It’s a very common kind of experience. I’ve had this kind of experience at least a few times in my life. I suspect that you’ve also had similar kinds of experiences. Sometimes, it’s an experience that stands out from other day to day experiences in life. There are some people who have told me that this kind of experience seems almost routine to them. While these kinds of experiences aren’t all the same, they happen something like this:
A person is out doors, maybe walking in the woods, or down a street, or even just going out to pick up the mail. It could also happen in a special place, like walking a beach at sunrise or when hiking along the rim of the Grand Canyon. Something along the way captures the person’s attention. It may be a flower, a bird in the tree, the reflection of light — really, it could be anything. But something occurs and a person’s awareness in that moment shifts. Our capacity for experiencing something more than what’s apparent is stirred and we find ourselves aware of something greater than ourselves or of the thing that we’re actually doing.
In moments like these, we experience a kind of union or communion with something transcendent, something beyond us. One part of the experience is a transcendent aspiration, reaching beyond our selves toward something more than is apparent in the experience. Another part also takes place: a deep inspiration that occurs in that moment which touches the core of who we are. It’s as though there’s something inside of us reaching out beyond us while a kind of inner attunement occurs simultaneously.
These experiences don’t just happen in nature, but that is where many people report them. They happen throughout our lives, both when we are alone or with others. For example, you may have experienced such a deep experience when you were giving birth to a child, or when you were with someone as they passed from this life, or when you were in an intimate moment with your beloved, or when engaged in a spiritual practice or singing a familiar hymn at church.
I refer to these moments in life as spiritual experiences. They happen in the context of the ordinary events of life and transform the actual events into something we experience as extraordinary. These moments are characterized by meaning, purpose, and value for us. But more than being something meaningful and valuable, they make our lives meaningful, purposeful, and valuable.
Our sacred story tells us about a few people who experienced something in nature that struck the core of their being. It inspired them to reach out beyond themselves to seek for something more. It seems that they were doing something they had often done before: they were looking up at the night sky and watching the stars. Something about a particular star got their attention, captivated them, and caused them to begin following the star.
I’m a bit of a backyard astronomer. I don’t actually know much about astronomy, but we have a telescope at home. On clear nights, we’ll take the telescope out to the deck or set it up in the drive way and look at stars. With the aid of an app on a tablet computer, I can find out what stars are above me. Just like the sun making its way across the sky from east to west each day, from our position on planet Earth, the stars also appear to move. (Really, we’re doing most of the moving because of the Earth’s daily rotation and orbit around the Sun, but it appears to us that it’s everything in the sky that moves.) Our sacred story tells us that these astrologers followed a star, which is not a fixed point in the sky. Instead, stars follow a course through the night sky. These astrologers were transfixed by one particular star. They allowed the experience of the star to consume them. Somehow, by following this moving target, they found the child Jesus.
The ancient story of the astrologers who followed a star, who entered fully into a rich and meaningful spiritual experience, is very significant for us today. On the one hand, there’s no historic evidence that any of the events actually happened. Yet, the story we find in Matthew’s gospel conveys critical lessons about the spiritual dimension of life and manifestations of the Divine in our lives.
First, the story is about astrologers. They weren’t religious professionals or spiritual teachers of any sort. They were people who tried to make sense of life events by paying attention to the night sky. They were also from a different country and culture than Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Yet, in the course of doing what was routine and ordinary for them, they experienced something more than star gazing. There was a transcendent aspiration that drew them further while they also experienced a deep inner sense of what was happening as being profoundly right. They experienced the same kind of thing we each do in the spiritual moments of life.
Second, they took their experience very seriously. They recognized that in this spiritual experience that there was something right, and good, and true. They paid attention to it and followed it. They didn’t just get back to day to day life. They recognized that there was something important for their lives so they made this experience a priority. They didn’t know where the experience would take them, but they were open to the journey.
Third, the spiritual experience was something of great value to them – so much so that they offered their most valuable resources (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) as tokens of appreciation for what was changing their lives. In other words, they invested themselves in this fundamentally spiritual experience with what they had.
It’s interesting to me that the story of the astrologers begins the gospel of Matthew. Matthew’s gospel emerged from and was written for traditional Jews of the first century who were willing to consider the story and message of Jesus. These were people steeped in a religious tradition, who lived and valued their tradition, and appreciated that the Holy One manifested the Divine Self in very particular ways as recounted in the Hebrew scriptures.
The position of this story about non-Jews from a different country and culture, from a different way of life and traditions of faith, at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel seems to me to convey a significant message to religious folk: don’t assume that the way you believe or expect God to work is the only way for divinity to be manifested in life. Instead, the astrologers are an example of people who encountered the Divine in a very different way from first century Jews. There was no sacrifice at the temple. No one followed kosher laws. No one memorized texts at the synagogue. The astrologers didn’t keep any of these practices. Instead, they followed what they knew to be true and, in doing so, Matthew records them as among the first to experience the manifestation of the Divine in the birth of Jesus.
There are many days that I find it difficult to use the term “Christian” to describe myself. That’s because there are so many people in our culture who narrowly define what it means to be a Christian. Far too often, aspects of the Christian tradition are taken out of context and used to support hatred, prejudice, and bigotry. I know that the message of Jesus is fundamentally one of respect and compassion. Living in a way that’s based on the teachings of Jesus requires concrete demonstration of one’s commitment to treat others with love and graciousness. Simply, most days, the message of Jesus has little to do with the popular understanding of Christianity in the United States.
Yet, Matthew’s gospel begins by challenging us to consider this: if we are really followers of the teaching of Jesus, then we can’t allow our religious prejudices to limit the ways in which the Divine is manifest in our lives. Instead, we need to be open to the possibility of encountering the Divine in our simple ordinary routines, whether we are teachers, musicians, counselors, or even astrologers. What we do doesn’t matter. Instead, no matter what we’re doing, the Divine is already present. Further, living based on the teachings of Jesus will lead us to do things that others may view as absurd, like following stars, visiting strangers who seem down on their luck, or even giving away our wealth. Yes, the most important part of the message of Jesus is that it will change the way in which we live. That change will be rooted in our experience of the Divine which is manifest in the ordinary moments of our lives.
On this Epiphany Day, when we remember the journey of the astrologers, I encourage you to consider where the Divine is manifested in your life. Stop, take a deep breath, and look around you. If you’re willing to see and to listen, you’ll find that the Divine is already here: within us and around about us.