Liturgy 010: Harry Potter Wizards and the Face of God

☕️ Take 5 Minutes to be present to God, Self, and Others

Hello and welcome new subscribers! Oikon & Wesley sends out a weekly liturgy every Monday to help ground you for the week ahead. I encourage you to set aside 5-10 minutes to prayerfully read through these words with attentiveness to the Spirit of God (best done with coffee in hand).

🙏 Collect Prayer

Take 3 deliberate breaths and pray these words slowly.

God who is worshipped in small Bethlehem places by foreign kings from the East

May we also have the kind of epiphany that set us on a pilgrimage to rearrange our lives around bowing before our one true king

And may our lives be filled with joy at the sight of Jesus.

In the Name of Christ, our LORD
Amen

📖 Lectio Divina

Read these ancient words slowly as though reading them for the first time, prayerfully pondering what the Living God is speaking to you, today.

Matthew 2v1-2, 10-11

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

💡 Quote

Those who seek God with all their hearts, find Him everywhere.
—Unknown

🧘 Reflection

The story of the Magi fascinates me. Christ is born. The God of Abraham and Jacob is present on the Earth, in the flesh… and nobody worships Him.

Except. These pagan Harry Potter wizards from the East!

Matthew’s writing is just offensive like that. (There’s a joke here for all Christian parents who were anxious to let their children read those JK Rowling books.)

The chief priests and teachers of the law were familiar with the Bible.

But they did not possess the spiritual hunger that these strange Magi did.

It would seem these religious professionals in Jerusalem had a different “guiding star.” Perhaps one that was God related, but not God’s very self.

What about for us? What is true north on this Monday morning? What is guiding our journey? What hunger and longing is driving our daily lives?

And do we have eyes to see the Spirit leading us to find our joy and our God in small Bethlehem villages? In small mundane ordinary moments?

Or are we caught up in our own Jerusalem lives? In expectations of particular outcomes versus what is right in front of us?

🕊️ Blessing

May you seek the face of God. May your life be one ongoing epiphany. May you come to know the paradox of spiritual hunger and joy. Like the Magi, may you seek and find the true and living God.

Amen