Star Words

Pardon For the past two years, I’ve been given a star word for Epiphany, courtesy of my friend Marci, a Presbyterian minister who practices the tradition with her congregation in Boise, Idaho. My star word for 2016 was pardon – not a word, I confess, that intuitively had resonance with me. I started off thinking about what I’ve done wrong – some of the (many, daily) things for which I might want and need to seek pardon. I thought of some biblical…

by Anna McMahon, Student When 2017 began and I received my star word, ‘newness’, I wondered what it could mean. How would God reveal this word to me and use it in my life? New school? New friends? I was relatively new to committing my life to Jesus, maybe that’s it, I thought. When talk about a youth mission trip, the Fusion tour, began, I was interested but dissuaded myself from signing up because my fears got in the way.…

by Cullen Hornaday Director of Spiritual Formation Last year we began the practice of offering everyone a Star Word on the first Sunday of January and again this year on Epiphany Sunday, January 7, everyone at St Paul will receive a new star word. (If you miss that Sunday you can pick up your star word at the Information Center. Also, feel free to pick up and share star words with family and friends who don’t attend St Paul.) The…

by Cullen Hornaday Director of Spiritual Formation Last January I received the word ‘inheritance’ as my star word for 2017. Having printed, laminated and cut out the star words for this congregation — wide offering I confess I had hoped for a different word. ‘Peace,’ ‘patience,’ ’kindness,’ ‘love,’ ‘joy,’ ‘encouragement’ would all have been nice. Or perhaps something more exciting like ‘adventure,’ ‘creativity,’ or ‘vision.’ Inheritance initially brought images of wills and tax lawyers to mind. Dull. But I knew…