8 A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
–Isaiah 35:8-10, NRSV
January—the new year. The time of Epiphany—discovery and illumination. So we hope. We hope, too, for mass immunizations against the novel coronavirus and for a peaceful transfer of power in the United States. Every day I feel the intense longing for good news.
We’ve yearned toward the Holy One throughout the season of Advent, and in this new year the adventure continues. In our COVID-19 moment I’m reflecting on the fact that the word “adventure” underwent some evolution in its meaning many centuries ago. In 1200 it referred to that which happens by chance, with the possibility of wonder, miracle, and marvelous happenings. Then disaster struck and the word’s sense changed to denote risk and danger. In 1347 the Black Death struck Europe, and over the course of four years more than 20 million lives were lost on the continent, about one-third of the population. Everyone suffered. It’s no surprise that the understandings of common words would shift in grim ways. Over the course of the last year, I’ve developed an aversion reaction to the word “unprecedented.”
Today the word “adventure” carries the full range of meaning—exciting experiences or undertakings, and also risky, hazardous ones. Jesus’ family had adventures, as did those around them. The Holy Family followed God’s instructions, largely conveyed by angels, and the Magi followed a star. Later the Holy Family fled the infanticide order King Herod issued to eliminate the newborn Messiah, and they ended up as refugees in Egypt for a number of years.
Jesus’ parents and also the wise men from the east cherished God’s strange manifestation in a carpenter’s child, and, in doing so, they left what was familiar and ventured out. They were on the Way.
Early in the fifth century, the Roman African priest Augustine of Hippo succinctly captured the multiplicity of the “Way” in a Christmas sermon. He told his listeners, “Be in attendance at the manger; do not be ashamed of being the Lord’s donkey. You will be carrying Christ; you will not go astray walking along the way because the Way is sitting on you.” Augustine himself, like you and me, was sandwiched in grace—on the Way, carrying the Way, and no doubt directed by the Way as well.
To help us on the Way—our adventure of faith to know the Holy One—God offers a few helps:
Maps/signs. Those who have longed for the Messiah have been given maps and signs to direct them on their way. The traditional pillars of discernment are prayer, Scripture, community, and tradition. The Magi were also given a star. The Hebrew people were told to ask for the moon and informed, instead, they would receive a baby:
10-11 God spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said, “Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!”
12 But Ahaz said, “I’d never do that. I’d never make demands like that on God!”
13-17 So Isaiah told him, “Then listen to this, government of David! It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions, the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture. (Isaiah 7:10-17, MSG)
What are the signs that point you to the Holy?
Provisions. We don’t know all the provisions Jesus’s parents and the visiting wise people were given, but they made the journeys having been adequately provided for. As an adult directing his own followers on journeys, Jesus recommended they take staffs, wear sandals, and accept hospitality:
8 He [Jesus] ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. (Mark 6:8-10, NRSV)
On any adventure, we aim to travel light, and the pandemic may have helped us all discern what we truly need. What can you leave behind and what seems right to take with you on your faith journey?
Companions. When the angel announced to Mary that she has been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, he told her that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was also miraculously pregnant. He gave her a companion in her risky adventure. The Magi traveled with companions, and they became witnessing companions for infant Jesus’ awestruck family. The disciple whom Jesus loved helped Peter notice the Holy One and venture towards him. In each of these instances, the presence of the Holy Spirit is woven into the relationship.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12, NRSV)
That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. (John 21:7, NRSV)
As we follow the Way, companions sustain, encourage, and help us see the presence of grace. Who are your companions?
Each of us has our own adventure on the Way of Jesus. Sometimes it may feel more exciting than risky. At other times, grueling or hazardous. We have been undergoing the ordeal of the pandemic. Some of us have lost loved ones to the virus; others of us have lost jobs or homes; some have suffered from the upsurge in discrimination and resentment against people of particular races, religions, or political convictions.
In this new year and this season of Epiphany when we remember the Magi seeing the Christ child, we remember that we see now only in part, through a glass darkly, as it were. Sometimes we feel we’re not seeing at all and will never arrive. Sometimes the weight of the One Who is the Way feels a bit too heavy for the “Lord’s donkey” who is bearing it. We trust that the God Who provides hope will also provide sustenance.
13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16, MSG)
Susan S. Phillips (Ph.D.) is the executive director of New College Berkeley and a professor of Christian spirituality.
1 (“Sermon 189-4,” quoted by Lawrence S. Cunningham, “The Way and the Ways,” in Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective, eds. Jeffrey P. Greenman and George Kalantzis (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 85.)