The Stars Still Shine 12/18/49
Scripture: (Read Psalm 8)
Text: Matthew: 2: 2; “We have seen his star and are come to worship him.”
Light seems a symbol of hope and joy; of faith and steadfastness and dependability. The human spirit seems lifted when in the presence of a lighted candle, an incandescent bulb, or the brightness of the mid-day sun. Perhaps the stars stir the confidence and the imagination of people because of their very contrast to the darkness of the night sky we perceive about them. At any rate, people are greatly dependent on the stars.
An American man took passage on a Dutch ship in the East Indies as a storm was brewing. As the ship stood farther and farther out to sea it became evident that she was in part of a typhoon. For hour after perilous hour, she tossed on mountainous waves, blown and battered; all hatches battened down, the passengers mostly sick and fearful in their cabins, the hardy crew keeping doggedly at their posts of duty. This particular passenger was not subject to sea sickness, though he was not free from worry. Oddly enough the Dutch captain allowed him on the bridge where the pilot wrestled with the wheel and the master kept anxious eye on all instruments and reports. Late in the night (morning hours) the man who was passenger heard the Captain say something in the Holland language. He, being American, did not understand what the captain said, but he did see the captain point through the heavy glass of the bridge to something out in the night’s black fury. He looked in the direction the captain pointed. At first he discerned nothing but blank darkness. Then, momentarily, he saw, for the first time in his life, the Southern Cross of stars in the sky, through a rift in those storm clouds. The ship still pitched dangerously, but he could tell that the captain felt better now, assured by the stars that he was on the right course, and that the storm would before long begin to abate.
Men have been fascinated by the stars; made a hobby of gazing at them, naming them, computing their distance from earth and each from the other. Poets have been inspired to write lovely verse. The holy scriptures abound in reference to the stars. In the first few verses of Genesis, the writer remembers God’s creation of the stars. The Psalmist, contemplating the stars, puts man in his proper perspective of smallness in creation but of potential honor to God. A prophetess affirms that the very stars fought against the enemy while her people battled. And it was a star whose steady brightness guided seekers to the place where the little Savior lay.
Roswell Barnes, some years ago, wearied from strenuous service with the Federal Council of Churches, took a little summer vacation in the mountains. One evening he went outside and lay on the grass with no thought of anything except enjoying his brief laziness. Daylight faded, dusk deepened, and then the stars began to appear. At first Mr. Barnes scarcely noticed them, but as they became increasingly bright and numerous he became intensely aware of them. He lay there reveling in the grandeur of the night scene, more and more aware of the vastness of space and incomprehensible time, the mystery of infinity and the majesty of God. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t really looked at the stars for years. He said to himself then, and later to others, “That’s the matter with me and my generation. We have lost our vision of the stars.”
Well, maybe it would be good for us all to look at the stars! The pressing routine of daily tasks, the disappointments and the unexpected troubles that come, the problems which are continually present, the pounding of publicity on our eyes and ears - easily tend to weary and depress and confuse us unless we can take time to look at the stars!
This is even true at Christmas time -- perhaps especially at Christmas time. For this lovely season has become a time of rush and hustle, of many duties to be done, of commercial stimulation, of shopping and writing and trees and lights and food and festivity and bells and Santa Claus.
The most important thing about Christmas, without which the meaning of our festivity becomes, hollow, is the silent, dependable, direction-finding, heaven-lighting, holy message of a star! -- a star bathing a little stable in guiding light; a star lighting up the host of heaven; a star melting the bands of our human littleness, conquering our despair; a single star bidding us joyfully to remember the host of stars that still shine.
1) Let us remember that the star of human decency still shines. When those of my age were still children, it was assumed, in this land at least, that mankind had progressed beyond the inhumanity of torture and death for religious profession; that justice was a holy ideal of everyone, only to be fanned alive by an ever-widening acceptance of the Christian gospel. We have lived through the sight of awful human perversity and appalling suffering, through the black hatred of a couple of major wars, amid the propaganda of tyranny. But despite the cruelty and stupidity of the times which seem to have overtaken us, the star of brotherhood still shines.
During the early battles of World War II the Greeks were making memorable military progress against the Italians. After the Greeks had pretty much mopped out the Italians from one of their cities, an American correspondent saw a Greek woman walking among the bodies of young Italian soldiers crumpled and sprawled on the streets. Many were mercifully dead, some wounded, a few dying. The Greek woman went from one to another, binding up the wounds of the living, caring for them as if they were not enemies but her Greek sons. And the reporter heard her murmur over and over, “They’re too young to die; too young to die.”
In the midst of that scene of struggle and conquest and confronted with the price of battle, a mother felt kinship with all the mothers of young enemy soldiers. And she cared for them as if they were her own young men.
The plight of refugees, illustrating with appalling vividness the cruelty of man’s determined, and ruthless, conflict with man, has nevertheless called out an incomparable response on the part of millions of people who wanted to show compassion and mercy. Despite the depravity of our time, the spirit of human decency still lives. Let us make it as a star, shining brighter and brighter.
2) We remind ourselves at Christmastide that the star of world-wide Christian fellowship still shines.
(War-time story of Nanking. Woman missionary in hospital. Christmas Eve. Tired - went into hospital compound. Read Christmas story aloud. “Glory to God in the highest - (Japanese students?) - “and on earth, peace, good will toward men.” Japanese soldier - “I’m a Christian, too.”
(Christmas cards all over the world - “I’m a Christian too”)
(World Council of Churches)
Christian fellowship is a light, a shining star for us. Let us lift our eyes, follow it, make it grow brighter.
3) The star of faith still shines. Despite cynicism & material-mindedness, there are men and women who still love the truth. May their tribe increase! Despite cruelty, there are men and women who love mercy. Perhaps more today than ever before - concerned with plight of underprivileged, welfare of children, the promotion of peace, than ever before. There are still those who will live sacrificially.
God will outlive the strutting and vain men of our generation, and Christmas will make faces shine for the generations to come. The star of faith is shining - faith in the innate goodness of man; faith in God.
4) Because of the stars of human decency or brotherhood, of Christian fellowship and of faith, another star is also still shining - the star of hope. Hope shines so long as there is decency, fellowship, justice truth and goodness. Frank Laubach - the surest way to overcome the communist effort to weaken the resistance of the world with discontent is to give the world strong bodies and hopeful minds. This means the missionary spreading of what we believe as Christian people.
There is more than one star shining for us to see and ponder. No darkness need blind us to their beauty. All the music of heaven is sounding for our ears. We can live in the radiance of trust and hope. Let us stand in the company of ancient shepherds and the wise men of old -- the company of those who are wise enough now to look at the stars of brotherhood, of Christian fellowship, of faith in man and God, and of hope.
An ancient story of the nativity says that, as the wise men from the distant east followed their star, it grew brighter and brighter, until at length it brought them to the Babe, bathed in radiance. I suspect that life will increase in radiance upon those who will follow their stars of this day and age until they find that there is for them a Savior from human darkness, and a song in the very sky!
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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, December 18, 1949.