Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany January 6, 2018 When I was working at the Stewpot soup kitchen, there was a song that we’d sing periodically in the daily chapel service that I always think about on Epiphany and during the season that follows it. It goes “Let your light shine, shine, shine. Let your light shine, shine, shine. May be somebody down in the valley tryin’ to get home.” When I was a kid and people talked about letting your light shine, I always thought that meant to be yourself. But I’m not so sure that’s all there is to it. In our readings for today, I was struck by a line in this familiar story from Matthew’s gospel that I’ve never really noticed before. “When they saw the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” Why? Was it because they had found what they were searching for? The savior of the nations. Or because they had come to the end of their long journey? Why were they overwhelmed with joy? Think about it in terms of your own life. When was the last time that you were “overwhelmed with joy”? What was happening? Why? I read an article this week by a theologian and professor at Yale named Miroslav Volf. He was writing about how joy is usually associated with Christmas but there are glimpses of joy all throughout Epiphany as well—specifically in the story of the wisemen that we see today and in the story of Jesus’s first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Volf concludes his article by writing about the goodness of creation and that “joy is an echo of that original and abiding goodness [of creation] in our souls.”i Think about that for a minute. Another way to say it might be that Joy is an echo of the original and abiding goodness of God in our souls. Maybe the wisemen are overwhelmed with joy because in that moment, they have found God, the source of all goodness, all joy, and they are about to meet him face to face. So, if our joy finds it origin in God, then it doesn’t really belong to us. It is a gift to us, and it is a gift that we can share. During this season of Epiphany, I invite you to ask yourself the question often: When was I last overwhelmed with joy? Why? Listen to your life for the joy that is already there, the echo of the goodness of God and of God’s creation. And look for way that you can share that joy with others. “Let your light shine, shine, shine. Let your light shine, shine, shine. May be somebody down in the valley tryin’ to get home.” i Volf goes into greater detail about the joy in each, and you can read that here if you’d like: https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/joy-epiphany-too.