People, Look East: verse 4
Advent 4 / Year C
Since the dawn of time
we humans have been looking up at the stars in the night sky with a sense of
wonder, majesty, and awe. Various early cultures
all over the globe, from the Phoenicians to the Chinese to the Inca and more, observed
the stars with such intensity they began to discern circular patterns and fixed
constants. Each civilization created star
maps of varying accuracy, some able to predict eclipses, comets, and various
other celestial events. Ancient and
mysterious structures, from the pyramids in Egypt to Stonehenge in England to
Mayan temples, were sited to align with solar events like the solstice.
For millennia, the
movement of stars (which actually don’t move at all) served to guide daily life
as well as religious beliefs. From the
night sky people determined the most optimal time to plant and to harvest. In the multiple constellations human beings
deduced mythological figures and celestial gods whose reach affected affairs
here on earth. Given star maps
represented a synthesis of science, agriculture, and spirituality, each culture
imbued these works with the highest level of artistic expression available to
its age and setting.
The Romans were among
the first to produce cartography which, using stars, allowed navigators to
determine their location and thus were able to chart a course with impressive
precision. This understanding opened new
sea routes, expanded trade, and facilitated military expeditions. In our hemisphere, latitude was easily
determined by the position of the North Star.
Longitude was a more vexing challenge not completely resolved until John
Harrison developed a chronometer 1761, which told time at sea, vastly simplifying
complex calculations.
Perhaps you are aware the
Naval Academy required celestial navigation (one of its most demanding courses)
to be taught until 1998 when it was removed from the required curriculum. Citing concerns about the potential for the
GPS system to go down or be hacked, it was reinstated in 2015. Beyond midshipmen, it is worth noting several
species of animals, birds, and fish, mysteriously utilize the stars to direct
migrational behavior.
Today’s verse from People,
Look East, which we sang moments ago, focuses our attention on a star:
Stars,
keep the watch.
When night is dim
one more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining
beyond the frosty weather,
bright as sun and moon together.
People,
look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.
The
hymn uses a star as a metaphor for God’s love which, like a fixed star, will point
the way for us to travel through life. Love,
the star is an unchanging value and virtue from which we can orient and
navigate no matter what conditions and challenges we face. Are you familiar with carol Star of Hope? Set to a deeply soulful tune, these are its
lyrics:
Star
of hope, star of love
shine down from afar.
You’re
the one guiding light
no matter where we are.
Through
the valley of tears
through the long, dreary years
you’re the star up there, star of hope.
From
heaven above
let each beam guide our dream
leading
to hope and love.
A deep and abiding sense
of hope is not just an option for the tool belt we use to draw on through
life. It is absolutely essential for our
very well-being. Social theorists tell
us how we think directly influences how we feel, and how we feel directly
influences how our body reacts, and how our body reacts directly influences how
we behave, and how we behave comes to define who we are and how we experience
life. So, what we think is the bedrock on
which everything else is built.
If your core belief is
set upon hope you will engage the world in a way very different than, say,
someone whose center is dominated by fear, or by cynicism, or by a paradigm of reward
and punishment. To draw on the language
of today’s hymn, we all need to choose a star to use as the object on which we
orient our lives. People, Look East
proclaims a new star is on the way and it will shine brighter than every other object
vying for our attention.
One final thought, most
of us come to the star of Love through the witness of another person who lives
it out for us to see. We call this person
a role model. When we are young we may
adopt the look and language of an athlete or a celebrity, but the people
closest to us have the most enduring influence on us. It may be a member of our family or a teacher
or a coach, whoever the role model may be, this person shapes us in the moment and
becomes a lasting influence on us throughout our lives. Our role models do more than teach through
their words and deeds, we sense they care about us because they listen to us and
are genuinely empathetic. And while they
may correct us, we know they respect us.
We observe everything about them in the same way we observe the location
and movement of an orienting star. Their
Christ-like life shapes and guides us.
God-willing, somehow,
someway, in time, as we get older we will be a guiding star for someone
else. So people, look east because love,
the star is on the way.
