Going Home By Another Way

Last updated on: January 16, 2015 at 9:40 am by Elizabeth Nordquist

Going Home By Another Way 2015-01-16T09:40:51-08:00 Elizabeth Nordquist

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As always, the story of the Wise Ones, the Magi, who usher us into the season of Epiphany, intrigues me with its layers of images, its spare detail and its promise of Light at the end of the journey. The detail that has caught my spirit this year is the very last line in the Matthew 2 account is this:

and having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. (V. 12)

The adventure continues for them, and I find my self wondering how the sojourn continues: did they stay together? did they ask for help? was there still a constant Star? and how were they integrating this Epiphany to which they had come? did it change their lives, and if so, how?

I am impressed with how attentive they were to the variety of ways that the Spirit worked in them and for them. Their acquired knowledge had led them to an openness to risking a far journey. Their political savvy had helped them discern what sources and what pieces of information were trustworthy and which were not. The Star was a companion and director that they could see (could anyone else?) and that they trusted enough to strike out to paths unknown. In their own spirits they allowed the joy to fill them as they recognized that this tiny child was the one for whom they were looking, even though by any cultural markings, he was not a king. And they listened to their dreams, in this case, a dream of warning and redirection–to go home by another road.

As we have entered a new year, even though I am not in the habit of of making resolutions or charting new courses, I find in the turning the final page on the calendar I assess where I have been, and to the degree I can, imagine where I might be going in the year ahead. I look back at the learnings of the past year, the wisdom that has accrued through sorting and testing, the sources of energy that have shone brightly for me in my journey of Spirit, the kairos moments of joy and wonder that have filled me and have been shared when I have been clear that I have again encountered the Holy One. And then I listen with all of my senses to the directions that become present themselves to me .

The way forward for me this year is to leave my blogging home at Patheos, a place which has invited me to risk, a community that has been welcoming and helpful, and a broad vista of differences in points of view, styles of writing longing for the Holy, and ethical living in a complex, sometimes chaotic world. I am grateful for these four and half years of companioning. However, my way forward goes a different route in this season. I will be blogging, starting next week at amusingamma.com and will welcome any and all who wish to go down that road with me. What I know is that on the road I will be taking , I will be accompanied by the same Spirit who has brought me safely thus far, even I as I know that the Spirit will however, guide and lead all the rest of the contributors at Patheos as She has done so far.

Traveling mercies to us all!

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