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Following the Star
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If you don't know the kind of person I am
And I don't know the kind of person you are
A pattern that others made may prevail in the world
And following the wrong god home we may miss our star...
-- William Stafford, from the poem "A Ritual to Read to Each Other"
Yesterday and this week are pointers to a new and holy pattern for living together.
The birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the tragic scenes from Haiti weave together an opportunity for us: let us live gently with one another, receiving one another with respect and offering one another compassion.
Patterns do prevail in the world. Therefore, we need one another in the church to create a new tapestry of a loving, vibrant community.
We do not want to follow the wrong god home. We do not want to miss the star.
The Star of Bethlehem beckons us. The Eternal God is our home.
In these early weeks of 2010, may we be open to all the newness that God intends to give in our lives, in our families, in our classrooms, in our workplaces, in our churches, in our communities. Let us be reconciled to God and to one another, unified through Christ to serve the world with strength and perseverance and love.
Lent 2010 will focus on Reconciliation. You may have a story to share for the 2010 Lenten Devotional Guide. I hope so. Send it to Lisa Cumbest Michiels at lisacm@mississippi-umc.org for the 2010 Lenten Devotional Guide: Stories from the Garden of Reconciliation. By sharing our stories, we discover the beauty and the truth experienced in each of our lives. By sharing our stories, we rejoice in God's pattern, revealed clearly through our hurts and our hopes, our challenges and our discoveries.
With gratitude for January, for the Star, for our journey onward,
Hope |
