Your Own Epiphany
(Posted January 2, 2025)
There are many good reasons for being at church this Sunday or, if you live at a distance, for tuning into First Church’s service. The first is to hear Cheryl Hill sing the beautiful selection of music that is planned for this, Epiphany Sunday, accompanied by Jim Moriarty. The second is to partake in the Lord’s Supper for the first time in this brand new year.
Have Your Own Epiphany
But the important reason is to learn what YOU share in common with those three kings in the story of the Magi. And to have your own Epiphany. These three Wise Men, powerful, respected and well-known in their own right, didn’t need to travel hundreds of miles to a little backwater town called Bethlehem. They would have been perfectly fine in their own kingdoms, among people who looked up to them.
They Looked Up
But then again, all of them HAD looked up. And in the heavens they saw a light so intense that those heavens usually reserved the sign for the birth of a great kings. And they knew, intuitively, that they had to follow that light to pay homage to this important leader. That was the first moment of Epiphany.
These three kings knew that in the land of Judea, they would stick out as totally different from the rest of the world. You could say (and you would be right) they chose to become strangers in another country.
When they traveled to Judea, the first ruler they met, filled with pride and malice toward anyone who challenged him, was Herod. They knew immediately that this was not the great King that the Light foretold. So they asked Herod for directions, while Herod secretly plotted in his heart the kind of murderous mayhem we just saw in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. But the three Kings, being the wisest of the wise, went to Bethlehem, found little Jesus, presented their kingly gifts, experienced a second true Epiphany, and, to avoid Herod, went home by another way.
This first Sunday we will learn what that Epiphany actually was, because it can be ours as well.
This Epiphany Sunday I hope your path brings you to our Service to receive the kind of light that will flourish in us in the new year ahead.