Feast Of Epiphany Light

Light does interesting things in the St. John Chrysostom chapel at St. John's Church.

Epiphany, Again

For Armenian Orthodox Christians, Tuesday was the feast of the Epiphany. This photo shows a priest saying mass inside the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus Christ's burial.

Sunday Sermon: "The Street Lights Are On"

The Epiphany light from the manager must have been wondrous. It surely shown in the faces of pilgrims Jan and Deb yesterday morning in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. But not every light bulb that goes off in our heads illuminates the path that goes in the right direction in our lives. Whether in the eyes of babies on their baptism day or from automatic weapons fire in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, all the flashes of light we may see give us an opportunity to discern what is best for others as well as ourselves. My sermon for the first Sunday after the Epiphany is here.

Does This Go With This?

At Episcopal churches, along with our liturgically inclined brethren and sistren in the Roman Catholic church and most mainline denominations, we're a little nutty about colors. Purple or dark violet is for the season of Advent. You might think red for Christmas, but it's white, for the Incarnation and in anticipation of Resurrection at Easter.

Red is for poinsettias, and they go around the altar at Christmastime, not Advent. But in our church's sacristy, the busy staging area where the St. John's Altar Guild does its faithful work, the colors and personalities run together -- Advent purple, Christmas red, and even the magi, who don't get here until Epiphany.

Come, Light Of Christ

A half-hour ago, a friend sent me this photograph of the brand new Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, a good image to behold this morning of the Feast of the Epiphany. Christmas ended last night. Today the church celebrates the enlightenment of the world as signified by the visit paid to the Holy Family by the Magi (the gospels actually don't say there were three of them).

In an hour or two, I'll have the blessing of preaching at St. John's School about three epiphanies -- the one in the Bible, the ones we experience when we least expect them (those aha! moments of revelation, belonging, and peace), and the ones we can actually engineer by counting our blessings instead of our grumps. I also just finished writing the "Prayers of the People" for our Epiphany season liturgy at St. John's Church, which will take us right up to Lent (which is closer than you think!). We'll be asking for Epiphany light to suffuse all the shadowed corners of our lives and world:

As our world is darkened by ambition, aggression, and injustice, may those in authority be continually strengthened to do what is best for all your people. We pray especially for the President and President-elect; for those serving in the Armed Forces of the United States; and for the safety of the innocent amid war and strife.

Light of Christ, shine in every heart.

Hat tip to Kris Elftmann