ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
January 6, 2022
Life often brings a convergence of two events on a single day, often two events with very different meanings and emotions. Today is Epiphany. The church usually celebrates Epiphany on the Sunday closest to January 6, so we will be celebrating with the camel this coming Sunday. Epiphany is when the church celebrates the arrival of the Magi (wisemen), a story found in Matthew’s Gospel. The Twelve Days of Christmas that we often sing about with references to Lords a Leaping, Calling Bird and a whole host of other characters is the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany. Tradition has suggested how these curious travelers did not arrive until Jesus was two years old, but since we celebrate his birth annually, we acknowledge the delay with twelve days. It is a marvelous story with layers of meaning and Good News. Today, as you know well, is also the first anniversary of a horrible assault on the nation’s capital. Hate, threats of violence and yes, even loss of life occurred. It is a sad day in U.S. history that high school students will discuss decades from now. Whenever there is a coming together of unrelated events like this, I often go searching for meaning, though often forced. With that in mind, I believe there is something to ponder. On Epiphany, we focus on the three gifts delivered by camel riding astrologers (some of that is not found in scripture), but the story is in the context of an underlying threat by Herod, Governor of Galilee – a threat of violence that would eventually require the Holy Family to flee to Egypt. When you think about Epiphany, it really is a story of God’s love and kindness, in the form of a child, showing up where only a few noticed. And it happened in spite of the violence and threats of fear. Maybe it is a reminder, even when things look bad, for us to keep looking in hopes of glimpsing the love and goodness of God.
Gracious God, I do not intend to be naive or ignore pain and suffering when it happens, but I trust in the capacity of your grace and kindness. Despair is real, but so is hope and the power of the Good News. Amen.
