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Showing posts from December, 2019

The Light of the Word Has Dawned

I have mentioned several times in this column that I grew up going to churches that did not observe the Church Year.   I knew nothing of Lent, Advent, All Saints Day, and Epiphany.   Christmas, Easter, and Palm Sunday were the only special days that we observed in the tradition in which I was formed.   For the last ten years, however, I have been in a position to lead churches into the observance of some of the richness that can be found in the rhythms of the Church Year.   My spiritual life has been profoundly deepened. This Sunday is “Epiphany Sunday.”   It is the close of the Advent Season and celebrates the revealing of Christ to the world.   The biblical stories that typically accompany this Sunday are the appearance of the Magi in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River, and Mary and Joseph’s encounter with Anna and Simeon at the Temple when they came to dedicate Jesus.   All of those narratives reveal that Jesus is the Savior for the whole world.   Epipha