Star Word for 2025

In the telling of the birth of Jesus, Matthew doesn’t give us shepherds and angels; he provides us Gentile astronomers and a child-killer Herod.

Tradition gives us three wise men. Scripture says, “Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem” (Matthew 2:1). Some translations call them “magi,” and others say, “band of scholars,” and another says, “astrologers.”

It is hard to know who they are precisely. What we do know is that they were pagans. They had no connection with the Jewish people, their prophets, or their messiah. And yet, according to the story, they come from the East to “pay him homage” (Matthew 2: 2). They came to worship him.

This was a new journey for the so-called Wise Men. They had no connection to the Jewish people, yet, according to the story, they would travel many miles over treacherous terrain to worship him.

They follow the light.

To write a better story in 2025, we must pay attention to God’s guiding light. But how?

I suggest we listen for one word. We pay attention to God’s word for us this year. Instead of a list of resolutions, we focus on one word. We live with the focus of one word. We will let the word we get from the Lord drive us to what God wants us to become this year. This one word will be the guiding star directing our lives in 2025.

This year, my word is abundance. It’s simple and strong. It calls for action, not just talk. To live with abundance is to trust there is enough—enough love, enough grace, enough time. It’s not about excess. It’s about fullness. Full hearts. Full lives. Enough to give and enough to share.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Not life crammed with things but a life rich in meaning. Rich in connection. Rich in what lasts when everything else is gone.

This year, I want to live like there’s enough. Enough love, enough hope, enough grace. I want to live like I believe it, and maybe, in the living, I’ll find it’s true.

What will be your word? I would love to know it and put it beside your name in my prayers for you this year.

Pastor Jamey

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