January 2023 – Wicomico Presbyterian Church

Saying “Yes”

Matthew 4:12-23 Something that has become a popular thing for the church to do around epiphany is a thing called Star Words. This activity is based on the premise of the magi followed the star to find Jesus. And so each person is given a star with a single word printed on it. Somehow, we follow where that word leads us. Spiritually. For a whole year. You can use it in your daily prayer, journaling, art, or however you like. I have never done it before, but this year I went to a presbytery Epiphany luncheon where I was offered a star. I selected a bright pink one. The color made me smile. But when I turned it over and looked at the word I stopped smiling. The word was “Try.” Try? Who would think that this word would be a good word to meditate on? Try? Just looking at […]

What Men Are These?

Matthew 2:1-12 Because I wanted to get off to a riveting start this year, I thought we might begin with a little examination of the genealogy of Jesus. Shall we? Yes, I know. Some of you are thinking reading through the genealogy is about as riveting as reading through the card catalog. And others of you are now thinking what’s a card catalog? But, come on. It will be fun. “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” – and it goes on for a bit like that. Typically, genealogies in scripture contain the names of the men in the line of descent – the patriarchs. And there are plenty of them in this list. So many that most readers probably don’t even notice that Matthew has thrown a few women in. Four, to be exact. What […]

Sacred Doing

Isaiah 63:7-9 Matthew 2:13-23 I have been reminded this week about a remark someone made to me once. Nothing you probably haven’t heard too. Just that all the things that happen in our lives – the happy things, the sad things, the crazy things, the boring things – they all stay with us and remain a part of who we are and always will be. Our life experiences – all of them, not just the ones we choose, make us the men and women we are. The good, the bad, and the indifferent. We can’t do anything about that. All we can do is choose how we will remember it, and that is a choice. How we choose to remember the things that have made up our lives, it matters. The ways in which we remember things are important for how they shape us, how they give our life meaning. […]

The Face of God

In the Old Testament stories of the fathers of our faith – Abraham, Jacob, Moses – they speak of seeing the face of God. For these men of ancient days, there was the longing to see, the hope of seeing, and yet, for most, the impossibility of seeing God face to face. Still they hoped. We, too, might know this yearning, this desire to see God and feel God’s presence more fully. Because there is something in us that knows: in nearness to God we may know life in its fullness. It is a great mystery, one that we find ourselves drawn to again and again. It is this mystery that showed itself to Mary and Joseph, each one of them visited by an angel. In these visions, or dreams, they learned that they would become parents together of a very special son – one who would bring salvation to […]