Grace Notes 2022-01-12

We sometimes falsely assume that there is a Season of Epiphany. I have made that mistake. There is the Day of Epiphany, and then the first part of the general season of the church year that follows thereafter. The four Seasons of the Church Year marked by colored paraments are in order: Advent (blue), Christmas (white), Lent (purple), and Easter (gold or white).

You may say, ‘Well, what about Epiphany and Pentecost?’ But those two feast days with white and then red paraments respectively, are just that, days. The long general time, often called ‘General Church Time’ with green indicating growth, are divided in two – with a certain length of time after the Epiphany, and the greater bulk of the time after Pentecost.

Having said all that, there are several Sundays following the Epiphany that keep up the themes of light or illumination and manifestation belonging to the Epiphany. The Epiphany, at least in the Western Church, centers around the guiding light of the star that brought the Magi to the Christ Child, the newborn King. By their worship and gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh a disclosure of a special birth is made.

The First Sunday after the Epiphany we commemorate our Lord Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John in the Jordan river. This is what the Eastern Church (Orthodox Church) centers on for Epiphany. And this event indeed is an epiphany, and of the highest order. For when Jesus came up out of the water the Triune nature of God is manifested, with the voice of the Father identifying Jesus as his beloved Son, and with the descent of the Holy Spirit.

The last Sunday after the Epiphany is the Feast of The Transfiguration of our Lord. Again, an illumination is involved of the Trinity and a spotlight is focused on future glorification. There are many epiphanies throughout the church year, and they all have to do with God’s special revelation providing illumination for our faith and participation in the Divine life.

Since You Asked…

What is the significance of sharing the peace?

“The peace which enables people to live in unity and in the spirit of mutual forgiveness comes only from Christ whose word has been proclaimed. … The peace is a sign that those who participate in it open themselves to the healing and reconciling power of God’s love and offer themselves to be agents of that love in the world. … The personal exchange of the peace should be as unpatterned as possible, but its meaning and significance should be kept clear. It is not the occasion merely for conviviality. The choice of gesture, whether a handshake, holding hands, or an embrace, should be left to the persons themselves.”  (from “Manual on the Liturgy” companion to the LBW, from Augsburg Pub.)