The season of Epiphany according to the Church Liturgical calendar commences at Epiphany, which is fixed at 6th January. It continues until the beginning of Lent. As Easter is not tied to any specific date, but rather to a particular time of the full moon, the season of Epiphany can vary in length by several weeks from one year to another. In 2003, as Ash Wednesday falls on March 5th, the season of Epiphany lasts fifty-eight days.

The general topic of the Epiphany Season is Jesus' manifestation of Himself as God. The event itself was the visit of the three Magi to Bethlehem where, we are told in Matthew 2: 11, they bowed down and worshipped Jesus. Here for the first time we discover the God of Israel meeting with representatives of gentile nations. The word Epiphany is derived from the Greek phainein to bring to light, to cause to appear, to show; epiphainein to manifest, a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; an intuitive grasp of reality through something (like an event) usually simple and striking. Before our eyes, God transforms the bored and sated. The Light has splintered our darkness.

What relevance has this incident to us, so far removed from that time and place? For many this is a story of liberation, demonstrating that no longer are there any barriers between the triune God and us as individuals. The Magi represent people outside acceptable Jewish society; in fact they came from gentile nations. They could have been termed outcasts, outsiders, and the "them" in the "them and us" mindset. We are told they were astrologers, those who made their livelihood by watching star patterns and making predictions based on their knowledge of the stars. They were in fact fortunetellers. Barry Brake in Communiqué presents it this way: "And, two thousand years ago, Magi, scholars from the school of Hermes Trismegistus, Persian guys who didn't have the Bible, didn't worship Jehovah, weren't among the chosen people, but who looked to the sky for meaning, and found it. At Pentecost, the word of God went out into the world. At Epiphany, the world shows up at God's door."

During ensuing centuries, many have been placed in the "other" category, outcasts who were shunned by fanatical dictators, society and the church. Epiphany proclaims to all who have been classed as unacceptable that God has never rejected them, but has always loved them. The baby Yeshu is revealed as God in human form, welcoming and affirming all people. At Epiphany, we discover there are no humanly constructed barriers or restrictions to any who seek the face of God. We are convinced God has always loved and accepted us just as we are. All are welcomed, all are loved and all who ask are forgiven their imperfections.

This series of meditations for Epiphany, to which I have given the title "An Epiphany Of Praise", focuses on those parts of our lives for which we have never given much thought, let alone praise. As an asthmatic, some days all I can do is fight for each breath, so the first meditation focuses on praising God for both the physical breath and the spiritual breath (the Holy Spirit) without which we cannot be fully alive, and which are both gifts from our loving Creator. There's also our very humanness - the fact that we are finite beings who have come through birth's door into this existence and will exit some time later through death's door - and as we look at this together I pray we will be inspired to widen our understanding of the gifts which God showers upon us. There's just so much waiting for our eyes to open fully so we may see a revelation of the wondrous ways in which our God has expressed love for each of us. May these meditations help show or "manifest" such realities.

Rev Vera I Bourne

These meditations may not be copied, reformatted or reproduced in any form or manner without the written permission of the author.