Sunday December 28, 2014

Matthew 2:1-2, 10-11

After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.' … The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

No boundaries

There are no limits, no boundaries to the Love God is. There are no limits to where Love goes and no restrictions on the ways Love reaches us, the beloved.

A star beckoned the magi and called them to come and know the glory of God, Immortal Love become flesh. For me, that star was people in my childhood in whom that Love shined and led me to know the child in the manger … and to know that Holy One in the depth of my soul.

The arrival of the magi at the manger signals the presence of God working far beyond the boundaries of Israel--and speaking in ways that go far beyond words in a holy book.

The one who is Love knows no boundaries. God is not the private possession of any one people, culture or religion, something forgotten by the narrow minds and cramped hearts of those who would claim God as their own.

But this is not the way Love is. Love … this Mystery, who takes flesh in a manger, is unbound by race and culture, by time and space and doesn’t conform to our favorite or cherished ways of working.

Love goes where it wills, and time and distance cannot limit its reach or shut it out.

At least once each year, I read a book to children, The Invisible String. It is about love’s reach from the depth of the sea to the distant stars, across the world to across the boundary of death.

The message is sweet and true and filled with what our hearts need to know. There is no place love does not or cannot go; no boundary keeps it out. An invisible string connects us with our beloved, no matter how near or far.

The book is about our human experience of love, but it is truer still of the One who is Love itself. The Holy One still sends sparkling stars and shining angels to announce good news and point us to the place where we can truly know the Love who comes.

Pr. David L. Miller