Light in the Window - January 4, 2023

When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

Matthew 2:10

Dear Covenant Family,

I walk a daily path that takes me along the cliffs of Lake Erie, down long steps to the beach and beside wooded banks of a quiet creek. Usually, I have my canine companion Molly. Most of the time I am listening to a book, but sometimes I turn it off to walk in silence. My favorite part is going under the bridge, hidden from view of cars speeding by overhead. Every time, something new is revealed: ducks splashing in the creek, migratory geese far from home, new plants, new people, new colors on the water, new ideas, new prayers. 

God is always revealing something new to us if we are paying attention. This is the season of Epiphany, a word which has come to mean “a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something . . . an intuitive grasp of reality . . .”, in addition to its traditional meaning, “the manifestation of God in earthly form.” As we observe Epiphany (January 6), we celebrate the journey to the child and the showing forth of God in unexpected places.

Please contact me if you would like a “star word” to use as a prayer practice this year. We passed out some last Sunday, but I have others prepared to give away. Words are printed on stars and chosen randomly and it’s fun to see the way the word plays out in your life during the year.

Happy New Year to each of you. May you be blessed in your walk with God.

Pastor Jessie

Pastor@covenantweb.org

A Poem for Epiphany -

Wise women also came.

The fire burned in their wombs long before 

they saw

the flaming star in the sky. 

They walked in shadows, trusting the path

would open under the light of the moon. 

Wise women also came, 

seeking no directions, 

no permission from any king. 

They came by their own authority, 

their own desire, 

their own longing. 

They came in quiet, spreading no rumors, 

sparking no fears to lead to innocents’ slaughter,

to their sister Rachel’s inconsolable lamentations. 

Wise women also came, 

and they brought useful gifts: 

water for labor’s washing, 

fire for warm illumination, 

a blanket for swaddling. 

Wise women also came, 

at least three of them, 

holding Mary in the labor, 

crying out with her in the birth pangs, 

breathing ancient blessings into her ear. 

Wise women also came, 

and they went, 

as wise women always do, 

home a different way. 

-Jan Richardson

Jan Richardson, an artist and Methodist minister in Florida, also portrays the Magi as women of different races in “Wise Women Also Came,” an image that appears on the cover of her book “Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer.”