The Bright Morning Star

Reverend Philip Stringer

Revelation 22:16

LET US PRAY: Enlighten our hearts, O God, through the hearing of your word and the meditations of our hearts, that we may be strengthened in faith and bear a bright witness to the world, through Jesus Christ, the Bright Morning Star. Amen

Jesus is the bright morning star.

I have some thoughts to share -- not entirely in sermon form, but some reflections for you to ponder.

It occurs to me that the nights are seldom clear -- even when there are no clouds, there is the haze of pollution or just humidity, and around here there is a lot of what astronomers call “light pollution” -- the hazy wash of light from lamps and signs and streetlights that make it difficult to see the stars.

Even when we might see the stars, we often take no notice. They are the same old stars as the last time we looked. Little white dots in the sky. But then we know better also, don’t we? Stars are far more unique than they might first appear -- some are bright, some faint and dim. Some are blue or red or yellow. Some are not stars at all, but planets, or galaxies, or star clusters, or nebulae, or comets. They move across our sky, yet they hold their place -- enough so, that pilots and captains can steer by them, and storytellers can make constellations of them.

Jesus is the bright morning star. And I wonder -- I have many questions because of these thoughts for my own life -- and I ask them for your life, too -- I wonder what are the sources of “light pollution” in our lives that might be working to obscure -- or diminish the light of Christ in our life.

How are you being distracted? What fear or pain is keeping you from experiencing the full joy of the gospel?

Or how are you simply not taking notice of how he shines in your life? I wonder what it is about the light of Christ that shines differently than the other influences in your life and in my life.

Jesus is the bright morning star.

If you mention stars to me, I am instantly flooded with memories. My Dad is a serious and knowledgeable astronomer. As a boy, he took me on many, many late-night excursions to see the stars and planets. I remember particularly his coming to awaken me in the early morning hours of the winter -- in the pitch of night.

He would help me dress in layers of winter clothes, pulling on thick socks and snow boots, ski masks and hats. And in the front yard of our house, Dad would have his telescope already set up -- a camera mounted on the eyepiece -- waiting. Waiting for the early morning hours when a planet would rise like a piercing, white star from the still-dark horizon. Soon, the horizon would turn rosy with color from the approaching dawn. But before that, we would see our planet.

My job, standing in the snow with numb toes and stinging fingers, was to be the camera shutter, holding a cover away from the end of the telescope as Dad timed the exposure on his watch. To my eyes, it was simply a bright star on the horizon that we saw. But through the camera lens, the detailed beauty of the planet’s surface and magnificent moons was revealed.

Jesus is the bright morning star.

Just another philosopher to some — just another great teacher among many. But there is something more to him for those who will look closely. Distinct. Special, and Beautiful.

Uniquely important to us and to the world. Worth rising in the morning to see. The bright morning star. When he rises above the horizon, we know that the night is nearly over, and behind him follows the day.

To my eyes, it was simply a bright star on the horizon that we saw. But it was more than this that I came to see. It was actually my Father that I rose to see. I rose to be with him, to be part of what was important to him. I rose to be with someone I loved, and whom I knew loved me.

But what will I do when he has gone? What will I do when my father has died? It is a question we all face sooner or later with someone we love.

“Come and follow me,” Jesus said as he called his disciples from their daily tasks. “Come and turn aside -- away from what is familiar -- away from what is routine. Come and follow me.”

I am reminded of a story from the Hasidim about a disciple who began to be fearful about the eventual death of his teacher, who was growing old. Sensing this, the teacher took up a torch one night and said to his disciple, “come, follow me.” They walked into the night -- into the forest for quite some distance. Finally, the teacher stopped in the center of the forest, and extinguished the torch without explanation.

“What is the matter?’ asked the student.

“This torch has gone out,” the teacher answered and walked on.

“But,” shouted the student, “will you leave me here in the dark?”

“No! I will not leave you in the dark,” returned his teacher’s voice from the surrounding blackness. “I will leave you searching for the light.”

The disciple thought that what he admired was his teacher. What the teacher recognized was that it was the wisdom the teacher bore that the student admired.

There is a difference with Jesus, of course. It is not only the wisdom, but especially the love of Jesus which we cherish. Jesus continually pointed his disciples to the Father -- because the love of Jesus IS the love of the Father.

What I love about my father -- what I rose to see and experience in the early morning hours as a boy -- was a love that comes from Jesus -- and our heavenly Father -- I rose in the morning, because the light of Christ shines IN him. It is a comfort for us, who know that our time with loved ones on this earth is short -- a comfort to know that the love in them will hold them safe in the Father.

And it is a blessing, too, to be near them. For just as Jesus is the bright morning star -- so also, my father shines as a star, heralding the great love of Jesus and the Father.

So I wonder -- who is bearing the light for you? Who has done so in your past?

And I also wonder -- love is not something that terminates, getting swallowed up into a destination; It always spills forth in new ways — So I wonder about you -- you who are loved with the deep and great love of God -- how is it that Jesus has set you as a morning star?

Jesus said to his disciples, “let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” For whom could you be bearing the light?

In John’s vision from Revelation, he writes, “And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

Deitrich Bonhoeffer said that the Word of God is like a lamp that lights the path, only one step ahead of you. If the entire way were lit, we would decide to cut this corner here, or jump over to another trail there. But with a lamp that illuminates only one step at a time, we must trust the way to God’s wisdom.

But someday, there will be no more need for trails. Everywhere we go, every way we turn we will be within the presence of God -- within the burning glory of the bright morning star. And then there will be no need for lamps. “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light.”

In your life journey, what is the next step that God is showing to you? How is God lighting your path?

Albert Einstein showed up at the Institute one morning hobbling around with a cane. It seems that during the night he had stubbed his big toe. “This has happened five or six times before from walking around in the darkness,” he explained to his colleague, Abraham Flexner. “The only really annoying part of it,” continued Einstein, “is that every time I have to have an x-ray taken to be sure no bones are broken.”

Flexner asked if it wouldn’t save trouble to simply turn on a light.

“Oh,” said Einstein, “I never thought of that.”

In our human condition it often does not occur to us to “turn on the light” -- to choose the way of God’s leading. We live in the squalor of our own brokenness, without considering how the light of Christ might relieve it.

But UNLIKE Einstein’s situation, there is a larger problem -- that even if we should have the wisdom to turn on the light -- we cannot. The switch is beyond our reach. We cannot turn on the light that leads to our salvation.

“But upon those who dwell in deep darkness, a light has dawned” -- not by our own devising, but from the wisdom and compassion of God, light has come upon us.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’”

A new day is coming. We know that it is already beginning to break upon us...

...because Jesus is the bright morning star.

AMEN