The season of the Epiphany is full of meaning. In Western churches celebration of the Epiphany has tended to focus on the mysterious travellers from the East who, the gospels tell us, made a long and hazardous journey to bring their gifts to the infant Jesus. In the Orthodox churches of the East the greater focus is on the Baptism of Christ at the start of his public life and work. The bigger picture painted by both traditions is that these events describe the revelation of Jesus as the divine Christ – and that his coming is a gift to the whole world.
This great Epiphany (also Theophany = revelation of God) widens further to reveal God as Trinity, and contains within it the seeds of many further epiphanies, about life, about love and about own place in the world. The words for this series have emerged from my own preparations for the Epiphany. The phrase ‘Jesus our Enlightenment approaches’ comes from the Orthodox Festal Menaion (service book for the great feasts of the Church year). The images that follow the opening 15thC icon of the Epiphany were taken at the Royal William Yard in Plymouth. May the words and images inspire your own journey of stillness, prayer and action during this great season of the Epiphany…