Faith: Inspired by a Star

We started an art project for Advent with some volunteers from our congregation in November. We were inspired by an article in Reformed Worship about an installation of many origami stars strung together (with instructions available on line). We put an announcement in our bulletin asking for people of all ages to join us in folding stars after church on Sunday morning for four weeks. We had about a half dozen people, kids, teens, and adults, working with us, creating a collection of stars. We hoped we would get enough stars to have a visual impact.

The stars will help us remember the star that shone over Bethlehem. The Wise Men saw something in the sky and, on the basis of what they saw, they set out on a long journey. Think about that: these men set out on a long journey based just on what they had seen and interpreted in the sky. They weren’t wishing that there was a King on the other end of their journey, they had an expectation that a King was there. Their request to Herod wasn’t “Is there a king?” No it was “Where is the baby who is born king of the Jews?” That’s Hope. 

Hope is much more than just a blind wish. It is having a clear expectation and the confidence that what you hope for will come to pass. Like the wise men we too have hope—hope for today and for the future. The people of Israel had the hope of a Messiah. The Wise Men had the hope of finding a King. We, today, have the hope of Jesus’ return and of the coming of his Kingdom. The Christmas story gives us insight into what living in Hope looks like. Sitting with my brothers and sisters in Christ and folding stars was also a glimpse of that Kingdom—people of different ages working together for a common goal. Each doing our small part to create something bigger. In the case of our art project, it changed the look of our building for a few weeks. In the case of the grand Kingdom project, it has the potential to change the world.

Learn more about Hope in the Building Blocks of Faith toolkit.