Epiphany
Our Christmas decorations are still up. You know why? Because it’s still Christmas on the church calendar! Christmastide. 12 days of Christmas…you know the song. It’s not over until Friday my friends! :)
Years ago, I started using the Book of Common Prayer in my life and our church started using the historical church calendar to plan our worship gatherings. My favorite season on the church calendar is Epiphany, which starts this Sunday and lasts until Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.
What is Epiphany? The word ‘Epiphany’ originates from Greek and means “manifestation”. The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi in Matthew 2: 1–12. They were the first “Gentiles” to meet Christ.
The coming weeks in January and February following the Epiphany are known as “the time of the manifestation”. I like to think of it this way, Epiphany celebrates the moment when Christ was illuminated to the world, the discovery of all discoveries. Because of Christ, now everyone is included in the Kingdom of God.
I started reading the book of John (MSG version) again. It’s my favorite. And this section really popped, John 1: 16-18, ““This endless knowing and understanding, all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one of a kind God expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.”
Over the next 6 weeks of Epiphany, I’m going to write about some moments, arrivals, and pursuits that have “illuminated God” to me, and “made him plain as day.”
I want to start this New Year with a critical topic to remind ourselves of at the beginning of a New Year. I don’t know know how last year went for you. My guess is, like any year, it had it’s moments of goodness, it’s moments of pain. Maybe even intense highs and lows. Some of us probably saw fruitfulness and provision from God like we’ve never seen. Some of us probably experienced loss or sadness like we’ve never felt. No matter where we are in life, it’s important to remind ourselves of one aspect of Christ’s Kingdom that exists constantly: HOPE.
Some of my favorite movies revolve around Hope.
In The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf “died”, the fellowship is distraught and wind up in the woods, taken in by the Elves. One of the elves knows their sadness and exhaustion but looks into the eyes of Samwise and says, “Hope remains.” And their spirits are instantly lifted.
In my all-time favorite movie with the best ending ever, The Shawshank Redemption, there is a famous line at the end of the movie, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.” Then the character Red, on his journey to find his friend says, “I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
The last words of the movie: I hope.
We need to start out 2024, the season of Epiphany with a reminder, a rediscovery, an illumination of something we may have forgotten: HOPE.
One of the most inspirational examples of hope in Scripture comes from a section known as Mary’s Magnificat, quoting Mary, the mother of Jesus. She’s singing in Luke 1: 46-55. You should read it with this background in mind…
Mary conceived of the Magnificat while living in dire circumstances
This is the song of an occupied person. She is occupied by a suffocating empire as a Jewish woman in the Roman Empire. She was oppressed culturally, as an unwed pregnant Jewish woman. In ancient Jewish culture, not a good or safe place to be. She was personally and physically occupied with a child. A miraculously conceived child that was apparently the hope of the world. Pregnancy is challenging enough. Both within and without, Mary was occupied.
Mary has plenty of reasons to feel hopeless. But in her song of praise, known as Mary’s Magnificat, we don’t see a Mary who is downtrodden, bitter, cynical, anxious, or worried. We see hope.
One particular truth Mary reveals and God has “illuminated”:
We learn how to understand hope and find hope by those who have found it in the face of oppression or dire circumstances.
I hope 2024 is a year where the love God has for you is illuminated, discovered, and revealed in deeply impactful and healing ways.
I look forward to sharing more in the weeks ahead.