The Journey

That is my title for the sermon I am going to preach on Sunday.  It will be about the three kings with the concept being that we can learn about the journey of faith in spending time with their journey.

I have preached on this many, many times.  And there is always a lot to chew on - the fact that the journey is in community, the reliance on the star, the gifts that are brought, the joy of finding the Christ child, the warning to return in another way from a dream.

But what is always of singular interest to me is the fact that before the kings (wise men, magi) arrive in Bethlehem they go first to Jerusalem.  Why?  Is it because their assumption that any king, savior, would be born in the place of power?  Is it the lights of Jerusalem attracted them?  Whatever the reason, they encounter Herod and tip him off to the birth of the long awaited Messiah.  And he duplicitously  tells them to report back to him so that he can visit the child too.

When I have preached on this before, I think I have said that this is a confrontation with evil or maybe with "the world."  And that the kings (wise men, magi) now have a choice - who do you trust?  Do you trust the powerful leader of the world who lives with all his trappings of wealth or do you continue to follow the hidden leading of God who guides us with stars and dreams to a baby in a manger of all things.

I write all this because I am appalled, heartbroken, concerned by "our" killing this leader in Iran yesterday.  Our - meaning the Pentagon or the CIA or somebody sent by our president. There will be a response of course - which will be violent and destructive.  And so it will continue.  This is the way of the world.

And I wonder what is the way of Jesus in all this.  With the impeachment, I had this sense that events are happening like a football game.  And I can watch the spectacle, but I am not on the field.  And whether I watch or not - someone will win and someone will lose.  Whatever will happen will happen.  I have the same sense with what just happened with Iran.  I can watch and pay attention or not.  I have no power here and whatever is going to happen will happen.

And I wonder what is the way of Jesus in all this.  What is the journey for each of us as we become aware of  and less and less comfortable with the division, hate, violence, acts of war. . And I wonder if we are as powerless as I feel right now?

Or can the Kings (wise men, magi) be a model.  To keep looking for the hidden, subversive presence of God in out of the way places.  And to pay attention that I do not feed into the power hungry, death dealing values of the world.

And to do that most radical act - Pray.


Here is a Prayer by Walter Brueggemann

When the World Spins Crazy
By Walter Brueggemann

When the world spins crazy,
spins wild and out of control
spins toward rage and hate and violence,
spins beyond our wisdom and nearly beyond our faith,
When the world spins in chaos as it does now among us…

We are glad for sobering roots that provide ballast in the storm.
So we thank you for our rootage in communities of faith,
for our many fathers and mothers who have believed and trusted as firm witnesses to us,
for their many stories of wonder, awe, and healing.

We are glad this night in this company
for the rootage of the text,
for the daring testimony,
for its deep commands,
for its exuberant tales.
Because we know that as we probe deep into this text…
clear to its bottom,
we will find you hiding there,
we will find you showing yourself there,
speaking as you do,
governing,
healing,
judging.

And when we meet you hiddenly,
we find the spin not so unnerving,
because from you the world again has a chance
for life and sense and wholeness.
We pray midst the spinning, not yet unnerved,
but waiting and watching and listening,
for you are the truth that contains all our spin. Amen.

From Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Prayed at the Lay School of the Pentateuch on September 17, 2001.