Sunday, January 5, 2001
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Sunday, January 5, 2001 |
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Epiphany! By JUSTIN KOLLMEYER Do you know what Jan. 6 is? Besides the last Saturday before the kids go back to school. It's the day we of the liturgical-calendar-side of The church call "Epiphany Day." "What is that?" you ask. Epiphany Day is actually a "major festival," similar to Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. But it, like Rodney Dangerfield, usually "gets no respect" - at least not as much as these other "great high holy days of the church." The name "Epiphany" means "making readily recognizable; making obvious to the mind and heart." The event celebrated on Epiphany Day is the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus as a child king, bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It is this event in the life of Jesus that makes him readily recognizable and is credited with making his identity as savior and king obvious to the mind and heart of the wise men, of Mary and Joseph, and of all believers down through the centuries of faith. In the course of history Epiphany Day also has been known by other names: Feast of the Manifestation, Feast of Lights, Feast of the Appearing of Christ, Feast of the Three Kings (extremely important in Latin American cultures), and The Twelfth Day of Christmas. Next to Easter, Epiphany Day and the weeks that follow known as the Season of Epiphany, are the oldest festival and season of the church year. In Asia Minor and Egypt, Epiphany was observed as early as the second century. It was already then celebrated on Jan. 6, the original winter solstice, but was a unified event celebrating three events in the early life of Jesus all on one day his birth, the visit of the wise men, and his baptism. In 331 B.C. the date of the winter solstice was moved back to Dec. 25, and the celebrations of these three events were divided by most Christians: "Christmas" was Dec. 25, Epiphany the visit of the wise men was Jan. 6, and the first Sunday after the Epiphany was the celebration of the baptism of our Lord. It would seem appropriate to separate Epiphany (the wise men) from Christmas because biblical scholarship seems to support that the wise men did not get to Bethlehem until probably a year or so after Jesus' birth. By this time the holy family was in a house rather than in a stable. Consequently, the Magi could not have been a part of the manger scene as is popularly portrayed in most of our Christmas scenes and plays. Are you enthralled with all this? Do you have it "down cold"? There is a test, you know! If you're still reading, you're probably at least on the edge of groaning, "Who cares?!" Who does care? And why bother with all this? Good questions! It seems to me that if our human hearts can glean any vital significance from all this, it would be in these two areas of our faith lives: 1. Epiphany Day and its season to follow give us the encouragement that now is an important time to WORSHIP. This day and season deal with the glory of God "made obvious" in Jesus. The season begins with the celebration of the wise men's coming to worship the new-born king. The season ends with the celebration of the worship experience on Mt. Transfiguration, where Peter, James and John saw Jesus "transfigured" into his heavenly glory and likeness. When we see Jesus as God's son, we instinctively fall down to worship him as Lord. 2. Epiphany also informs us that it is a great time to WITNESS. Obviously, any time is a great time to witness, but Epiphany is the season of light, which, of course, "makes known what was unknown in the dark." The light of Christ burns that all might see the truth and the way to God. Once we see and believe, we cannot help but tell others, to spread the light of Christ into the darkness of our world. Christ is the light and Christians reflect that light. We are light-bearers, and we are to go through life lighting the candle of peace and hope everywhere we go. We are sent outside of our comfort zones to the needs of a hurting world. Wow! Could you imagine that the visit of the wise men was that big a deal? It's a virtual "Epiphany"! If you read this Saturday before 5:30 in the evening, come on over to Prince of Peace on Hwy. 314 between Lowe's and the new Kohl's Department Store, and join us for our Epiphany burning of the greens. To emphasize Christ as the light of the world, we will ceremoniously burn our Christmas trees on the field behind the church. It's impressive. We read about the wise men's visit and worship, sing, pray, and get reminded to worship and witness ourselves. Please come so we can do this together! God bless you and yours on this Epiphany weekend! Kollmeyer is senior pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville.
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