There is a strong Christian
tradition, that would see astrology as suspect. But here are astrologers from
the East, traditionally thought to be Persia/Iran visiting the infant Jewish
Messiah because their stargazing has foretold a very significant birth. They
embark on a long and dangerous journey to find the reason for this large star.
They non Jews believed that the star depicted the birth of the King of the
Jews, and they went to the palace to find the king-because kings live in
palaces. But Herod was troubled by the arrival of the magi. He pretends that he
is interested and encourages them on their way to Bethlehem, which means in
Hebrew, House of Bread, to where the prophet Micah has foretold that the
Messiah will come from.
And so they go to Bethlehem and give
the infant Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh and pay homage to him: Myrrh for
a kings anointing, gold symbolising costly worship and frankincense prayer. And
they departed another way having been warned in a dream of impending trouble,
if they went back to Herod. The importance of dreams in the gospel stories of
the nativity are striking. Do we take notice of our dreams?
Where would we find such wise men or
wise women today? I think they are a rare breed and as such should have
protected status! Wisdom is much lacking in our society though revered by other
cultures, like ageing. We have much to learn about wisdom and wise guides to
help us.
To find this star and the baby King,
the astrologers had to
1.physically travel,
2. mentally adjust to cross cultural
differences and
3. religiously adopt another set of
beliefs or at least some of them.
They had to journey. They had to
leave behind the safety of their homes, their occupations, and in great danger
follow their hunch. In doing so they also willingly gave materially, such was
their devotion. And lastly they listened to their dreams.
Without a vision, a dream we become
as dead people. So any resolutions we make for the coming year should be fired
with real belly felt dreams. For me Gods Spirit is at its most powerful in what
inspires our imaginations and our dreams and these dreams drive us to think and
act in ways that can change us and those around us and our world.
What will drive us like the Magi to
foolishly follow the God of Truth and Wisdom. It may involve upheaval, It may
involve a change of attitudes. It may involve traveling. It may involve, if
temporarily, a leaving behind and moving into dangerous territory and the
giving of what is costly. But of such stuff are dreams made of and of such
stuff is the journey we are on.
Its scary stuff, being able to peel
back the layers and listen to our hearts desires or our dreams because it can
result in changing the small corner of our world to follow that dream and
others may not be sympathetic.
The Journey of The Magi-T.S.Elliot
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed,
refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the
terraces,
And the silken girls bringing
sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and
grumbling
And running away, and wanting their
liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and
the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns
unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging
high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel
all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears,
saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a
temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling
of vegetation;
With a running stream and a
water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped in
away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with
vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for
pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty
wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so
we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment
too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may
say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I
remember,
And I would do it again, but set
down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death?
There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different;
this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like
Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these
Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the
old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their
gods.
I should be glad of another death.
