Your Word for the year
Thumbnail image : Photograph taken by Andreas Binder, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The Word and the New Year
For those keeping track at home, it’s January 3rd. Which means that the feast of the Epiphany, when the Magi traditionally reach Bethlehem, is still three days away. Prompting my favorite keen observer to ask about today’s gospel, “How can the kings be leaving, when they haven’t even arrived yet?”
Indeed, liturgical time does not always map neatly onto our calendar. And there are so many Christmas stories to fit into the Sundays that squeeze between Christmas Eve and January 6, that things sometimes get … creative! That’s just the way the calendar goes.
Fortunately for us, I brought the Magi into the story early, speaking of their journey during the Christmas Eve service. So that part of the narrative is covered. What has felt like the missing piece to me, however (with no Christmas Day service, and not getting to preach last week), is the chance to dive into the prologue to John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
These words invite us into the mystery of the Incarnation. God touches our world, and becomes flesh. Scripture touches our lives, and is given flesh in our response. The Word is made flesh, mysteriously and eternally. Words are made flesh, over and over and over, in our lives.
I’m thinking about this, as we begin a new year. Thinking of the ways in which God enters the world; thinking of the ways in which words become real and powerful. And I’m also thinking about newness, and turning, and changes.
My colleague Amity Carrubba actually gave me this idea: to invite all of us to think about a word that we might want to carry into the new year.
This word would be yours alone to choose. A word that just feels right, when you think of it (whether that’s right now, or in an hour, or three days, or two months from now). You will recognize it, because it fills you with longing, or solace, or inspiration, or hope. It will have a kind of creative, “becoming” kind of energy. It will feel like what Deacon Carolynn would call a “God Moment.”
Not a bad thing, to guide you into the new year, right? Instead of aspirational resolutions, that can crash and burn when you fail to observe them perfectly, just a word. A word that you hope to live into throughout the coming year. A word you plan to be guided by over the next 12 months. A word you intend to organize your heart, your head, and your hands around in 2021.
Choose a word which has a bit of God in it. And God will meet you there, in that word. God’s power will infuse your work with that word, and help you to inhabit it more fully, and allow it to grow in you. To take flesh within you.
Sacred story can guide your choice. Our reading from Ephesians today, for example, is jam packed with words: blessing, love, hope, praise, wisdom, riches. Any one of these, even one that seems straightforward, will surely deepen as you sit with it, and you will discover ways in which it means things you never expected, and doesn’t mean things you thought it did.
Or you might read a story, like the one from the gospel today, and be inspired to choose a word like “rescue” or “escape.” If a story grabs you, think about what compels you in it: maybe that’s your word.
You could use the thing that you’ve asked God for, over and over again. “God, give me patience!” “God, make me brave!” “God, help me to forgive that person.” But you might also want to lean into things you already have some traction with, and allow them to be stepping stones. So instead of beating yourself up for not managing to become patient enough, you could take a year to breathe into the word “slow.” “Forgiveness” can sound like a lot, so how about starting with “release” and see where that takes you?
I’m thinking mine will be “beloved.” When I hear the phrase “Beloved Community” it resonates with me. And I am drawn by both the challenge and gift of remembering my own belovedness (which often comes into conflict with my self-talk, especially when it comes to body stuff), as well as remembering the belovedness of others (which sometimes comes into conflict with the fact that they annoy, offend or completely horrify me).
“Beloved.” I’m going to write it on a slip of paper and put it in my prayer book. So that I’m reminded. So that I’m reminded enough times that I don’t need to be reminded so much anymore. So that I’ll turn back to it, during times of struggle. Because I have a feeling it will become illuminating in places I would never expect.
What could your word be? What do you hope to live into throughout the coming year? What word could guide you over the next 12 months? What word would you choose to organize your heart, your head, and your hands around in 2021?
Whatever it is, may it become a place in which God meets you. May it be a way for the words of scripture (and the Word that is Jesus) to be made flesh in this world. May this be so. Amen.