In the latest issue of Christian Century magazine, Peter Marty writes about how migrating animals navigate. Monarch butterflies use the angle of the sun as a compass; sea turtles use geomagnetic cues to guide them across the sea to the very nest where they were born decades earlier; and dung beetles (get this!) navigate via the Milky Way galaxy.
How is that even possible?
This blows my mind, even though I myself have a fairly good sense of direction. I can usually keep in the back of my mind an awareness of which way is north, or which way I have come from on a journey, and which way I’m headed. I can usually sense where in the sky the sun should be, even if it is cloudy. Here in our sanctuary, I’m facing north, and you all are facing south, and the sun, in the middle of the day, is behind me, which is why the window above the baptistry will glow a little brighter during the day than the window in the back.
But my sense of direction isn’t perfect. One of the things I’m most amazed about when I ride Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland is how the design of the ride disorients me. As I walk into the building, my mind is vaguely aware that I’m facing south; and when the boat leaves the loading station, we’re heading south.
But then the ride starts curving slowly to the right - in the darkness, it’s hard to measure the arc of the curve. Your boat goes down a drop, and makes another right turn. It goes down a second drop, and curves to the right yet again, before finally curving back to the left, and by then, unless I’ve been paying very close attention, I’m disoriented, and don’t know which way we’re headed - which, I think, is pure genius on the part of the imagineers who designed that ride. In that particular setting, it’s kinda fun to get a little lost and disoriented.
In the movie Moana, one of the things I noticed was how Moana learned to navigate her canoe across the ocean. Maui taught her to hold her arm out and measure the night sky, to figure out exactly where she is and where she was going.
And perhaps you thought that’s just another made-up Disney idea; yet shortly after the movie Moana was released, I learned that Disney got it right.
It happened on my first trip to Hawaii, when I led a group of youth from our region on a ten-day trip during which we spent a lot of time learning about Hawaiian culture.
You’ve heard me talk about this trip before, but let me go into a little more detail about what happened on our first morning in Hawaii.
We got up super early. I think it was about 5:00, and our jet-lagged bodies struggled to get out of bed. But pretty much the entire island was gathering for an important historic event that we, too, wanted to see; and we didn’t know how much the crowds would affect how long it took to get there, or whether all the good viewing spots would be taken if we didn’t arrive early.
We made our way to the shores of Kahanamoku Lagoon. We found a spot on the rocky seawall. And we waited for the arrival of the Hokulea.
The Hokulea is a traditional Hawaiian canoe - the first authentically traditional canoe built in 600 years. It was built by the Polynesian Voyaging Society to prove that ancient Hawaiians and Polynesians were expert navigators, capable of navigating across the vast ocean in ways modern scholars thought impossible.
Scholars had assumed that the first Polynesians to arrive in Hawaii came there by accident - that they drifted there. Finding those islands in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean would be like finding a needle in a haystack. There’s no way ancient people, without GPS, without even a compass, would be able to navigate there on purpose.
The crew of the Hokulea wanted to prove otherwise.
On the day I saw Hokulea arrive in Hawaii, it was returning from a 3-year, around-the-world voyage. It was navigated using only traditional methods. No GPS. No compass. They navigated by reading the stars - holding out their arm, measuring the stars… just like Moana.
That’s impressive. Almost as impressive as the dung beetles. I can point out many constellations and even the names of some of the stars, but to use the stars to navigate at that level of accuracy, that level of precision - that’s some real skill.
As the Hokulea sailed into the harbor, some people to my left were weeping with joy. Off to my right, a person who I later learned was Hina Wong-Kalu - a Hawaiian cultural icon - sang traditional chants while dressed in traditional Polynesian attire. It truly was a sacred moment.
Because, for generations, the art of Hawaiian navigation over the ocean had been forgotten. The Hawaiians literally forgot that they were voyagers; expert navigators across the sea. Just like in Moana.
But now, they remembered.
So, both dung beetles and the ancient Hawaiians navigated by reading the stars. What about the magi? How did they find their way to Jesus?
Scripture says that they, too, followed a star. First, it says that they observed the messiah’s star, rising in the east. Scripture also says that they came from the east. But if they came from the east, doesn’t that mean they traveled west to find Jesus?
I don’t know about you, but I’m already starting to feel disoriented by this story.
But scripture doesn’t really say they followed the star; they just saw it rise. It wasn’t giving them directions; it was letting them know that the messiah had been born, and that they should go find this messiah.
Which is why they went to Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. Because Jerusalem is the city of power, of grandeur, of glory. There, they found Herod, and asked him about this new messiah, this new king that had been born.
Well! Could you imagine going to the king of England - even in this modern year of 2023 - and asking where the new king is? It really is hard to imagine. I’m not sure what these magi were thinking. Herod put people to death for far, far less.
But Herod was shrewd. He decided not to execute these magi - not yet, anyway. Herod didn’t know how to read the stars as the magi did, so he sent them to find this new king, and then return to him, so that he also could go and honor him.
Yeah, right.
So the magi left, and the star that they had seen rise in the east now led them south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem; the star went ahead of them, and stopped over the place where they would find the child messiah.
And this is the kind of story that makes me wonder: “OK, but what really happened? How much of this is historical, and how much of it is parable? Because stars don’t act like that!
And I don’t really know.
But I do know that these magi went on a journey, and that, somehow, they were guided by God. Just like Abraham and Sarah, when they went on their journey to a new land. Just like the people of Israel, who were led by Moses through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Just like the apostle Paul and the many voyages he went on, spreading the gospel.
And just like God’s people throughout scripture, really; scripture can be thought of as a collection of stories of people, all of whom are on a journey of faith.
I first heard that phrase - journey of faith, or faith journey - in college. I thought it described how people learn as they grow up and become adults, and eventually figure everything out.
Now I realize that we never do figure everything out. The journey is never-ending. I’ve done a lot of figuring out during my life, and that has taught me that no matter how far I’ve come on my faith journey, there is still - and always will be - more yet to come.
And I think that’s what it means to be a progressive Christian.
I used to shy away from that term - progressive. It seemed too political. It was sometimes used in a derogatory way. And it can be divisive.
But what progressive really means is that faith is evolving. Growing. It means that the journey continues. It means we haven’t yet arrived, but that we are always arriving.
And every day, it seems, I learn something new. Sometimes, new knowledge and insights come to me from surprising places - dung beetles, for example!
There’s a quote, attributed to Thomas Merton, that goes: “If the you of five years ago doesn’t consider the you of today a heretic, you are not growing spiritually.” I don’t think Thomas Merton actually said or wrote that, but still, it’s a good quote. “If the you of five years ago doesn't consider the you of today a heretic, you are not growing spiritually.”
That’s a quote that points to the journey we are on. It’s a journey of growth. It’s a journey of faith. It’s a journey of doubt. It’s a journey on which we are not afraid to ask deep questions.
And that is what it means to be progressive. We never stop asking questions. We never stop thinking. We never stop progressing; moving forward.
Jews - including Jesus - were guided by the Torah on their faith journey. The Torah refers to the first five books of the Old Testament. The Torah includes the stories of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob and Rachel and Leah; and Jacob’s sons. The Torah includes the stories of Moses. And, the Torah includes all the laws given by God to God’s people as they made their way to the Promised Land.
In that same article I mentioned earlier, Peter Marty points out that what the word Torah actually means is “the way.” This meaning is echoed in the sayings of Jesus, who described himself as “the way,” and also by Jesus’s followers, who called themselves followers of the way.
This makes Jesus sound a lot like the Mandalorian. “This is the way.” But Jesus came first.
And when we call ourselves followers of the way, it implies that we are still on some sort of journey. We are still on our way.
And, we still seek God’s guidance as we journey on the way.
Two days ago - January 6 - was Epiphany, sometimes called Three Kings Day. And for the fourth year in a row, we are giving out stars on the Sunday closest to Epiphany - stars with words on them - as a reminder to follow God as we journey through life. Every star has a different word, and every year you get a new star. The hope is that the word on your star will, in some way, help guide you on your faith journey in the coming year.
Maybe your star is a reminder to give thanks for how God guides you. Maybe your star is encouraging you to focus more on whatever word appears on it. I’m not telling you how your star or your word should guide you. That’s for you to figure out.
But if you ever have trouble praying, maybe the word on your star is a good word to focus on as you pray.
And if you’re not sure where your faith journey is leading you - if, on some days you aren’t sure what to believe anymore, or you aren’t even sure that you believe anymore - maybe the word on your star can help.
If your heart is filled with fear, or anxiety, or doubt - perhaps your star can help with that.
How you use your star is up to you. But I do hope it helps guide you in some way, as you journey through the coming year.
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