Kindred in Christ,

Happy New Year! And Happy Epiphany! This Sunday we will celebrate Epiphany Sunday by reflecting on the Magi who follow the star into the unknown (Matthew 2:1-12). Their foreign mystical practices, their astrological star-reading led them to encounter the divine presence in the humble first century Palestinian baby, Jesus, which was going unnoticed by king Herod, and so many others.

I grew up being taught that Christianity was fundamentally against astrology, star reading, and all other “non-Christian” religious and spiritual practices. Yet we see the opposite in this story.

Far from seeing the Magi as in need of repentance or conversion, Matthew’s gospel emphasizes their wisdom. We can and should learn from these foreigners and their practices. The great wisdom of the Magi is that they left the comfort of their world and culture, and traveled into a foreign and hostile world, and knelt before a child.

They did not limit the possibilities of where the Divine could show up to their own nation, culture, or religion. With eyes of faith, they saw the divine Christ in the human baby Jesus. The Magi saw God in a child from another culture and believed that this baby was deserving of gifts fit for a king.

What if it is true that every child is deserving of such gifts? What if we treated children from every nation as if they were worthy of gold, frankincense, and myrrh? What if we saw a star hovering over every child in the ruins of Gaza today?

Khaled Nabhan, a Palestinian man who lost his precious 3-year-old granddaughter Reem, went viral in a widely shared video of him cradling Reem’s lifeless body, and kissing her eyes. Over and over again he called her “the soul of my soul.”

Every child is the soul of someone’s soul. Even an orphan is the soul of God’s own soul, for God is the “Father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5). And as James Baldwin said, “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe.” Yet we are so quick to limit deservingness of our own kind.

The Magi challenges us. They challenge us to actually step out, they call us to see the star and follow it toward encountering the other.

Join us this Sunday, as we explore further what it means for us to see, trust, and follow the divine stars in our lives, and allow it to lead us into God’s future.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz