The main players on Epiphany are the wise men. They show up in Jerusalem--odd, unexpected visitors, unusual people from another place and another culture.
Star-gazers from a far off land, they remind us first and foremost of the power of attentiveness.
They were watching for signs that God was moving in the world.
When they saw those signs, they were willing to follow them, even though they didn’t know where the search would lead, where it would end, what it would cost them, or how it might change them.
They engaged others in their search, and showed a willingness to ask questions and to learn from strangers.
The wise men model for us what it means to worship: to watch for signs of God’s presence, to experience the hospitality of God in the humblest of places, to offer our best gifts back to the One from whom they came, and then to go back into the world bearing the good news we have to share.
This way of being attentive is a spiritual disciple worthy of attention in this new year.
This Epiphany, we share in a tradition that comes from the Orthodox Christian Church. Each person receives a star-shaped piece of paper on which is written a single word.
Each person’s word is different.
For purposes here, your word will appear on your computer screen.
This word becomes yours to live with during the coming year—a star, if you will, your own star for which you might watch.
It is an invitation to be attentive to God in a particular way--to leave some space in your life empty so that you have time and space to be watchful for how God might be acting, to create some space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on, or a new way of seeing and understanding those things that do happen.
Click now the button below to see your word.
Write it down, take a screenshot and then put it somewhere you can see it frequently-- on the bathroom mirror, or on the fridge, on the bulletin board at work, on your computer screen, or taped to your steering wheel.
Put it someplace where you can see it and ponder it.
Look up your word in the dictionary.
Find it in a Biblical concordance and look up the passages in scripture where it appears.
Listen for it in conversation.
As the months of this New Year unfold, try to be open to the manifestation of God in your own life; listen for how God is speaking to you.
As you consider your star-word remember the Wise Men.
They didn’t just stumble over the child.
Their joy was not incidental.
They didn’t just happen to have gifts loaded up in their saddlebags, ready just in case they saw something spectacular.
No, they were watching the skies. They believed in the potential for God to act.
They were looking for signs, and when they saw the star, they knew what to do.
They knew to follow its light.
As we follow God, we too are on a journey.
And this journey may take us on a strange ride; we may wind up places we’d rather not be.
At times nothing may make sense.
And so, in all the craziness and the everydayness, remember it is ultimately the child we all look for and long for.
Who He is for us today remains to be discovered every day.
The promise is that He is present, and that God provides light by which we seek Him.