Dear Friends,
O God, by the leading of a star, you manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Blessed Feast of the Epiphany! Today, January 6, is the proper day of this feast when we celebrate that God incarnate was made known to the whole world (i.e., we the Gentiles) as represented by three kings (or were they astronomers or magicians?) arriving to give gifts and pay home to the infant Messiah.
Our children will learn all about this major feast tomorrow at their Epiphany Camp, and we are all invited to join for their closing liturgy at 4:45pm. See the announcement below and please join us.
From now until Ash Wednesday, we will read scripture each Sunday that points to Jesus’ true identity. This Sunday we have the Baptism of Jesus when a dove alights and God’s voice is heard: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased!” And of course this is a Sunday when we baptize, and we will welcome into the faith two of our children at the 9:00am service and one at the 11:00am service.
And it is during this season that we enter intentionally into the process of walking with those adults who are preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil, known as Catechumens (see the article below), who will be exploring how God is at work in their lives and whether they are called to be baptized and who will also be for us a manifestation of God’s work in the world.
In this season of Epiphany, of revelation and manifestation, of light and hope, I pray that God in Christ becomes more manifest, dear and close, to each one of you in your own life. See you on Sunday!
Faithfully, Suzanne+