“We often profess that Jesus came to change the world. But that really didn’t happen. Does that mean that this whole Holy Birth was a failure, just some sort of pretty, romantic story in the midst of our sometimes chaotic life? Maybe Jesus didn’t intend to change the world at all; maybe Jesus, Emmanuel, God with Us, came into this world to change us. Maybe, then, there IS a new normal. It has to do with what we do after. It has to do with how we choose to go back to our lives. Do we just pick up where we left off? Or do we, like those wise men, choose to go home by another way?”
–Shelli Williams, “Epiphany: When the Wise Ones Came”, Journey to Penuel: Wrestling to See the Face of God: Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary Texts, Dec. 27, 2015
