Star Power
“When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.”
Matthew 2:9–10
About twice a year, at my request, my wife buys a copy of “People” magazine. Not to bash the magazine too much, but the reading is not heavy lifting. It is, however, filled with good sermon illustrations. I will leave that to your imagination.
If you have ever flipped through an issue, you know that most of the articles and photos focus on the habits, lives and work of those in the entertainment business — rock stars, television stars, and movie stars. One of the reasons I read the magazine is that part of me is fascinated at what constitutes “star power,” and how that power is so elusive and fleeting. The person on the cover one week may be buried deep in the back of the next issue.
What is it that draws us to pay attention to famous people? What is it that draws some to want that star power? Any rational person knows such power can fade as quickly as the setting sun. We can learn from the wise men who, after encountering Herod, set out to follow a heavenly star. This star drew them to something — to Someone — who had a star power that was not earned but given and would never fade away.
For Christians, there is but one core of our faith: Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, who authored most of the New Testament epistles, wrote on a wide variety of matters from theology and morality to Church practice and evangelism. He gave us a little peek into the heart of his motivation when writing to the Christians at the church he founded in Corinth. Corinth was a seedy port town. It was a crossroads for ancient commerce and trade and filled with diverse people, practices and religions. It was a tremendous challenge for Paul, one he relished as he so loved the people who had come to Christ through his preaching.
When Paul left Corinth, the core principles he taught began to slip away and the Church began to give way to division, unbalanced theology, unorganized worship and sexual immorality. He touches upon each of these areas in the Corinthian correspondence but, before doing so, he pens some important words early in his first letter, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) In other words, Jesus was to be the abiding, drawing, driving and guiding influence. The star of all that was and is Christ.
Reading through the meditations I have offered in these last few days of “Daily Words,” it should come as no surprise that I believe at the heart of God’s revelation through the Advent and Christmas story is God’s desire to be in a personal relationship with each of his children.
God provided an avenue for that relationship through the incarnation. Let us call it the human suit into which God zipped himself in order to come and live among us. God’s purpose was to teach, heal, suffer, die and rise to life again. If we entrust ourselves to God and God’s work, we might receive all the benefits of a full and unfettered relationship with God.
When I read the pages of “People,” I encounter those who are still seeking a power beyond themselves to make them feel whole, complete and maybe loved. I have been fortunate to have intimate conversations with some people over the years who have, in their time, wielded tremendous fame and power. Whether actor or politician, business mogul or writer, without exception, each would speak of the emptiness of trying to find some meaning in their brief moment on the world’s center-stage. And for those who knew and walked with God, they said their faith is where they found ultimate meaning, purpose and peace.
Some years ago, I read an interview with Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock group, Queen. He died in 1991. One of the last songs he wrote was “Does Anybody Know What We Are Living For?” Though he was famous, rich, and, in some circles, quite powerful, he confessed in an interview shortly before his death:
“You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need — a loving, ongoing relationship.[1]
Ah, an ongoing, lasting and enduring relationship. That is what we all need, yes? That is what Christ offers, yes?
Scientists tell us that the light from some of the stars we see could be hundreds, even thousands of years old. You may be looking at a star under your night sky that died eons ago, but the light is still reaching out to you. The light of Christ that began burning brightly some two thousand years ago is still reaching out to you this very moment, but it will never go out. It will never stop reaching out to you. It will never lose its star power. Doubt that? Think on this well-known poem, “One Solitary Life,” authored by clergyman James Allen Francis in 1926:
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.
Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place he was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. And went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on Earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man on Earth as much as that one solitary life.[2]
Now that is star power. Don’t you agree?
A Question to Ponder as you Prepare Room for the Christ Child
To what kind of people are you drawn? Why? What qualities of Jesus’s life draw you toward Him? Why? Have you let His power shine into your heart? If not, why? Why are you waiting to welcome this “one solitary life” as the foundation upon which you can build your life?
A Prayer
O Jesus, O Lover of my soul,
Draw from my mind my foolish ambitions and ways,
Draw from my heart my weak fears and anxious worries,
Draw from my soul those pockets of want that are not from Thee.
Draw me instead unto Thee,
Draw my mind to Thy wisdom and Thy knowledge,
Draw my heart to Thy purity and Thy strength,
Draw my soul to Thy hope and Thy peace.
Draw me O Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Draw me ever more deeply unto Thee,
Draw me to Thy power and might,
And by Thy mercy and grace,
To Thy everlasting life and salvation.
In Your name, this I pray.
Amen.
Russ Levenson
[1] Nicky Gumble, “Questions of Life” (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications, 2003), 15.
[2] James Allen Francis, “One Solitary Life” (1926).
