EPIPHANY DAY

Today is the Twelfth Night of Christmas in western Christianity, the day we call Epiphany ("manifest" or "revealed") . But today, January 6, is also Christmas Day for the majority of Orthodox Christians of the world. By Orthodox, I mean Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians, Coptic and Armenian Christians, and other Orthodox branches.

Today some 300-400 million Orthodox believers, 1/5 of the world's Christian population, are recalling the birth of their Savior with special worship services, unique customs, sharing of gifts, decorating homes, and all the other swaddling clothes we wrap around the baby Jesus. As western Christians are removing our decorations, eastern Christians are just getting around to enjoying theirs. 

Eastern Christianity chose January 6 as the day Jesus was revealed to the Magi from the east. Epiphany Day was established in the Church calendar to honor the Magi, or "Wise Men" as we call them. The Magi were the first Gentiles to lay eyes on Jesus. Christmas has its angels and shepherds, but Epiphany has the Magi. 

They had come from the east, from Persia or Arabia, or maybe even modern day Iraq. Magi were star-gazers, highly learned men who interpreted much of life from the movement of the stars. They were educated men who read holy books of the other religions around them, including the Old Testament, the holy book of Judaism. which had foretold that a Deliverer-King would one day be born. The Magi knew what the Old Testament said, perhaps better than we Christians do today.

The Wise Men of Epiphany were humble in their adoration. They came seeking. They did not have all the answers. Neither do we. Pride has been the downfall of humanity since the fall into sin. It is easy today to be prideful. We live in an amazing world, with amazing technology and new discoveries happening every year, sometimes every day. But people are not the measure of all that is great. Only God is. 

Some things will never change - Preachers will preach and scientists will explain their latest discovery. New disasters will kill and new tyrants will rule. Satan will deceive people, and humanity will continue acting like it invented God. And that's why we must have the church. The Church is where sinners come to be forgiven and restored.

Thanks be to God we are forgiven, and thanks be to God we have the Church. God will always love sinners everywhere, and He will never stop forgiving them. Jesus the newborn king was revealed to the Wise Men when they came to worship Him. 

Wise men and women should always worship Him!