“Follow the Star”

An Epiphany Sermon Preached by

The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

at the

First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

Have you ever had the feeling that you were yearning for something but could not seem to find it, that you didn’t even know what that “something” was? 

I would like to share with you a personal story.  In the early nineties, I was having a career crisis.  I had been climbing the corporate ladder and had managed to achieve all the external, material hallmarks of success.  From the outside, it looked as if I had “made it.”  But on the inside, I felt empty.  I yearned for something, but what that “something” was, I did not know.

Meanwhile, I was becoming increasingly involved in my church, and the work I did there on a volunteer basis was significantly more meaningful and rewarding than anything I did done for a salary. 

And then she gave me the best advice I’ve ever received.  “Follow your joy.”

This sense of longing in the heart is a common human experience, and this spiritual quest has been described in a variety of ways.  My career counselor called it “Follow your joy.”  Joseph Campbell, who wrote on American mythology and comparative religion, put it another way: “Follow your bliss.”  And for the Magi, it was “Follow the star.”  For they, too, had longing in the hearts they yearned to fill.

Epiphany is the moment of sudden insight, that moment in the novel or movie when the mystery is resolved unexpectedly, that moment in the lab or on the therapist’s couch when you say: “Aha ... so that’s what it is... I get it!”  That is the thing about an epiphany -- it is unexpected and surprising.  It isn’t self-evident until it is suddenly so unavoidably obvious.  Until that ‘aha’ moment, it isn’t even a possibility, but after, nothing can be more sure.

When my career counselor told me to “follow my joy,” it was an epiphany.  It was as if she had held up a mirror to my soul, and I was finally seeing my heart for the first time.  It was then that I knew my heart was yearning to serve Christ; that’s when I was finally able to hear and respond to God’s call to ministry.

For all we think we know about “those guys,” and their story, Matthew gives us precious few details.  For example, nowhere in the Bible does it say there were three Wise Men, and scripture doesn’t tell us their names or their native country, although they were thought to have come from Persia.  Tradition has it that they were named Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar and that they were astronomers, perhaps even kings, who read the heavens at night, looking for portents in the stars.

Certainly they were learned men.  And they were indeed wise, for they realized they didn't have all the answers.  We can be sure that they were seekers, these Magi, scanning the night sky for something, for someone.  In the eyes of the Jewish people, their stargazing made them pagan idolaters, the equivalent of tarot card readers.  Even so, the Magi may have been familiar with the books of the Old Testament, such as Micah, who prophesized that from Bethlehem would come forth the “one who is to be ruler in Israel” [5:2].  They may have been familiar with the oracle’s words in the book of Numbers [24:17]: “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,” and the prophecies of Daniel [ch. 9], who said that time was right for the birth of the Messiah.  They may have known that Isaiah had a vision that God’s light would shine in the darkness, a light that would thrill and rejoice their hearts.  The Magi knew of the promise from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they wanted it.  They just didn’t know what – or who – “it” was.

St. Augustine says that "all hearts are restless, Lord, until they find their home in thee."  And the Magi follow the star as well as the restless wisdom of their own hearts.  But for all their sophistication and learnedness, they manage to miss their destination by nine miles.  Instead of ending up in Bethlehem, where the babe was actually born, they find themselves in Jerusalem, at King Herod’s palace.  We don’t know if they simply make an astrological error, or if they are blinded by their own pre-conceived notions of where the new ruler of Israel would be born.  Who could blame them for looking for the King of kings in a place of prestige, power, and wealth, amid the pageantry of a royal court?

But when they continue to follow the star, finding the Child in a humble village, among a common family, they kneel before him, willingly offering their gifts, their homage, their praise – the best they have – to the One who satisfies their soul.  There in Bethlehem, the Magi have their epiphany; and in the surprising poverty of a lowly manger, as they look into the face of the Christ child, they suddenly realize they have found what their hearts have been seeking.

Many of us have, by now, taken down our Christmas decorations and, along with our crèches, we have also packed away the Christmas story for another year, returning to our pre-Christmas lives.  But the story of Christ, Emmanuel, “God with us” has not ended – it has just begun!  Throughout the coming months, we will travel with him as he begins his ministry and makes disciples.  We will meditate on his sacrificial love during Lent.  We will mourn over his crucifixion and death during Holy Week.  We will rejoice in his resurrection at Easter.  His Spirit will make us one at Pentecost.  And throughout all the weeks in this coming year, his guiding star will be there in the sky, beckoning us to follow.  

What are you looking for in this New Year?  Perhaps you are looking for a way out, or maybe for a way in.  Are you searching to go deeper, or a way to climb out of the darkness?  Are you looking for someone to take care of you, or for something or someone to take care of?

What happened to the Magi still occurs in our lives today.  We still show up in the wrong places to fill the yearning in our hearts.  We still allow our pre-conceived notions of how things are “supposed” to be, of what is “supposed” to make us happy, get in our way of discovering what is real and meaningful.  Yes, much like the Magi, our journeys take us through our own prestigious Jerusalems until we find in humble Bethlehems what our hearts seek.

That star hanging high in the night sky symbolizes the deepest longing of everyone, and on this epiphany Sunday, we are invited to continue on the journey, following the star to this Child who satisfies the yearning in our souls and offers a different way to live our lives.