Excerpt from Matthew 2:1-12   

"On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and they knelt down and paid him homage."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

We're good at listing all the people we won't kneel before.  We don't kneel for crowned heads.  We don't bend for terrorists.  We're clear on how we feel about kneeling to bishops.  By and large, we are a straight-backed, lock-kneed people.
 
Here is the way the three wise men were like us: they refused to kneel to Herod’s crowned head.  Here is the way we ought to be like the three wise men: they knew which things were not worth their homage, and which things should drive them straight to their knees.
 
There's not much in the world that ought to be able to make you kneel.  But this ought to: a deity with no place to lay his head, a savior who knelt before you to wash your feet, a God who could have remained above it all, but stooped, bent, even groveled to get as close to you as possible, and then paid a price for it.
 
Sometime today, do this: get down on your knees, open your arms out to your sides, and bow your head.  Or if you're feeling especially brave, try touching your forehead to the floor.  If your body can't do these things, assume whatever posture speaks to you of humility and reverence.
 
Hold the position for a while, then sing:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise one, I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give him, give him my heart.

Prayer

God, I wouldn't do this for anybody else but you.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell, a United Church of Christ minister, is the co-author, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ, published by The Pilgrim Press.

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