STARS at NEW YEAR

A Meditation for the New Year

It was about this time long ago that three who have been called wise journeyed to a small, insignificant town … “ and suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight.” (Matthew 2.9-10)

night-sky-1

Just a week ago, I was out on a starry night listening for kiwis – the bush was pitch black and the sky breath-taking…. all shining with stars. We were filled with delight.

The sight of the stars never fails to be an epiphany, an experience of the Divine, right in the midst of daily life. On the threshold as the old year slips behind and the new one comes to life, an epiphany awaits us too.

 

So, looking back …

What were some of the ‘epiphanies’ of the past year – discoveries of the Holy One in the midst of things? How did I grow because of them?

Which stars was I following last year? Where did they lead me?

Those long-ago-wise-ones left both hope and suffering in their wake: how did my experience of the past year affect the world in which I live?

 

And looking around me now …

Where is the sky of my life all shining with stars? Which stars are calling me?

With my Christmas-eyes alert and searching, what star do I notice rising? Where is it leading me?

What gifts do I bring with me into the year ahead?

What is at the heart of my new year prayer?

 

EPIPHANY

by Macrina Wiederkehr

 

Creator of the Stars

God of Epiphanies

You are a Great Star

You have packed my path with light

You have filled my sky with stars

naming each star

guiding it

until it shines into my heart

awakening me to deeper seeing

new revelations

and brighter epiphanies.

 

O Infinite Star Giver

I now ask for wisdom and courage

to follow these stars

for their names are many

and my heart is fearful.

 

They shine on me wherever I go:

the Star of Hope

the Star of Mercy and Compassion

the Star of Justice and Peace

the Star of Tenderness and Love

the Star of Suffering

the Star of Joy

 

And every time I feel the shine

I am called

to follow it

to sing it

to live it

all the way to the cross

and beyond.

 

O Creator of the Stars

May you become within me

An unending epiphany.

 

***

 

As I read this starry meditation on a grey, drizzly new year morning, my epiphany is that a Star of Hope is shining, that a Star of Suffering is shining on me. The darkness of yesteryear held, for me, stars of both hope and suffering: is this next year to be the same?

Can I embrace these starry opportunities – with delight.

Or will I turn away – desolate, convinced that being a star of hope or a star of suffering is beyond me.

 

What might it mean, as the year unfolds, to be filled with delight at the sight of a star?

wise menO star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright.

Westward leading still proceeding,

guide me to thy perfect light.

 

 

 

May the gentleness and strength of God,

the delight and vulnerability of the Christ,

and the graceful mystery of the Holy Spirit,

be with us now and always.

AMEN