From the Pastor's Study

The Wise Man’s Journey

There will be no camels;
we are going on horseback,
at least for some of the way.

And we won’t arrive there
a few hours after everyone else.
It will be weeks, perhaps--
or months.

We are not in a hurry.
That is not the way we work;
we are not Europeans.

We will discuss the phenomenon--
the star--
and if it does not go away,
and if we still feel curious,
we will travel.

We will look in the wrong place.
Yes, I admit that,
because wise men, potentates,
intellectuals--
call us what you will--
are not infallible.

We expect a new power
to emerge from the side of the
old one.
We expect the destination we seek
to resemble what our common
sense deduces.

  
 


 
 

We will be upset, angry even,
 to find that Herod is ignorant
 and that his residence is not the
 birthplace.

 We will find it hard
 and intellectually demeaning
 to bow the knee to the son of
 refugees.

 And all this...
 all this upset will be compounded
 when it comes to journeying back 
 and we discover
 we have to go home by an alternate
 route.

 That is the trouble with God.
 God does not let you leave as
 you came.
 God sends you back,
 stripped of your presumptions,
 making for home by an alternate 
 route.
 

(From Cloth for the Cradle
by Iona Community Wild
Goose Worship Group)
May we, like the wise men of old, be open to God’s intentions for us -- both personally and as a church community.  And may we continue to be faithful to God’s hopes and dreams, even when they catch us by surprise and cause us to make changes in our plans. May God’s wisdom and will always guide us.
Faithfully,
Rev. Susan

Epiphany....a season for insights

The following commercial has been used by IBM...The distinguished looking gentleman stares sternly into the camera.  In clipped tones, he recites: "Epiphany: awakening to the essential nature or meaning of things.  The day you realize that the stork does not deliver babies: that is an epiphany.  The day you realize that men and women are different: that is an epiphany.  The day you realize your website is your business and your software can't handle it: that is an epiphany."

The word "epiphany" has found its way into our common language!  As we celebrate the Epiphany Season in church during January, let us gather to understand and recall its greater significance.