Happy New Year, Beloved of God!

As we embark on a new year, and on the season of Epiphany, we offer up a blessing by Poet and Pastor Jan Richardson.

Epiphany, and January and February, are seasons of seeking, and wondering, and offering what we can when we find the light of God in the baby at the manger. As we hear these words of blessing, can we reflect on the journeys we have already made, and open our hearts to the journeys yet to be. Can we remember the twists and turns of the pilgrimages we have made in our lives, and ask God to go with us on the journeys that come next. Let us meditate on these words from Jan Richardson.

For Those Who Have Far to Travel
An Epiphany Blessing

If you could see
the journey whole,
you might never
undertake it,
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.

Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping,
step by
single step.

There is nothing
for it
but to go,
and by our going
take the vows
the pilgrim takes:
to be faithful to
the next step;
to rely on more
than the map;
to heed the signposts
of intuition and dream;
to follow the star
that only you
will recognize;
to keep an open eye
for the wonders that
attend the path;
to press on
beyond distractions,
beyond fatigue,
beyond what would
tempt you
from the way.

There are vows
that only you
will know:
the secret promises
for your particular path
and the new ones
you will need to make
when the road
is revealed
by turns
you could not
have foreseen.

Keep them, break them,
make them again;
each promise becomes
part of the path,
each choice creates
the road
that will take you
to the place
where at last
you will kneel
to offer the gift
most needed—
the gift that only you
can give—
before turning to go
home by
another way.

—Jan Richardson