Tips to Travel By

 

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

January 3, 2021

2 Christmas B 

          Last week, I spent some time writing my report for our annual meeting, which happens right here on Zoom two weeks from today.  Our annual meeting is a time to look at the year that has gone by as well as look to the future as we pass a budget for the year and elect new vestry members and delegates to our diocesan convention.  Thinking about the year that has gone by was not so difficult.  There were lots of challenges and together we figured a way around or though most of them.  Thinking about the year to come was different, however.  This time last year, we thought we knew what the year ahead looked like.  We thought we had plans and goals and ways to make those happen.  Ha!  At least this year, we know we don’t know exactly how the year will go down, when we will get to regather and open our new space, how long we will need to wear these uncomfortable yet lifesaving masks, or when we can sing again.  What we do know, however, is that the future will look different from the past, not just because life will have changed, but because God always calls us forward into new life, never backwards into old ways.

          This morning, the magi from the east are looking for Jesus, the child born king of the Jews, so they can pay him homage.  At the end of the day, I believe that we, too, are looking for Jesus as we look to a new future.  As a church that promises in baptism to seek and serve Christ in all people, the end goal of all that we do, is to recognize Jesus in our midst.  I believe the story of the Magi and their travels gives us some tips on how we are to travel forward into our new reality. 

First, the magi have travelled from the east to pay homage to the child born king of the Jews. Why? Because they saw his star at its rising.  The child is not their king, yet they were willing to follow a star and travel a great distance to pay him homage.  Travel was dirty, slow and exhausting in those days, under the best of circumstances. Nothing about it was convenient.  So right away, we know that the magi must have a sense of adventure that sets them off to follow a star to find a king.

          Secondly, the magi were willing to take a risk. They were following a star for a thousand miles or so to find a baby.  That sounds a lot like looking for a needle in a haystack to me and the risk of failure seems high.  Also, if the magi knew enough to follow a star to find a king that was not their king, then they likely knew enough to know that asking around in Jerusalem for the child born king of the Jews was going to provoke some fear in the current king.  As Yoda, my favorite philosopher, says “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to suffering.”  Yoda could have been thinking about King Herod with those words.  The magi’s’ risk pays off as they find the child they have come to see.  They were not afraid but trusted the guidance of the star to lead them to the child. 

          Thirdly, the magi traveled together.  Tradition tells us that there were three magi as three gifts are mentioned.  But no where are we told that exactly three magi showed up.  Likely they had many traveling companions, perhaps caravans that carried supplies for the journey.  But the magi spoke and acted as one body, following the star together, inquiring about the child together, going to meet with Herod together, setting off to Bethlehem together, experiencing overwhelming joy together, and offering their gifts together.  Then, warned in a dream not to return to Herod, together they went home by another road.  Wherever God was guiding them, they went together.

          A sense of adventure, a willingness to take risks, and their commitment to travel together got the magi to the baby Jesus.  The most important piece of the story, however, is what they do when they finally arrive at the house and find Mary and Jesus.  The magi kneel down, pay him homage, and give him gifts fit for a king.  When they find Jesus, they ask him for nothing, giving no thought to what Jesus might be able to do for them.  Instead, they offer him themselves in their homage and their wealth in their gifts.  They are not the least bit concerned with the effort they have put into getting there or how they will get home.  Their focus is completely on the child.

          As we stand on the cusp of this new year, a year that holds a lot of both promise and uncertainty, a year that calls us to let go of the past and look to the future, the story of the magi gives us some tips to travel by.  We are called to a sense of adventure as we discover the new life into which God calls us.  Our travels may be dirty, slow, exhausting and inconvenient, too, but that is the price of adventure.  We are called to take some risks and try new things, knowing that not everything we try will be successful, but failure does not mean that we have not been faithful.  We are called to travel this journey together, just as we have traveled many prior journeys together, looking out for each other and looking for the way forward together.  But primarily, the story reminds us that in all that we do, we are looking for Jesus, and how we are called to pay Christ homage in all people.  As we look to a future with beautifully renovated buildings, a future in which progress will no doubt come more slowly than we would like, and a future with perhaps more unknowns than knowns, the story of the magi calls us to keep our focus on what we can offer Jesus, together. 

                                                                   Amen.