Would an angel steer me wrong? (Sun, Jan 1, 2023)

 Focusing

 

This Christmas I was on the road.  On Christmas morning from home in Dundas to church, to a home in Westdale, to a long-term care home in downtown Hamilton before going home for the night.  Monday morning, to a home Tillsonburg.  Tuesday, from Tillsonburg to another home in London.  Wednesday morning, from London to a farm on Hwy 8 near Vineland, back to Hamilton by supper time, then a stop at a church in Westdale on the way to home in Dundas.

 

At least one leg of the journey was new territory – back roads from Tillsonburg to London.  To avoid the salt spray from the trucks on the 401.  And to travel a more pleasant landscape.  It wasn’t a tricky journey, but it meant taking direction from my sister and brother-in-law.

 

The magi in their journey to see the Christ child – the light and love of God for the world, also had to take direction from others for the good of their journey towards the good of the world.  First, from a star in the heavens.  Then, from biblical scholars and teachers in Herod’s court.  And finally from an angel – maybe even God, who whispered directions to them in the dark and the still of the night in a dream.

 

What journey are you on these days?  Where is it taking you?  Who are you letting, give you direction along the way?  Are you willing to travel new territory, and find a needed new way?

 

Reading:  Matthew 2:1-12

 

When Jesus is born, it cannot help but affect life of people who witness it.  The question, though, is what is required of people when they are called to see him, and to celebrate his coming.

 

In the Gospel of Luke, shepherds are invited to the manger by angels.  And at least for that moment, they are required to leave behind their flocks and their normal work, and become messengers of God’s good news to other people.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, it’s magi – astronomers, who see the star of Jesus’ birth.  And what is required of them, if they take seriously the birth of Jesus into the life of the world?

 

 

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king.  Soon afterward, some magi came from the East to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”

 

When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.

He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?” “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they answered. “For this is what the prophet wrote:

‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
     you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah;
for from you will come a leader
    who will guide my people Israel.’”

 

So, Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him.”

 

And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East.  When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs!

 

The star went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.

 

Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.

 Reflection 

I formed these thoughts while still on the road.  As Dickens says in A Christmas Carol, “this must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate” – “this” being that I – and you, no doubt – that we, are not yet home, and are still on the way.  That said, let me begin.

 

Yesterday I reached London to see a dear life-long friend, and most times that would be enough.  Visit, maybe stay over for the night, then go home.  A good journey.

But this time, the journey is not over.  And that’s an idea worth thinking about, in light of the story of the magi and the revealing of the Christ-child – the eternal tale of God with us, the light and love of God born into the world.  The question is, what’s the point of the journey?  When do we know it’s over?  And … is it ever really over?

When the magi got to Bethlehem, saw the child and his mother, and offered their gifts, it may have seemed the journey was over.  Mission accomplished.  Time now just retrace their steps, go home by the way they had come, and rest easy in a job well done.

But it wasn’t.  Not yet.

As long and difficult as the magi’s journey was to find Jesus, when they saw how vulnerable and powerless he was, and how easily he might not survive in the world as it was, they knew they had something yet to do.  They had to change their way home.  They had to find another – a new way home, in order to give this little One – this precious Word of God, a chance to live, to grow, and to become the Light and the Truth that the world needs to see.

An angel told them.  Like an angel told Mary.  And an angel told Joseph.  And an angel with a whole host along for the effect, told the shepherds.  And now the magi.

The whole Christmas story, it seems – the whole story of the Word of God finding a place in the world to grow and become strong, hinges on people being open to the message of angels in their life.  And in response to what the angel tells them, being willing to change their lives, change their minds, and change their ways.  All because of what an angel tells them, and helps them see as holy and important.

A friend told me recently about Tom Power, the host of Q on CBC Radio.  Q is an interview show in which Tom engages all kinds of creative people – singers, artists, directors, writers, actors, innovators, in conversation about what they do, and why they do it.  And all kinds of people accept his invitation to be interviewed, because they know he uses the conversation and the show in general as an opportunity to explore the question of meaning and purpose in their life, in his own life, in the life of the world.  And of how they and he and we all together have a part in that.

What my friend told me is that recently he has decided – made a resolution, to make compassion the theme of the show for at least the foreseeable future. To him it seems that compassion is getting harder to find in the world, in human behaviour, in the ways we are with one another and with the world.  So – maybe he had a dream, maybe an angel whispered in his ear in some time of enlightened darkness – he has decided that every interview, every conversation he has on the show will be in some way about compassion and for compassion.

Maybe about how the work of the person he is talking with helps move others to be more compassionate.  Maybe about how this person has witnessed compassion at work in the world, and how it’s affected what they do and how they work.  Some days it might be about Tom himself remembering to be compassionate in the way he talks with the other about their struggles, or brokenness, or mistakes, or weakness.

The point is to change and to focus the way he does what he does, to make room for compassion to survive, to be protected and nurtured, and to grow in the world.

So, what about us?

New Year’s is a time for resolutions.  What Tom Power is doing, and what the magi – the wise ones, do in the Christmas story makes me realize that the resolutions of honestly religious people cannot just be about themselves.  About self-improvement.  The resolutions of persons who know God are also – maybe mostly, maybe sometimes only, about making room in some way for the Word, the Love and the Truth of God to survive, to grow, and to become stronger in the life of the world.

I wonder what this means for me.  What it means for you.

What particular change – particular to me – what particular alteration in my way of being and of doing things is an angel trying to nudge me towards this year?  And what new direction, what unexpected turn, particular to you, are you being invited to follow?  

And not just for my – or for your, self-improvement, or comfort, or happiness, or success.  That’s not the point of it.  But for the survival, the growth, and the growing-stronger of the Love of God for all the world, in the world.

What am I and what are you being invited to commit to – at church, at work, in our community, in the world?  By yourself, or as a family, or a group of friends.  Out of love for the Word of God, and the Love of God for all, that always needs people willing to help it survive, and grow,and become strong in the life of the world for the well-being of all.

May God be with you, and may the angels be in your dreams and by your ear, as you begin the next leg of your journey in 2023.