Together on the Journey:
A Weekly Blog 

Happy New Year, everyone, and Merry Christmas! Since we haven’t quite reached Epiphany yet, and the wise ones are still on their journey to meet Jesus, it is still perfectly acceptable to say Merry Christmas.

In these days, as we move from one calendar year to another, many people like to pause and do a bit of an assessment of where they are in their lives, where they’ve been, and where they want to go. Some people even choose to make New Year’s resolutions, or goals, for the coming year. And while I always think this concept of New Year’s resolutions is a tricky one, because we all know they are just as likely to be broken as kept, I do think pausing to think about where we are going is never a bad idea. I’m sure the wise ones paused many times on their journey to reassess and make sure they were on the right path.

But when I sat down to consider my own New Year’s resolutions, I began wondering what it means to be on the ‘right’ path. Throughout my own journey, I have taken many unexpected turns, sometimes of my own doing, and sometimes I had little choice in the turn. Does that mean every time I turned I exited (or entered) the ‘right’ path?

After the wise ones met Jesus, they returned home by a different way. In other words, there was more than one ‘right’ path that they could take on their journey, and I think the same is true for us. You never know, you might come across something new and life-changing if you take a different path. You might even meet God in a new way.

And so as we enter a new year, I encourage you to consider your own journeys, and reflect if there is something you might gain from taking a different path. Fr. Andrew told me he often tells people on Epiphany to drive home a different way and see if they notice anything different. So maybe there is a different path you could take, either small or large. And even if that doesn’t put you on the ‘right’ path, maybe it would open your eyes to something new. And that sounds like a great way to start off the New Year. Amen.

Rev’d Jess