EPIPHANY

“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” (Matthew 2:9)

Today is January 6. That may not mean anything to you, but January 6 is an important day on the liturgical calendar. For “liturgical churches” (those who follow a formally prescribed church calendar of readings, practices, traditions, and rituals) January 6 is the “Feast of the Epiphany”. The Epiphany is the day that the Magi (often called “The Three Wise Men”) arrived to see the young child Jesus and to worship him as the Son of God. It is also called, “Little Christmas”. For many Hispanics, Epiphany is a bigger holiday than Christmas Day, itself. It is the day presents are opened, and the Christmas tree and other Christmas trappings are not disposed of or put away until after January 6. Christmas wreaths, ribbons, etc. always remain on display in Roman Catholic churches, for instance, until after January 6. (January 6 is the Twelfth Day of Christmas from the famous song.)

The Assemblies of God, like the Baptists, Congregationalists, and other “low church” Protestant groups is NOT particularly liturgical and usually DOESN’T celebrate Epiphany. Nevertheless, I thought I’d call attention to it today. I looked up “Epiphany” in the dictionary. It means “a divine manifestation”. In fact, the Online Etymology Dictionary says this: “.1310, ‘festival of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles’ (celebrated Jan. 6; usually with a capital -E-), from O.Fr. epiphanie, from L.L. epiphania, neut. pl. (taken as fem. sing.), from Gk. epiphaneia ‘manifestation, striking appearance’ (in N.T., advent or manifestation of Christ), from epiphanes ‘manifest, conspicuous,’ from epiphainein ‘to manifest, display,’ from epi- ‘on, to’ + phainein ‘to show.’ Of divine beings other than Christ, first recorded c.1667; general literary sense appeared 1840, first in De Quincey.”

I realize that is probably more than you cared to know about “Epiphany”! Even so, the word IS sometimes used to describe some great life changing event such as, “After the asthma attack, Harry had an epiphany that he must give up cigarettes, and he never smoked again.” or “Upon learning of the fate of the Tsunami victims, wealthy Mrs. Jones experienced an epiphany and donated a million dollars to the Red Cross.”

I’m Pentecostal. We believe in dramatic, divine manifestations, healings, miracles, etc. One unfortunate fact about we Pentecostals is that sometimes we place SO much emphasis on the mystical and miraculous that we forget to look for God in the ORDINARY things of life. If you DO look for God in the ordinary things of life, you’ll be amazed and what He will reveal to you. Many years ago when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I used to work in a textile mill during the summers. During the summer of 1975, I was the janitor. Well, actually, I was the fill-in janitor. The real janitor had a heart attack and was out of work for almost three months. I would walk through the entire mill in the course of my days. Every day I’d see a woman of around 45 doing hard and repetitive factory work in one of the departments. She was foreign born. She was German. She had experienced World War 2 in Germany and had married an American G.I. One day the Lord strongly impressed me to bring a helpful little booklet in for that woman. I just KNEW I was to do that. Upon coming to her department that day, I stopped and handed it to her. She filled up with tears and asked, “How did you know that I was so unhappy?” I didn’t. But God did. I don’t know exactly how that booklet touched that woman’s life, BUT IT DID. That summer there was also a guy from the mill around the age that I am now who had a heart attack. I sent him a card and wrote him a little note. When the guy returned to the mill, he sat and talked to me for awhile in the cafeteria. He was truly moved by my card.

We’re all in such a hurry. I toned that down. I’m going to write what I originally intended to write: We’re all in such a stupid hurry. It amazes me how TENSE people are. I’ve noticed lately in driving that I can be doing 5 miles over the speed limit, but cars are still right on my bumper! As soon as they can, they’ll zoom past me like I’m standing still, then, predictably, they’ll drive right through a red light, and practically attach their car to ANOTHER motorist’s rear bumper! Yeah, such a stupid hurry!

How much do people even THINK about God and eternity? Honestly, I think most people are like Michael Dukakis. Back in 1988 when he was running for President, he was once asked if he thinks about dying. He replied, “No, I never think about it.” That amazed me, but I guess it shouldn’t have. I’ve come to realize that MANY people never think about God and eternity.

I guess I’m wandering off the subject. Back to Epiphany: Here’s a challenge for you- regardless of where you stand with God and the things of God, PRAY - step out and ask God to use you today to make a difference in the life of someone He will bring across your path today... to be used to bring some sort of an epiphany to that person. I’m honestly going to do that today. I think it will be great to have some epiphanies on Epiphany! Let’s see what God will do today...