Here in our church, there is a very large, beautifully framed reproduction of a famous painting. It hangs over the fireplace in the Fleming-Ives parlor. How many of you know the painting I’m talking about?

Can anyone tell me what it is of?

Does anyone know who painted it?

It is the Sistine Madonna, by the Italian artist Raphael.

Does anyone know who donated it? I don’t.

I’ve always wondered because it’s a little unusual to find a madonna like that in a congregationalist church. And yet, I can tell you that for the first 5 years or so that I worked here, I passed that painting multiple times a day and never gave it much thought. It’s, you know,  just a beautiful painting that fills the space nicely.

But one year, not long after our Christmas pageant, Kanji Argetsinger’s granddaughter - a three year old by the name of Addie -  took my hand during coffee hour and led me into the parlor. She pulled me down to her height even as she lifted up her finger to point at the Madonna.

“Pastor Sarah,” she whispered in my ear, “Joy to the World! The Lord has come!”

And as far as I’m concerned, that is the true title of the painting.

Now, whenever I pass that work of art, I do see it. I see it in a whole new way. And I give thanks that I am part of a church that can instill that kind of wonder and recognition in a three year old child.

“Joy to the World! The Lord has come!”

Before Addie, I barely noticed Raphael’s Madonna. Now, thanks to Addie, I can’t help but feel a little thrill every time I pass under her gaze and that of the child in her arms. I love that painting now, because Addie gave me eyes to really see what was right in front of me the whole time.

And friends, as I think about this story of wisemen from the East following a star, I am struck by their ability to see as well, to see what others could not. And I can’t help but wonder if they might not be here to give us new eyes as well?

What struck me the most about Matthew’s story this time around, is the fact that everyone in that region was looking up at the same sky night after night after night, but only the wise men saw this particular star.

Trusting in that glimmer of light, they set out and eventually found a king where everyone else saw nothing more than a peasant.

And then, thanks to a bad dream most people probably would have dismissed as indigestion - but one they took as a divine warning- the wise men re-routed their entire journey home.

Perhaps what makes these men wise is not some esoteric wisdom lost in the sands of time, but simply their openness to the work of God around them and within them.

“They are ready and willing to discern God’s will in the outward, tangible signs of creation, as well as the inner contours of their own minds. God is in it all,” writes the Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman, “and they are paying attention.”

“God is in it all and they are paying attention.”

One of my favorite quotes, often attributed to Albert Einstein, begins: “There are only two ways to live your life.”

You all know this one?

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

The wisemen lived as though everything was a miracle, for what is more miraculous than the presence of God in all and through all?

What is more miraculous than the idea that every last particle of existence - from a star to a babe to a dream - could be shot through with the love and light of God;

a God who cares for you and wants to be present in you and with you even now, just as God was present with them, because God is always and already here…here for us all?

***

A few moments ago, I introduced the kids to this idea of star words.

And you know what? Maybe this is just a hokey art project.

Maybe these paper stars are just paper stars.

But…Or ….and… (you choose the conjunction that works for you) …maybe…just maybe, we are loved by a God that can use any opportunity to invite us into new life, guide us, and inspire us to do better.

Stars and dreams, clouds and cardinals, the concurrence of circumstance that feels to perfect to be mere coincidence: perhaps God is at work in us and all around us all of the time in ways just subtle enough to get our attention without overwhelming our freewill.

Perhaps God is always issuing gentle invitations to realign us with our true purpose… glimmers that enable us to steer a better course, and affirmations that enable us to stay the course as we press on the upward way.

So just as I invited the children to choose a star, soon I will invite you all to choose a star as well. But first, I want to pray with you and I want to give you some time to pray as well.

You’ll notice there is a blank piece of paper in your bulletin. Hopefully there is a pen or pencil somewhere in your pew or your pockets or one of our ushers can bring you one.

As we leave the old year behind and step into this new one, I want to give you the opportunity to write down something you want to leave behind, something that you know in your heart is leading you nowhere, or at least nowhere good.

That’s what the wisemen did, right? They left their old maps behind in order to go home by another way.

You can write that down and drop it in these baskets on your way to communion.

And then after you take communion, I invite you to come up to the altar and choose a star: a light to guide you, a word to inspire you, a nudge from on high to help you navigate the year ahead. Sound good? Good. Then let us pray…

Prayer of Release:

Gracious and loving God,

you call to us across the deep and speak to us through the long, dark nights of this season and the long dark nights of our souls. 

Yours is the light which guides us,

the warmth that sustains us,

and the voice which we would follow. 

As we sit here nursing regrets,

clinging to old habits,

rehearsing unhelpful thoughts,

come sit beside us and help us to discern what no longer serves us

that we might be open to what you have in store for us.

Loosen our grip on what is not helping or creating wholeness in our lives

and grant us the grace to let go and steer a new course

guided by your love and your light. Amen.

Time for Reflection (Music: Greensleeves)

Communion Prayer

And now, Holy One, as we come to your table,

as we open our hearts to receive your love made manifest in bread and wine,

speak to us we pray.

Receive what we are ready to leave behind and then

Reveal your dream for us in word and sign.

May those in need of hope be encouraged.

May those who long for love find connection.

May  those who are hungry be fed.

May those who are empty be filled:

filled with your love,

filled with a holy longing only you can satisfy.

O God, still our anxious minds and illumine our hearts

that we might find you and allow you to find us. Amen.

Communion

When it was evening, and the first star had appeared in the sky ushering in the Sabbath, Jesus sat down at a table with the 12 disciples, he took bread, he blessed it, and he broke it, and said, “take, eat, this is my body.”

And then after supper he took a cup and after he had blessed it he gave it to them and said, “drink of it all of you, for this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Ministering to you in his name we invite you to come forward to receive the bread and the cup and then a star.

CLOSING WORDS

Take a hold of your star. I hope you’ll take it home and place it where you will see it regularly throughout the year as a prompt to consider God’s movement in your life.

I realize that it’s just one word and that a single word can feel very small in the face of a whole new year.

It might also feel weird; like, what could God possibly be trying to say to me through this one word? That’s okay. In fact, the more incongruent or odd that word might feel to you right now, the more important it might be.

The idea here is to open up your perception, your sense of possibility; open up your awareness of what God is up to around the edges of your life.

I also just want to remind you that there are also multiple definitions for many of these words and many ways to approach them.

Maybe the star is an invitation for more of this in your life or maybe it’s an invitation for less.

Maybe you are meant to find more of this or give away more of this in the days ahead.

Maybe it’s a revelation. Maybe it’s a new direction. It might even be a warning.

I don’t know. That is between you and God,

The beauty of a time and space like this is that it gives us a moment to pause and ponder, wonder and wait and watch… watch to see where God might be present, what God might be up to, what God might be asking of us.

I simply invite you to trust that God can speak to you through this word. And if, in the upcoming weeks, God does and you want to share something of how this word has guided you, I’d love to hear about it.

For now, having been fed at this table and in hope of being led by these stars, let us give thanks as we pray together.