An Epiphany Word

A New Year unfolds. Festivities wind down. The twelve days of Christmas are over.  Now the Magi are at the door, bearing gifts, offering worship, bringing the gift of love in the form of a vulnerable child of no fixed address.

The season of Epiphany arrives here in Kokanee parish. The global message of good news echoes out from Nazareth in the actions of the Magi.

Epiphany is a time of revealing, of unfurling the gift of the Divine. The Holy One is a gift to us: a gift not to be hoarded or hidden but shared among everyone we meet.

What are the most meaningful gifts we have received in our lives? In what ways might we be a gift to others? To our family? Our neighbours? Our co-workers? Our community?

Consider the idea that you are a gift to this world. Do you hide it or do you share it? Do you restrict your gift to those you know and like? Or do you extend it to strangers, adversaries, liars, the unscrupulous?

Here’s a challenge for you this season of Epiphany:  cut out some hearts and/or stars; write on them the gift that you offer.  Keep the hearts and stars in your journal or bring them to church to place on the offertory plate. We will display them so we can give God thanks for the gifts embraced within this beloved community.

Epiphany is about the gifts of the Magi, yes, but more importantly it is about the gift of God among us through the Incarnation. Epiphany invites us to become gifts to each other and to the community at large. This is how we are invited to live out our faith and spirituality in this place and time.

Happy New Year

Blessed Epiphany

David  

 The Rev’d David Burrows is the Incumbent Priest of the Anglican Parish of Kokanee, encompassing Nelson, Kaslo, and the North Shore. This writing is a part of his ‘Mountain Reflections’ series.