Follow That Star - sermon for Jan. 12, 2015

Follow That Star

Rev. Alison Longstaff, Jan 12, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Psalm 147:1-5; Matthew 2:1-12; Heavenly Secrets 9293:3; The Apocalypse Explained 695:20  

We all follow some star.  Which one leads to hope and peace and joy?

The story of “the wise men from the east” is a magical story, with interesting characters, a villain, and strange and wonderful gifts.  In it, some sages from a foreign culture see a star and “follow it.”  We don’t know how many sages there were.  We have decided there were three because three gifts are given.  But there could have been two or four or ten sages….  And they weren't kings.  It is okay that we represent them as kingly, covered in fine garments and jewels, because spiritual wisdom corresponds to spiritual riches.  They were spiritually very rich, but were probably not kings.  So, not three, and not kings—they also didn't come to the manger, but to a house—but other than that, we are right on the money.

When was the last time you tried to follow a star?  It sounds like something from a fairy tale or a fantasy story. It captures our imaginations.  The truth is, while we have pretty much lost the ability to follow stars in our modern cultures, thanks to GPS and other technologies, we all follow stars in our spiritual lives.  Those of us that are a little ADD may follow several different stars in one day—“Ooh! Shiny!” But the inner stars we follow are anything that we look toward or use to get us to a better place.  They are anything we are “trusting in” or “living by” to get us closer to the things we value most.  It is always good to reexamine just what it is we are trusting in, so as to  make sure we are going where we truly want to go.

And if you are anything like me, sometimes your eyes may waver, and you start following a different star than you intended without realizing it.  Or maybe you forget you were even following a star—rather the way we forget our New Year’s resolutions. Or perhaps you have been following diligently, and then the star disappears.  That is what happened in today’s story. 

Often, the stars we are following are not the best stars, like wealth, or power, or shopping, or even coffee.  Honestly, if I prayed or meditated as often as I drink coffee … I can’t even think how different my life would be.  But fortunately, God is patient and forgiving.  And in today’s story, only the sages from the east needed to follow the star, not the shepherds, not all of Israel, not the whole world, just this handful of foreigners—and there is a correspondence in that, too.

Today’s sermon is all about the small part of us that does manage to follow the star, THE Star, The Star of Bethlehem, even while other parts of us are wandering off after other stars.  And it is about the results that come from that small part of us successfully arriving at the cradle of God in our souls, and all the blessings that unfold from that. 

So let’s look at some of the details around this story.

• The wise ones came from the east.
• They went first to Jerusalem
• Then the star led them to Bethlehem 

Swedenborg says the sages came from the east for two reasons.  First, it was in the east that there were still people who had a very ancient wisdom. Only these could “read the signs” of the Lord’s coming.   

Secondly, the east is the direction that symbolizes the greatest intimacy with God, because it is where the sun rises.  The most ancients knew that the sun represented God.  Only later did humans begin to confuse the sun with God and worship it.  Sun worship is a vestige of this ancient wisdom.  In any case, these wise ones coming from the east symbolize a part of our inner reality that lives closest to the divine or is the most spiritual, and it therefore holds the deepest wisdom, such that it recognizes God’s approach and responds.  That part of us is paying attention to signs of God’s leading, and following. The whole rest of our psyches, or “the world” may be going about life as usual, but this part of us is listening and waiting and then responding to God’s birth in our lives.  We don’t have to do much to make this happen.  It just happens.

An interesting and perhaps very telling detail is that the sages first went to Jerusalem.  This journey symbolizes that our first spiritual response to the Divine is to learn more.  We get curious.  We might go to the very center of a given religion (Jerusalem) to find the Divine. Whatever it looks like, we all start our spiritual journey with education—with learning in some form. We start by trying to learn “the rules.”  (Egypt also represents learning or education, so every time someone travels to Egypt or lives in Egypt in the Bible, the story is about a phase of education in the spiritual journey.) 

Notice that it doesn't say the star led them to Jerusalem.  It just says they went there. Did an expectation that they would find what they need in Jerusalem take over from their inner listening, and that is why they lost sight of the star?  Who knows?  In any case, it is clear that at some point they had to stop and ask for directions (wise men indeed!). Bethlehem is five miles beyond Jerusalem if we consider the most common route from the east to the west in this region.  Perhaps the story tells us that they went first to Jerusalem because this is what we all do in our spiritual journey.  We all start with education and must access education for us to advance in our spiritual growth. 

But we cannot stop there; we cannot think that we are getting closer to the Divine by piling on more and more spiritual education.  We have to “use it or lose it.” When we use spiritual education to try to bypass actual spiritual growth, it is a little like trying to get to heaven by building a tower. It is like mistaking the sun for God.  It is like mistaking the finger that points to the moon for the moon.  And it is why we all react with distaste to spiritual adherents whose lives show little transformation by the teachings and practices they supposedly espouse.  “Hypocrite” comes from Greek and means play-actor or faker.  Nobody likes a hypocrite.

All of us have encountered—or ourselves have been—the humans who mistake being right or having lots of doctrine for travelling the path to heaven.  It isn't what we have, it is what we do. The need to be right is from the ego.  But the light of the Star shines into our inner knowing, not our ego.  The more our ego takes over our spiritual journey, the harder it is for us to hear the inner wisdom—the “still, small voice.” When the ego takes over, the star disappears.

Jerusalem in the Word always represents our spirituality in regard to our ideas and rituals and “doctrine.”  Jerusalem is our “head” connection with religion.  It is the structure, the trappings, and the "bones” of religion.  It is a vital part of the religious landscape, but Jesus isn't born there for several reasons.

 

First, Herod is often ruling there, and he is threatened by Jesus.  Herod wants to kill Jesus.  Herod is our ego.  Herod is our fear and insecurity and need to control.  This part of us feels threatened by and wants to kill any gentle, intuitive calling to be open, vulnerable, non-dominant, and of service.  Our ego leads us to our ego.  It can’t lead us anywhere else.  It is a lousy leader of our spiritual life and wants to kill every single thing that threatens it, even the most tender and innocent.  It is also a fact of our existence.  We all have an ego and it always kills the innocent, and that is one reason we suffer so much.

So why did the wise men go to Jerusalem?  Why did they lose sight of the star? This has several meanings, but one simple one is that this story describes the way we learn how to move from a head-based spirituality to a heart-based one.  Every single one of us finds our way to a true and living spirituality through “Jerusalem.”  We think the Lord will be in “Jerusalem” which means we think our security and foundation will be in the doctrines or beliefs of a religion; and because we believe this, we are allowed to “go there,” which is the best way for us to realize that the Lord is not there.  The Divine is found through good religious instruction, but actually finds no room in a head-only, rules-based “I-have-arrived-because-I've-signed-up-with-the-right-club” way if doing religion. We must seek a living, inner connection to the Divine Love, and that is found elsewhere.

And so once we let go of “doctrine” and “religion” as the birthplace of the Divine in us, then we can be lead to where the Divine truly rests in us, in a humble manger, in Bethlehem.

 

Bethlehem means “House of Bread”.  A place of nourishment.  A place where we will be spiritually fed and cared for.  It is a place of hospitality, not worry about being perfect.  Jesus was born and laid in a manger, which is a place of nourishment of the most humble kind. When we are in a Jerusalem spirituality, we still judge worship and each other based on external features: Is the space perfect? Are the robes flawlessly clean?  Did the minister or organist make any mistakes?  Thinking these external trappings matter more than they do are often how we slide into in a “Jerusalem” spirituality.  Whereas a Bethlehem spirituality pays attention to the feeling of the space and the quality of the intention of the congregation even if the space is a little run down.  A “Bethlehem” church is one that is always welcoming, even if it is not ready to be showcased in a magazine, because appearances don’t matter as much as the love.

Bethlehem especially represents when the goodness in our hearts is finding expression in what we do.  It is when truths, such as that we should love our neighbor as our self are actually showing up in how we live.  Our spiritual life becomes complete only when we are living the truths we have learned simply because we love the Lord and the neighbor.  A stable is the birth-place.  It is humble.  The wise ones will find Jesus in a house, because by the time they arrive, Mary and Joseph have found a home.  Still, Bethlehem spirituality is about hospitality.  When our presence becomes soul-nourishing and sheltering and welcoming to all those around us, we are in a Bethlehem spirituality.

In our spiritual journey to the place where Jesus lives in us, we walk right by Herod (ego) metaphorically. We even ask him for help.  But it is not Herod that helps, it is the scholars attached to his palace that help us (ancient wisdom).  There is a resonant wisdom in Jerusalem that points our wandering sages to Bethlehem.  Then, instead of leading the ego straight to Jesus, there is a part of us that listens to the whispers in our dreams (our intuitive knowing).  This steers us away from any alliance with Herod, keeping Jesus safe.  The sages go home by another way. 

Phew!  The thing about a Swedenborgian study of the Bible, is that there are so many riches within even the shortest story, it is hard to keep the sermon short!  I want to share all of it.

And so, let us tackle Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh which are the riches we reap when this part of our souls finally connects with the cradle of the Divine in us.  Remember, the entire rest of the world is going about its business, not paying much attention to this visit.  This means that the Lord is doing this work inside our souls even while we are trying to deal with paying the bills and getting our kids to do their homework and figure out how warm to keep our homes in the dead of winter when heat costs so much.  So long as we are doing our best and setting our intention repeatedly back to a life of integrity and selflessness and service according to our conscience, God takes care of the rest of it.  This is happening in the spiritual realm even while the bulk of our attention must go elsewhere.

Gold is a gift we give and receive from our love or motivational side.  In this story it is the rich and pure love from God which we offer back to God when we have done the work of the spiritual journey.  This giving and receiving happens over and over again, not just once, rather the way we read this story year after year, because the spiritual journey is both a process and an event.  Frankincense is a gift we give and receive from our intellect or thinking side.  It is the way our spiritual intelligence is enriched and seasoned by all the learning along the way, and how we serve others from this wisdom.  Myrrh symbolizes all the ways this deepened love and deepened wisdom become part of everything we do.  Once we find and “arrive” in a Bethlehem spirituality, we find our way straight to the Lord, and cannot help but offer up from our lives, acts of love and service shaped and informed by deep love and wisdom.

There is a star lighting your path.  You can see it when you go within yourself to commune with God.  This takes learning and discipline, education and practice, but God is patient and understands. Your Star of Bethlehem speaks into your heart; into what you love best.  When you cannot find it, perhaps you are near Jerusalem and Herod, thinking your ideas will save you, or that belonging to the right spiritual club will save you, or that learning more truth will save you, or that serving more from an empty place will save you.  But the answer lies in our hearts and in who we were created to be, which is always with us.  The Star speaks to a part of us we barely notice, but that is very wise.  When we remember that the spiritual path lies in love and in inner listening; when we remember that it is always headed toward compassion and service for all, we will find our way again.  When we fill with joy and hope, even if there is spiritual work ahead, we have found our star.

This is the hope and peace and joy awaiting us all (along the way and) at the end of this spiritual journey.  It is the hope of all humankind, for when we follow this star, we will find peace on earth, and life will be a joy. 

May you have good success on your journey toward your Star of Bethlehem this year.

Amen

The Readings

Psalm 147: 1-5  Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.  The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  He determines the number of the stars; he gives to each one a name.

Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, 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 wise men 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 at its rising, 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.

The Apocalypse Explained 695:20   The sages from the east were the ones paying attention regarding the Lord's coming because of correspondences within their ancient beliefs.  That is why the star appeared them and lead them.  Being “from the east” also symbolizes a very close connection with the Divine. The star went before them, first to Jerusalem, which always represents “the church” in respect to doctrine and in respect to the Word.  From there it went before them to the place where the infant Lord lay. 

Heavenly Secrets 9293:3

‘Gold, frankincense, and myrrh’ symbolize all the different ways our lives are transformed by love and by a living faith.  We offer these back to God when we live more wisely and compassionately in the world. ‘Gold” is all the ways we are changed by becoming more loving; ‘frankincense’ is all the ways we are changed by becoming more wise and trusting in Providence; and ‘myrrh’ is all the ways those inner changes show up in everything we do.  The people of old, from ancient times, understood and saw such heavenly and divine realities shining from within all things in the world and on earth.  It was well known to these ancients that all things had a correspondence and were representative, and therefore had a spiritual meaning.  This was how they knew that gold, frankincense, and myrrh symbolize the forms of love that should be offered to God. They knew also from their prophecies that the Lord would come into the world, at which time a star would appear to them. ‘A star’ symbolizes an inner knowing of what is truly good, which come from connection with the Lord.