Midwinter 2020
In our liturgical year, our Church Year, the Season after Epiphany leads us to Lent. Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent, is not till the end of February this year, so this is a relatively long season after Epiphany. In this in-between time our scripture lessons point us over and over again to themes of light and discernment and direction. We re-discover who Jesus is, what he is all about, how he called his first disciples, and how we might be invited, even summoned to respond to his call on our lives.
This year back on Epiphany Sunday – the day the magi's Star-following journey finally brought them to meet the Christ child – we each received a Star with a word printed on it – our very own, one-of-a-kind Star Word. The hope is that these words might confirm in us something we have sensed God doing in our lives or spur us on to do things and go places where we might not otherwise have gone. I got Safety. Safety? Honestly, I was hoping for something a little more...exciting, bold, out there, a Word that might point me toward the next chapter of our ministry together here at Second Christian. I got Safety. I did not see that coming!
As I said on that Sunday morning, if your Word isn't speaking to you right away, just sit with it, pray over it, be like a good bread dough and let it rise and see where it goes. So I took my own advice and did just that. Then last week somebody pointed to the safety pin on my coat – one that I put on there a few years ago to let people know (and to remind me) that I was a safe person, that I would risk standing up to bullying or hatred or injustice. So I allowed for the possibility that maybe it wasn't supposed to be about me! Maybe it's not about my safety, but the safety of others. Go figure!
During this season after Epiphany we've been singing “Let Your Little Light Shine” at the close of worship - “...Let your little light shine, all night long, 'cause you know there's someone down in the valley tryin' to get home.” That is our vocation, that is what we are called to do and who we are called to be.
Be the Church. Be the light. Let it shine.
See you on the Way
Brad
In our liturgical year, our Church Year, the Season after Epiphany leads us to Lent. Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent, is not till the end of February this year, so this is a relatively long season after Epiphany. In this in-between time our scripture lessons point us over and over again to themes of light and discernment and direction. We re-discover who Jesus is, what he is all about, how he called his first disciples, and how we might be invited, even summoned to respond to his call on our lives.
This year back on Epiphany Sunday – the day the magi's Star-following journey finally brought them to meet the Christ child – we each received a Star with a word printed on it – our very own, one-of-a-kind Star Word. The hope is that these words might confirm in us something we have sensed God doing in our lives or spur us on to do things and go places where we might not otherwise have gone. I got Safety. Safety? Honestly, I was hoping for something a little more...exciting, bold, out there, a Word that might point me toward the next chapter of our ministry together here at Second Christian. I got Safety. I did not see that coming!
As I said on that Sunday morning, if your Word isn't speaking to you right away, just sit with it, pray over it, be like a good bread dough and let it rise and see where it goes. So I took my own advice and did just that. Then last week somebody pointed to the safety pin on my coat – one that I put on there a few years ago to let people know (and to remind me) that I was a safe person, that I would risk standing up to bullying or hatred or injustice. So I allowed for the possibility that maybe it wasn't supposed to be about me! Maybe it's not about my safety, but the safety of others. Go figure!
During this season after Epiphany we've been singing “Let Your Little Light Shine” at the close of worship - “...Let your little light shine, all night long, 'cause you know there's someone down in the valley tryin' to get home.” That is our vocation, that is what we are called to do and who we are called to be.
Be the Church. Be the light. Let it shine.
See you on the Way
Brad