The Magic of Light
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United, Aurora, CO 1/04/2015
Based on Matthew
2:1-11
“We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts
we traverse afar. Field and fountain,
moor and mountain following yonder star. O Stare of wonder, star of night. Star with royal beauty bright, westward
leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy Perfect Light.”
For
many, Christmas is over and in many households the symbol of Christmas, the
Christmas Tree has been taken down. In
the stores, the only reminders of Christmas are on the 50% or more racks,
discounted to make room for the next Holiday.
Yet, as we come this morning to worship, the Christian Church celebrates
today as the second Sunday of Christmas. In fact we have just two days left in
celebrating Christmas Tide, or rather the season of Christmas. On Tuesday we move into the celebration of
Epiphany, which reminds us of the day that the world was introduced to the baby
Jesus.
One
of the sad things about taking down the Christmas decorations is the absence of
light that comes with those decorations.
One of the joys that Paul and I experienced our first winter here in
Aurora was to notice how many residences left their outdoor lighting turned on
after the New Year. In Seattle, many
families burn their outdoor Christmas lights well into March, as a way of
combating the dreariness and darkness of the winter.
For Christians,
Light and darkness hold very symbolic meanings within our scriptures and our music. Light and darkness also hold deep symbolism
in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as in writings of all major world
religions. Our very use of lights at
Christmas testifies there “is magic in light.”
The very first story in the book of
Genesis, the first thing that God creates is “light.” “On the first day, God said: Let there be
light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God
separated the light from the darkness… And there was evening and there was
morning, the first day.” This light is not the light of the sun,
moon, and stars: they are not created until the fourth day. Rather, the light of the first day of
creation is primordial light, the light that existed before sun, moon, and
stars. The First Christmas, Marcus Borg, pg
174
Whether
we recognize it or not, light and darkness evoke a great deal of emotion within
us. This fear of danger with darkness or
feeling of safety in the light, is much more subtle in modern civilization than
with our ancestors. With the flip of a
switch, we control light and darkness.
We flip the switch up and lights come on, we flip the switch down and lights
go out. In fact we have developed
technology the turns the lights on or off by just the clap our hands.
Yet even with this
new found technology, deep within us comes the basic sense of safety by being
in light, and a sense of danger when we are in the dark. This comes from generations of humanity
living in a world where light was only provided by the sun or by fire. It wasn’t until the advent of Gas used for lighting
in the late 1700’s that our city streets became lit. The average family couldn’t afford candles
for lighting in their homes until the early 1800’s. Electrification of rural America didn’t
occur until the 1940’s. Our ancestors
knew darkness in a very different way than we do.
It is no accident
that the birth story of Jesus is placed at the time of the Winter Solstice, on
the longest night of the year, by our church fathers. It wasn’t just to take the place of a pagan
ritual as many historians like to point out, there is more mystical reasoning
for choosing Dec 25th . By integrating
it with the Roman winter solstice festival that celebrated the “birthday of the
Unconquered Sun”, it gave meaning to Jesus as the unconquered son of Light.
Light and darkness
are strong symbolic terms in this morning’s story of magi coming from the East
following a star, looking for the new king of the Jews. This story sparks a lot of speculation about
“who were these men; where did they come from; what celestial event occurred
that allowed them to know about Jesus’ birth or allowed them to follow this
star; why didn’t the wise men in Jerusalem see this same celestial event; why
was King Herod caught so off guard about this event?”
If we approach this
story as a factual event, we are left with multiple unanswerable
questions. Science hasn’t been able to
establish a verifiable celestial event that gives validity to the story. Until the year 350 A.D. there was no
continuity of celebrating Jesus’ birth. Up
to that point Jesus’ birthday was celebrated in March, April, May, and November
by various church traditions. To look
at this story as factual events presents a good deal of consternation.
However, what if we
look at this story as a parabolic telling of a truth; meaning what if we think
of this marvelous story of Magi visiting the baby Jesus as a parable – a story
that doesn’t necessarily have to be factual to be true? By doing this we are then allowed to ask a
completely differ set of questions. Questions
like, “what do the Magi represent, what does King Herod represent, what does
Jesus represent, and maybe in relationship to this story, what does the star in
the sky represent?”
Looking at this
story from the Jewish perspective that Matthew brings, the visit of the Magi
represents the gentile world acknowledging God’s active entry into history and
bringing truth to the world through the new born Jesus. The Magi also present a challenge to the
established authority – meaning Rome, but more importantly to Herod a puppet
King. A challenge saying their reign on
earth is a kingdom that is representative of darkness and not in accordance to
God’s desire for justice. If this star
was leading these Magi to Jesus, there is no reason for their stopping off to
visit Herod. They did not come to pay
homage to Herod or Rome, but to Jesus.
Herod represents the evil in the world that Jesus is to combat.
The star doesn’t
just appears in the sky, but it moves, it leads these men to find Jesus. Even after visiting with Herod, the star
re-appears and turns south to Bethlehem, stopping to the place that Jesus is to
be found. As they enter the house, they
recognize Jesus as the true king. In the
Gospel of John, Jesus is referred to as “the light come into the world.” We are also told that the darkness did not receive
the light. This is all strong imagery
about Jesus, imagery found in all the Gospels about how God has entered into
the darkness of this world through the birth of this little baby Jesus.
We tell this story
every year. It is a part of our Christmas
heritage, it’s in our carols, it’s in our scriptures, it’s in our pageants, but
do we recognize it in our world? Do we
see this as history or can we see this story as current events? Do we see the star that guided the Magi
active in our world? Was this star, this
light, an only one time event? I think
not. Are we like Herod and often caught
off guard not recognizing this star when it is shining upon us? I think if we don’t look around us, then yes,
we will not recognize that the star of David still shines.
I think we have the
star of the Magi right here at Mountain View.
It comes to us in the form of a homeless man named Ed. Many of you are aware of Ed, maybe even have
an uneasiness about his presence on the church property. We’ve had members, in the past, call the
police on him. We’ve had council
discussions as whether to let Ed hang out on our property. Ed has brought a lot of uneasiness to this
congregation. As a small example, “what
do we do with/for Ed as the sub-zero temperatures came just after Christmas?”
Let me share with
you why I see Ed as the star of the Magi.
When I see Ed, I am reminded that all is not good in the world. That there is still hunger, homelessness,
isolation and loneliness, that we live in a world where justice is not
practiced by our social policies. Yet
when I chat with Ed, I find a man who is well read, resourceful, kind hearted,
wounded by life. I find a man who is no
different than anyone of us in this building this morning. I find a creation of God who I am related to,
as a child of God. Ed is a reminder to
me of the work that needs to be done, to work for the justice that the darkness
of this world wishes to take advantage of.
I see Ed as a gift from God to Mountain View. Jesus was a gift from God. We are gifts from God, a light to the world
of darkness. We are the magic of
light. The question is, do we see
ourselves as this light or are we fearful of the light? As we celebrate the gift of the Magi, will we
embrace who we are as the representatives of the light, or will we hid in
darkness? It’s a new year and the light
of the world is at our doorsteps. Amen
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