new conversations and new ways to live with Christ born anew in us.

 Amen.