Despite the snowstorm this past Sunday we did celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany and began our new year together as a Parish at our 9am and 10:30 services.
Epiphany is a season when we reflect on God’s incarnation and revelation in the world; a day when we think about the guiding star revealed to the magi (and others) that began to spread that news about Gods incarnation in the infant Jesus. The star revealed that something new was beginning to take place. The journey would be different. Jesus’ journey had begun.
The story of the Magi is found in Matthew 2:1-12
Again this year the the sanctuary was filled with 300 stars, each with a word on it. Each person was asked to randomly choose a star and consider their it as a guiding word for reflection throughout 2015.
Many people also shared their story of the 2014 word and it was awesome to hear how these words had impacted people and often asked them to be stretched in new ways. My word for 2014 ‘thankfulness’. I reflected on the word throughout the year and found that it guided me to be thankful in places and at times that I had not seen as opportunities to give ‘thanks’. My guiding word has allowed me to learn to see some of my more difficult times in my ministry as times to be grateful and give thanks.
This year my starWord is ‘exaltation’ and I am looking forward to reflecting and discerning this word in my life throughout 2015.
The stars will continue to be in the sanctuary over the next couple of weeks. If you do not often come to church or you are one of our E-News readers that lives outside of our community please send me an email at huntleypriest@bellnet.ca and I will happily pull out a star for you and send it to you via email.
For those that have stars please consider sharing your word and/or your thoughts on it in the comments below.
May the star that guided the magi continue to guide our lives.
In Christ,
Pastor Monique
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