the last day of the year - looking for stars

This morning I preached my last homily of the year (and my last homily for three months) to the very lovely Tuesday morning congregation at All Saints, Berkhamsted.

I talked (inevitably) about my forthcoming pilgrimage across part of Ireland and Scotland, and reflected that the three key figures are: 1) it will be 487 miles. 2) in 24 days. 3) I'm 56.

This will be the first walk I've made where I take no maps with me at all and rely entirely on the rather wonderful OS mapping app. There's a little bit of me that worries about the phone suddenly not working, or getting dropped in a loch, or the entire Vodaphone network expiring suddenly. There's a little bit of me that's usually worrying about something.

I contrasted my hi-tech pilgrimage with the Magi, travelling now, through their nights, following a star.

Over the course of the past six years a lot of the stars which guided me have faded or vanished from my sky. It has been deeply disorientating; hard at times to maintain a sense of where and who I am in the present moment, far less where I might be heading.

My hope for the coming weeks of my Sabbatical is that it might be a time when I come to recognise the new guiding lights in my disordered sky, so that I might step forward again with confidence, a sense of expectation and joy.

What are the stars that guide you?