From the Pastor’s Desk – January 2024

There is a beautiful old tradition about the star in the East.  The story says that when the star had finished its task of directing the wise men to the baby, it fell from the sky and dropped down into the city well of Bethlehem.  According to some legend, that star is there to this day, and can sometimes still be seen by those whose hearts are pure and clean.  It’s a pretty story.  It kind of makes you feel warm inside.

There are other legends about this story of the wise men from the east.  For instance, how many wise men were there?  In the old days in the east, they believed that there were 12 men who made the journey, but now most everyone agrees there were three.  One old legend even tells us the names of the three.  Melchior was the oldest of the group, with a full beard.  He gave the baby the gift of gold.  Balthasar also had a beard, but was not as old as Melchior.  He presented the gift of myrrh.  The youngest of the three was Casper, who had no beard yet, but did present the gift of frankincense to the baby.  Yet another legend goes on to tell us that after seeing the baby, the three continued traveling as far as Spain, telling the world the good news about what they had seen.  These stories bring the wise men a little more to life, and add some color to the meaning of Christmas.  They can also get in the way.

Why do we feel the need to take perfectly wonderful stories like many in our Holy Scriptures, and add to it to?  While all of my personal stories are true, I must admit that I love to embellish some of my own stories to make them more interesting.  I do this to the point where I feel the need to finish a story I have just told that is true and unembellished, to tell everyone that this story is true and unembellished.

You see, that’s the problem with legends.  Sometimes they add color to stories that don’t need any additional color (unlike some of my stories).  In fact, sometimes legends are so colorful, they are unbelievable, and can end up making the entire story (biblical stories) unbelievable as well.  Kind of like that star falling in the well.  It makes you warm inside.  It also makes you wonder.

I am not out to ban legends, but I do think it might be worthwhile to hear the story one more time, the way it was told the first time.  We will read this story of the Wise Men’s visit this Sunday as we celebrate Epiphany Sunday.

God’s word doesn’t need our help.  It is perfectly good, true and unembellished.  As we enter into 2024, perhaps we can take the word of God, and use it how God intended.  That would be a marvelous goal for us this year.

As always, I welcome your feedback.
Blessings, Pastor Cory