Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 1/2

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Here's James Taylor's musical reflection on the gospel for today's feast of the Epiphany. Most of us know the story of the Magi coming with gifts to visit the Christ child but many may be unfamiliar with "the rest of the story" which ends with the Magi taking a nap and dreaming and going home by another way... So, take a few minutes to read the whole story here - and then listen to Taylor's wonderful song, before moving on to today's Pause for Prayer...

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Home By Another Way

Those magic men the Magi
Some people call them wise
Or Oriental, even kings
Well anyway, those guys
They visited with Jesus
They sure enjoyed their stay
Then warned in a dream of King Herod's scheme
They went home by another way

Yes they went home by another way
Home by another way
Maybe me and you can be wise guys too
And go home by another way
We can make it another way
Safe home as they used to say
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
And go home another way

Steer clear of royal welcomes
Avoid a big to-do
A king who would slaughter the innocents
Will not cut a deal for you
He really, really wants those presents
He'll comb your camel's fur
Until his boys announce they've found trace amounts
Of your frankincense, gold and myrrh

Time to go home by another way
Home by another way
You have to figure that God's saying play the odds
And go home by another way
We can make it another way
Safe home as they used to say
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
And go home another way

Home is where they want you now
You can more or less assume that you'll be welcome in the end
Mustn't let King Herod haunt you so
Or fantasize his features when you're looking at a friend

Well it pleasures me to be here
And to sing this song tonight
They tell me that life is a miracle
And I figured that they're right
But Herod's always out there
He's got our cards on file
It's a lead pipe cinch, if we give an inch
Old Herod likes to take a mile

It's best to go home by another way
Home by another way
We got this far to a lucky star
But tomorrow is another day
We can make it another way
Safe home as they used to say
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
And go home another way

-James Taylor

 Pause for Prayer

Where are our journeys leading us, O God?

Where are our road trips taking us? 

Are we finding Jesus?

Are we looking for Jesus?

 

Are the lights by which we live our lives

    leading us to Jesus

        - or to some other destination? 

Do we know where we're going?

Do we know how to get there?

Are our paths bringing us closer to you, O God,

    or leading us down dead ends?

 

Are our dreams real enough, true enough

    to hold us up and sustain us

        when the journey is rough and threatening?

        when we fear we’ve lost our way?

 

When the Magi found Jesus they did two things:
    they offered him presents
        and then went home - by another way.

Finding Jesus, meeting Jesus, changed the Magi.

Yes, they went home,

    but they went home by an alternate route.

Even if their destination was a familiar one,

    meeting Jesus recharted their journey.

 

The Magi's story challenges us, O God, 

    to look at our life’s maps and to discern 

        where we're going and how we're getting there...

Do our journeys need some course correction?
Do we need to begin to “go home by another way?”

 

Help us find the light, the star of Jesus, 

    shining in our lives, in our hearts,

        in our thoughts and in our dreams...

 

Help us find Jesus,

    the light no darkness can extinguish,

the One who came to change our hearts,

    to change our lives, to change our paths

        and to lead us home, O God, to you...

 

Amen.

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