EPIPHANY 2014
As I write this we are still anticipating Christmas and the New Year. May I take this opportunity
to thank you all for a great first year for me at St John’s, and to wish you God’s blessing for
the season and for 2014.
As we enter the New Year and bid Christmas farewell to Christmas we enter the season of Epiphany.
With acknowledgements to some thoughts taken from a sermon by Canon Chris Pullin of Hereford
Cathedral in 2010, and some thoughts of my own, I want to consider the new season.
What and Why?
Epiphany is a fascinating season. It’s date stems from the custom of celebrating Christmas (the
Feast of the Nativity) on 25th December as opposed to the 6th January in the Eastern Tradition, which
eventually resulted in two dates merging as the beginning and end of one celebration, giving us our
“Twelve Days of Christmas”, the eve of Epiphany being “Twelfth Night”. When the change from the
Julian to the Gregorian calendar took place in the 16th century the Eastern Church stuck with the old
custom of making the Feast of Epiphany as the chief day in celebrating the Incarnation.
What does it mean?
Much of what we say about Epiphany is not explicit in the narrative. Whatever we think we know
about this, the bible tells the tale of the Magi visit without detail, comment or interpretation. Early
Christians had a rich variety of ideas about it, and it was only later that the familiar ‘We Three Kings’
became fixed in our heads. We don’t know there were three, where they came from, what they
believed in, or why they brought what they brought.
An unspecified number of wise men has become three kings, and their gifts have been given defined
meanings, but really it’s a story that wants to draw us deeper into a sense of mystery and symbolism.
It’s good to interact with this story and see what thoughts come to us, how it resonates with our life
and experience. The gifts that the magi bring are symbols and we do not know much about them;
perhaps we are a bit too quick to label them as Gold ‘for a king,’ Frankincense ‘for God,’ and myrrh as
a sign of suffering and death. These explanations, like the date, only established themselves as the
centuries rolled on – so that today they’ve become a kind of fact, which unnecessarily closes down
the ability of the passage to speak anew.
Trinity
For a moment lay aside anything you thought you knew about this explanation, and let your
imaginations play. St Matthew sometimes uses the literary device of repeating a word or phrase or
idea at the beginning and end of a passage to show that everything in between has been a unity. In
the story of the visit of the Magi we have Jesus’ very first appearance; people representing the wide
world have come to him with three gifts. Now look to Jesus’ very last appearance: standing on a
Galilean mountain, he sends the disciples out into the world to baptize people everywhere ‘in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’.
So perhaps the gifts can speak about the Trinity - gold as a sign of God the Father, the creator, the
pure source from which all things flow; myrrh as a sign of God the Son, who embraces the pains and
death of humanity, and comes to heal it; and incense as a sign of the Holy Spirit, pervading all things,
blowing like wind where it wills. Jesus’ first and last appearances in the gospel can speak of the
Trinity, and of engagement with all of humanity, neatly encapsulating the whole Gospel has been. .
This really is a story of the universality of God’s love!
We give of ourselves
Another idea is that these “astrologers” were laying down the substances used in their divinations,
surrendering them to Christ. It is what they mean by the giving that matters, surrendering their life’s
work, their system of belief, and their sacred tools, to the Lordship of Christ. Their divination had
brought them to him, but now they see face to face, and having no need of divination any longer they
present their tools in the worship of Christ.
St Bruno, an 11th century Italian Benedictine abbot saw gold, frankincense and myrrh as the offering
of the purest of our wisdom, the discipline of our prayer, and the mortification of our lives. He said,
‘Thus, we offer the Lord gold when we shine in his sight with the light of heavenly wisdom. We offer
him frankincense when we send up pure prayer before him, and myrrh when, mortifying our flesh with
its vices and passions and by self-control, we carry the cross behind Jesus.’
Seeking and Finding
The Epiphany theme is revelation, the manifesting of Christ. What we find in him will be different for
each of us, but if we approach with openness and humility we will be shown what it is that each needs
to see and understand. Early Christian thinkers spoke about Christ revealing afresh the true
splendour and full dignity of what humanity was created to be; he is the perfect image made clear,
and in seeing him we begin to embark on our own healing and transformation.. We must in some see
love before we know properly how to love.
The Magi might be an image of that for us. They have sought Christ and finally seeing him, they have
loved him – and each in a different way, each with a different gift to leave at his feet. We too have
sought him, and however imperfectly, decide to love him in whatever way makes snese for us to love
him. Thankfully and amazingly that is unique toe ach of us. For one person, perhaps, the gift and use
of money and resources in his name; for another, a life of sacrificial service to friend or stranger. One
offers her mind and scholarship, another his artistry or craft, yet another the discipline of prayer and
contemplation. That all plays together in the “body of Christ” not only to worship Christ, but make him
known to others too, at the same time.
Christ is for All
“Gold, frankincense, myrrh – what are they? Their meanings are as many as there are people in this
world; there is no limit to their meaning, nor any prescription. They are the frankincense, gold and
myrrh appropriate to the hearts of all who see Christ, to all who are enlightened by his self-revelation.”
As a church Epiphany leads us all into a season of a wondrous process of Christ’s revealing himself
to the world: his baptism by John in the Jordan, and the first miracle at Cana. The season culminates
with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (“Candlemas”) where Simeon the High Priest acclaims
the Christ child as “the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel”.
In the Book of Common Prayer the Feast of Epiphany is subtitled “The Manifestation of Christ to the
Gentiles. This reminds us that, from the moment of God’s preordained plan, through the process of
incarnation, the good news of Jesus Christ and the love of God is for all – Jew and Gentile, male and
female, wise and simple. We celebrate the universality of God’s love exemplified in the calling and
mission of the disciples and the ministry of Jesus himself and as a church we are called to embody it.
I wonder what that might look like for us at St John’s in 2014. We, the church, become part of the
revelation, one source of the light to those living in darkness, and a visible form of the “manifestation
of Christ to the Gentiles”. Jesus is for all. All we are asked to do is embody that and live it out
humbly, and see how those with eyes to see and ears to hear are drawn to the light.
God bless you in 2014.
Devotions and Readings for January
Sunday Readings :
January 5
January 12
January 19
January 26
:
:
:
:
Isaiah 60:1-6 & Matthew 2:1-12
Isaiah 42:1-9 & Matthew 3:13-end
Isaiah 49:1-7 & John 1:29-42
Isaiah 9:1-4 & Matthew 4:12-23
The proper readings for the season of Epiphany focus on the themes of the feast itself, namely the
arrival of the Magi and the mystical significance of their gifts , then the Baptism of Christ in the
Jordan as his ministry is inaugurated, and the miracle of changing the water into wine at the
wedding at Cana. This is the first revelation of Jesus’ mission and purpose. The season will
culminate in early February with Candlemas and the presentation of Christ in the temple. Forming a
kind of finale to this “incarnation” season as our minds then turn to the forthcoming passion of Lent
and Easter.
These readings are complemented by great prophetic readings from the Old Testament proclaiming
the coming of God’s promise, fulfilled in the coming of Christ. They speak to us of a new age, a new
king and a changed reality, illustrated by eh gospel readings which show their fulfilment.
Our Daily readings start in the First Epistle of John which is worth reading in its entirety in one
sitting. John is probably writing to the churches in Ephesus giving of his mature years in the faith and
deep spiritual experience to combat false teaching and provide assurance for his church. John
imparts confidence to his followers - the verb “know” occurs 39 times – rooted in the historical
event of Jesus Christ and John’s witness of Him. John combats early heresies that would find greater
shape in “Gnosticism” in the 2nd century, and provides vivid image of the nature of God: light,
assurance and the simplest statement of God‘s nature: “God is Love” (1 John 4:12-16).
As we journey together through Epiphany, lets study these words together and reflect on the
mystery of the coming of Christ and all its depth and breadth, being for all people. But let’s also be
assured in what we do know, taking love as the ventral theme of the gospel (for God and for each
other) and taking John’s theme of “what we have known from the beginning” (1 John 1) and not
being deflected by the seductive lures of worldly wisdom – love people, but do not love “the world”,
its values or its systems.
The Magi
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)
Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky
With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
And all their helms of silver hovering side by side,
And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more,
Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied,
The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.
The Seekers
You ask from whence we came—from many places. Some are legends now,some unremembered. You make us
into kings. We were not kings, not even of ourselves.
Were we from the east? That is a point of view. We set out from where we were.
You give us names like Melchior and Balthazar, but those were not our names. From time to time
we have been called by many names—Plato, Confucius, Archimedes, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton,
Descartes, Darwin, Einstein, Heisenberg.
How long did the journey take? Months? Centuries? When does a myth take hold,
in a moment or a thousand years?
Though calendars and clocks may shepherd it with careful numbers, yet in the wilderness time
howls like a pack of wolves. We heard it all night long.
We were both men and women. What we shared was an unquenchable desire to know
something not known before.
Were we wise? Wise to leave our homes, acquaintances and all the comfort of familiar irritations,
shedding the fabric of our former lives like an old coat? To risk everything on our unlikely theories
with no guarantee of safe return, and reckless that the truth that we discover may prove, for all we know,
fatal to everything to which we have thus far clung?
If this is wisdom, yes, you may say that we were wise.
Anon
The Chancellor
The Reverend Canon Chris Pullin
Has responsibility for educatio
Hereford Cathedral 2010
Canon Chris Pullin
This is one of my favourite festivals, with the darkest blue of the starry sky, the mysterious and
exotic Magi from the wondrous East, and the splendour of their rare and costly gifts
All of these stories are rich in symbolism of all kinds, and a symbol is a symbol. We have to let it
play upon us; we have to interact with it, see what response it evokes, how it resonates with our
life and experience. The gifts that the magi bring are symbols, and perhaps we’re a bit too quick
and slick in saying what they represent. Gold ‘for a king,’ Frankincense ‘for God,’ and myrrh as a
sign of suffering and death – these explanations only swept the board as the centuries rolled on
– so that today they’re presented as a kind of fact: ‘This is what it is – he gets gold because he’s
a king, incense because he’s God, and myrrh because he’s going to die.’
But the bible tells the tale without comment, and we find that the early Christian thinkers had a
rich variety of ideas; it was only later that it got stuck in the rut that ‘We Three Kings’ ground
into us as children. So I ask you today to lay aside anything you thought you knew about this.
The gifts are symbols in a symbolic story, and we mustn’t limit what they signify with a single
‘off the peg’ explanation.
Instead, let’s allow our imaginations to range around a bit. Perhaps, for instance, the gifts have
something about them to do with the Trinity. After all, it’s St Matthew’s Gospel where we find
this story, and Matthew sometimes uses the literary device of repeating a word or phrase or
idea at the beginning and end of a passage to show that everything in between has been a unity.
In the story of the visit of the Magi we have Jesus’ very first appearance; people representing
the wide world have come to him with three gifts. Now look to Jesus’ very last appearance:
standing on the (no doubt symbolic) Galilean mountain, he sends the disciples out into the
world to baptize people everywhere ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit’. If we see the gold as a sign of God the Father, the creator, the pure source from which all
things flow; and if we see the myrrh as a sign of God the Son, who embraces the pains and
death of humanity, and comes to heal it; and if we see the incense as a sign of the Holy Spirit,
pervading all things, blowing like wind where it wills – then we find that Jesus’ first and last
appearances in the gospel speak of the Trinity, and of engagement with all of humanity, and the
whole Gospel has been comprehended between these identical poles.
And here’s another suggestion: that these astrologers were laying down the substances used in
their divinations, surrendering them to Christ; it isn’t what they give, but what they mean by the
giving that matters. They are surrendering their life’s work, their system of belief, and their
sacred tools, to the Lordship of Christ. Their divination had brought them to him in darkness and
uncertainty; it had been a glimmer in the direction of truth. Now they see face to face, and
having no need of divination any longer they present their tools in the worship of Christ.
Here’s another take on it: St Bruno, an 11th century Italian Benedictine abbot (not to be
confused with the patron saint of tobacconists) saw gold, frankincense and myrrh as the offering
of the purest of our wisdom, the discipline of our prayer, and the mortification of our lives. He
said, ‘Thus, we offer the Lord gold when we shine in his sight with the light of heavenly wisdom.
We offer him frankincense when we send up pure prayer before him, and myrrh when,
mortifying our flesh with its vices and passions and by self-control, we carry the cross behind
Jesus.’
The great Epiphany theme, as I said earlier, is revelation. The revealing or manifesting of Christ.
What we see in him and find in him will be different for each of us, but if we approach with
openness and humility we will be shown what it is that each needs to see and understand. We
will recognize the good we yearn for in him. Early Christian thinkers spoke about Christ revealing
afresh the true splendour and full dignity of what humanity was created to be; he is the perfect
image made manifest, and in seeing him we begin to enter upon our own healing and
transformation. Some of them believed that we have to see him, however dimly (and that
‘seeing’ perhaps means the having of a glimmer of understanding, an acknowledgment of the
source of his goodness) before we can apply our wills to loving him. We must in some measure
see before we know properly how to love.
The Magi might be an image of that for us. They have sought Christ and finally found him.
Finding him, they have seen him; seeing him, they have loved him – and each in a different way,
each with a different gift to leave at his feet. And we have sought him, and however imperfectly,
had some sense of finding him. Finding him we have, in some way, seen him. Seeing him, we
apply our wills to loving him. For one person, perhaps, the gift and use of money and resources
in his name; for another, a life of sacrificial service to friend or stranger. One offers her mind
and scholarship, another his artistry or craft, yet another the discipline of prayer and
contemplation.
Gold, frankincense, myrrh – what are they? Their meanings are as many as there are people in
this world; there is no limit to their meaning, nor any prescription. They are the frankincense,
gold and myrrh appropriate to the hearts of all who see Christ, to all who are enlightened by his
self-revelation.