Advent 2023- 12/5/23

Imagining the Call

Barbara Brown Taylor (an Episcopal priest and writer) imagines the call of the Magi in her book, Home by Another Way.

“Once upon a time there were three – yes, three – very wise men who were all sitting in their own countries minding their own business when a bright star lodged in the right eye of each one of them. It was so bright that none of them could tell whether it was burning in the sky or in their own imaginations, but there were so wise they knew it did not matter all that much. The point was, something beyond them was calling them, and it was a tug they had been waiting for….They were all glad for a reason to get out of town – because that was clearly where the star was calling them, out – away from everything they knew how to manage and survive, out from under the reputations they had built for themselves, the high expectations, the disappointing returns. And so they set out, one by one, each believing that he was the only one with a star in his eye until they all ran into one another on the road to Jerusalem.”¹

---

For Reflection

“Something beyond them was calling them, and it was a tug they had been waiting for.” Is there something beyond you that is calling you to a journey or a change?

Do you have the courage to follow that call? If not, what is holding you back? What would you need in order to take that first step? Are you making excuses, but already know that you should go before you feel ready?

---

Footnotes

1. Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way, 28-29. ↩︎