The Feast of the Epiphany – Reflection by Canon Leslie

Today is the Second Sunday of Christmas and the Church is anticipating the Feast of the Epiphany, brought forward from 6 January. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the journey of the magi (the wise men) who followed from their home in the East the star that they observed at its rising. It is Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus that offers this rich tradition concerning the magi that contains many important images. One of these images is the Christmas journey. According to the tradition, the magi undertook a long and arduous journey in order to find the Christ child. The journey brought them to Jerusalem where they came face to face with King Herod, with the chief priests, and with the scribes of the people. But their journey did not end in Jerusalem. Their journey ended when the star led them to the place where they found the child for whom they were seeking. There they knelt down, paid him homage, and opened up their treasure-chests. On the Feast of the Epiphany we are invited to share in their journey.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to focus on the image of the Christmas journey. In today’s picture from their book, Christmas time with Teddy Horsley, Teddy Horsley and Betsy Bear have followed in the footsteps of the magi to bring their treasures to place before the Christ child and to worship him. Today we are invited to join them in this act of homage.
 
Next Sunday, the First Sunday of Epiphany celebrates the Baptism of Christ. In Mark’s Gospel the Baptism of Jesus is clearly presented as his anointing. Jesus is the anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah. At his anointing the divine voice announces the words ‘You are my son’ from Psalm 2, a psalm used to celebrate the anointing of the King. The image to help us prepare for the Baptism of Jesus is coronation. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
To find out more about and to read Christmas Time with Teddy Horsley, please follow this link to the story on the Teddy Horsley website: https://teddyhorsley.org/other-stories/christmas-time-with-teddy-horsley. To find out about more Teddy Horsley stories, follow this link to his page on the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/TeddyHorsley.html.
 
We warmly invite you to join us in worship online here: 
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​Teddy Horsley and Betsy Bear send their Epiphany greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie