Click Below for Your Star Gift Word

for the Year

Star Gifts

NOTE: Click on Star Gifts above. The one that is shown is your word -  (via the Holy Spirit...) Remember that word and write it down. Any subsequent "spins" are just for entertainment.

 

Click on the star above to open the graphic in a new window to print

and mark with your "Gift" word.

You can then post it on your refrigerator, mirror, or above your desk to view it each day.

The Star Gift...

This is a tradition for Epiphany Sunday. It comes from Rev. Peters' fellow high school youth group member in Wallingford, CT, now the Rev. Dr. Susan Foster, who now serves the UCC church in East Woodstock, CT.

People are yearning for tangible, clear signs of God’s presence. We hope you will receive it and embrace it.

 

The wise men who traveled great distances to offer their gifts to the newborn Christ-child responded to the gift first given to them. They received God’s gift, and then offered their gifts to God. As we commemorate the arrival of the wise men and remember their offerings, we delight in this Star Gift, a reminder that symbolizes God’s generosity in our lives.

 

We encourage everyone to click on the link, see your word, write it down and hang it up where they are sure to see it every day. It may be on your bathroom mirror, or next to your computer screen, refrigerator or posted by the back door where you see it as you depart and enter your house.  In some churches, many people keep their star gifts from year to year; gradually accumulating a virtual constellation of wise words and encouragement displayed as a reminder of God’s presence in our lives.

Allow these words to speak to you. Start by looking the word up in the dictionary so that you are clear on its meaning; we hear the word grace all the time, but what exactly does it mean? A word that seemed unclear at the beginning may gain new meaning as the year goes on.

 

Throughout the year, members of our congregation are encouraged to share some thoughts, either briefly or at length, about their star gifts. Thus it can be that on a bright summer Sunday in the heat of August, we will be reminded of that frigid January Sunday when we were surrounded by candles to bolster the dim winter light. We can reflect on the God who continually encourages and strengthens God’s people. Perhaps that is the delight of star gifts—they truly are a gift that keeps on giving, even long after the Epiphany season is over.

Like any other gift, star gifts can either be received with joy or discarded and forgotten. You will need to be intentional about your response to their star gift. Will the paper stars be stuffed into a pocket or jammed into the bottom of a purse, never to be considered again? Or will that word be considered an opportunity—a chance to reflect on how God speaks to God’s people? What might we learn from one word? What new ideas might evolve, what treasured wisdom might resurface?