Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

Matthew 2: 1-12

There is a short moment at the end of this sermon where I am going to have you talk to your neighbor. This is a heads up for those who need to prepare themselves. When that moment arrives, you can opt out. Just pretend to be asleep or stare at your shoes. I’m not the boss of you. 

We have arrived at the point in our story when the Magi show up. They are travelers from the East. No one really knows their origin or how far they traveled but we do know it’s a long way and they are unlike anyone else around when they arrive in Bethlehem. One theory is that they are Zoroastrian priests, known for astrology and dream interpretation and rituals. It’s a theory so who knows. What I do know is that when my Jes was serving a church in Manhattan, as she got on the subway in her clergy collar, a man started talking to her about life as a clergy person and said, “I am Zoroastrian. We share the Magi story.” When my dear husband heard this story from Jes, he groaned and said, “Jodi you love that story so much don’t you.” And I said, “too much.” The Magi already loom large in my imagination and this subway man is all the proof I need. You are going to have to make your own conclusions.

What we know is that they not only study the stars, something stirs within them to follow one unusually bright star. Which meant, they traveled in the night, a bit of light at a time,

So that star got them to Jerusalem. Traveling by star isn’t an exact science. This isn’t Google maps. It’s starlight. So the Magi arrive in Jerusalem and these travelers inadvertently tip off King Herod by asking around for a Baby King Jesus. This is a time when kings were appointed by Rome. Period. Sometimes, an unsanctioned king would emerge and that was disastrous because it was seen as act of treason against Rome and they were quickly executed. There are rumors of a baby King Jesus rumbling about and now these wise folks arrive asking about him and of course it scares King Herod. Because either Rome has quietly replaced Herod and neglected to tell him or! a popular king is emerging and well, it is Herod’s duty to seek and destroy him. 

So King Herod tells the Magi to go on to Bethlehem, find this Baby King and then come back and tell him about it. The Magi find Jesus and present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Super weird baby gifts. Rather than traveling back to report to Herod, the Magi protect Jesus by going home another way. This enrages King Herod, so he declares that every baby be killed in all of Bethlehem.

But because Joseph had been warned in a dream to flee from Herod’s murdery wrath, Mary and Joseph take Baby Jesus and flee to Egypt. Currently, there are estimated 7-10 million refugees worldwide. The Holy Family walks among them, becoming asylum seekers in order to escape sure and certain death at the hands of corrupt leadership. 

The generous resources that the Magi gifted the Holy Family likely came in handy as they ran. Resources help. Maybe those baby gifts weren’t so strange after all. It’s also worth saying again in 2026 that people lied to the government into order to keep this family safe. 

2000 years ago, Jesus was born into a world of fear and violence. And still people resisted  the nonsense and gathered with their neighbors for shared meals. Jesus was born into a world of fear and violence and people still prayed together and took care of one another and when they ran into each other at the market, they said, “Oh how good to see you. How have you been.” Jesus is born into a world a fear and violence and neighbors with snowblowers still snow blow the entire block and feed one another cats when the humans are away and offer rides to the airport. When the systems and machines are bent on violence, it takes enormous effort to rehumanize the world. 

Some of you had an absolutely lovely Christmas. God bless you. I’m also aware that for some, it was a hard time. Sometimes, Christmas with all it’s expectations and nostalgia is just way too much for folks. Maybe you are grieving who was not at your table or just grieving the state of the world. If this is the case, then congratulations because you made it through. It’s January in Minnesota which means expectations of one another are very low. January means sweatpants and turning in early or not going out at all. January is looking like you have the flu but you don’t. You might even wear pajamas to church.

Maybe you’ve had big losses and you are in year of macro sadness and it feels like you are carrying around a 50 pound bag of flour, Costco size flour. Except, it is not flour, it’s grief. And sure, you can come to the social thing, but…you will be bringing the flour along. 

I’m in a time of big loss and sadness and I knew December would be a bit of a bugger. So I started looking for micro joys, small moments of delight that do not fix the grief, because there is no fix, but a moment to also notice goodness. 

Here are a few examples:
1. Beginning each morning with a holiday mug of coffee.

2. Walking in the dark one morning, I saw a teeny tiny string of Christmas lights on my neighbors Little Free Library shaped like a house.

3. During the Christmas pageant here, I watched a grandma beam with pride and mouth along the words to Away in the Manger as the smallest ones sang their hearts out.

4. This is my dog, LadyBug, who we adopted one year ago. I did not want another dog but here we are. There is a moment on our daily walk where I look down and somehow LadyBug has found and picked up a stick and it makes her so dang happy that her joy spills over into mine and it makes me laugh. 

Maybe you want to join me and create your own list of things that bring you a moment of delight. 

We are all traveling by another way. It is a path of resistance. We are heading into a year where we will have to resist fear, despair, political gain at the cost of human dignity. This resistance will require the strength of an entire community. You cannot do it alone. We need the courage we get from one another. We travel by starlight. Which means, we will not know what the light of morning will reveal but we trust that there is enough to light the way for this moment.

In a few minutes, we will begin a new year of star words. 

As we end the service today, you will receive a Star Word. We have our own Wise people who will come around with baskets full of little cards with a word on each one. 

 

This isn’t a word you pick or choose, it chooses you. It’s a gift which you receive. Which means you do not get to control it. It’s tempting to to dig around for a word you want, but just pick at random. Words are not magic. They are a year long prayer practice. A word to focus your attention as you move through life. 

 

We will pass around baskets of words. Take one and put it somewhere where you see it. Watch and listen for how it shapes and shows up in your life. This is for all ages.

 

If you didn’t like your word last year, may the odds be ever in your favor this year.

Raise your hand if you got a star word last year.

Raise your hand if you liked your word.

Raise your hand if you did not like your word but it yielded fruit in your life.

Actually, I want to you take a minute and share with someone around something you noticed about your star word. Talk to someone around you. I will awkwardly call you back together in a minute. 

 

Can you imagine an entire community taking this prayer practice to heart? It means obedience, shimmer, rest, wanderlust, dig, discipleship, courage, laughter.

Who needs more angry kings or fear driven humans? What we need is an entire community shimmering, resting, wandering, digging, moving through the world with courage and obedience. Everything we need is here, church. A little bit of starlight, a whole community conspiring for good and Baby King Jesus showing us the way.