What Star Do You Follow?
What stars guide you on your journey through life? Did you choose them or just sort of acquire them unwittingly? Why do you still choose the stars that guide you?
In the biblical stories about Jesus’ birth and earliest years – only found in Matthew and Luke – we hear the story of Wise Men from the East who followed a star they believed signaled the birth of a new king. That star led them to Jesus in Bethlehem, where they offered their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh – all deeply symbolic and very expensive. The star wasn’t as precise as today’s GPS systems that everyone carries around in their pockets or on their wrists or in their cars. Surprisingly and amazingly, the Wise Men stopped and asked for directions in Jerusalem! Perhaps that’s why they were called wise! They sought guidance from other stars – religious scholars and King Herod who reigned over that region of the Roman Empire. We know little about the religious scholars except that they offered more specific guidance as to where to find the child – in the little village of Bethlehem, only a few miles away.
Herod requested that they return to Jerusalem after paying homage to this new king so that he too could do the same – he just needed the address. After the Wise Men visited the humble Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, they did not return to Herod. In a dream that they took as a message from God, they were told to steer clear of the regional leader. They were faced with a choice: which star do we follow – the political leader representing the empire or this other star that led them from the East to the West, with a vision telling them to disobey and disregard the other star. I wonder what went through their minds as they sorted it all out.
We know a bit about what they went through though, don’t we? We are faced with similar situations all the time. Throughout our lives, guidance is offered by competing stars, so to speak, and we have to choose. And choose we do. Sometimes we are more intentional than at other times with our star selection. Much of the time we rely on the stars of our upbringing to keep guiding us – which they always do.
The stars we take guidance from serve as our teachers along our way. From time to time, it is wise to evaluate and reevaluate what stars we are following. Jesus warned that, like Herod, there are stars that may not be wise to follow. How do you know when you’re following a star that isn’t going to lead you where you want to go? Seriously – how do you, dear reader, carry out your star assessment?
Jesus lived at a time when there were religious leaders who, to varying degrees, weren’t offering good direction. Be it their content or delivery or both, or their overt and covert messages, he was raising awareness and concern. These “false teachers” as he called them, were vicious wolves. He locked horns with them many times. In the end, they conspired with Rome to get him killed. Vicious, indeed. Jesus knew a thing or two about false teachers and misguiding stars. What metric did he advise including in star assessments? Fruit. A bad tree can’t produce good fruit, and a good tree can’t produce bad fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). Got it.
Jesus, as a star that Christians and many others look to for guidance, gives advice that in general is quite valuable. What’s the fruit of the star look like? BTW: In know I’m mixing metaphors. Deal with it. If the character of the star doesn’t represent someone we’d like to emulate, maybe that should give us pause. If the guidance coming from that star leads us to immoral or illegal behaviors, that should give us pause. If we have a nagging uneasiness when we hear the guidance spoken and modeled by our stars, that should give us pause.
However! As we learned from Brian McLaren’s insight a couple of weeks ago, we all have at least 16 areas of bias to deal with. What if our uneasiness isn’t because the star is a false prophet, but because we’re the ones who are off? Should discomfort or feelings carry so much sway? Well, they do regardless of the stated value we give them. What can we trust, then, if not our own sensibilities?
The Christmas Story offers us a great gift in our attempts at star assessment. The story developed less to communicate historical data and more to proclaim theological principles about God in light of all Jesus taught and modeled. The tenets imbedded in the Christmas Story itself provide a reference with which we can compare and contrast the stars we look to for guidance. What are the whopper themes that the Christmas Story proclaims? Here are a few:
· God loves and cares for the world and its inhabitants to enter into the human experience as intimately as possible in order to be known and also to know. The star aligned with God loves and cares.
· God’s act of incarnation on display represents incredible selflessness. The star aligned with God is other centered.
· God’s act of incarnation displays unparalleled vulnerability. The star aligned with God embraces humility and vulnerability as strength.
· God’s act of incarnation evidence enormous self-investment. The star aligned with God is incredibly generous.
· God’s act of incarnation is shockingly egalitarian and inclusive. The star aligned with God goes out of its way to be inclusive.
How does this play out in the Christmas Story? God comes down from heaven and enters into the human experience as an infant – you can’t get more vulnerable than that. The angelic invitations throughout communicate that what is going to happen is Good News for all people, not just the elite who make Good News primarily for themselves. God in this story gives up power, entrusting Godself with others in order to live. And the key characters in the story? Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds? All nobodies who, by the invitation, realized they were somebodies all along. Even the wealthy Wise Men are outliers – they took the signs of literal stars seriously, which was not looked up with favor by ancient Judaism. God was inclusive of all in this story. Even barn animals matter – they got a front row seat to the birth event! That Jesus was portrayed as being born into such poverty is no mistake – it is literary genius making it plain that God truly loves all, even the poorest of the poor who are so often maligned in their despair.
Are the mega themes present attractive to you? Do they represent the fruit you’re looking for? How do your stars align with what see in this story? Without a doubt, some of the guidance from the stars aligned with God will make you uncomfortable because so many out-of-alignment stars teach something different. Discomfort may be telling us that something is off, and it might just be us! If you never experience discomfort following the stars that align with God, you would be the first, which, in light of all who have come before us, should give us pause.
Are the stars that you follow promoting love, peace, joy, generosity, good will, self-control, inclusivity, equality, equity, harmony, justice and mutual respect? These are all qualities of shalom. These are all themes emanating from the star of the Spirit of God. The Star still guides.
Of course, the Christmas Story also includes a dramatic statement about our human agency. We don’t have to choose the star or stars aligned with God. We can choose whatever we want. In fact, we always do. But do you know that you always do? What kind of world do you want to live in? What kind of human being do you want to be? What do you want for the people you love? What do you deeply desire for all of humanity and all of creation? My hunch is that deeply embedded within all of us is a compass of sorts that is attracted to that beautiful vision of shalom, inviting us to journey through our lives guided by the star aligned with the God we see represented in the Christmas Story.
The Star still guides. What’s guiding you?
Stuff to think about…
What 'stars' or influential voices are currently guiding your life decisions, and have you intentionally chosen them or simply accepted them by default?
How do you distinguish between discomfort that signals genuine danger versus discomfort that stems from your own biases when evaluating new ideas or people?
In what ways does our culture value wealth, prestige, and success over the inclusive love demonstrated in the Christmas story, and how does this affect your daily choices?
The wise men had to decide between competing directions from different sources—what process do you use when the 'stars' in your life give you conflicting guidance?
How does the idea that God chose nobodies from nowhere challenge your assumptions about who matters and who deserves attention in your community?
What would it look like in practical terms to follow a star rooted in self-sacrificial love rather than self-advancement in your workplace or family?
The sermon suggests examining the 'fruit' of someone's life to determine if they're worth following—what specific fruits do you look for, and are they aligned with the values of the Christmas story?
How might recognizing that you've been formed by your culture, family, education, and location help you identify biases that keep you from embracing God's inclusive vision?
If the incarnation means God continues to enter the world through us, what would change about your daily routine if you truly believed you were part of making Christ present today?
Which stars in your life might need to be released to make room for voices more aligned with love, inclusion, and generosity, and what makes letting go difficult?