Epiphany Message
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
We now enter the third season of the Christiaan nativity cycle, the Epiphany. Whereas the season of Advent was spent in preparing ourselves to receive the great gift that God provides in the birth of Jesus, and the season of Christmas focuses on the circumstances surrounding that the glorious and miraculous birth, Epiphany and the season which follows points us outward to engagement with the world. In the weeks which follow we will hear of the many ways in which Jesus is gradually manifested as The Christ to the rest of the world, Jew and Gentile alike. At Christmas we were encouraged to invite the infant Jesus into our hearts to become a part of the very fabric of our lives. That is the necessary first step to open our eyes to the opportunities God provides to recognize Jesus as the Christ in the world around us.
The 17th century poet and English cleric John Donne captured this truth in his reflection, The Showing Forth of Christ:
The whole life of Christ was a continual Passion: others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha, where he was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of the same day. And even his birth is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us is his birth, for Epiphany is manifestation Every manifestation of Christ to the world, to the Church, to a particular soul is an Epiphany, a Christmas day.
As we enter this time after Epiphany, may Jesus be born anew in our hearts each day, and may we recognize His presence in each person we meet and in all that we do.
Your brother in Christ,
The Rev. Donald L. Hamer
Rector
