A January kind of journey

This time of year is challenging for many; as light is low, maintaining equilibrium with mental and physical health feels harder, and cold weather threatens travel plans, heating bills, and even lives (were it not for the incredible work of the Oxford Winter Night Shelter).

If you find January to be a month of endurance rather than enjoyment, you are in good company! T.S.Elliot’s ‘The Journey of the Magi’ is written from the perspective of one of the wise men, looking back on the journey to and beyond the moment the whole world shifted for them. What is interesting is that we notice that this spiritual revelation and transformation was not met simply with characteristic christmassy jubilation. Instead they reflect on the recognition that, with the new birth they witness, is also necessarily a death of the old self and life they had grown familiar with.

We too have met the Christ Child. We too have worshipped at his crib, and we have seen salvation unfold and stretch a path ahead into a future which would not be possible were it not for the Incarnation. Yet the path of true spiritual growth is not about the revelations, miracles, and ‘high points’, but what we do with our renewed knowledge of God’s unending love and grace on the day we take down the Christmas decorations, or have to go back to work, or we just feel generally deflated.

These are the days for doing as the Magi did; resolving to continue to travel together as a community of faith until we reach our eternal home, asking questions as we go, and trying to work out how this all really works in everyday life. Perhaps we may end up on a different route to the one we so carefully planned for this year, but we can take comfort that, as we walk into a future with hopes and challenges and unknowns, we do so accompanied by friends.