Epiphany

When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Matthew 2:10-12

Today we celebrate the moment when the Son of God was made known to the whole earth. God's love was not for a few, a treasured nation but for the whole world. A light for the whole world, through whom we are all made family, relations in the family of God.

Collect for Epiphany
O God, by the leading of a star you 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.

Epiphany is also the end of the Christmas season, if it hasn't been shut down already by so many. Today is the day to celebrate the coming of Christ to the whole world but also to continue to be light bearers. The strange, exotic men that sought the child were wise men, shamans, medicine men and the scholars of their community. They came to lay their gifts at the feet of Jesus, to acknowledge that the one God had reached out to them through a star and brought them to the place where they could understand the Creator's love in a whole new way. Today is the day to celebrate that the walls have come down, the barriers broken and the whole of humanity is invited to the table once saved for a chosen few.

May we live this day rejoicing in the breadth and depth of God's love for us which is willing to reach out to us no matter how far away we are and will speak in our language -even the language of stars in the night sky. My we live today with the light that never fades away, but continues to burn, seeking us out in our darkest nights.