Sunday Scribblings-New
At our church, Epiphany Sunday is celebrated with the distribution of stars. Baskets filled with gold cardboard stars are passed through the congregation, and every star has a word or phrase written on its face. Each person reaches in, picks a star, and with childlike anticipation turns it over to read "their word" for the new year.
The church is always packed on Star Sunday - even more so than on Christmas Eve. After all, our minister always jokes, how often do you get to take something out of the collection plate?
"Grace," "Faith," "Retreat," "Serenity," "Courage," "Laughter," "Discipline"...occasionally you'll hear exclamations of mirth or wonder as people read these words they've chosen, for sometimes the meanings are uncannily appropriate.
Whatever your word, it represents a new idea, a new vision, a new way of looking at the world.
Perhaps it can spark your interest in doing something new with your life. Perhaps it offers you a reminder to be strong, to have faith. Or it encourages you to dream big, to see beyond what's right in front of your eyes.
Many people carry their stars with them, tucked into compartments in purses or wallets. Some post them at their desk, or stick them on the refrigerator. Many of course, will take one look, and throw the star away.
The sermon title for today was "Looking Farther Than You Can See." Have a vision, our minister exhorted us. Look beyond what's happening today and dream about what tomorrow could be. He recounted the story of a group of college students who have built real homes from recycled trash materials -crushed cars, cardboard boxes, recycled rubber. "Where others saw garbage," he said, "these young people saw building blocks. They saw familiar things in a new way. That's vision."
Seeing familiar things in a new way. Looking farther than you can see.
Concepts worth pondering, I think.
(By the way---my star this year was "practice," a word which certainly applies to my musical life. We'll see what new practices apply to my life in general in 2008!)
for more new thoughts, go here
The church is always packed on Star Sunday - even more so than on Christmas Eve. After all, our minister always jokes, how often do you get to take something out of the collection plate?
"Grace," "Faith," "Retreat," "Serenity," "Courage," "Laughter," "Discipline"...occasionally you'll hear exclamations of mirth or wonder as people read these words they've chosen, for sometimes the meanings are uncannily appropriate.
Whatever your word, it represents a new idea, a new vision, a new way of looking at the world.
Perhaps it can spark your interest in doing something new with your life. Perhaps it offers you a reminder to be strong, to have faith. Or it encourages you to dream big, to see beyond what's right in front of your eyes.
Many people carry their stars with them, tucked into compartments in purses or wallets. Some post them at their desk, or stick them on the refrigerator. Many of course, will take one look, and throw the star away.
The sermon title for today was "Looking Farther Than You Can See." Have a vision, our minister exhorted us. Look beyond what's happening today and dream about what tomorrow could be. He recounted the story of a group of college students who have built real homes from recycled trash materials -crushed cars, cardboard boxes, recycled rubber. "Where others saw garbage," he said, "these young people saw building blocks. They saw familiar things in a new way. That's vision."
Seeing familiar things in a new way. Looking farther than you can see.
Concepts worth pondering, I think.
(By the way---my star this year was "practice," a word which certainly applies to my musical life. We'll see what new practices apply to my life in general in 2008!)
for more new thoughts, go here
Labels: Sunday Scribblings
posted by Becca at Saturday, January 05, 2008
7 Comments:
Star Sunday sounds like lovely way to welcome in a New Year, and your minister sounds truly inspirational. I am not a church goer but I think if there was a minister like that around here, I would definitely consider it!
That's such a lovely ceremony. I love the idea of that. I thought for a while you weren't going to tell us your word! "Practice" might apply in so many ways. It's a good word.
Practice is a perfectly wonderful word for one who is steeped in music as you are. To my ears, however, it might sound like an admonishment ;-)
I think this is a really wonderful tradition to follow..I was going to say "practice" initially. Practice can apply to so many things can't it?
I'm so taken with this "seeing familiar things in a new say. Looking farther than you can see." An excellent concept, an excellent way to view all of life really.
Practice is such a practically useful act! Your music will love you for it! :) I like the Star Sunday event - sounds far better than a fortune cookie...
What an inspirational tradition. I too was wondering if you would reveal your word.
"to see beyond what's right in front of your eyes." What a wonderful way to look at the world.
I loved it. Wonderful post. I could learn a lot from your writing, so I'm going to bookmark your blog. You had a great message about vision that I can take with me and try to apply. Also, I liked the star idea and may try it next year with my family or kids group at church.
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