The Point of a Star Word

It’s Epiphany! This means it’s the time of year where many congregations do the annual tradition of handing out star words. Star words are words written on star shaped paper or other material and distributed with the intent of being a kind of  “word of the year” for folks who take one. 

I want to be a fan of star words, but at times, I find myself struggling with it. I feel inferior when it isn’t the whole focus of my year. I feel silly when I need to seek out a word because I don’t want to just draw one from the basket that I put together. And then, what happens if I get a word that I feel like has nothing to do with my life?

For instance, last year, my star word was SABBATH. I was not in for it. Now, hear me out… I had a holly, jolly giggle at it when it was given to me because I’m a pastor, who is also a student, who is also a caregiver to aging (not old, but aging as we all are) parents. Who has time for sabbath when you have all those titles and roles and responsibilities? But I dutifully hung the star from the rearview mirror in my car where I would see it every time I got in my car, which is a lot. And then I said a prayer. I asked God to do something with that word because I knew if it was left up to me, I wouldn’t do anything with it. 

Then as the year progressed, and I drove from place to place, I found myself often considering and reconsidering where I was and wasn’t finding sabbath in my life. 

I wish I could say that I made some humongous strides in finding sabbath in my life or that I made some huge changes in priorities and how I approached my time management. But the truth is, I didn’t. As it turns out, star words are not magic. 

But what it did lead me to realize is that maybe the point of a star word is not that suddenly our lives become marked by the word, and everything changes to revolve around it. Maybe the point of a star word is not that we become different or better people because of the word. Maybe all of the ways I’d been engaging around star words were just reflections of my own insecurities. 

Instead, I was led to realize that maybe the point of a star word isn’t to get it right and perfect. Instead, perhaps a goal of the movement is to get you to make the first step and talk to God, to have a meaningful and honest moment of prayer wherein you connect more deeply with the God who calls to you. Perhaps the point is simply to get you to engage with a theme or idea in whatever way feels most accessible to you. 

This Epiphany, may you find yourself open to the possibilities God is beginning for you. May you find yourself willing to consider how your star word, whatever it may be, can be a catalyst for a deeper walk with God, a closer prayer relationship, and a moment of pause amidst the busyness of the days.