Following the Star

Wisdom Journey, Epiphany and the New Year

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Blessings for the New Year!
With love,
Julie

Opening Prayer

Breathing deeply, take a minute to find stillness.

Imagine yourself on a wisdom journey that will lead you to unexpected new life. What prayer arises in your heart?

Creator of the heavens, who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ-child: guide and sustain us, that we may discern that light and find the place where Christ is born in our lives – today and in the year ahead. Amen.
C of E, adapted

1^st Reading

Isaiah 60.1- 2
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.

Matthew 2: 1 - 12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men^* from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,^* and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah^* was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd^* my people Israel.” ’

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men^* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,^* until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped,^* they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Reflection

This is a strange and wonderful story: wise men wandering through the night following a star to the place where Christ is born. Like so many of the Christmas stories, this captures our imagination, if we can let it. And - this is not an original thought, but worth repeating - in a world so weary with commercial, controversial and catastrophic images, we need to nourish our imagination with soul images: with the truth of God’s light in a dark world.

And so, picking up the themes of this story, I invite you at the start of a new year, to remember again that the revelations or epiphanies that we so often desire require us to travel through the darkness of vulnerability, uncertainty, and unknowing. In order to discern the subtler, gentler light of the soul, we need to journey through the night.

Many of my most profound revelations have come in or after these night journeys. Admittedly, in this particular season of my life, my ‘night’ is mostly chosen and relatively easy. But the invitation - and the promise - still hold true.

At this turn of the year, how might we spend a few hours or a few days turning away from everyday habits and the harsher light of all that drives us? How could we allow ourselves to wander, to wonder, to follow hunches and dreams, to read the pattern of stars revealed in the journey of the last year? What might we do to make that guiding star more visible?

Anything that fosters stillness - letting go, listening with the heart - will help us discern the light that leads to that precious new life hidden in unexpected places.

And then we must follow those leads until we find God’s tender and tenacious love revealing itself. When we do, we will happily offer all that we have carried on the journey until then: the gold of riches and power, pride in our own sufficiency; the frankincense of prayer and worship, longing for more; the myrrh of suffering and grief, all that dies. That is a good place to begin a new year – not with plans and schemes and determined resolutions, but with our hearts full of a greater Life, a greater Yes.

I like to think that what happens next in this story is that the empty hands of each of those wise men is filled, in turn, with the divine child. I imagine each one – clumsily and with awe (like my husband with our new granddaughter) - being handed the baby Jesus to hold; each one taken up, as we always are, by the wonder of new life. But more than that, I imagine them, and us, discerning within this ordinary life something of the presence of the God who is with us – so that the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

And finally, as we catch sight of the extraordinary reality of God in the ordinary, we may become more aware of what might endanger that life – the people and places and habits and postures that threaten the life of Love. And so we find a different route home. We find a different way to live – no longer at ease, here, in the old dispensation, as TS Eliot writes in his poem, The Journey of the Magi.

So I encourage you to spend some time this week following the grace of the stars. One breath at a time. One step at a time. And when you find the place where new life is born, stay awhile - hands open, heart rejoicing - and learn the new way home.

Ponder and Pray

Imagine yourself on a wisdom journey that will lead you to unexpected new life. What prayer arises in your heart?

Walking at dusk, sitting without a phone, lighting a candle…
Consider: what has guided me in the last year without my noticing? See what emerges - words, memories, images.

Imagine arriving at the new year: holding an infant. Feel the weight, the vulnerability, the claim. What in your life might this represent? How will you protect and nurture it?

Ponder and pray with all this.

Widening the Circle

Take another few moments to extend the grace of the stars and the promise of new life to all those on your hearts and minds today. Let’s remember especially those who journey through long, dark nights, not of their own choosing.

An Epiphany Lord’s Prayer

Holy and ever present God,

May your love enlighten our world.
May your light illuminate our darkness.

Brighten our spirits, nourish our hearts.

Forgive us because we often stumble in the dark, hurting others.

Help us to forgive those who in their own darkness hurt us.

Lead us by stars of grace towards the revelation of your truth and presence with us.

And deliver us from the darkness of evil.

For yours is the light of love, which no darkness can overcome, forever and ever. Amen.
JLD

Second Readings

Epiphany
Malcolm Guite

It might have been just someone else’s story,
Some chosen people get a special king.
We leave them to their own peculiar glory,
We don’t belong, it doesn’t mean a thing.
But when these three arrive they bring us with them,
Gentiles like us, their wisdom might be ours;
A steady step that finds an inner rhythm,
A pilgrim’s eye that sees beyond the stars.
They did not know his name but still they sought him,
They came from otherwhere but still they found;
In temples they found those who sold and bought him,
But in the filthy stable, hallowed ground.
Their courage gives our questing hearts a voice
To seek, to find, to worship, to rejoice.

For Those Who Have Far to Travel
An Epiphany Blessing
Jan Richardson

If you could see
the journey whole
you might never
undertake it;
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.

Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping
step by
single step.

There is nothing
for it
but to go
and by our going
take the vows
the pilgrim takes:

to be faithful to
the next step;
to rely on more
than the map;
to heed the signposts
of intuition and dream;
to follow the star
that only you
will recognize;

to keep an open eye
for the wonders that
attend the path;
to press on
beyond distractions
beyond fatigue
beyond what would
tempt you
from the way.

There are vows
that only you
will know;
the secret promises
for your particular path
and the new ones
you will need to make
when the road
is revealed
by turns
you could not
have foreseen.

Keep them, break them,
make them again:
each promise becomes
part of the path;
each choice creates
the road
that will take you
to the place
where at last
you will kneel

to offer the gift
most needed—
the gift that only you
can give—
before turning to go
home by
another way.

Blessing

May we learn the constellations that will guide us in the night.

May we make whatever journey we must make.

May we offer all that we have carried until now before the greater mystery of love.

May we receive the Christ child in our arms and protect and nurture that life.

And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all evermore.
Amen.

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