©Suzanne Grimmett
Feast of the Epiphany
Isaiah 60.1-6
Psalm 72.1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3.1-12
Matthew 2.1-12
The great poet, W. H Auden, having delved deeply through his work into art, community, erotic love, politics and psychology, had come to believe that everything- all of this- had been fundamentally altered by a single event in human history.[1] In this, he is the poet for the Epiphany, because it was the revelation of the Christ child that changed everything. The incarnation meant that nothing looked the same again, posing a radical disruption in the world and therefore of human thought and self-understanding.
He composed an entire Oratorio on this subject called “For the Time Being”. Here is an excerpt called, The Three Wise Men;
The weather has been awful,
The countryside is dreary,
Marsh, jungle, rock; and echoes mock,
Calling our hope unlawful;
But a silly song can help along
Yours ever and sincerely:
At least we know for certain that we are three old sinners,
that this journey is much too long, that we want our dinners,
and miss our wives, our books, our dogs,
but have only the vaguest idea why we are what we are.
To discover how to be human now
Is the reason we follow this star.
― W.H. Auden (From “For the Time Being, a Christmas Oratorio”)
You would think that being human would be the easiest thing on earth.
Dogs don’t ever need to think about how to dog, any more than stars need to remember how to shine. But peace in our self-understanding and lives that express the fullness of humanity still elude us… and so we share the road with these wise ones on a pilgrimage to find out what being human really means. The poem draws us to identify with the wise ones as sinners with a longing for home- we have journeyed for long days seeking, following signs, and yet still not having the answers. This Feast of Epiphany reminds us of the search for our own humanity and the revealing of the boundary-crossing God whose presence is both hidden and known throughout the earth. It points us to the truth we have encountered, truth which now can never be unseen, and yet a truth which we have yet to fully comprehend.
The breaking in of mystery, the cosmic communication of constellations, the expanding revelation of God to include even those who come from afar…all of this has led to myriads of traditions around the world that seek to express its meaning and live its truth. It is the Western Christian tradition which primarily associates Epiphany with the coming of the Magi, but the season also includes the baptism of Jesus by John, (which we celebrate next week), and the further public revealing of his glory in the turning of water into wine at the wedding of Cana. Eastern churches have always associated Epiphany with Christ’s baptism in the Jordan. In both traditions, however, the heart of the feast is the same: the manifestation of Christ to the world and the wonder, grace and mystery of the Incarnation.
A bit of online research provides a snapshot of such varied traditions around the world; the way humankind, with symbols and ritual, responds to the radical inbreaking of God.
In many Latin American countries, the day is called The Day of Kings, commemorating the arrival of the Magi to revere Jesus as son of God. On the night of January 5, children leave their shoes by the door, along with grass and water for the camels, hoping for presents to be left tucked into the shoes.
Since the Epiphany is one of the seven great feasts of the Coptic Orthodox Church, it is a day of strict fasting, and several religious celebrations are held on this day. The day is related to the blessing of waters that are used throughout the year in the church celebrations, and it is considered a privileged day to celebrate baptisms. It is also a time when many houses are blessed with water, often taking several days for the local priest to bless all the houses of the parishioners.
This is connected with our tradition of house blessing and the chalking of doors on this day. We will bless the chalk later in the service and invite everyone to take home the chalk and the prayers which ask God to bless your home, family and guests in the year ahead, recalling the hospitality of the holy family to strangers.
In more drastic customs, Russians cut holes in the ice of lakes and rivers, often in the shape of the cross, to bathe in the freezing water. Participants in the ritual may dip themselves under the water three times to symbolically wash away their sins from the past year, and to experience a sense of spiritual rebirth. In Greece, Bulgaria and other Eastern Orthodox countries, priests may bless crosses and toss them into frigid waters for the intrepid to retrieve.
Ethiopia is perhaps the most interesting and you may like to do your own research. The Epiphany rites there involve celebrating the incarnation by processing with sacred replicas of the Ark of the Covenant and all-night outdoor prayer vigils followed by a Eucharist at dawn.
Rites, rituals and symbols help us as to hold this strange gift that is our lives and to live the stories that help us to understand our humanity; our story in the light of God’s story. We follow the star in ways as unique and diverse as humanity itself. It is all too easy to be dismissive about rituals different from our own, particularly when we are enticed by the idea that our own way of expressing divine mysteries is the correct one. This Feast Day is a good time to recall the hospitality of the God who came amongst us not to make us all the same but so that divinity could shine from myriads of different faces.
In the prophetic words of Isaiah we hear, “Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” This was an image that rose from the context of the people of Israel liberated from Babylonian exile with the hope of being restored to their home and identity. Matthew’s Gospel adds another layer of meaning by associating this with the manifestation of God revealed in Christ, a beacon of hope for all peoples, both Jew and Gentile, symbolised by the journey of the wise men from the East.
Such words cast a vision of God gathering peoples of every nation. Perhaps to glimpse this vision we might imagine seeing at once all those who will gather around the world this Feast of Epiphany, worshipping in such diverse ways. What if we could see simultaneously- in one glorious tableau- the Church of the world worshipping in such variety but with the same joy and wonder at the revelation of God at home on earth? I suspect the vision would be overwhelming, even if we didn’t add the glory of all the saints from the past and the angelic beings of the every-present; such beauty that is too much to comprehend and yet is real just beyond our sight.
This is what epiphany is about. God revealed within us and amongst us, with a glory that is close and personal and global and cosmic, a hope for the earth and a light for the nations. This revelation may make us feel small, recognising the limitations of ourselves and our encultured, parochial ways. But perhaps that is a blessing when it leads us to the wonder and vastness of God’s grace. God, for love, would take up the same limitations of our humanity and shine a light which enables us to see both ourselves and this present darkness. The nature of an epiphany is that we cannot continue unchanged, but we begin by knowing, with sometimes painful clarity, who we are now.
But we cannot see it all. We are grounded beings with limited vision and we remain, in this life, followers on a journey. But there are moments when, we, like W. H Auden, experience the truth of what is real so profoundly that it changes how we live, reinterpreting our old stories and helping us write new ones of meaning and grace. May we this year catch a glimpse of the expansive hospitality of a God whose presence refuses to be contained or corralled by any one culture, doctrine or dogma. May we have eyes to see the irrepressible eruptions of incarnation amongst us, showing us how to be human as our faces are transformed into the likeness of Christ and we are gathered, as one, into the commonwealth of God.
+Amen
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/religion/now-our-endless-journey-stops-wh-auden-and-the-time-of-the-incar/10099444