Feast of Epiphany

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, and it introduces the new season of the Church year which usually lasts several weeks. Its length is affected by when Easter occurs; thus some years Epiphany Season is longer or shorter by a few weeks. During this season we consider the various ways that Christ Jesus manifested or made known that he was indeed God incarnate. Interestingly enough the word "Epiphanios" appears in the Greek (original language of the) New Testament. Today it is translated as “manifest” in modern translations of the Scriptures. (Throughout Epiphany Season maybe we will consider some of these texts.)

The Feast of Epiphany in centuries past was celebrated with as much enthusiasm as we now customarily celebrate Christmas. The Feast of Epiphany marks the arrival of the wise men that traveled from afar to find the child of most noble birth of which the Star in the Sky had signified. When the wise men entered and saw the child Jesus enthroned upon the lap of his Blessed and ever Virgin Mother, they fell to their knees in adoration. That these gentile men who were drawn to the Christ child and worshiped him, indicates that God’s love and promise of salvation is not only for the Jews, but also for the gentiles. As these men beheld and adored the Incarnate God, let us likewise bow our knee with the historic Church as she confesses her faith and glorifies God saying, I believe in Christ Jesus “… being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man…”[1]

Epiphany Blessings+
Father Daniel

_____________________________________________
[1]Nicene Creed, Article II. Lutheran Church. Missouri Synod: Concordia Triglotta - English : The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. electronic ed. Milwaukee WI : Northwestern Publishing House, 1997, S. 31

Feast of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus

Today, the eighth day of Christmas, regarded secularly as New Year’s Day, is ecclesiastically the Feast of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. The remembrance of this day calls to mind that on the eighth day following his birth, Jesus was given his name, and the ritual cutting demanded by the ancient ceremonial law was performed upon his young tender skin. He who gave the Divine Law through Moses subjected himself to the same Law on our account. The sinless and completely innocent Son of God born of the blessed and ever Virgin Mary* was consecrated according to the custom of man so that he might fulfill all righteousness and bear our sin upon himself ransoming us from everlasting destruction. He who was named Jesus, which means savior, fulfilled the promise of God and has rescued us, bringing to us forgiveness, life and salvation. Oh what merry news this is indeed!

Blessings+
Father Daniel


*On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, bore not a mere man, but, as the angel [Gabriel] testifies, such a man as is truly the Son of the most high God, who showed His divine majesty even in His mother’s womb, inasmuch as He was born of a virgin, with her virginity inviolate. Therefore she is truly the mother of God, and nevertheless remained a virgin.[1]

_______________________________________________
[1]Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article VIII paragraph 24.
Lutheran Church. Missouri Synod: Concordia Triglotta - English : The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. electronic ed. Milwaukee WI : Northwestern Publishing House, 1997, S. 1023