 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri January 7, 2022 What happened next? Angels – again  But the day after?When Christmas pageants, or Christmas preaching, stop with the singing of We Three Kings. they miss huge and important chunks of that story. The wise men/magi/kings show up with the gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh – they fall on their faces – the “get it.” But then what? They’ve found what they sought, the star is gone, and they have a long journey back home. Surely they didn’t just decide to hang around for a few months. Bethlehem wasn’t that exciting a place to be. And besides, they needed to get back to give Herod the news he awaited. But then. An angel. This story is full of them: An angel gave Mary the news of God’s great invitation to her; an angel told Joseph it was right to marry her; an angel told Zechariah that old Elizabeth would have a son; an angel spoke to the shepherds; and now – an angel warns the men – not to return to Herod, and tells them why too, but to go home by a different way. And an angel also warns Joseph to flee to Egypt – the place of all Jewish fears and memories of slavery, with Mary and the child. Angels show up, and dreams do, when the good news, the invitations, the warnings, or the direction that God wants us to hear are not covered by scripture, or by tradition or by our experience of God and the world around us. That’s why they are terrifying. And unsettling. And disruptive of plans for the evening. In these pieces of art, many of them ancient, the three are asleep – usually wearing crowns (so you know who they are!) They were wise enough to pay attention. So was Mary. And Joseph, And Zechariah. And the shepherds, too. And we?    But then what? Joseph says farewell, and a whole lot of art shows the men going home by boat – which is interesting for a whole lot of reasons – but surely represents a surprising, and unanticipated, “other way!” There is layer upon layer to see in this story from beginning to end – to ponder, to consider.   And then Joseph and Mary flee to the last place any Jew would ever choose to go – which is why it takes an angel to get him to do it. Back to the place of all Jewish nightmares: Egypt. As refugees. From political violence. What might that look like today? No one ever leaves home if it is safe to stay, after all…      |
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