Saturday, January 2, 2016

Epiphany or Twelfth Night

                                                                   Image sourced here

Saturday  6 January is Epiphany, or, The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. "So what?" you might well ask. I ask the same question in my sermon entitled Eureka (read it here) and ask (and hopefully answer) the more important question: What is an epiphany and can I have one today?
The one sentence sermon is: An epiphany is a light bulb moment, when the penny drops and Yes, you can have one today!

Be that all as it may, 6 January is traditionally the day by which you should have all your Christmas decorations down because it marks the end of the "twelve days of Christmas." The Twelve Days of Christmas is a festive Christian season to celebrate the nativity of Jesus. In most Western Church traditions Christmas Day is the First Day of Christmas and the Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, but for others, the twelve days begin on 26 December and end on 6 January.

Twelfth Night or, What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season.

Here is a prayer for this day:

O God, who by the leading of a star 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.