Epiphany: His Appearing and Our Presenting “Sirs, we would see Jesus ….” Dear CME Family: Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus! We are in the season of Epiphany – from January 6 until the day before Ash Wednesday (February 17, 2015). I’ve long been taught that epiphany means appearing, and we remember this as the Season of lifting up the appearing of God incarnate – God in the flesh, as Jesus Christ, walking among and talking among human beings, showing by His love and grace the picture of the truth and goodness and grace of a loving God. “God was in Christ,” Paul says, “reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:18). And while it is true that the Season of Epiphany is about the appearing of Christ – the miracles, the wonders, the profound teachings with ordinary words and ordinary pictures that came from His lips – the Season of Epiphany is also about our presenting, our showing, our acts of witnessing this Jesus as God’s Christ (God’s Anointed One) to the world! The text quoted in the sub-title of this letter is a text that always comes to mind when I think of Epiphany. It is from John 12 – “Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus” (John 12:20-21,, NIV). We are reminded during these days of Epiphany that some people want, and all people need, to see Jesus. We are reminded that this is a time to spread the knowledge of Jesus as we present Him to the world, generally in our worship services using the green paraments to symbolize the life and growth of the incarnate God among us (we generally use the green except for Epiphany Day [January 6] and the Sunday of the Baptism [the first Sunday after Epiphany Day] and the Sunday of the Transfiguration [the Sunday before Ash Wednesday], which are white). A favorite at the piano during my Epiphany meditation periods has often been this: We would see Jesus, Mary’s Son most holy, Light of the village life from day to day; Shining revealed through every task most lowly, The Christ of God, the Life, the Truth, the Way. And when these words were sung, those words pointed to a portrait of Jesus in my mind. But before the hymn was finished, these words also appeared, which pointed me to a portrait of what Jesus calls me to do to follow: We would see Jesus, in the early morning, Still as of old He calleth, “Follow me!” Let us arise, all meaner service scorning; Lord, we are Thine, we give ourselves to Thee. [Words by J. Edgar Park] So, then, Epiphany highlights both His appearing and our service of showing. How, then, do we show His presence? How, then, are we still presenting Him? We generally believe are presenting Him in our preaching, in our teaching, in our missions. But we are also presenting Him in our healing, in our relieving the wounds of the sick, as we minister to the grieving, in our lobbying for an end to hunger, in our participation to build up our communities and their institutions, in our acts of protests for justice, in our ministries of gifting students with scholarships and aids to help them build themselves up … and in all of these acts done in His name, we are presenting Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, let us this Epiphany Season show Jesus with acts that present God’s mercy continuing to be seen in the world! + Lawrence L. Reddick III
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:07:13 +0000
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