“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”

— Matthew 2:12

Last year, one of our ordination candidates shared a song with our RIM class by Chris Grundy called “Home by Another Way.” I have been a little captivated by it ever since.

If you’d like to hear it, here is a soundcloud link: https://on.soundcloud.com/cScfxfxyZUu7ByOpDM

The tune itself comes from a Stan Rogers song, “The Northwest Passage,” which invites listeners to remember the early explorers who longed to find a route across Canada to the Pacific. The song carries us across long stretches of open country, asking again and again whether the search is futile, whether the passage even exists.

Grundy’s song, though, takes that longing and turns it toward the Epiphany story. Instead of pressing forward at all costs, the prayer becomes this: Holy Spirit, take us home by another way. Around tyrants and those who intend harm. Around the powers and principalities set against God’s kingdom.

Yeah, I don’t know. It does seem like we need other ways. On the darkest of days, on the Sunday after we have preached about the slaughter of the innocents while watching horrors upon horrors carried out in our name, we need a better way. We need a way around mountains that feel immovable and too daunting to face head on.

And still, I cannot help but believe that the same Holy Spirit is at work, finding paths through what looks impenetrable and unyielding. I cannot help but believe that the Spirit who warned the magi in dreams still speaks, reminding us not to be dissuaded from the good we are called to do, but to keep at it, even if it means going home by another way.