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Life is full of journeys, isn't it? Some examples : Journey to the Priory; journey to school or university; journey to work; journey to shop; journey to visit family and friends over Christmas and New Year; journey to go on holiday.
Some journeys are short, others are long. Some are made every day, others once in a lifetime. But all of them involve travel - by whatever means - and this travel demands our time and effort. And, at the end of each journey, we end up in a different place from where we started.
Today we are thinking about a very special journey made by some very colourful characters long ago. Who were these journey-makers? Where did their journey take them?
We don't know very much about the Magi at all - Matthew doesn't say whether they were men, or that there were three of them. In fact we know more about the gifts rather than the givers, more about the journey than the travellers.
What we're told is that the Magi from the east saw a special star, which led them on a journey to come and worship Jesus.
In those days there were no planes, trains or automobiles, no sat nav or road maps. All they had to go on was the special star. The journey must have been long and hard, dangerous and uncomfortable. Perhaps the Magi found themselves wondering whether it was all worth it, whether they had set out on a wild goose chase.
Yet they persisted with their journey, until the star "stopped over the place where the child was." And then, "on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him." Doubtless the Magi had no idea what would happen to them when they set out on their journey. They saw the star, and followed it. Yet their journey to, and encounter with, Jesus Christ must surely have changed these Eastern travellers forever. In his poem Journey of the Magi, TS Eliot captures this sense of life never being the same again: "We returned to our places, these kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods."
Life is full of journeys, some of which can be life-changing. And life is itself a journey. Whatever stage of the journey we're at - near the beginning, in the middle, or approaching journey's end - the journey will have its share of challenges, and we may not always be clear as to the point of it. Perhaps the start of a New Year is a time when some of us find ourselves musing on the speed of our own journey through time!
Life is itself a journey. But where does it lead, and what guidance is there to help us find our way? The Epiphany story of the Magi would suggest that the God-given goal of life's journey, and the God-given guidance along the way, are one and the same: the presence of the light of Jesus Christ.
Our journey through life is, in fact, a call to journey into Life - into that fullness of life, which God has opened to us through His Son Jesus Christ. If we are open to be led by His light, then - like the Magi of old - we shall find ourselves on a journey of faith, a journey which will radically change us, from inside out.
The call to journey into Life is open to all. But the choice is ours. Are we open to the call? And are we really prepared to follow where the Lord leads, whatever the cost might be? The Lord is not fooled by outward appearances. He sees and knows where each of us really is with Him on this journey. He knows whether we're still looking for His light to guide us, and whether we are still seeking to walk with Him - to grow with Him - on the journey of faith. Maybe the start of this New Year is a good time to reflect on the offering of worship, welcome, and witness in our lives and how these are either honouring - or dishonouring - to the Lord. And to consider what is the next step we need to take - in our own lives, and in the life of this church - to move forward on the journey with Christ.
The Bible is the God-given lamp to our path through life; but God's Word cannot lighten our journey unless we actually engage with it. Again, the New Year is an excellent time to start - or re-start - the habit of daily Bible reading. This week's Priory leaflet gives details of how to access a new website, just launched by Scripture Union - WordLive - which can help us to receive daily guidance from the Bible.
Life is full of journeys. We don't know what 2008 will bring for us, or for our world. What we do know is that the Lord seeks to journey with us - and lead us - by His Spirit, and that He invites you and me to be open to trust Him each step of the way.
As Minnie Haskins once memorably put it:
"And I said to the one who stood at the gate of the year,
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the Unknown.'
And he replied,
'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."
John Barr
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