Many of us travel to celebrate Christmas – some just short distances and others make much longer trips. For some, coming here is a return home. If so, welcome home!

Here, tonight, we celebrate the birth of someone who lived a long time ago and about whose home, we know basically nothing about.

Have you ever noticed that in the Gospels, whenever Jesus is home, the story goes dark? Completely silent. Nothing happens. Literally, the only time we ever learn anything about him is when he is on the move. When his mother became pregnant, she traveled to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. When the time came for him to be born, she and Joseph went to Bethlehem and then, in order to avoid the wrath of a jealous Herod, they traveled to Egypt. The next we hear about Jesus is the time he traveled to the temple as a child and became lost. Then, when the story picks up again, he’s wandering in the desert and then goes on to gather up some followers. From there, it’s all about them making their way towards Jerusalem.

He’s always on a road trip, it seems.

When Jesus stays in any one place for too long, we learn nothing about him, what he’s doing, or what he says. I’ve been wondering whether that’s just a coincidence or if there’s something to this. 

I have come to believe that Jesus is always on the go because all of our lives are very much like road trips. When we are on the move, that’s when we experience adventure, are pushed outside of our comfort zones and, as a result, learn and grow. It’s when we encounter new things, meet people we otherwise wouldn’t, and where we gain perspective… and come to understand that it really is a great big world out there, that there are lots of different kinds of people, and that we ourselves are members of a vast tribe, and ultimately, brothers and sisters in the same human family. 

Christ told his followers that we were made in order to venture out and then to return back to the loving Father who created us. That’s our mission, our purpose. It’s the very reason we were put here in the first place.

If we can accept that our entire lives are just one long road trip, then it gives the notion of “home” a different meaning. It suggests that the location where we were born is not home and the place where we live is not home either. And this makes you wonder whether we are ever meant to truly settle down, whether we should ever consider ourselves to have actually arrived.

Now obviously, I’m not suggesting that all of us should pack our bags and head out the door, abandoning everything in our lives. No, instead I’m suggesting that we ought to adopt the wanderer’s mindset, remaining vigilant and prepared, taking only what we need, remaining open to what’s just around the bend, and most importantly, making sure we are clear on which lighthouse should guide our way.

What guides you?

What’s your lighthouse?

Because we all have a lighthouse…

For some of us, our lighthouse is a desire for things, money, power, or control. Some of us are guided by the past, and that includes our hurts and regrets. For some of us, we crave affirmation and will do everything we possibly can in order to fit in. Some of us will search for predictability, a flatter path, just hoping to make it through each day.

Life can get challenging, but that infant who was born in a manger, far away from home, would go on to tell us: “follow me”. Because he understood.

He also said: “I am the way.”

Jesus was so convinced that he was doing the will of his father that he would eventually give up everything so that we would hear and understand this very message.

So that we might see the light. His light.

So, let’s head out on the road and follow him. Because he is the only lighthouse that leads us… home.