Epiphany: Knowing God

Epiphany...have you ever heard of such a word? Although, you may humorously want to say “Gesundheit” after saying the word out loud, it is actually a significant event of the Church calendar.

Epiphany, the twelfth day after Christmas, is when the Church marks the conclusion of the Christmas season. Usually, most Churches will celebrate Epiphany the first Sunday of the New Year. Many families will mark Epiphany by taking down the Christmas tree and decorations.

The word "Epiphany" means "to show" or "to reveal." It is also a historical date because it marks the arrival of the "three wise men" from the east who came "to show" and "to reveal" to all the world that this little 2-year-old toddler was Lord and King (Matthew 2:9-11)

This is why we celebrate Epiphany! We celebrate to recall how God has been "showing" and "revealing" Himself to us ever since that one night the Kings of the Orient bowed their knees and presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to this little boy named Jesus.

Be on guard! Watch! Our transcendent God is ever present and working in His creation to show us and to reveal to us how much He loves us and desires to have a close, personal, intimate, and loving relationship with us.

Knowing this, may we never take for granted the next time we experience a brilliant sunset, the warm hug of a grandparent, a confirming compliment from a parent, the warmth of the sun's rays on a cold winter day, the purring of a cat, visiting with a neighbor, volunteering with others for a humanitarian event, and the joy of fellowship with our Church family during Sunday worship services...all things God uses to show and reveal His presence...His love for us.

"Happy Epiphany!" How will you be "on the look out" for God's "Epiphany" to you today...this week...this year? My prayer is that we'll take notice and see a lot of our Heavenly Father in visible, tangible ways in the world around us! He is still here and revealing Himself everywhere to know Him more!

Romans 1:19-20, “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

Learn from Lydia

There are a lot of interesting mentions of women in the Bible. Whether it is the Old Testament or New Testament, there are many strong, yet oddly missed, lessons from women that we can familiarize ourselves with to strengthen our faith. One such woman is named Lydia. She provides a very powerful lesson for us. We find one particular mention of her in the book of Acts. Acts 16:14 , says that Lydia “reverenced God, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.” Lydia is actually a significant person in the New Testament. She is described as “a dealer in purple goods” (Acts 16:14). Pointing that out is quite a clue. Dealing in “purple goods” was considered a luxury in the ancient world. It is probably safe to say that she was both a woman of great financial means and able to deal successfully with the influential people of her time. She was also noted as having a great gift of persuasion. I think she might have been the only perso...

Cross of St. Peter

One of the strongest defenses of investigating any situation is making sure that we gather as many facts, witnesses, and information on the subject at hand. We don’t want to jump to any rash decisions or conclusions and find out, later, that we were wrong. The Bible has a very strong passage to support taking the time to gather facts to make a truth-filled decision. Proverbs 18:15 , “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” We cannot afford to jump to conclusions on unfounded rumors or quickly repeated gossip. I have witnessed one incident of such false information that has spread like a raging forest fire due to individuals not doing their homework on the subject matter. I am talking about some recent “observances” during the funeral of Pope Francis. During his funeral, several individuals noticed that there were “upside-down crosses” displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Many took to social media in a wild frenzy to associa...

Tetelestai!

Just before Jesus gives up His spirit on the cross, He utters a very powerful word. The word that He cries out is “ tetelestai” (tih-tellis-tie). When literally translated, this word means, “It is finished.” It can also refer to something completed or accomplished. The word occurs in John 19:28 and 19:30 and these are the only two places in all of the New Testament where it is found. In the John19:28 passage, it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed , in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘ It is finished ,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” Did you know that the word tetelestai was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full? The Greek-English lexicon (by Moulton and Milligan) sa...

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