Plan
05/01/21 02:07
In recent years, a practice has become popular in several different mainline congregations of passing out “star words.” The practice is quite simple. On the Sunday on which Epiphany is celebrated, pieces of paper, cut into the shape of stars and containing a single word, are passed out. The idea is that each person receives a word and uses that word as a guide to thought and meditation throughout the year. I don’t know where the practice originated, but it dose’t have deep roots in Christian tradition. I haven’t been able to find examples of the practice that are more than three or four years old. Nonetheless it has become quite popular in many congregations.
This year, due to the limits on in-person worship, the congregation in which we are participating mailed out the star words. The instructions were to wait to open the envelope containing star words until the worship service on Sunday, January 3. It also offered a bit of explanation of the practice, “Epiphany as a Sunday (and as a church season) is about Light, but it’s also about revelation, about wisdom, about being willing to follow the Stars of God’s invitations as far as thy will lead us.”
The instructions also included advice to choose one of the stars without looking at the words. “If you get a word you like, great! You have the opportunity to keep it near to you for the year . . . If you find yourself with a word you don’t like, well, the Spirit is tricky like that: you have the same invitation.”
People have reported that they have found deep meaning in the practice. In doing a little research on the practice, I found the story of a person who got the word RESTRAINT and over the course of the next year lost 90 pounds, completely changing physical and spiritual health. Another person received JOY and rediscovered joy. Yet another received COURAGE while in the midst of cancer treatment, took the star along with the journey and had it on the bedside table when she died in hospice care.
It is easy to collect anecdotal evidence of the success or failure of a spiritual practice. In the traditions of the church, it usually takes several generations, often hundreds or thousands of years, for a practice to become thoroughly immeshed in the practice of faith. Right now it is impossible to tell whether this is just a fad that will rise and fall with the times, a practice that will be retained by a generation, or something that will become a fixture of Christian practice. At this point, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m willing to play along and gain from the practice what I can. I have lots of years of experience of discovering depth upon depth by responding to prayer requests made by others. A simple request to think of a single word for a year seems worth my time.
The word I got is PLAN. It isn’t yet Epiphany Day, which is January 6, so I admit that I have a while for the word to sink in and guide me to see God in unexpected ways and places. My first reaction was to think, “That’s ironic!” 2020 was a year I entered with a lot of plans. One of my plans had already been in need of adjustment. I had planned to officially announce my retirement at the annual meeting of the congregation, but I was forced to do so more than six months earlier, so there was no surprise in that. I had planned to produce the biggest Jazz and Blues night ever during our congregation’s Holy Week observances, but Covid forced its cancellation. I had planned to wind down my ministry, slowly delegating tasks to others and cutting back. Instead, I worked as hard as I ever worked. For the last three months of my career, I worked without a day off, going to my office every day to respond to the challenges of a pandemic. I had planned that our congregation would have a celebration of Ministry with outside speakers and a series of inspiring events. That too was cancelled. I had planned that we would be ready to place our home on the market and move by the end of July, but that was not to be. 2020 was a year of adaptation. It was a year of plans upended.
And here I am. I have retired. I have moved. I am participating in a new congregation, but have only worshiped in the building once. I am living in a rental home with the intention of finding a home to purchase sometime in the next nine months. And my star word is PLAN.
I think it will take me quite a while to figure out where the Spirit is leading me with that word. I know that when one submits to the leading of the Spirit, one is often surprised, so I’ll be open to being surprised this year.
One of the pastors of the congregation has said that over 4,000 star words were distributed in about 1,400 pieces of mail. Our envelope contained 5 words, so I still have three to give away. I suspect that for every inspiring story of life transformation there are plenty of words that fall short. Some of them won’t even be remembered a year from now. Some people will find the words momentarily amusing, but not discover a new spiritual discipline. Spiritual practices are like that - they grow slowly and take time to develop.
However, this year is a good year for me to take on a new discipline. There are lots of other new things in my life and a few extra minutes of prayer and meditation each day seem like a good investment. I plan to reserve my judgment until I’ve given it a year. I’m pretty sure that there will be plenty to learn as I go through this year.
Then again, my word is PLAN, and I’ve already learned that some of my best plans go awry.
This year, due to the limits on in-person worship, the congregation in which we are participating mailed out the star words. The instructions were to wait to open the envelope containing star words until the worship service on Sunday, January 3. It also offered a bit of explanation of the practice, “Epiphany as a Sunday (and as a church season) is about Light, but it’s also about revelation, about wisdom, about being willing to follow the Stars of God’s invitations as far as thy will lead us.”
The instructions also included advice to choose one of the stars without looking at the words. “If you get a word you like, great! You have the opportunity to keep it near to you for the year . . . If you find yourself with a word you don’t like, well, the Spirit is tricky like that: you have the same invitation.”
People have reported that they have found deep meaning in the practice. In doing a little research on the practice, I found the story of a person who got the word RESTRAINT and over the course of the next year lost 90 pounds, completely changing physical and spiritual health. Another person received JOY and rediscovered joy. Yet another received COURAGE while in the midst of cancer treatment, took the star along with the journey and had it on the bedside table when she died in hospice care.
It is easy to collect anecdotal evidence of the success or failure of a spiritual practice. In the traditions of the church, it usually takes several generations, often hundreds or thousands of years, for a practice to become thoroughly immeshed in the practice of faith. Right now it is impossible to tell whether this is just a fad that will rise and fall with the times, a practice that will be retained by a generation, or something that will become a fixture of Christian practice. At this point, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m willing to play along and gain from the practice what I can. I have lots of years of experience of discovering depth upon depth by responding to prayer requests made by others. A simple request to think of a single word for a year seems worth my time.
The word I got is PLAN. It isn’t yet Epiphany Day, which is January 6, so I admit that I have a while for the word to sink in and guide me to see God in unexpected ways and places. My first reaction was to think, “That’s ironic!” 2020 was a year I entered with a lot of plans. One of my plans had already been in need of adjustment. I had planned to officially announce my retirement at the annual meeting of the congregation, but I was forced to do so more than six months earlier, so there was no surprise in that. I had planned to produce the biggest Jazz and Blues night ever during our congregation’s Holy Week observances, but Covid forced its cancellation. I had planned to wind down my ministry, slowly delegating tasks to others and cutting back. Instead, I worked as hard as I ever worked. For the last three months of my career, I worked without a day off, going to my office every day to respond to the challenges of a pandemic. I had planned that our congregation would have a celebration of Ministry with outside speakers and a series of inspiring events. That too was cancelled. I had planned that we would be ready to place our home on the market and move by the end of July, but that was not to be. 2020 was a year of adaptation. It was a year of plans upended.
And here I am. I have retired. I have moved. I am participating in a new congregation, but have only worshiped in the building once. I am living in a rental home with the intention of finding a home to purchase sometime in the next nine months. And my star word is PLAN.
I think it will take me quite a while to figure out where the Spirit is leading me with that word. I know that when one submits to the leading of the Spirit, one is often surprised, so I’ll be open to being surprised this year.
One of the pastors of the congregation has said that over 4,000 star words were distributed in about 1,400 pieces of mail. Our envelope contained 5 words, so I still have three to give away. I suspect that for every inspiring story of life transformation there are plenty of words that fall short. Some of them won’t even be remembered a year from now. Some people will find the words momentarily amusing, but not discover a new spiritual discipline. Spiritual practices are like that - they grow slowly and take time to develop.
However, this year is a good year for me to take on a new discipline. There are lots of other new things in my life and a few extra minutes of prayer and meditation each day seem like a good investment. I plan to reserve my judgment until I’ve given it a year. I’m pretty sure that there will be plenty to learn as I go through this year.
Then again, my word is PLAN, and I’ve already learned that some of my best plans go awry.
