PAST SERMON 2010 #1
by Reverend Judith Alltree, delivered on Sunday January 3, 2010,
at the Church of the Holy Spirit. (Epiphany)
Persistent Faith
Who were these Three Wise Men, the Magi; what heavenly object did they follow that led them eventually to the place where Jesus was born? Historians, scientists, astrologists and theologians have speculated on these questions for centuries. Did they follow a supernova or Halley’s comet? Were they kings of Persia or priests, or were they kingly priests, as was often the case in middle-eastern countries? What they followed is not as important as what brought them; and whether they were kings, priests or kingly priests makes no difference. The most important aspect of their journey was their search for Jesus, and the “star” they followed was their faith.
These men followed a celestial object for over two years across a thousand miles of desert. They never wavered in their destination — even though they didn’t know precisely what that destination was. There was a momentous event that had occurred to which their hearts bid them onward. It was their persistent faith that led them.
With almost naïve joy the Magi ask everyone they meet not ‘if’ “the child who has been born King of the Jews” was born but ‘where’. They didn’t let the apathy of the people in Jerusalem dissuade them, they continued on until they were in front of the very King of Judea, Herod himself, who played a major role in helping them find the child (although his motives were not theirs). So they continued south, on the last few kilometers of their journey, until, as Matthew writes “the star had stopped” over the place where the child was. So great was their faith that when they saw the child, they “worshipped him”, and offered him gifts, kingly gifts of gold, frankincense and myhrr. The affirmation of their faith was the child himself.
How many of us would jump in our cars on a whim and travel to an event we aren’t sure of, which occurred in a place we don’t know at a time which can’t be confirmed? It seems ludicrous, certainly, in the 21st century, with all the technology that is available to us, to do such a thing. We would simply Google a key word until we found the right prophecy, which would eventually lead us to a map that would give us the location, time and date of the event, as well as explicit directions including the off ramps to take, the number of metres and kilometers between each turn, until we found ourselves, presumably, in the right place. Perhaps that was another reason why God sent Jesus to Palestine in the late first century BCE, rather than now. No Google to get in the way of faith.
St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7), and in the letter to the Hebrews it is written “…faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1) We believe in the birth of Jesus, which we have not seen, but do we have faith? Are we willing to let go, to cede control of every aspect of our lives, in order to live by faith?
I’m not suggesting that we forgo getting directions; that would not be wise. We need our roadmaps, those things in our lives that point us in the correct direction, which is why we read the Bible (or should). But then there are those moments we can’t explain rationally, that can change the direction of our lives. These are moments when inspiration strikes, and it takes our breath away with its power, and we know we need to do something about it. It doesn’t make sense, inspiration rarely does, but it goes straight to our hearts, drags us out of bed in the morning and keeps us awake at night until we answer its call and do something. This is the thing we can’t see, which we can only achieve through faith.
And it is this kind of faith that will put you in a car and send you in a direction, not knowing where the road ends but knowing you have to go wherever it leads. It’s the same kind of faith that drags the artist in front of an easel, or a writer or composer in front of the empty page, or the potter in front of the wheel, the empty, directionless road that will soon be filled with the vision of inspiration. It is faith that enables inventors to carry on, even in the face of failure, because they believe their inspiration is true. They persist, following the clues, continuing on the quest, until their vision is fulfilled, and so we are surrounded by technology that heals us, moves us, educates us, entertains us, even allows us a glimpse into lives and times of people who lived hundreds, thousands of years ago. To read their stories, to hear about their faith, and as a consequence, we believe as well.
If they only lived by sight, and not by faith, the journey of the Magi may have ended before it began. It was not seeing the child that made them believe; it was their faith alone that enabled them to see, and to believe.
It is difficult to imagine how much faith it took to get on a camel and travel one thousand miles to see what no one knew or understood. Almost as much faith, I believe, as it took to get on a donkey and travel sixty miles down a dangerous road in the ninth month of a pregnancy because God said it would be okay. About as much faith as it takes to get out of bed in the morning to go to church or to work, when things are not going well.
We always enter a new year with high hopes of what might happen in the coming twelve months, hoping and praying it will be positive. Let this time, then, the beginning of a new year, be a time of living by faith: to trust that God is sending us in the right direction, individually and as a community, no matter how difficult or even confusing that road may appear to be. Let’s take the time to listen carefully to what God is saying to each of us, and to respond wholeheartedly to whatever the message is. Most of all, let us each be persistent in our faith; even when we don’t know where we are going, or how we are going to get there, let us all just believe God knows, and that’s all we need.
AMEN.