The Beckonings of Epiphany

NOTE: Epiphany is the Christian holy day which marks the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. It is traditionally celebrated 12 days after Christmas on January 6th. Many churches celebrate Epiphany liturgically on the second Sunday after Christmas – which is Jan. 2 in 2011.
Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6 ~ Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 ~ Matthew 2:1-12

I chuckle as I think of how my husband and I decorate the house and the yard during the Advent and Christmas seasons. My husband practices no religion (as it's conventionally understood), but he still loves Christmas decorations. Me, I can take them or leave them. With no children in the house, I’m more prone to keep things at a minimal level when it comes to decorations: perhaps some nice candles or a small and simple indoor nativity scene. My husband prefers the whole she-bang: Christmas tree, stockings, lights on the house, a wreath on the door, Rudolph in the VCR, and so on. He used to put a lit up Santa and reindeer out in the front yard, until one year, after I mentioned in passing how much I loved the story of the Magi. He then went out and found a set of three lit-up Kings, along with a bright guiding Bethlehem star that hangs from the pepper tree, and now they grace our yard every year, from the day after Thanksgiving until the feast of the Epiphany in early January. Initially, my husband would even shift the position of the Three Kings a little each day, bringing them a little closer to the star bit by bit, night after night …

Epiphany is my favorite part of Christmas.

The story of the Magi, the Wise Men, the Journeying Seekers, speaks to me metaphorically and archetypally. I love the popular image of the Kings riding their tall dromedaries over the vast desert sands, always under a clear night sky, with a guiding star in the distance. They bring gold – a precious metal signifying purity, frankincense – a temple incense that blesses, and myrrh – a balm traditionally used to heal the wounds of childbirth. (This suggests that their gifts were for both the infant Christ as well as the mother of Christ, the God-bearer.) They travel long and far in the darkness, bringing with them treasures that symbolize purity of heart, affirmation, and healing. When they present these gifts before the baby Jesus – with the desert night and all of nature witnessing – it seems to me that they are offering up their love and the depths of their yearning in the face of a vulnerable, freshly-born awareness. And doesn’t far-travelled wisdom know best how to honor the tender, the humble, the sprout that is yet to bloom?

After encountering the infant Jesus, the Kings return home, empty-handed but full-hearted, by a different route. This is suggestive of metanoia or transformation – but it is not only the long-journeying seekers themselves who are changed. Christ – that light, that new awareness -- is affected as well. According to the story, the Magi’s recognition that they must not return the way they came – through the land of the murder-seeking King Herod-- saves the life of the infant Jesus. Wisdom knows it must protect this new and humbly-born “king”– enabling him to grow and mature to the point where he too will enter the desert, and yearn, and seek. And, like a far-traveled Wise One, he will eventually offer his gifts, his healing, his life to a world that is yet to be ….

I love this story. I do not embrace it as literally true or as historically accurate. I celebrate it as a living, ever-evolving spiritual fable that offers a treasure-box of beckonings and challenges. Here are some Epiphany-inspired questions / musings worth considering as food for thought and prayer and practice:

What is my guiding star? What guideposts, signs, dream messages, intuitive inklings, traditions, teachings, have I come to trust? Will I allow my trust to deepen and lead me on a long journey through deserts and darkness to a place I have never been?

Upon arrival (or a new return) to this place, what gifts might I offer up to God-among-us and to the Christ-bearer? Gold, representing purity of heart, might manifest as devotional consistency; a renewal of a daily prayer or meditative practice; the experience of deprivation to provide for another; teaching prisoners creative writing; secret tithing; a compassionate action that is not self-aggrandizing or attached to public approval or outcome. Frankincense, representing blessing, could reveal itself as an offering of unsolicited validation or affirmation to another; being a source of confirmation for another; a welcoming smile to the stranger in the supermarket; allowing fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, etc.) to flow through my being and out to those whose paths I cross. Myrrh, the healing balm, could emerge as being present at the right time and right place with life-giving support; providing nourishment, medicine, therapy, or shelter for another; a good long hug; listening deeply to others with an open heart; being a messenger of transformative news for someone; planting organic vegetables; beginning a process of forgiveness and reconciliation with someone.

In what way(s) has Christ been born in me and through me? What are the fresh revelations and awarenesses in my life that need my attention, my safeguarding, and my persistently loving care? Am I tending well to the Incarnation, to the body of Christ, to the living God and the Christ-bearer within myself and others? Do I recognize the Herods in my life, and know not to return to the places and activities that threaten to destroy those aspects of Christ within me that have freshly sprouted?

You may see other invitations and insights from the Epiphany story. (I would love to hear them if you'd like to share). Here is part of the gospel reading that is traditionally read on Epiphany Sunday in many churches. May your wisdom follow the star that guides. Happy New Year!

…Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, being me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

                   --Matthew 2: 7-12