The Star

Matthew 2:1-15

"In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” ⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

¹³Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

How do you tell the Christmas Story?  I spent most of last December going through and clearing out all the things my parents had left behind in the big family home, and hearing the echoes of all that had been lived there over the generations- including the passages from Luke and Matthew as read by my Father on Christmas Eve. Every year he was, as well, in high demand for his Christmas Star presentation (he used to describe himself as a Southern Baptist Scots-Irish Mystic Teacher Physicist Astronomer. I've provided the links The Christmas Star Part 1 of 2 (Dr. J. W. (Bill) Northrip 1982)   The Christmas Star Part 2 of 2 (Dr. J. W. (Bill) Northrip 1982), so you can hear for yourself how that all works together!) He didn't see a conflict between Faith and Science, was able to share both in a wide variety of settings with people of many beliefs, and included scripture in his maxim "the best questions don't lead to answers, they lead to better questions."  I remember a great conversation we had when his colleague at MSU Dr. Juris Zarins published research indicating that the idea of the Three Kings might be due to a translation error, and how taking gold out of the story might have changed the celebration of the season.
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-13/news/mn-3989_1_precious-metal

I try to keep these ways of telling the story alive, as well as trying to stay open to the newness that every year brings. For the last couple of days I have thought about a video clip shown at our St. Mark midweek conversation about Incarnation led by Pastor Dave Burgess (whose father completes a MSU trifecta for this blog, having been a colleague of my father and Dr. Zarins!) by Parker Palmer (Click here) that speaks to me of birth, and rebirth, and is truly the story of the Season:

"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

Prayer-

Dear God, thank you for coming into the world as we all have, and through your example giving us the gift of being reborn in your love. Amen.