Epiphany 2024 Week 1
You are invited to use the material below as you wish. We suggest selecting one piece per day to read, reflect on, and act on as you are inspired to do. You need not follow it in any particular order. We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.
You were born to receive the light of God and to become the vehicle through which miracles can happen, The more light you allow to flow through you, the more wondrous your reality is.
We call them the three Kings or the Three Wise Men, but we don’t really know if there were three of them. We assume the number from the three gifts they bring – gold, frankincense, and myrrh (the story of the Magi is told in Matthew 2: 1-12). There may even have been women among their number, says scholar Christine Schenk in National Catholic Reporter. (Read the article.)
The term “magi” refers to the Persian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism which was popular in that part of the world. These priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science. They would have studied the stars continually, looking for signs and prophecies.
They also would have known about the stories of a special Jewish Messiah from the time when the Jews had been held captive in ancient Babylon, several hundred years earlier. So when these astrologers saw an unusual new star in the sky, they likely wondered if it told of the birth of a special king in Israel.
We tend to think of the magi as being exotic, but they were actually doing what they had been trained and equipped to do. They were doing their day jobs. They were always searching, open to new revelation, even from religions that were not their own. They were paying attention and willing to ask, “What is this?”
Christians mark this story as the revelation to the gentiles and see in it the great and wonderful news that God is for all of us. The star that guided the Magi shines for everyone. In this short study we will seek our own guiding stars and pray for the grace to follow them.
Bless those
who know the darkness
and do not fear it,
who carry the light
and are not consumed,
who prepare the way
and will not abandon it,
who bless with grace
that does not leave us.
Jan Richardson in In Wisdom’s Path
One of the many challenges of our elder years is that of being replaced. We retire from a career we spent decades building, and a younger person takes our place. “Thank you for your contributions,” we are told. “We will take it from here.” We raise children, feed them, educate them, then watch them marry and raise their own families. We are no longer the focus of their lives – as it should be. And yet we miss being important.
What do we do when others’ stars eclipse ours?
In this piece, Fr. Ron Rolheiser examines that question in the response of the Magi and King Herod to the announcement of Jesus’ birth.
King Herod and the Wise Men
by Fr. Ron Rolheiser
The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good. Beyond spawning every kind of legend imaginable, the story of Christmas has, in the Christian imagination, too often taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the Gospels themselves. This is not surprising, given its richness.
Inside its great narrative there are multiple mini-narratives, each of which comes laden with its own archetypal symbols. One of these mini-narratives, rich in archetypal imagery, is the story King Herod and the wise men.
We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when he tells us how various people reacted to the announcement of Jesus’ birth. Matthew sets up a powerful archetypal contrast, blessing and curse, between the reaction of the Wise Men, who bring their gifts and place them at the feet of the new king, and King Herod, who tries to kill him.
Read the rest of the essay.
In the end, I wonder if one of the most important steps on our journey is the one in which we throw away the map. In jettisoning the grids and brambles of our own preconceptions, perhaps we are better able to find the real secrets of each place.
–Loreena McKennitt, found in In Wisdom’s Path by Jan Richardson.
Behold: When the Ordinary is Transfigured
by Fiona Koefoed-Jesperson
The Epiphany story is one that speaks to me afresh each year that I encounter it. This year I started wondering what worship looked like in a full, simple home in Bethlehem. The pictures always paint it very serenely and majestically: there is bowing and kneeling in perfect symmetry with a warm glow enfolding the whole scene.
But I wonder whether it might instead have looked like a joyful embracing of this young child – did worship look like tickling tiny toes or trying to extract a smile with silly faces? Did it look like anointing his little head, hands and feet with oil? Was there storytelling and dancing – teaching each other the steps to unknown songs?
I wonder at the reality of this collision of cultures – how were they first received as they entered the village? Who was delighted, who was suspicious? How did they honour different practices – could they speak the same language?
Read the entire essay. Fiona’s lovely article includes some Epiphany practices you might want to investigate.
An Epiphany Prayer
God of endless light, you sent a star—
rising from darkness,
guiding seekers and sages,
overwhelming us with joy.
Let the splendor of your dawning light
grow in us and in all the world
until the whole creation shines with your glory;
through Jesus Christ our light.
God of light, shining in darkness,
through a little child, born in Bethlehem,
you open to us the treasure of your grace.
Help us to search diligently for him,
so that we may offer our lives to you
with thanksgiving, joy, and praise;
through Jesus Christ, the rising star.
Shepherd of Israel,
you sent a star to enlighten the wise
and a child to topple the tyrant.
Make us wise enough to seek you
among the least of your children,
wise enough to trade our treasure
for the gift of overwhelming joy.
Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
For your reflection this week
The Magi must have been shocked to find that the new king they were looking for was a little child. Did they wonder why they had been led to this place? Did they question their revelation?
When you find yourself in an unexpected situation, do you ask, “Where is God in this?”
After finding the child, the Magi went home a different way, we are told. Perhaps that was to avoid King Herod. But it is true that when we encounter the Christ, we often are drawn to a new direction and risk embarking on a new route.
Is God calling you just now to change direction or start down a new road because you have encountered Christ?
Ron Rolheiser, in his essay on King Herod and The Wise Men, makes the point that while Herod killed to maintain his position as king, the Wise Men offered their gifts to the baby as resources for this new king.
As Ron Rolheiser asks at the end of his essay, how do you react when a young star’s rising begins to eclipse your own light? When have you had to step out of the way and relinquish your position for the furtherance of the Kingdom?
“To bless another person, says Ron Rolheier, is to give away some of one’s own life so that the other might be more resourced for his or her journey.”
Where, in your life, are you being called to bless another according to this definition?
Does Rolheiser’s article give you a new perspective on this well-known story?
Fiona Koefoed-Jesperson finds the light of God in her ordinary life – in packing lunches and smiling at strangers because she takes the time to behold. She calls these acts of worship because they flow from a place of love.
What everyday actions of your own do you consider to be worship?
Where, specifically, in your ordinary life, can you be the light that brightens the lives of others? Make a plan this week to be a small star in someone’s life.
Read again the prayer above this section.
How can you commit to the petitions?
Let the splendor of your dawning light
grow in us and in all the world
until the whole creation shines with your glory;
Search diligently for him,
so that we may offer our lives to you
with thanksgiving, joy, and praise;
Make us wise enough to seek you
among the least of your children,
wise enough to trade our treasure
for the gift of overwhelming joy.
The Wisdom Years 