We have been to Bethlehem and now are on the longer journey, the one from Bethlehem back home. On that journey, we learn what we believe and where we place our ultimate trust. I believe that the greatest force anywhere is love, that the enemy is fear, and that love displaces fear. God's love is an image of the basic and underlying force of the universe. Human love imitates God love and reflects the fundamental truth of life. The mystery of faith is to step through the gateway of fear, disillusion, and greed to find the real presence of God.

The season of Christmas lasts until this Sunday, what the church calls Epiphany. It marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas and the arrival of the three Wise Men in Bethlehem. I wonder if you have been able to keep Christmas in your heart and in your life during this season. I was doing pretty well keeping Christmas right up through New Year's Day. Then, before the last football game was over on New Year's night, it seemed that Christmas was over and I was suddenly in the season of resolutions, getting back into the swing of things, and hitting the ground running. I love my work, but I really wanted a few more days of Christmas!

What I love about Christmas is how big it is – how large the thoughts are that surround the season. We hope for peace on earth and good will among people. We sing about angels bending near the earth. We remember Wise Men following a star. Maybe the part of Christmas I can keep this year is to learn from the Wise Men to follow my star. The poet counsels:

We may choose something like a star

To stay our minds on and be staid.

("Choose Something Like a Star" by Robert Frost, 1947)

Each one of us chooses something like a star to guide our journey. Our stars have many names: belief, money, religion, family, spirituality, philosophy, and art. Stars seem so stable, steady, unmoving, and reliable, yet appearances can be deceptive. The constellations we see in our sky don't exist elsewhere in the universe. Even though they seem so reliable, they teach us that so much we tend to trust is not ultimately reliable. This year, let us place our faith in the power behind the stars.

It was the power behind the star that called and guided the Wise Men. That same power calls us today to broaden our vision and to trust the power of God's love. We gather in our churches each week to meet this power in each other and discover it within ourselves through worship and community. Then, when we go into the world, we are better able to recognize the power when we meet it in all its variety – in the hidden, surprising, and ordinary places of our lives. Have a blessed new year and thanks for continuing to bless my journey.

--Jack Price

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