‘I’ve had an epiphany, of sorts’ my friend wrote to me in a recent e-mail
‘and’ she continued ‘I think it will mean a lot of changes in 2008 for me
and for those around me.’
The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal."
Taken from the Greek epiphaneia, the term explained the manifestation by the
gods of their divinities to mortal eyes. We in the church have used it to
define a celebration of the visit of the magi to the birth of Jesus. It was
the revelation that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races,
and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few,
chosen people. It sounds very good and very appealing until you are the
elite and your chosen status is challenged. How special does something
really seem when just anybody can have it? It can feel good to be in that
special club as long as we don’t have to feel the pain of those who stand
outside and look in. Perhaps part of ‘epiphany’ is a willingness to look at
the same old situation with new eyes and a new heart. That is the sort of
‘epiphany’ my friend was writing me about, realizing that she had not been
opening herself up to the new things that God might be bringing to her life.
Yet, in the same moment she had that ‘aha’ experience – she realized that
epiphanies can bring about conflict within and without as we struggle to
accept a new vision. Epiphanies don’t happen in isolation, they have these
public consequences which can make many people uncomfortable or even angry.
Epiphany looks ahead to the mission of the church to the world in light of
the Nativity. The Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first
Gentiles to acknowledge that Jesus was a ‘king’ and so were the first to
‘show’ or ‘reveal’ Jesus to a larger world. And, after proclaiming the
epiphany the Gospel of Matthew tells us having been warned in a dream not to
return to Herod, they (the Magi) left for their own country by another road.
Epiphanies change our journey, they change how we see the world and they
change how we see ourselves. For the Gentiles it would mean giving up a
pagan theology and for the Jews it would mean giving up the idea of being
the only chosen people of God. All ‘epiphanies’ that are worth talking
about, bring about a certain amount of conflict – internal and external. How
do we change and grow in the grace of God and yet keep our meaningful
community life and traditions? Most epiphanies of any importance are
‘God-born’ epiphanies that challenge us to move, to bend and to flex our
faithful selves into seeing our faith and the world around us in a different
manner. Some of us will slam the door shut on our epiphany believing that it
was just a moment of madness. Others will grab hold of the epiphany and ‘go
home by another road.’
During this short season of Epiphany I invite us to be open to experiencing
a new vision of our mission as a church. I don’t have any thoughts about
what that might be…but…perhaps God is not only calling a new rector, but
also a new ministry, a new people or creating a new vision for an existing
community of faith.
We’ve had an Epiphany, of sorts……
In Christ,
LaRae +
