Epiphany!
This week we are celebrating Epiphany - what is Epiphany you ask? Well Epiphany is the moment - any moment - when the HOLY is revealed!
In the Church we celebrate Epiphany as the time when the infant baby Jesus was "revealed" as God's son. You see, when you read the actual Gospel's rendition of the Christmas story you will realize that a lot of we know to be the Christmas story isn't even in the Bible and there are some pretty big Myths concerning Jesus' whole birth. I am personally not surprised by this...think about it people were following Jesus believing him to be the messiah - which none of them realized was going to lead to the death on the cross. But after Jesus' death and as this new Jewish sect began to spread some clear questions began to take form: how is Jesus both human and divine? How is Jesus more then a prophet but the messiah? And thus, Matthew and Luke embellished upon the details they did know.
In Matthew the Epiphany story is the story of the magi arriving at Jesus' house a few years after his birth and finding him with his mother. In Luke we hear of Jesus being brought to the Temple and encountering both Simeon and Anna who were awaiting for the Messiah. In both cases this humble poor infant baby was revealed to be the Messiah. This was not the Messiah that people expected at all - in fact this was a very different package! I could go on as to why the stories in Matthew and Luke are different and to which type of audience they were appealing but the big point here is that they are trying to give Jesus street credit if you will - proving the divinity within the humanity or visa verse.
So how does this relate to our own relationship with God today? Well first - The Holy Divine works within us and through us and can even work when we don't know it cause we are too busy worrying about nonsense! But more importantly Epiphany is about a change in relationship with the Divine. It is about finding God even when it appears God is missing. It is about finding God in the strangest of places, in different packages and being open to the vastness that is the Holy.
Epiphany can happen to us all the time and any where! We can all have a moment or two when our eyes are open to the true awe that is the Divine working in the world. But first we must be willing to see! It is easy for us today, to see Jesus and know the he is the Christ child for we know the end of the story - the Epiphany here is the trust that the Magi, Anna and Simeon had in God in being able to recognize the Divine - even disguised as a baby. And that is where the lesson is for us!
God works every where, anytime and in everyone! God is not limited by religion, sex, ethnicity or status - God is not limited by narrow mindedness or anything! For our Creator is infinite and vast. So let this year be a year full of Epiphany! Full God's revelation in our lives and world. Let us open ourselves, trusting in the Spirit and believing in the Holy we know to be around us!
