Matthew 2:7-10
Question for Reflection:
This passage is like a suspenseful movie. “No don’t do it!” you yell at the screen, “It’s a trick!” But we know how it ends. We can sit back, for now, and enjoy the wonder of the moment, the brilliance of the star, with the scholars. What moments do we miss because we’re too concerned about what’s going to happen next?
Prayer for the day:
God, teach us to let go of fear and anxiety. We want to live in the moment and be in your presence but sometimes our worries get in the way. Please help us to learn to stop and look around us, taking in your wonders and glory. Amen.
~ Rachel Witkovsky, National Junior High Conference Coordinator
Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Advent Devotional written by Walt Wiltschek, campus pastor of Manchester University. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Walt’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.
Jeanne,
So true. Fear and anxiety can’t be avoided- they are a part of who we are as human beings. I like what you say at the end, the hope shone in the Star is to guide us. Letting go of our fears and anxieties, then, seems to me to be about acting from a place of hope.
Well said!
Josh
Rereading the scripture, I wonder how Mary and Joseph could possibly let go of their anxieties, knowing that Herod’s posse was out to get them and kill their child. ‘The Star,’ as Rachel indicates, is the only shred of hope they have. In shining its holy Light upon them, ‘The Star’ calms their fears, blesses their precarious situation, and beckons them into the future, regardless of the outcome.