I am often stunned by the fact that as Anglicans we often stick to tradition above everything else in our lives. If we think about many parishes throughout the world I would suggest that many of them if not all of them are obstreperous in holding on to what they see as tradition. If it is not the pew that grandma sat in its the pulpit that was created in the 18th century that is so monstrous that it is a carved relic of note that we cling to and make the priest ascend. Indeed, it has been said that you do something for two weeks it becomes a tradition that cannot be undone in the Anglican church. In our attention on miniscule horrors of antiquity we ignore the world around us and the various interests that would bring us down slaughtering our beliefs. We also ignore the presence of God in our midst and the directions of God to go another way (Matt. 2:12).
The gifts that the wise men bring to the Christ Child remind us that our mortality is tied to power, faith and mortality itself. In other words we can grow through power and authority, faith and our sense of wonder but we are curtailed by our own mortality. No matter how much power we have it will come to an end with our deaths, which means that in the end it is not of much use to ourselves but for a brief period. Most of that period is one that is of struggle to either gain the power we want or to retain it once we have it. Gold is also very symbolic of our desires that are deep and abiding. Desires that lead us away from God or are put in place of the deep desire that God has for us as we cannot comprehend nor accept the burning love that is God and like the Israelites before we must turn away to obtain that which is easier to obtain.
Of course a burning desire for God can also change how we perceive our reality as the second gift aptly illustrates. The incense of desire that flows towards what we imagine is God but is solely our imagination rather than the true interaction with God with us. It is our desire for something more than that which is intangible. We chase after our dreams found in the various alternative 'spiritual' paths that are on offer in the world today. The pursuit of which simply burns out and curtails our ability to commune deeply and personally within our lives with God as shown by the developing mystery of Christ in his life. Both of these paths eventually lead to death not only our mortal deaths but our spiritual deaths as well. Indeed death is something we continue to shy away from within our own lives as we euphemistically refer to it as "passing on" or "lost" or other words that divorce us from the reality of death that leads into newness of life that Christ again shows on the cross.
Are these then the choices that we have? or as God directs the wisemen into another way is there such a way for us that confounds our desires and needs whilst placing us before God? A way that incorporates all our desires and dreams without overwhelming and scaring us away. The way has been proclaimed to those that were not the first inheritors of God's presence and who turned away from the deep desires of God at Sinai (Eph 3:5-6). In doing so the desires of God are no longer things to be wary of and afraid of but rather to embrace above and beyond the world's gifts. They are not things that we have to search for but are given to us if we were but to open our hearts to God's presence and listen with all our being to God's guidance and direction. In doing so the cravings that come for power and authority through the medium of gold have no call upon us as God provides what we need. In placing God's presence firmly in our hearts we no longer have to go searching for the myriad dreams that our egos provide for us as the transcendence of God is ever present. We no longer fear but rather embrace death as part and parcel of life as Christ through his life changed how we perceive death.
Only when we acknowledge these, does the alternate path become visible as we strive to follow where Christ leads. This is a change of view, a change of thinking and a change of our relationship to God the incarnate one the other who is us. We who live in darkness (Is. 60:2) can then discern the great light that changes us and our lives into a light for the community beckoning us into new beginnings and new lives.
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