[The Magi] went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 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. Matthew 2:9-11

I’m not sure when, or where, Rebekah and I found our first “Carolina Star” (also known as a “Carolina Snowflake”). My best guess would be at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, it’s a place we make a point of visiting whenever we’re in the area.

It was several years ago, and well before we had any idea we’d be moving to this beautiful state, but the Carolina Star instantly became one of our favorite Advent symbols. Who knows, maybe the Hand of Providence was working behind the scenes, readying the deeper parts of our souls for this new adventure?

ACTUAL EXPERIENCE! This year, the stars are a part of the hearth. We had a fireplace in Florida, but we really didn’t need it. Here in Wake Forest, though, we have enough cold days to draw us around the warm glow as a matter of course, and the emotional connection to “gathering around the fire” is moving from an imagination, or literature based metaphor to a reference actually rooted in experience.

And that is what I pray for in Advent for each person reading this post; that your “child in the manger” image will become more than simply a storybook ideal, but a reality rooted in experience.

Sure, the nativity tableau makes for an iconic holiday snapshot, often conjuring a mixture of nostalgia, warm feelings, and longing. But Christmastide is so much more; Jesus is the present alternative to the empty promise of nostalgia, God is the substance behind warm feelings, and reconciliation with the Creator is the answer to our deepest longing.

We can gather around the newborn king in the same way we gather around the fire. Light and life both draw us in and sustain us. The deep spiritual and emotional warmth of the presence of God can become the heart of our home in the same way that the hearth represents the gathering of family and the sharing of safety and warmth.

May the Christmas Star lead each one of us into such an experience of God, through the birth, the resurrection, and the ever-present life of the Child of Bethlehem.

In love, and because of love – DEREK 

Gallery: the first 14 days of Advent: