Welcome to Day 2304 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom The Characters of Christmas-7  Seeking and Finding - The Wise Men – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 12/10/2023 The Characters of Christmas – Seeking and Finding: The Wise Men Last week, in our first message of Advent, we continued from last year and investigated some of the Characters of Christmas.  The First to Know: Shepherds. This week, we are going on a two-year expedition as we travel with a caravan of visitors from the east in a message titled,  Seeking and Finding: The Wise Men Let’s read Matthew 2:1-12, starting on page 1497, in your Pew Bibles. The Magi(Wise Men) Visit the Messiah 2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 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.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]” 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.   When you grow up in the church like I did, one of the enduring symbols of Christmas is the wise men and their camels. Every year, some larger churches put on multi-day Christmas pageants. These are elaborate affairs, complete with live animals, original music scores, and, yes, church members dressed up in satin gowns as wise men. (Hold up Blue Robe)   Picture in your mind a stately-looking man singing...