Looking and Listening for God

Matthew 2:1-12; Acts 11:1-18

Matthew really doesn’t tell us much about these people who have travelled to worship this one who has been born. We don’t know how many there are. We don’t know if they were male or female. We don’t know if they knew the Jewish Scripture or not. We don’t know how far they travelled. This is what we do know:
They came from the east with gifts.
They had been looking and noticed a new star in the night sky.
They connected the appearance of that star to a new king of the Jews, and wanted to worship him.
They listened and consulted with the faithful – asking the chief priests.
They looked to Scripture guide them – it was Micah, the prophet, who said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
As they set out again, they looked and saw that the star was leading them.
We know that they brought Jesus three gifts: gold, something used by royalty- Jesus is a king; frankincense, something used by priests in worship – Jesus is divine; and myrrh, something used to prepare a body for burial – Jesus will die. Why these gifts? Certainly, they were not traditional baby shower gifts. I doubt seriously any of the magi had ever given a similar gift to another baby. Something nudged them, a thought, a sense that these gifts were right. And they went with it.
As they prepared to go, they listened to a dream that told them not to go back to Herod.

For all we DON’T know about the magi, it’s incredible that what we know about the magi is that they paid attention. They looked and listened, and God guided them.

Somewhere around 35 years later, the apostle Peter was in Jerusalem. An aside for context, Peter was named Simon and was a fisherman with his brother Andrew when Jesus called them to follow him. Jesus gave him the name Peter – petra means rock in Greek – Jesus said of him, on this rock I will build my church. The same Peter who walked on water with Jesus and denied Jesus 3 times on the night of his arrest and whom Jesus, after his resurrection, asked 3 times “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.” This Peter was a leader in the early church, preaching, spreading the Gospel. Thousands of Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah and were baptized.

And then, he started affiliating with Gentiles – Gentiles weren’t a particular nationality or culture, gentile is just a way to say anyone who wasn’t Jewish. People who weren’t circumcised, and so were not part of God’s covenant with Abraham. People who didn’t follow the food laws, who were unclean. He was going into their houses and eating with them. The other apostles, when they meet up with Peter in Jerusalem, question him about his new friendly relationship with outsiders. And he tells them that he was praying, and in his mind’s eye he saw a vision, much like a dream but while awake, he saw a sheet descend in a bundle like an invisible hand was lowering it, and when it opened, it was full of animals of all kinds – clean and unclean. And he heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat them.” No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.” “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ This happened three times. Then the sheet with all the animals in it was pulled back up.

And he heard a knock at the door – three men, sent to get him to go to a Gentile home in Ceasarea, about 35 miles away. He goes and listens as the Gentile man who sent for him recounts a visit by an angel who had told him to send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. Promising that Peter would tell him how he and his household could be saved.

So, Peter did. He saw the vision, he heard the confirmation, and he let God guide him.

The Bible is filled with accounts of God’s efforts to communicate with creation and of creation’s response. Jesus, the Word made Flesh, is God’s fullest communication with creation. And the God’s Spirit continues to communicate with us. So how do we look and listen for God?

We pay attention. The magi spent time quietly watching the night sky. Peter was praying. God has not stopped communicating, but sometimes we have stopped paying attention.

It may be that we see something that brings a message to mind – a loaf of bread might spark a mental image of communion, a rainbow when you are facing struggles that are overwhelming might speak reassurance that God will not let you drown. An image might come to mind or Scripture might “pop” into your head. It may be a nudge that you wonder how “so and so” is doing, listen to the nudge. It might be a thought that something should be done about “x”. Listen, test your interpretation of what God is leading you to, bring it up with other believers, make sure that it is consistent with who we know God to be throughout Scripture, and act.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a starting place for listening. A few years ago, I started hearing about Presbyterian congregations getting “star words” on Epiphany. And at first, I was very skeptical – a word, written on a star, that you draw at random and that is your “word for the year”? I was skeptical – not because of the star or the word or it being random – but because of us, our tendency to ascribe magical powers to things.

Then, last year, I was on a Zoom call with some Presbyterian minister colleagues and one had introduced the practice of star words to her congregation the previous Sunday and asked if we all wanted star words. Sure. She drew out a star for each of us. OK. A few days later, I got an envelope in the mail with my star in it, and I taped it to the corner of my computer monitor. “possibility” I cannot tell you how many times this year I moved forward with a nudge because I didn’t dismiss it as “not possible.” It was the light that kept shining as I knew I needed Sabbatical to rest and Sabbath and be able to come back reenergized for ministry. I would see the star word and into my thoughts would pop, “Nothing is impossible with God.”

So, this morning, as you receive Communion, I invite you to also receive a star word. It may not mean anything to you today. Just put your star word somewhere you will see it throughout the year – your fridge or computer monitor, on your mirror or your alarm clock. You might want to look up the word and think about what it means. Or one day you might write the word big on a piece of paper and surround it with all the things that come to mind associated with it. You might google a concordance for the word and print out the verses of Scripture that relate to that word. Is there one that stands out? Over the year, there may be days you don’t notice your star word, that’s ok. Putting it someplace you see it will remind you to pause and reflect on how God has moved through, around, or in your life in connection to that word.

Again, there is no magic involved in your word, a star word is a guide into prayer, it is a reminder placed in our lives to look and listen for God to lead us. Amen.