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)
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?
O 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
