If you are in my house any time of the year, you might notice it. But this time of the year, it gets moved right by the tree. It's a small Tanzanian basket filled with stars. Ornaments, carvings, Moravian stars, Swedish stars, St. Nicholas stars, glass, everything possible. All shapes and colors and textures. I’ve accumulated them over the years. Started when I was a much younger person, and I went to those Day after Christmas sales. Where they flung open the doors early and put everything 75% off. Then I would get them on trips. And gradually people started to give them to me.
I first fell in love with stars because of the story of the wise men in Matthew 2. Those men from the east looked up, saw a star, and took off on a journey. An absurd journey, really. Through the night, they followed this star in what had to be a wandering and sometimes aimless path. But they went, and light guided them the whole way. And light, when you think about it, permeates our entire Christmas and Advent story. Someone extends the gift of hospitality to Mary and Joseph. A gift of light in the night for them. Angels light up the night sky. All of that darkness was shown to be brilliant as the shepherds looked up and heard about the coming of Christ. The manager, the birth of the child is usually depicted with light coming out from it.
And as we prepare during the season of Advent, we mark the days and weeks with candles until the explosion of light on the fullness of Christmas. Stars and light guide our way. Glimpses of light during this season are glimpses of hope until that hope fills our spirits. But more than that, light is part of what we are called to out of baptism. We get to be stars. Because of that child in a manger, as we are baptized, we are sent out to the world to be light for others who forget that God is at work.
We get to be those glimpses of hope and promise and love to those who might have forgotten that they are in the world. You and I get to be the piece of hope that might just change someone's life. Because when we reflect the light of that child in our lives, it can stop people in their tracks. That love and that light bring hope. That love and that light show people what God is up to in this world. And when we live that light together, it changes the world and brings light in ways that we cannot even imagine.
As you gather in this season, may you get to see those glimpses of the kingdom of heaven and light all around you, just as the shepherds did.
And may you, as you go forth from this season, be a star, that glimpses where others see the kingdom of God shining through you.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord's face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace, knowing you never go alone. Amen.
