Give Back the Song: Choose Another Way
Mathew 2: 1-12
For lo the days are
hastening on,
By prophet bards
foretold,
When, with the every
rolling years,
Still dawns the Age of
Gold,
when peace shall over
all the earth
its ancient splendors
fling,
and all the world give
back the song
which now the angels
sing.
Verse 5 from It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
January 6th
marks the day in the Western Christian calendar that the Wise Ones arrived at
the manger. In Latin American this is El Dia de Los Reyes Magos, a day when the
Kings come bearing gifts for the children. When the los ricos, the rich ones,
bend to something bigger than themselves and share their surplus wealth.
In the Orthodox
Churches however it is Christmas because they are following a different
calendar. Their epiphany will come on January 18th. And in some
parts of Ireland, it is Women’s Christmas, a day when the women take a break
from their domestic chores and celebrate together the joy of the season. And
still for others, it is the official end of the holiday season----the taking
down of the tree, the packing up of the Christmas decorations, the return to
“normal.”
For me, this first
Sunday in Epiphany, when the light was manifest to the world, is the
anniversary of my ordination, the official recognition by the church of my
calling into ministry. I chose this day
because it seemed appropriate that I should join the stargazers, the Wise Ones,
in their search for truth, the ones that were the first in the New Testament to
commit civil disobedience.
When I was young I
loved singing We Three Kings with the alternative verses: “We three
kings of Orient Are, tried to smoke a rubber cigar, it exploded and imploded
and now we are only two. Later I focused on the strange gifts that the kings
brought—frankincense, gold, and myrrh. These hardly seemed liked things
suitable for a baby.
water for labor’s washing
fire for warm illumination
a blanket for swaddling.
In seminary I read commentaries about the gifts being symbolic or suited for the different roles Jesus would play later in life: gold for royalty, frankincense for a priest, and myrrh for embalming, his death already foreshadowed at his birth. Still I thought some baby presents would have been nice. At least the Drummer boy gave him a song everyone could enjoy.
The Magi came
in search of the Christ Child, the king of the Jews.
They came from the East, most likely from modern day
Iraq. They were seekers, stargazers, priestly pagans, contemplatives seeking
truth. They were non-Jews. They were Gentiles. They were us.
I think it is significant that Jewish
shepherds and Zorastrian Magi are the first to experience the light. The
secular, the occult, and the sacred compose one whole in Mathew’s birth
narrative. All become attentive to the divine and bring gifts in recognition. In a time when religious people and their leaders are
fighting about everything I find it interesting to note that Mathew’s gospel does
not mandate either a Jewish or biblical hope before coming to the Messiah. What
is essential is to show up, fall on your knees and offer something. What is essential
is to be ready to sing back the song that the angels sing. Seeing and hearing
are not enough. You must make an offering of what you most treasure.
Your star
gazing, your trust in dreams, in the road not taken before, in refusing to bend
to anyone or anything other than your God will present challenges for you and
imperial authorities. Writer John Berger says, that tyrants fear story telling
because all stories refer to the story of their fall. Beneath the glitter of
oriental pageantry of the Wise Ones is the story of ruthless power and
infanticide. Herod cannot bear the story of another king.
From
the beginning the Wise Ones reject paying homage to Herod’s imperial authority
by refusing to bow to him and instead bow and worship the
newborn king. Furthermore, they refuse to return to the court and tell Herod
where he is so by necessity and conscience they chose another way home.
Father John Dear,
veteran peace activist in his Advent Reflections for 2007, states that these
acts of non-cooperation prepare us for the meeting of the God of nonviolence. “When one first meets the God of
nonviolence, one’s first act is to worship. The second is to repudiate the
false imperial gods, disobey standing orders to partake of killings, and third head
back on a different path, resist the culture of violence.”
Repudiating
the false imperial gods of money and security is not easy for any of us. It is
easier to sing the tune of Away in a Manger than O Little Town of Bethlehem
imprisoned by a wall. It is easier to vote No than Yes to end the longest
military occupation in history. Easier
to say we have the right to defend ourselves than to find another way to
resolve our differences. It is easier to issue collective punishment than to
seek justice. It is easier to hurl stones or pick up a weapon than to work out
a plan for sharing God’s land and all her resources. And finally, sadly, it is
easier to stay on the well worn war path than to try the way of nonviolence.
Jesus, the
Prince of Peace was born in a time and place where there was Roman occupation
and no room for his birth. We celebrate his birth with the Wise ones by
following our own dreams, stars, roads to new birth.
We sing back the song the angels have sung by refusing to
co-operate with imperial authorities wherever they are and whenever they demand
us to bow to them instead of our God. And
like the Wise Ones, who not only followed the light of the star but became lights
themselves of nonviolence, we are asked to return another way home, to bear the
Christ light ourselves.
Prayer
From God’s fullness,
we all receive room.
Life and light
divine access and grace-filled flesh
belong to us all.
We give thanks for the Word
who assures us that the light
will never be overcome by darkness.
May this light widen our vision.
May we become welcoming fires
in empires’shadows.
May we see how the story
of God-with-us
invites our participation.
May we live Christmas
all year long.
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