...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: 9b-10) 

Midway through our series of Advent dramas, we encountered a heartwarming scene of a young man, Wes, with his grandfather, Oscar, enjoying a favorite pastime together (watching the Packers on television).   But as Wes observed, "Oscar wasn't as into the game as he used to be.  Every play seemed to be punctuated by stories about Arlys."  The light and longing in Oscar's face as he told these stories presented to Wes a glimmer of hope in the promises of God through the dimly lit places of his own life.  Matthew recounts the story left by the three wise men-astrologers who longed for signs in the heavens some glimmer of hope to believe in, some peculiar star to guide them, a nightlight for others to live by.  For Wes, the stars of the Big Dipper shed just enough light for him to find his way through the dark; and perhaps it was that Big Dipper's "pointer stars" pointing to Polaris (the north star) that guided him home-a star peculiar in that it stands relatively motionless (stopped as it were) against the revolving celestial sphere.

The "Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players" of St. Luke's, called to assist our narrator in telling the significance of Christ's light come into the world, humbly incarnated (i.e., "put into flesh") the story they heard.  This is what God calls every Christian to do:  incarnate the story of God's promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the light of the world.  So when Barb described how "Oscar seemed to glow from the inside..." Ed looked intently while Chuck's face brightened.  When Barb told how Wes "tromped through the snow..." that's what Ed did with great and daring expression-illumined by Caleb's spotlight, guided by Kathi's cardboard Big Dipper.  Midway through our Advent journey, we were asked to ponder Oscar's faith-how "he seemed to be living for the day God would bring them [he and Arlys] together in heaven." God's given us his Nightlight to go by:  the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.  As our journey through Christmas and Epiphany continues, let the Word of God be incarnated by our brightened faces, by our great and daring expression-that we might become for others Oscar's glimmer of hope to believe in, Wes' peculiar guiding star, a nightlight for others to go by...overwhelmed with joy.

Peace+