Wandering Stars

Our Sharon recently got together with three of her contemporaries from high school in Pakistan at a curry house in Brick Lane in the East End of London.. And Judith at the end of this month will organise yet another mini MCS reunion with her friend Lydia. They’re never done connecting and re-connecting on facebook, on msn, and in person. They’re of that unique breed, sometimes known as “third culture kids”. Born to parents of one (or maybe, as in our case, two cultures), raised in a second culture, and then trying to make it on their own in a third or even forth culture. They’re citizens of planet earth, with roots that drag around after them looking for a decent piece of soil to grasp onto. Wandering stars, sometimes blazing a trail of light on their own, and sometimes colliding with others in a blaze of multi-coloured brilliance

They’re not like the wandering stars of the thirteenth verse of the Book of Jude though. These stars burn bright and carry with them the riches drawn from the cultures they’ve lived in. I never cease to be amazed how they immediately connect with others with a similar story even though their context may have been Latin America or Africa rather than South Asia. In some ways they carry about in their hearts a glimpse or foretaste of the cultural riches of a heaven that will peopled with stars from every tribe and race and language.

But sometimes these wandering stars do feel the loss of a fixed point of reference. Their hearts do cry out for understanding, for meaning, for some sense of history and connectedness. And sometimes there is a sense of grief for what’s been lost and what might have been, and friends you’ll never see again.

Please could you stay awhile to share my grief
For its such a lovely day
To have to always feel this way

(Wandering stars – Portishead 1994)

As Colin heads off into Southampton University, as Sharon continues to finds her way in art and creativity, as Judith serves her God in her place in Brussels, here's a prayer for all you wandering stars out there.

May you shine like stars in His universe
and bring light to the blackness around you.

May you find a way, Gods way, His clear and perfect way,
as you manoeuvre round the roadblocks on the path

May you hold out that perfect word of life to those who need it.

May your lives reflect that pure and blameless lifestyle that was Christ’s
and may you taste and see that He is good