As I sat down to write my sermon for this week, I was faced with a common problem: no introduction to get things going.  Normally, I already have the body and the conclusion is pretty much in the bag by the time I start to write, but the introduction always stumps me.  So faced with a blank computer screen, I did what anybody in my situation would do:  I went to Starbucks.  The daily journey to Starbucks has become, dare I say it, fundamental to America.  We used to talk about baseball and apple pies as those fundamental building blocks of American culture, but they have long since been supplanted by the journey.  For those of you unfamiliar with the phenomenon or who wonder why anybody would pay upwards of three or four dollars for cup of coffee, let me let you in on the secret.  They aren’t paying four dollars for coffee.  They are paying four dollars for the experience of buying that coffee.  Now it is easy to write that off as vanity, but there is something deeper going on here.  Starbucks has tapped into a deep longing in American society for something better or different or slower or something intangible.  Its experiential and defies common logic, but judging by the success of Starbucks and the people willing to make that journey day after for their four dollar coffee, there is something there.  There is so much of something there, that churches are now trying to dissect what it is about this experience, this journey to Starbucks, that people connect with so fundamentally.  To the point that several books have been written in the last year and half or so about the intersection of the gospel message and the Starbucks phenomenon.  The church is not going to be a coffeehouse, but they can create experiences that are at least as moving and motivating as the daily trip to Starbucks.  It is about the journey and experience of coming to church, of growing in faith, and of leaving changed.  All to often, however, that is not our experience.  Our experience is of begrudgingly waking up Sunday morning.   Donning our Sunday best.  Drive to a church building we see once a week and trying not to fall asleep during the service.  We laugh, but we also know it is true.  I wonder what church would be like if it wasn’t like that?  If people lived for Sunday.  If they lived for fellowship during the week.  If there hearts were on fire.  If regardless of age or race or years in the church, everybody still desired viscerally to experience God anew every week, every day.  To hunger and thirst for God with as much passion as we do that morning cup of coffee.  That’s my vision.  That’s my desire.

          The magi knew that kind of desire.  They set out on a journey probably from Persia, modern day Iran, because they desired to give homage to this new born king of the Jews.  Now this is not a trip to Starbucks.  Starbucks is on every corner practically.  The trek from Iran to Israel is almost a thousand miles through mountains and desert.  It takes dedication to make that journey.  It takes passion and vision, but the wise men did it nonetheless.  A group of men who were not Christians, those didn’t exist yet, who weren’t even Jews on a spiritual journey.

          Your spiritual journey probably did not require a thousand mile trek across desert and mountains.  I’m not convinced that is a good thing though.  On the last day of my last trip to Mexico doing mission work, the Mexican coordinator and I had conversation.  Looking over a room of children and adults who were concluding not only a week of vacation bible school and daily worship, but intensive week of building,  I said that “I wish we had your faith.”  And he said, “I wish we had your resources.”  Having observed the faithful and dedication and centrality that Christ played in these peoples lives, I was left feeling lacking.  Not only for myself, but for the American church as a whole.  With the resources we have in and outside of the church, rarely are we forced to rely solely on our faith.  But it is precisely in those moments that our faith grows.  It is in those moments of spiritual journey, those moments when we cross through the spiritual deserts and mountains of faith when our world is changed.  Whether you have been in church your entire life or you new to the faith, it is still an ongoing spiritual journey.

          The wise men’s journey took them first to Jerusalem.  If a king of the Jews had been born that would be a good place to start looking for him.  But King Herod, who had been appointed by the Romans was surprised at the news of another king.  So troubled, in fact, he called the chief priests and scribes together to find out where this new king would be born.  Bethlehem was the response.  The birth place of king David. The wise men were sent to find this new king.  Their journey continued after the temporary road block of this other king.

          Road blocks are interesting occurrences in the spiritual journey.  They are obstacles, but they are also opportunities.  Think about the way a road block works.  You are driving along as you would always do perhaps on your way to a meeting or school.  You are going about the same speed you would.  Turning to get into the same lane you always would.  When suddenly there is construction ahead, a detour.  You are out of your comfort zone.  This isn’t the way you normally go.  Things look new.  You haven’t seen this part of town.  I think I would like to buy a house around here.  Road blocks are opportunities for something new and different.  Too often we get locked into that one road we always take which is fine unless there is a better road.  And that is the opportunity road blocks offer on the journey of faith.  The chance for a better road.  Remember it is only by questioning Herod that the wise men learn that the true king of the Jews is not in Jerusalem.  Road blocks help us to realize when we are on the wrong path.  That the journey leads a different way. 

          The wise men’s journey did take them a different way.  Away from Herod and back towards the guiding light of the star.  The journey took them to the child Jesus.  It was there that they worshiped him and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  They had arrived at their destination.  They had succeeded.  And then they returned home.  It is said that when the great explorer Marco Polo was on his first expedition to China that he stumbled across the village from which these three wise men came.  The fire of faith that had burned in their hearts for the months of travel to Jesus apparently still burned on after they had seen him.  They took the message of the birth of this new king back home with them.  And it is from this earliest missionaries that spread the good news that Marco Polo was able to identify the home town of these wise men.  From the fire of their faith.

          I began by speaking of another vision of the church.  This other vision is based on your journey of faith.  Not the journey of faith the mechanically brings you to these pews Sunday after Sunday, but the journey of faith that constantly seeks out Jesus Christ in scripture, in bible study, in worship, in music, in service, in mission, in… in… in…  The life center on Jesus Christ.  When you haven’t thought of faith that way or had never experienced it, it is hard to start.  It is like being sick in bed for weeks at a time.  The muscles deteriorate.  They atrophy. You exercise and little by little they come back. 

          This church has been on a spiritual journey for its entire life.  And all of you have been on your spiritual journeys.  Your journey not only to find Jesus Christ, but to know him better and grow in faith.  There have been many roadblocks, but now is a time of opportunities.  An opportunity to seize this moment in time to change your life, to change this church, and to change the world.  It is a new year and new day and it can be a new beginning for your faith life and the spiritual journey you are on. I urge you to find something that gives you life.  If it is bible study then join us for that.  If it is service, then volunteer.  If it is reading scripture or praying for others, then we will plug you into that.  Journey with us this year as we seek out this Jesus Christ together.