EPIPHANY

As we tell the story, Christmas is over—as of December 25, or January 1, or this year, January 2. Christmas is over. Put the tree by the curb and the other decorations back into the attic, all of which makes the ancient customs of the Church rather interesting. According to those ancient customs, December 25 is the beginning, not the end, of a season of Christmas lasting for twelve days and ending on January 6—the day of Epiphany, which is again not just a day, but the beginning of a season lasting for weeks, almost until the beginning of Lent.

Of course, we don’t make much of Epiphany, though in some cultures, it is quite a big deal, known as “Three Kings Day,” reflecting the Church’s ancient practice of relating the story of the coming of the three kings, not to Christmas, but to Epiphany, which has a lot to say for it from a Biblical standpoint. Read the Bible carefully, and you will find that it simply does not say that the wise men showed up Christmas night at the manger with the shepherds and the angels, but they came later. And the Bible doesn’t claim that they were kings. The word in the Bible is “magi,” from which we derive our word, “magic,” making them more Madame Zelda with your horoscope than Queen Elizabeth. And they were “from the East,” according to the Bible, meaning that they were foreigners. And they knew about Jesus’ birth, not through the study of Scripture, but by the appearance of a star—a star that God had put in the sky, meaning that God had specifically invited them to come to Jesus in a “language” that they would understand.

All of which makes Epiphany important, it seems to me. For as Christmas ends and as a new year begin, what the Church has wanted us to remember is that the whole reason for Christmas is that God wants to invite everyone to come, using whatever language it takes. “No matter who you are,” God is saying, “no matter where you’re from or what you’ve done in life, you are invited to come. You are welcome here.”

--Pastor Don Steele