Epiphany

Tahoe, our big black lab, has an epiphany every time we sit down to eat, "What? I don't get to sit on a chair next to you with my own plate on the table? Ah-ha! I must be a dog after all." In his canine world he has this same epiphany, this same ah-ha moment several times a day, every day of his life. He's been at this for four years now. Poor guy. I hope it gets easier for him soon.

But, I am sympathetic to his plight. Coming to terms with the truth of our ah-ha moments, with our personal and even community-wide epiphanies is a daunting task requiring a rare form of courage. Sometimes it just works better to walk away, like Tahoe from the table, only to return the next time to try again, to repeat our  version of the truth even if it simply isn't so.

Where does all of this come from? The word itself, epiphany, doesn't even sound like an English word.  Well, in fact, it comes from the Greek epiphaneia which means "appearance, manifestation... 1: a feast on January 6 in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church the baptism of Christ, 2: an appearance or manifestation, esp. of a divine being." (Webster's Dictionary)

Based on the dictionary definition of the word, our cultural translation of it into an ah-ha moment applicable to anything that surprisingly redefines an understanding of ourselves or others is quite a stretch. "Ah-ha" has considerably weakened the original definition and intent.

I have two new calendars in the house and they both tell me that January 6 is actually on a Sunday this year. Neither calendar tells me that it's Epiphany. In our worship service on Sunday we'll sing the traditional "We Three Kings" carol to recall the gifts of those ancient astrologers/Magi from the East ~ Arabia or Mesopotamia, or elsewhere ~ who were Gentiles, the first to honor and worship the Christ child. Hence, Christ's first appearance to the Gentiles. The gifts they brought were hardly appropriate for an infant/toddler. I don't imagine that Baby Jesus was too excited about gold intended for a king, frankincense intended for a priest, and especially myrrh which was an anointing oil used for burial.

Remember, those Magi didn't know their destination point or who they would meet at the end of their long journey. Their faith in the star led them to his place. The gifts they presented had been packed for a very long time by the time they arrived. Undoubtedly, Christ's appearance and manifestation to them was an overwhelming ah-ha moment of the holiest and highest order.  They left the valuable gifts with his parents and returned home by another route, as told to do through a dream. They were changed. Their path was altered and their lives sent in a different direction after the epiphany of Christ to them.

Given the fact that many people don't attend church anymore, the few who do pass through such a door this Sunday will, once again, be given the opportunity to imagine, to dream, to believe, to experience the epiphany of Christ. And in that most sacred moment, may our misconceptions, false stories, untruths, and lies about who we are and what we have done fall to the ground as we, too, kneel with whatever gifts we have to bring Him.