Humans make maps of stars,
choosing some stars, ignoring others,
to project our imaginations onto the heavens.
These maps shift over time, across cultures.
Names change for the same assemblage of bright points:
Drinking Gourd, Big Dipper, Plough, Lost Hunters [1], Saptarishi [2].

Humans make constellations by connecting stars.
Humans make meaning by connecting stories:
story to story to narrative to story.
Some blaze bright, some are faint.
Most are backdrop to the great and mundane human unfolding.

Let us imagine the stories of our lives
as a starry universe above our heads.

As leaders of this congregation,
we are tasked and trusted
to draw constellations in this,
our beloved, small universe.

May the stories we connect
draw constellations
that reflect a shared ministry
that calls out the best in us.

[1] Cherokee, [2] Tibetan