Feast of the Epiphany
Dear Friends in Christ,
The UPI Almanaci for Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, tells us the moon is waxing; morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Uranus; evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. People born on January 6th are born under the sign of Capricorn, and include St. Joan of Arc in 1412; writer Khalil Gibran in 1883; auto executive John DeLorean in 1925; musician Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd) in 1946; actor Rowan Atkinson in 1955 (age 70); Football Hall of Fame member/actor/broadcaster Howie Long in 1960 (age 65); actor Eddie Redmayne in 1982 (age 43); Eric Trump, businessman/son of President Donald Trump, in 1984 (age 41); and actor Courtney Eaton in 1996 (age 29) making her the youngest on the list.
Also on January 6th, in 1838, in Morristown, N.J., Samuel F.B. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail, publicly demonstrated their new invention, the telegraph, for the first time; New Mexico joined the United States as the 47th state in 1912; In 1919, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, died at the age of 60; a Pan American Airways plane completed the first around-the-world flight by a commercial airliner in 1942; in 1994, American skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right knee Tonya Harding in an attack that forced her out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
January 6th is the day that our elected leaders ratify the decision of the electoral college. And for many of us, it is a day that will go down in infamy, when insurrectionists tried to overthrow the government and place their chosen leader in the White House instead of the duly elected president.
In the Church, January 6th is observed as the feast of the Epiphany, which remembers the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. In the eastern Orthodox tradition, January 6th is the date of Christmas. For us in the Western tradition, it marks the end of the Christmas season and is the date people traditionally take down their Christmas decorations. Christmas is left behind as our attention turns the New Year head of us. The ancient wisdom of the Christmas stories bringing peace, joy, and love to the world, is replaced by new resolutions, new beginnings, opportunities for change and improvement that look only forward.
I leave my nativity scene (and my outside lights) up until Candlemas (the official end of the Christmas season on Medieval times) on February 2nd to give the wise men who have spent the time between me putting out my Christmas decorations (which this year wasn’t until Christmas morning!) and arriving at the manger on Epiphany, time to hang out with Jesus before being put back in their box for another year. And this year, I’ve been reflecting on how those ancient stories of Christmas can inform our New Year resolutions.
The Magi brought with them three gifts. Three meaningful and prophetic gifts – gold, for a king; frankincense for a priest; and Myrrh for suffering and death. These gifts foretold the destiny of Jesus while he was still an infant, and they also have relevance for us as we establish faith intentions and spiritual practices for the new Year.
· Gold is a precious metal fit for a king, but only after it has been refined by fire from its natural state.
· Frankincense is a resin from a tree that is used to make the incense which was burned in the Temple, and is still burned in our churches today, to signify the people’s prayers rising to God.
· Myrrh, also a resin from a tree, used among other things to anoint bodies to prepare them for burial. It is also interestingly the perfume that is added to chrism, or the oil we use for anointing at baptism, to give it tis distinctive scent.
And so, I offer you this prayer from Lectio 365ii for the New Year, to invite God to transform our hearts, minds and souls, and fit us for God’s service in 2025.
Loving Father, I thank you that you have set me apart for yourself. Jesus, I am grateful that you have chosen me to be fruitful. Holy Spirit, I invite you to fill me with all your fullness. I want to dream your dreams and help bring them to fulfilment.
AMEN. May this be so.
Rev. Jane+ i https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2025/01/06/UPI-Almanac-for-Monday-Jan-6-2025/4031736099794/#:~:text=Today%20is%20Monday%2C%20Jan.%206%2C%20the%20sixth%20day,this%20date%20are%20under%20the%20sign%20of%20Capricorn. ii https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lectio-365/id1483974820