Journey of the Magi

Whether you’re traveling this Christmas or staying home, I wish you the joy and wonder of
“a running stream and a water-mill.”

Let me explain. In his poem “The Journey of the Magi” T. S. Eliot describes the difficult journey of the Magi across the deserts of Arabia on their way to Bethlehem:
"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year . . .
The very dead of winter."

The camels were uncooperative, he says, lying down in the melting snow, the night-fires continually going out, the towns unfriendly and dirty, charging high prices, and always the voices of derision, mocking their journey. Until . . .

Old Mill Stream

“at dawn we came down to a temperate valley with a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, and three trees on the low sky."

It was a welcome change in the landscape, a warm relief from the long cold journey. But don't be fooled. This is not yet Bethlehem - and this is not a Krieghoff painting, a pastoral fantasy.

Every word in Eliot is pregnant with hints, irony and significance. The journey of the magi is also the story of our lives. It was a mirror of Eliot’s own spiritual journey. Eliot published this work in 1927, the same year he was baptized as a Christian at the age of 39. Ponder that “running stream with a water-mill” for a moment.

For Eliot, the temperate valley is the welcome discovery of hope in a dry wasteland that he described so vividly in his earlier poetry, a promise of personal rejuvenation and renewal. The running stream echoes the river that flows through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, symbolizing God’s presence and grace in the world.

The water-mill suggests to me the Word-made-flesh that so captivated Eliot’s imagination in his later work. Just as a mill captures the power of the stream and applies it for industry and commerce, so the Incarnation of Jesus energizes the whole of Christian culture, illuminating the darkness. It invigorates and illumines my life.

And those three trees silhouetted against the sky bear eloquent witness to the death that followed the birth in Bethlehem, a death that makes our re-birth possible.

Like all our journeys, this poem is full of ambiguity. But it is confident of its destination.

So, wherever you are on your journey I wish you safe travel, warm hospitality, light on your path, the wonder of a running stream and a water-mill - and the clear vision of three trees against the sky.

I wish you a joyful Christmas.

Photo  Credit: The Three Trees, David Gustafson.