Dear Friends of Harvard-Epworth,

One of my favorite summer job positions ever was as a Bike Messenger in Boston between my second and third year of seminary. The job was exciting, slightly dangerous, and different every day– perfect for my ADD brain.  I got in great shape (as a newbie I got all the long rides), and I got brilliant at navigating the roads of Boston and Cambridge.

Or so I thought.

When my parents came came out to visit Boston, I offered to drive their rental car and play tour guide. And I got completely flummoxed. As a messenger, if I had to get from the Statehouse to Faneuil Hall, I would take The Official Approved Bike Messenger Route™. I’d head down Beacon Hill, go the wrong way for a block on Tremont, ride through Gov Center, and get to Faneuil Hall via North Street.  It would take two minutes.

Trying to drive from the Statehouse to Faneuil in parents’ rental car, I was an embarrassed hot mess. I didn’t know which roads were one-way. I couldn’t drive on a sidewalk or run up stairs or cut across a grassy median. I couldn’t even drop a quarter into a payphone to ask my boss how to get there.  Given a new situation (a car), my well-rehearsed routes were useless.  I had to find another way.

So I was greatly edified to read (in a commentary by Kayla Craig) that the Magi of the Christmas/Epiphany story were in a not-dissimilar debacle when their situation changed.  Their well-planned two-way journey along the safest, most-traveled trade route from Persia to Bethlehem and back was quickly nullified by a sociopathic ruler’s murderous plans. They were warned in a dream to go back home “by another way.”

Sometimes the paths to which God calls us are not at all similar to our own well-laid plans. Often they are not the predictable or most well-travelled routes. But always, God is with us.

Craig writes, “God actively carves paths in the wilderness, guiding us through uncharted territories with the promise of making all things new.”  Here is the blessing she wrote for Epiphany:

It’s okay if your journey hasn’t looked like you thought it would. As you navigate twists and turns, stay curious and open to where God might be leading. May you find the courage to explore new routes and the wisdom to follow the One who will never leave or forsake you. May each new path be a chance to trust God and discover deeper truths about the love that will never let you go.

Blessed Epiphany,

Pastor Mitch