You may have heard that last week in worship on Epiphany Sunday each person in the congregation was invited to choose a yellow paper star out of the offering plate with one word written on it as a gift for the new year.
The congregation is encouraged to read your word, think about its meaning, reflect on what that word has meant for you in the past and what it might mean in your life going forward.
Explore how your word connects to who you are and how you live.
Look it up in the dictionary to get a fuller sense of its meaning.
Search for it in the Bible, as part of a story in Scripture, and pray about what God might be telling you through it.
Put it someplace you may see every day – on your mirror, on the fridge, at your desk – so that you can revisit it over time and let it work in you.
My star word last year was “friendship.” What I found through the year is this word helped me to be more intentional about nurturing my important and life-giving friendships. I reached out more often with calls, emails, and texts to my good friends and the blessing that came is the renewal of connections with dear ones in my life.
Perhaps your star word in 2019 will help jump start a blessing for you? Maybe it will challenge you to grow or to begin a new spiritual discipline? Perhaps it will bring a moment of insight or realization? My prayer is that you find some meaning in your Epiphany star word and that it helps lead you towards renewed connection loving God and loving others in 2019. Next year in worship on Epiphany Sunday there will be a chance for volunteers in the congregation to share how their star word connected with and blessed them this year.
{If you were not in worship on Sunday and you would like a star word, please let me know and I will get one to you as there are extras in my office. Email Rev. Amy at pastor@flemingtonpres.org}