Dear Kris,

During this Advent and Christmas season I feel like, more than usual, I was asked the question, “Where do you find hope?” Of course, most of the time as a parent of young kids and as a youth pastor, the only answer I can seem to conjure is, “my kids and my youth.” At times that answer seems so cliche and trite. But then it makes me ponder, what is it about kids and youth that offers us hope?

What is it about the birth of Jesus, a baby from a different religious and ethnic background, that gives the magi so much hope that they are willing to undergo a long journey with unexpected detours and peril? What is it about the birth of a foreign baby that makes them offer such extravagant gifts and blessings? 

I hope you’ll join me this Epiphany Sunday as we seek to join the magi in their unexpected journeys in responding to the hope born to us somewhere in the world. Also, this Sunday we’ll also have a chance to choose or receive a star word that might guide us for this coming year.

Peace be the journey,

Rich

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour

(in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

With tears in your eyes,

you name all the bumps

and zigzags your life has taken.

With clenched teeth

and a hummingbird pulse,

you wake up

and wonder—how did I get here?

In the last 40 days of

desert wandering, you say

you haven’t heard God’s voice once.

You say you miss when God was close,

when God used to sing the harmony line.

So you yell at the sky,

begging God to drop a pin,

to name the road,

to draw you a map.

You lament the way this life isn’t easy.

You ask me—was the road ever straight and narrow,

or was that all a lie?

But then you crest the mountain,

and I don’t hear from you for a while,

because God was growing

in the lilac field

on the other side of the hill.

God was scattered

among the pebbles

of the road you never planned to take.

Isn’t it amazing, you say,

there are a million roads home

and God walks every single one of them.

Field Notes by Rev. Sarah Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

• The star is a guiding force of hope for the Magi as they embark on a long journey. When you feel as if you are in foreign territory (literally of figuratively), what are the guiding forces of hope in your life? What signs do you look for to show you where to turn?

• When you have found a sense of hope, how did you respond? What actions of faithfulness and blessing did you feel called to?

Matthew 2:1-12 CEB

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.”

When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,

by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,

because from you will come one who governs,

who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.