Eliot and the Magi

In December of 1984, I had been preaching five or six times a year as an Associate Pastor in a large church in West Texas. Along the way, I had encountered T. S. Eliot’s poem, “The Journey of the Magi,” and decided to use it for an Advent Sermon in early December that year. Incorporating that poem into the sermon was the first time I recall being aware of how powerful a poem can be about a text or event or person in the Bible, especially when the author is able to “get inside the skin” of one of the characters. I have decided to revisit that poem as we follow the journey of the wise men – or Magi – to the place Jesus was born on the day before Epiphany on which their journey is remembered. Rev. Larry Hayward preaches on the Second Sunday of Christmas. The Scripture lesson is Matthew 2:1-12.