Matthew 2:1-12
“The Next Right Thing”
Preached Sunday, January 5, 2024
Friends, do you ever get a little bit sad when Advent and Christmas are over? I know that I do. While I didn't get to preach an Advent sermon this year, I love preaching during Advent. I’ve always said I have an Advent soul - singing and preaching and praying “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” just resonates with my deepest desires and longings - for Christ to come again and renew and restore all creation. And then I love preaching and leading worship on Christmas Eve! Preaching the Good News of the Incarnation - Telling the story of Christ’s birth in fresh ways - especially to many who may not regularly hear the Gospel - it fills me with such joy! But eventually, Epiphany comes. The Advent and Christmas season are over...and my soul is still calling out for Christ to return. Creation is still crying out for redemption. Tomorrow is the feast of the Epiphany - we are observing it in Church today - and after today’s service, we will take down the decorations, put away the Advent wreath, and hide it all in the attic for another year. In our own homes our decorations are probably either already put away or will be soon.
And what lies ahead of us? The long, gray Ohio winter…without any lights and carols. Boo. Makes me feel just a little bit sad and a little bit lost.
And so I find myself saying, “This season is ending. Now what? What next?”
Now, imagine the magi asking themselves the same question. “We have followed the star. We followed it for a very long time. Longer even still when you count the time we spent studying the stars - looking for a sign like this. And then - when the star stopped, we were overwhelmed with great joy! This is right! This is the child we were looking for! THIS is the journey we have been making. This is it! It was indescribable - finally being there, finally worshipping this child...but now our journey is done. It is over…we’ve been on this journey for so long, we’ve thought about it so singularly...it was all-consuming frankly. But it’s over. The star is gone from the sky - what do we follow now? What do we do next?”
I don’t think it is too far of a stretch of our imagination to think that the magi could have felt this way - after all, it is a common human experience. All of us have stars in our lives that we follow. Sometimes those stars are career goals. Sometimes those stars are what other people think of us. Sometimes those stars are our own expectations in our lives. Following a star isn’t a bad thing. I myself like to have at least a 5 year plan if not a 10 year plan at all times...which is ridiculous since Methodist ministers can only see one year into the future at a time! But stars aren’t bad. Stars like graduating college - getting a job - retiring - being the best parent or grandparent that you can be - these are all stars we follow. People in our lives can be stars too, a friend, a spouse, a parent - who shines light on our path and shows us the way.
The thing about following stars though...is, well...they may eventually set.
If our star was a goal and it is met - we may have great joy! - but after a bit, we might be a little lost - not sure where to go or what to do next. I know many college students feel like this after graduating - what now? What next?
Sometimes, we may realize the star we thought we were following...isn’t our star. Maybe you realize that the star you were following wasn’t life-giving. Or was an expectation or goal set by somebody else for you. But still...we can feel lost without it. What now? What next?
And sometimes, when a star in our life is a person, we can lose that person. A spouse dies, children go off to college, a relationship falls apart...without them, without their light...we can be overcome with darkness. What now? What next?
Have any of you ever asked yourself - what now? What next?
We may be asking ourselves those questions now, along with the magi, as the Christmas season ends and as we enter a new season…
The magi were told by someone very powerful that they needed to return from seeing the Christ-Child to go see Herod and let him know where the child was. And when Herod asks you to do something, it’s less of a request and more of a command. But the magi don't do that - they were warned in a dream not to do that. And I would like to imagine, as they contemplated what to do next - return to Herod or go home by another way - perhaps one of them spoke up and said, “Forgot the long term plan - we just have to do the next right thing...and that’s to go home by another way. We’ll figure out the next - next right thing from there.”
“Do the next right thing” isn’t necessarily advice from the Bible although I do believe it is Christian - no, “do the next right thing” comes as advice from the Disney movie, Frozen II. I love this movie. I loved this movie before I had an Elsa obsessed kid in my life. It is deeply moving and full of sermon examples. For a children's movie, it's surprisingly theological.
So in Frozen 2, Anna and Elsa, two sisters, were told by their late mother that whenever they couldn’t see what came next, whenever it was too dark to find a star to follow, whenever they didn’t know what to do...just do the next right thing. In the movie, Anna experiences a deep loss. She is missing the person in her life who used to be a star for her. She is grieving. On top of that, she is coming to realize that the star, a goal, that she was following in her life...was no longer a path she could take. It is here that she reminds herself in song that even though the star has disappeared and she doesn’t know where this new path will take her...she just needs to start by doing the next right thing.
She sings:
“Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it's not you I'm rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing
I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make
So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing
And with the dawn, what comes then
When it's clear that everything will never be the same again?
Then I'll make the choice
To hear that voice
And do the next right thing.”
Friends, where in your life are you asking - what now? What next? Where, along with the magi, and with Anna from Frozen, are you looking for new light to follow?
The good news is, even though another Advent and Christmas have come and gone and Christ has yet to return, there is light in this world because of Christ.
There have been times in my life where church and Holy Communion have been my guiding stars. When I told myself, no matter what happened in the days to come, I knew that in one week, I'd be back in a safe and loving worshipping community, meeting Christ at the table.
Perhaps the Star Word you pick up today will be a guide or a light for you, shaping you and giving prayerful direction for the year ahead.
Or just maybe - Christ will reveal himself to you in another star to follow.
And Christ is in our hearts. Look to Jesus - look to the inner light he brings you - and trust God to help you step by step, to carry on, and do the next right thing - bringing a little bit more light into this world - for yourself and for others.
May all of us find light in Christ to follow - and continue to do the next right thing.
Amen.
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