Setting Out

Matthew 2:1-12 and an excerpt from The Neville Collection: All the Books of a Modern

Master by Neville Goddard

January 5th, 2025

By Rev. Nicole M. Lamarche

I am noting this coming week will be starting my sixth year with you all… Just a

reminder for all of us that whatever you are bringing in the room today, in whatever

shape you are in, whether you know why you are here or you aren’t sure, welcome. May

you hear or feel or receive whatever it is that you need to today. As you are moved, I

invite you to join me in this prayer from Psalm 19. God may the words of my mouth and

the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our Rock and our

Redeemer. Amen.

They set out. In response to a command from a fearful king who told them to search

diligently. They set out. After being called together with religious leaders and the King’s

yes men, given firm instructions, and little information they set out in the dark, unsure.

The word magi comes from the English word magic, which maybe you have figured out,

pointing to the presence of the supernatural, and what they did, that these holy travelers

tended to life’s mysteries, especially in the skies. So in the First Century framework, a

better term for them is probably astrologers, the ones who studied the stars, the people

dedicated to paying close attention to seasons and patterns and changes in the skies.

And you know the Christian tradition has made a lot of these scientists, adoring them as

something like gentle winter wizards. And maybe they were, but they are clearly also

not just studious and committed spiritual seekers, as we heard in this story in the

Gospel of Matthew, these astrologers also show us three very important things about

what it means to welcome God coming into the world: are you ready for it?

First, resisting the Empire doesn’t always have to be public, it doesn’t always have to be

a procession in the streets, sometimes faithful resistance to threats to our children looks

like a quiet turning around. Sometimes faithful resistance to God’s hopes looks like

paying attention to our dreams. Do you notice that? Sometimes it looks like taking a risk

for something good on the other side. Because do you notice that even though King

Herod tells them to report back as spies, they take their dream seriously and choose not

to go back, they choose to not tell Herod what they saw. And they go home by a

different way. They have an encounter with Jesus, they set out again, but differently.

Sometimes discipleship looks like quietly disobeying and joining others in finding a new

path.

The second very important thing that these spiritual scientists reveal to us about how

our Greater Love comes into the world is that often it takes outsiders to point out the

truth, to see what is happening and to acknowledge it openly. It’s the outsiders who

recognize the importance of the event. Paul Achtemeier points out the “Astrologers from

a foreign land (who) are the first to acknowledge Jesus as God’s anointed King…”

I think that sometimes we are too close to something or someone or an experience to

recognize how incredible it is. And then you need some distance or some fresh eyes to

show up to say that this is amazing. It’s not until others who come and point it out that

we see it and that it is amazing. There is a universal truth here. Even in this time where

it is fashionable for elected officials to create a sense of insiders and outsiders, in this

story we are reminded that it is the so-called foreigners who are actually paying

attention enough to see and elaborate and point out the truth.

The third very important thing and something I hadn’t quite taken in fully before is this:

These magi set out before they knew where they were going or how to get there. If you

look at the story, the star appears after they have done the right thing. Tradition sort of

ignores this and paints a picture of them dutifully following a star, as if it is a map, but as

you heard in verse 9, they heard the king, they set out and then they see a star rising,

not the other way around. I can’t tell you how many times in life I have waited too long to

follow something I thought was right because I was looking for an sign. But what if the

sign is your heart telling you what is right? I wonder if part of what this story offers us is

the reminder especially going into this year, let us trust the gifts of our inner knowing, let

us not forget that God will send us signs when we are doing what is right, even when it

means going against the powers that be? What if epiphany is about being willing to set

out, not after we see the star, but before, not waiting for the world to tell us which way to

go, instead setting out, with others, knowing sometimes our stars are internal? As we

heard from Neville Goddard, “Stop looking for signs. Signs follow; they do not precede.

Begin to reverse the statement, “Seeing is believing,” to “Believing is seeing.” Start now

to believe…”

As we go into 2025, what if these truth are for us right now, right here too? Sometimes

discipleship looks like quietly disobeying, turning around and joining others in finding a

new path. Often it takes outsiders to point out the truth, to see what is happening and to

acknowledge it openly. Sometimes we are called to set out knowing that believing in

ourselves is seeing…

What is this story for you, right now? How do you feel moved to join others on a new

path this year? How do you have space or a place in your life to hear people outside of

your perspective? How are you able to set out before you have a star?

Communal Reflection

Beloved of God, what a gift that we have one another, that we can set out together

toward what we know is just and right and good, knowing if we are open, we will hear

and see and find what we need to, let us set out. May it be so. Amen.