Having spent the early years of my life drinking grape juice from a tiny plastic shot glass once a month as a Methodist, I never fully understood the importance of January 6. It was not until I was in college attending the Episcopal church, ironically, on the SMU campus that I learned about it. One might say I had an epiphany. I discovered the old carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” STARTS beginning Christmas day and leads us up to today. Also known throughout the Christian world as Three Kings’ Day, it marks the time when the three Wise Men arrived to visit and worship the baby Jesus. The word “epiphany” means the manifestation of Christ. Everyone knows the three kings found Him by following a star across the desert to Bethlehem. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew, we also know they offered symbolic gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The symbolism was important as gold represented His royal standing; frankincense His divine birth; and myrrh His mortality. During medieval times Christmas was celebrated the entire twelve days and today was just as big as Christmas Day. For Anglicans and Episcopalians the feast marks the end of Christmas and Epiphany ushers us all the way to Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent. The liturgical seasons are a lot for my little one to take in. Right now she understands that tomorrow our tree and lights come down and she is very sad about that. Maris said she wished we could keep them up all year. I told her the beauty and magic of Christmas is that we carry the light of God in our hearts with us the whole year through. I have always loved to sing; particularly in church. My Daddy would sing church hymns in the car all the time. Mama loved to sing as well and had a beautiful voice. So a great love of church and music has always been a part of me — whether Indian Methodist or Latin Episcopal. I shall close this evening with the first and last verses of a hymn written for this occasion which is a favorite of mine, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” penned by Christopher Wordsworth in 1862 (tune Salzburg):
Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise,
manifested by the star
to the sages from afar;
branch of royal David’s stem
in thy birth at Bethlehem;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
mirrored in thy holy Word;
may we imitate thee now,
and be pure, as pure art thou;
that we like to thee may be
at thy great Epiphany;
and may praise thee, ever blest,
God in man made manifest.
A blessed Epiphany to all.
