“Holy Troubling”

(Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12)

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.  Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together; they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.  Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you; the wealth of the nations shall come to you.  A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come.  They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?  For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘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.’”  Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then 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.”  When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  On 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.  And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

            Okay, full disclosure.  My astrological sign is Libra.  We Librans are always looking for balance and harmony.  It’s a good thing, but the down side of this is that we can’t make decisions.  We are all the time thinking, “on the one, on the other.”  It’s really true for me, no matter how you think and feel about the signs of the zodiac. 

Incidentally, our three Wise Men, the Magi, were folks who watched the heavens and whose wisdom often came from the movements they observed in the stars and planets.  This was long before the science of astronomy.  Their knowledge came from their learned observations.

            Anyway, back to not being able to make decisions.  The rare times when I have been certain about something, I notice, and I remember.  One in particular was in April of 2000.  The General Conference of the United Methodist Church was having their every four year meeting in Cleveland.  Many of us had been working for over a decade to try to influence the larger church to change the cruel and mean-spirited language around our gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters as it appeared in the Book of Discipline. 

Now, the Book of Discipline is the guideline for United Methodism.  It contains our history and our Social Principles and the rules and regulations about the workings of the church from local churches all the way up the line to General Boards and Agencies. 

Unfortunately, until very recently, General Conference after General Conference, not only did they allow the Church to retain the exclusive, hurtful language about our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, but they even had made it more restrictive. 

Those of us who have belonged to the Reconciling Movement in the United Methodist Church were making plans to do civil disobedience in Cleveland and to offer ourselves to be arrested.  Now, this was a big decision.  I had a young teenager at home.  I was pastoring this church in which there were differing opinions on the subject, and this could have affected my standing in the Annual Conference. 

            But, for me, when I heard the civil disobedience was happening, I was absolutely certain about my decision.  There was no waffling as was my usual mode of operation.  There was no internal talking myself out of it.  So I announced what I planned to do in worship the Sunday before General Conference began.  Most of you who were around in those days were supportive, even giving me some money toward bail.

            I bring this up because I read Matthew’s story about the Magi and realized those guys made the big decision to travel thousands of miles on the “knowledge” that there would be born a king.  They observed and followed a star in the East.  They had been troubled, been inspired, in a holy way.  Their decision was clear to them. 

And, even after Herod, King of the Jews, who was, by the way, not their ruler, even after he had gotten with them, showing an interest in their search, asking them to give him information that they would gain, they had a holy troubling and knew they would not have any more dealings with that scoundrel.

This story has many lessons for us.  One is that it sets up the contrast between the religious hierarchy and the rest of the world.  It is not anti-Jewish.  Rather, it is making a strong statement about the danger of power in the hands of the religious leaders, or any leaders, for that matter. 

Another lesson is, clearly, that all people are included in God’s plan through the Christ, not just any one group.  It is also, the clear message that we are to reach out.  Our Wise Men could have been written off as not anyone’s concern.  Instead, they come to us in the story, clearly seeing God’s hand in this journey of theirs.  They had heard and seen God speaking through the heavens and through the picture of the baby born to be a king.

As I spoke about last week, the season of Epiphany is a celebration of the coming of the light.  Today’s Isaiah text says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come.”  The story of the Wise Men echoes some of what we hear in Isaiah’s words all the way to how they will bring gifts–specific gifts–and how they were to proclaim the glory of God. 

There is so much here for us.  One thing, of course, is how we need to listen for God’s moving in our lives, how we can be troubled and inspired to do or say something that may not be our first thought.  The Wise Men had to travel many miles to see God’s work for themselves.  But they did it, in spite of the difficulty and the odds against doing such a thing.  They followed the star; they followed the light.

Another thing is that we, like the Magi, need to carry the message out into the world.  We need to get outside of ourselves and reach out to those unlike ourselves, those who are not part of our club or safe havens. 

Another thing that may trouble our own waters is that the Magi acted.  They acted rather than only sitting around and talking.  They acted.  How often do we talk things to death?  Preachers are famous for it—all words and no action.  There are many reasons for this: maybe we’re afraid of offending people if we push things too far.  Maybe by talking and obeying the letter of the law, we can stay in our little safe havens.  Maybe we retain the power by staying in the secure bounds of precedent, by staying on the well-trodden roads of ritual and tradition, by being so very clear about what’s right and what’s wrong, never venturing into the gray areas.

I have heard clergy whom I respect make judgements about colleagues who conducted communion without saying the prayer of consecration over the elements.  This is an example of how people retain power by being boss over the rules.  It’s an example of worrying about that which may offend others or of doing things “right.”

   The Magi, on the other hand, seemed to be answering to a higher power.  The holy troubling had them traveling a great distance to follow the stars.  The holy troubling made them know that the words from Herod did not ring true.  The holy troubling sent them back to their country by a different way after they had made their pilgrimage to greet this new sort of king.

Holy troubling allowed me to stand up against a bureaucracy that was wrong about people and rules and exclusions.

Now, folks, I know that rules and laws are so important for the stability of government and its smooth working.  I know that there are many laws right now that are being ignored by government officials to push forward some bogus agenda. 

But I also know that there are people who are being put into situations that demand that they break God’s laws of love and care for God’s people….  So, let us be people who act rather than just talk.  Let’s call our elected officials and demand that they be more than pawns in some evil chess game.  Let’s demand that they act out of love rather than just give us empty words that, supposedly will get them re-elected. 

…And so, may the courage of the Wise Men guide us today and everyday.