Pastor Tim B. Johnson
Welcome to this New Year of 2024! As with every year, there now stretch before us all the unknowns of what this year will hold. 2024 will contain births and deaths, inexpressible joys and harrowing griefs. Some will be at a distance. Some will come close. Some will touch us to our very cores. As with every moment of every day, we don’t know what will come next. And combined into all of our coming days, there will also be much that is simply mundane: grocery shopping, incidental conversations, walks with dogs, etc.
In the midst of it all, we affirm that God is present with us in Christ. Neither the soaring high points nor the crushing low points; neither the mundane ordinaries nor the stunning surprises -nothing occurs outside the presence of our loving Lord. Among other beautiful parts of scripture about this, as we begin this New Year l want to encourage you to read Psalm 139 and Romans 8:31-39, remembering that these promises hold firm. Always. Forever.
Part of our daily role as people of faith in this broad spectrum of what life brings is to be attentive to God’s presence and all the ways God speaks, prompts and moves. Daily practices of prayer, reading of scripture, and reflection helps to keep us sharply aware and growing. Regular participation in worship is vital to an attentive life and all the ways God speaks to us as we worship. Faithful stewardship of time, gifts and finances hones our awareness of everything coming from God as gifts to be used wisely and faithfully, in full trust that God provides. Another practice of being attentive is by simply paying attention to a single word from God’s word.
On Epiphany Sunday, January 7, we will be receiving what we call “Star Words.” We have 80 individual words from scripture, such as discern, flourish, harmony, that will be printed on one side of a star-shaped piece of paper. On Epiphany Sunday we will receive these star- shaped pieces face down, meaning we won’t know what word we are receiving. The intention is to then pay attention to that word for the coming year. How is this word used in scripture? Is it used in hymns and songs we sing? How can it be built into our prayers? What might God be paying specially to me through this singular word?
Having done this for many years in our church in Minnesota, in my experience, some people don’t connect with this practice at all. Right away they leave the word behind. And, of course, that’s fine. There may be other attention-getting practices that draw them. However, for many others, this has been a very meaningful, sometimes surprisingly rich thing to do. I’ve had many conversations with people about the word they held in mind and heart through the year. Some have kept it in their Bible. Others have taped it to a mirror or the dashboard of their car. Some print out every sentence in scripture where it is used and memorize those verses. Often I’ve heard stories told along the lines of people being initially puzzled or curious about this one particular word. “At first, it seemed so ordinary.” Or, “I wanted to turn it in to get a more interesting word, but held onto it.” And then they told me how they gradually became more and more aware of things of God connected to that word or how a verse of scripture using that word became integral to their prayer life.
Obviously, it is not the word in and of itself that is important. It is God being at work. It is God blessing us, challenging us, stretching us, and changing us as we intentionally seek to be alert o his presence. May we each be ever alert to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit throughout the course of each day unfolding in this new year of 2024. And always!
In Christ, Pastor Tim