A Different Road Entirely

Epiphany of the Lord Sunday

Week of January 3, 2021
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

... they left for their own country by another road.
(Matthew 2:12, NRSV)

Devotion

When God manifested Godself in a downy-headed, intense-eyed infant, God ripped away a layer of unknowing between humans and the divine. It changed everything. The world as it was, up to that point, was picked up, shaken, and put back down. For those who knew, everything was different from that moment forward. For those who did not know yet, the first ripple had begun its movement and would make itself felt in most locations at some point down the years. Whether in acceptance or rejection, whether in a teaching or an unnamed inner knowing, this ripple would affect most humans in some way from that point forward.

It's not how the people of the time thought they would be saved. It was a different road entirely from what they expected.

Today, it feels to many of us as if our worlds have been picked up and shaken. Everything is different, and there is an overlayer of pain that cannot be avoided. When so many of us are suffering at once, it is going to affect the energy everywhere. There is a collective grieving even as we acknowledge and celebrate the birth of Christ.

We are in need of an epiphany.

So. Since we are obviously not going to make it home on the road by which we came, let us commit to choosing that other road together. The Magi did not walk that new road alone – neither should we. All of us together, connected to each other through our love of Jesus and our deep desire to be vessels of God for our congregations, can set our faces toward unknown horizons, knowing there will be manna enough for everyone because it is God who leads. It is God who provides. We, together, are blessed to companion each other toward our own epiphanies.

We are not alone; we have each other, and best of all, God is with us. Alleluia, amen!

Prayer

Ready my heart for the new, O God, and set my feet on the road of your choosing. Thank you for my loyal companions, and may we care for each other as you have cared for us. Amen.

Lindy Thompson
Lyricist and Poet
Christ United Methodist Church
Franklin, TN 

Photo: Annie Spratt / Pixabay