EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

All December long, we have been awash in Christmas card images of bejeweled kings riding camels across the desert, following yonder star; or manger scenes with kneeling kings worshipping at the crib; or cards in glittering foil, displaying the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  We have stood before our own parish creche and tried to imagine that most wonderful night of the world.

Then, suddenly the images stop. (Christmas lasts one more week on the liturgical calendar; but we won’t find any Christmas cards of Christ’s baptism.) Maybe this year, as we leave Christmas behind and step out into the cold, dark winter, we are called to become modern day magi, kings who step into those images and bring them to life in our own time and place.  The magi made the extraordinary effort to travel a great distance, across unknown lands, following the Christmas star.  That star of the Holy Spirit will surely guide us too.  We can then offer our humble lives to the real King.

Deacon Dick Folger