If we are to participate into the very heart of Epiphany, to the very soul of its meaning for us, we need to do more than hear the Scripture account of the Magi. We also need to participate in a meditative way in the entire service of worship into which this story has been placed because this piece of the unfolding mystery of salvation is the key to the shape of our spiritual experience between now and Lent. Even as our Christmas spirituality was shaped by the dominant theme of the incarnation, so now our Epiphany spirituality will be shaped by the overriding theme of Christ’s manifestation as Savior of the world. Even as the incarnation finds its continuation in us through our union with Christ, so the Epiphany of Christ is extended in us through the practice of Epiphany spirituality. Our Epiphany journey can start at no better place than the Epiphany service of worship. (Ancient-Future Time, p. 76)
Webber, Robert, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year. Baker Books, 2004.
O God, by the leading of a star, you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.
Preface to Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer
Years ago, I went to Hawaii with a dear friend. She had been given the opportunity to stay at a house right on the beach – a beautiful place to be, especially at night. We would sit out on the lanai late at night sometimes and watch the stars. It was incredible, like nothing I had ever seen before. I don’t think I had ever been anywhere that there wasn’t some form of man-powered light. I read something while we were there about the protests against adding more hotels, restaurants, etc.…which would bring more man-made light to the island (We were staying on the big island, Hawaii). They called it light pollution.
Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience. I imagine there are places especially in the Southwest, here in the States, where you can go out into the desert and never see a man-made light. How glorious that experience is!
We see in the Scriptures how often glory is associated with light.
Isa 60:1 – “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. “
Rev. 21:23 – ” And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
Heb. 1:3 – “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
We cannot plumb the mysteries of these scriptures (and others!) through mere study. Only through revelation will the truth go deep into our souls. Only through the manifestation of Christ to us through the Holy Spirit will we truly enter the story of God and our salvation. I became a Christian in college and had a genuine and devout faith. But ten years later, while attending my first Pastoral Care Ministries conference, I had a life-changing experience. I had faith. I knew God loved me, I knew the place of Christ’s death for me. But the only way I can describe what happened to me at that conference is that I woke up. C.S. Lewis says
It is waking that understands sleep, and not sleep that understands waking
C.S. Lewis, Perelandra
As from a deep sleep I woke to the knowledge that Christ loved and died for me. In French there are two words for knowledge (as there is in Greek): le savoir and la connaissance. The first is related to learning, scholarship… and the latter to an intimate knowledge – knowledge by experience. My knowledge of God moved from knowledge about Him to knowledge of Him. It was epiphany.
Epiphany means manifestation, or revelation. I love this definition: “a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, or an intuitive grasp of reality through a simple or striking event; an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure or a revealing scene or moment” (compellingtruth.org).
Isaac Newton had an epiphany through an experience with an apple. The disciples who were with Jesus at the transfiguration had an epiphany. And look at Paul’s epiphany in Acts 9. Christ appeared to him, on his journey to have more Christians killed. Jesus revealed not only his glory, but the egregious sins he had committed against the Church. And he was made blind, in order to see. Every Christian who holds to the Scriptures as the Word of God has been changed as well.
I was having a discussion with a very good friend of mine about when she came to know Christ. And for her, it was very young. In many ways, she never knew a time when she was unaware of God’s love for her. She described sitting in church one day, as a young girl, and listening to the sermon. The children in her Sunday School class were sitting beside her and they were restless and bored. But she took the preacher’s words into her heart and cried out (silently!) – “why aren’t they hearing this”? She was captured not only by the words but by the wooing of Christ to come to Him. For her, this was one of many epiphanies throughout her life.
We had been talking about someone very close to her who had been making difficult and bad choices in her life. And I was thinking how best to pray for her. I was in the process of working on this reflection I thought – Oh Lord – she needs a revelation of You – of Your love for her, of the length to which You went to rescue her. Sometimes that’s the best prayer we can ever pray for others. They might need rescuing from the darkness of this world, or from sickness, or from evil. We may know their needs, but if it comes down to it – the prayer we all need is: “Lord reveal yourself.” Why not take these few weeks of Epiphany and do just that. Dietrick Bonhoeffer wrote in his book Life Together – “Better to speak to God about a brother, than to a brother about God.” (Now context here is a big help – if you’re confused by this, read Life Together!)
Ask God to show you who in your life needs to come present to their loving, gracious God. And then pray – “Lord, may they (along with us) wake up from the kind of slumber that numbs, that defends against love. Lord, let your favor rest on them, your shalom peace which of course is the countenance of your grace, your love.”
I’m so grateful to theologians like Hans Urs Von Balthasar because they give birth to thoughts that I doubt would have come to me on their own. He writes: “Whatever could we say to God if he himself had not taken the first step in communicating and manifesting himself to us in his word, so that we have access to him and fellowship with him? For we have been permitted to glimpse his inner nature, to enter into it, into the inner core of eternal truth; bathed in the light which radiates upon us from God, we ourselves become light and transparent before him.” Von Balthasar
And it’s there that we find ourselves in 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
All glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! Amen.
As you reflect (no pun intended!) on the revelation of Christ to His people, take a few minutes and listen to this song by Audrey Assad.
Welcome to the second week of the gratitude project! This prompt has been on my mind lately, as I have considered the season that follows Advent. We don’t say much about it in our tradition but I love the idea of celebrating a season called Epiphany! Epiphany in Greek means manifestation and it often is associated with the wise men’s journey to see the baby Jesus. We find this account in Matthew chapter two where we are told: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Mat 2:1-2 ESV)
What follows is the account of Herod scheming to kill all male children under the age of two. The wise men left Herod and continued to follow the star. They found Jesus when the star they had been following stopped over the place of his birth. And they bowed down and worshiped Christ as king. It had been revealed to them that He would be a gift from God.
We use the word epiphany today to describe what we think of as an “aha” moment. We were blind to something, and suddenly we see. What was blurry has become clear. What had been darkness, now is light. And to set that into the context of our faith, we experience an epiphany when we have a personal experience of God. So, this week, let’s thank God that He has revealed himself to us in Christ. As Paul in his letter to the Colossians said: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20 ESV).
photo by Andrew Dong – unsplash
May this week be a celebration of how God manifested Himself to us, both corporately and individually. Take a moment (or several) and remember how God revealed Himself to you in your conversion, in your baptism, in your formation as a Christ-follower.
Personally, I can remember so many ways through the years, when my eyes were opened to Christ as a Person. There was one moment long after I had become a Christian. I was about 30, pregnant with Rachel, and my life was a mess. I was deeply insecure about my place in the world around me, especially in the church. I was insecure in so many of my relationships, wondering if I had anything to offer anyone. Looking back now, I can see that the circumstances of my early life were impacting my world in the here and now. I was living out the memories of an alcoholic mother, my father’s early death and the deep sense of loneliness I felt all the time. But God broke into that and revealed to me the depth of the work of Christ on my behalf. It was like waking up after a long terrible dream. The gospel, the good news came home to me in ways I had not experienced in my conversion or baptism. Christ revealed Himself to me as One who had come, suffered and died for my sin, for the sins of others against me… for the sin of the world. I could honestly and firmly say I had an epiphany, a manifestation of the Presence of God! Even as I write this, I am filled with such thanksgiving for the Light that came into the world in Christ. (“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Joh 1:14 ESV)). The glory of God in Christ is the manifestation of all of who God is, His holiness, His grace, His love. This week, as you express your gratitude for the Light of the World, may you too, have an epiphany that is transformative!
Thank you for participating in the gratitude project!
