Following the Star 
Pause
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned.
A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:2, 6
However your day has begun,
enter into these moments
seeking the hope and promise
of the light of God’s love.
Listen
Lift up your eyes and look all around: they are all gathered; they have come to you.
Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters on caregivers’ hips.
Then you will see and be radiant; your heart will tremble and open wide, because the sea’s abundance will be turned over to you; the nations’ wealth will come to you.
Countless camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah.
They will all come from Sheba, carrying gold and incense, proclaiming the Lord’s praises.
Isaiah 60:4-6
Think
Whether it’s journeying the crowded hallway to your next class or navigating the dynamics of the work lunchroom, sometimes it’s easier to just keep our heads down. Sometimes it feels safer going about our business not wanting to make waves. Sometimes there’s so much weighing on our heads and hearts that our very souls are downcast.
I wonder though what we would see in this new year if we chose to try to really lift up our eyes and look all around us as we go about living.
Christ the Light of the World has come.
And if we choose to seek, know, and follow God, with that gift of radiant grace comes piercing illumination of truth.
What injustice and yet advocacy would we see?
What hurting and yet healing?
What heartache and yet hope?
Opened wide, our hearts might very well tremble with what we see. But with that vulnerability, God’s radiating love can reach us in new corners of our souls and shine through us more clearly into our world.
Molly Logan
Pray
Gracious and loving God, help me to start to look up today. Help me to try and see our world beyond my everyday experience, even when it’s hard with what weighs on my own heart, even if it hurts to see the truth of our world.
Open my heart wide and help me to ask and to listen as I seek to understand how to live out the light of your love in our world with outstretching radiance.
Amen.
Go
Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
Christ, the Light of the World, is walking with you,
amidst the darkness and the light
and all the nuances
of your heart and your living today.
