What’s Epiphany?
“And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” – Isaiah 40:5
Happy New Year!
I hope and pray that this year brings you closer to Jesus – and I’m excited to be a part of this community that can help us all take those steps!
Of course, three days into this new year, and I have to admit I’m already feeling behind. There’s always a host of activity that happens early in January, and I’m doing my best to prepare – but certainly, some stuff was missed along the way. Personally, one of the things that was missed was a Family Christmas Card. If you sent us one, I promise, we delighted in receiving it – we just weren’t on the ball enough to get any out this year. Maybe we’ll send out Easter Cards!
I am looking forward to gathering with you for worship this year – we’re kicking things off by talking about some Big Ideas – important concepts in Christianity that we might not regularly talk about but are really key. The first corresponds to the special event commemorated on Saturday – Epiphany.
Epipha-what you say? E-piff-an-ee. It’s the last part of the Christmas Story – the journey of the Magi to find and celebrate the appearance of the promised Messiah. But it’s more than just that.
Now, you may also be saying to yourself, “but didn’t we just do that when we talked about Herod?” And you’d be right – kind of. We focused on Herod. We didn’t really deal with the Magi (Wisemen) or really, on the Messiah they discovered. And that’s what Epiphany is about. It’s not about Herod. It’s not about the self-proclaimed “King of Israel” and his ruthless authority. It’s actually not about Israel at all.
It’s about the God who shows up beyond Israel, beyond a particular people or place, shows up to the entire world. And that’s pretty profound.
It has real implications for us today, that we’re going to wade into on Sunday. It’s encouraging and challenging at the same time. Challenging, because it pushes up against some of the boundaries we’ve erected in our understanding of God and the world. And encouraging because… well, it pushes against some of the boundaries we’ve erected in our understanding of God and the world.
So, what’s the big idea? What does the Epiphany of Christ that happened over 2,000 years ago matter to me today? Well, I’m looking forward to diving into it with you on Sunday!
Let’s Grow Together this year in Jesus!
Pastor Don