Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

One of the highlights of our recent trip to New York City was a performance at Radio City Music Hall. It was a spectacular show with its dueling pipe organs playing Christmas carols from either side of the stage, the Rockettes famously kicking up their long legs in perfect unison, Santa Claus’ sleigh flying through the sky, along with  snow falling from the ceiling against a  backdrop New York City skyscrapers and Central Park.  For over 90 years, generations of families have made it annual pilgrimage to Radio City Hall to experience the Christmas Spectacular, and some, they return for finale alone. Surprisingly, the Christmas show ends with a grand procession and the infant Jesus takes center stage.

As the scene unfolds, the voice of the narrator is heard reciting a poem from 1926 written by James Allan Francis, “One Solitary Life.”

He was born in an obscure village

The child of a peasant woman

He grew up in another obscure village

Where He worked in a carpenter shop

Until He was thirty, He never wrote a book

He never held an office

He never went to college

He never visited a big city

He never traveled more than two hundred miles

From the place where He was born

He did none of the things

Usually associated with greatness

He had no credentials but Himself.

Then comes the live nativity  with a procession of animals, including camels, donkeys, sheep and, of course, Joseph and Mary, both adoring and celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. I wish Radio City Music hall had embraced the tradition of the three Wisemen coming from the three known continents of the Middle Ages.  They could have added an elephant for Africa and a horse for Europe into the procession

For good Midwesterners accustomed to the Sunday School Christmas pageant, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas spectacular may seem a bit over the top, perhaps more Broadwayish than the little town of Bethlehem deserves. But that is what is so striking about the arrival of the Wisemen from the East. Just as the angel of the Lord and heavenly chorus lit up the sky for the lowly shepherds, the Wisemen play the same role, colorfully and exuberantly proclaiming to the world that a new king has been born. I rather suspect that the arrival of the Wisemen at the Court of King Herod in Jerusalem may have been more like Radio City.  With such spectacle, would it be any wonder that Herod was frightened and all Jerusalem with him.  If the ancient world’s Wisemen, the movers and shakers and social media influencers were searching for a new born king, and were prepared to crown him King of the Jews, what would happen to Herod?

Of course, there are popular misconceptions concerning the Wisemen. Contrary to our Christmas decorations, cards and nativity sets, the Wisemen were not there for the birth of Jesus, which is why we celebrate their arrival 12 days later.  St. Matthew himself writes they arrived in Bethlehem after Jesus was born.  But still, there is something for us to learn from this story just the same.

The visit of the Wisemen is the story of how unsuspecting seekers’ lives were changed by the one whom they encountered. The Wisemen were probably astrologers who served in the Zoroastrian temples of Persia, searching the stars for prophecies and signs.  Their ways were  heathen, and yet, by God’s mercy and nurturing, they were guided by a star the newborn king anyway.  They set out on a considerable journey at considerable expense to meet and honor a king who was yet to be born. And after they saw him, their lives were suddenly changed, inspite the danger and the threat of Herod’s revenge, they bravely went home by another way. That is the story of how some men and women accidentally stumble their way to Jesus.

The visit of the Wisemen provides a powerful witness that the Christ child was not worshipped  by the lowly shepherds only. Jesus was worshipped by the mighty and prominent as well.  God invites all people from all nations and from all tongues to bow down and worship him.  The Wisemen, however, recognized a difference between Godly and worldly ways.  They did not fall down before King Herod, nor did they fear his earthly power. Instead, they honored the new born king and chose not to obey Herod’s command to tell him the exact birthplace of the child they sought.

Finally, the story of the Wisemen teaches us the power of giving.  Some may believe that the Wisemen and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh may be the inspiration for our Christmas giving, but I think there is more to it. They chose to visit a king they did not know nor owe their allegiance on a journey that likely took months. As the Wisemen discovered, giving of their time and possessions caused great joy to spring from their hearts.  God invites all to experience that joy by giving cheerfully and joyfully from our hearts, not with fear, reluctance or obligation, but rather with the hope of serving him and experiencing wonder and fulfillment in our lives.  The Wisemen probably didn’t see the second act of the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.  There actually isn’t one. But they committed themselves, their lives and the futures to this child just the same.

James Allan Francis’s “One Solidary Life” concludes with these words. They are the second act of this solitary life.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him

His friends ran away

One of them denied Him

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 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

Nineteen centuries have come and gone

And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race

And the leader of mankind’s progress

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that have ever reigned put together

Have not affected the life of mankind on earth

As powerfully as that one solitary life

How has that one solitary life changed your life, your future and your perspective?  Perhaps that is what the finale of the Rockettes Spectacular is all about?   In one of the world’s most ethnically and religiously diverse cities, the Christ child is placed front and center, unabashedly and unashamedly.  In a colorful, Broadwayish way, it poignantly asks of each one of us, What does the solitary life of Christ mean to me?

My friends, it is my prayer this new year, that you might become more and more like the Wisemen of old, searching, seeking and following the radiance and brightness of God.   For at the journey’s end you too will be met by the solitary life of a Savior who knows you, and loves and cares for you, more than you know yourself, and he will offer you his overwhelming joy to comfort you all the days of your days. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.