Archive for Epiphany

Thinking of the star

Thinking of the star ABC Stories of Jesus

 

A Blessed Epiphany to you!

Today’s illustration is a painting by M.W. Remington called “God Made the Stars” which appeared in ABC Stories of Jesus by Mildred Speakes Edwards (Warner Press, 1954). Like many Bible story books, this one tries to help children see connections between their own lives and the stories from scripture, and to sense God’s presence in the world.

To go with the Remington painting is a hymn I first learned from the 1955 Presbyterian Hymnbook: “As With Gladness Men of Old.” My favorite words are printed below, and you can either sing along karaoke-style with the Eminent Organ at St Madocs Church Llanmadoc, Gower Swansea, or join in with the very joyful choir and audience/congregation for Corban University’s Lessons and Carols.

Most gracious Lord, may we evermore be led to thee.

 

Words: Will­iam Chatterton Dix, 1860. He wrote this hymn on the day of the Epi­pha­ny, while sick in bed; it was first pub­lished in his Hymns of Love and Joy.

Music: Dix, Kon­rad Koch­er, Stim­men aus dem Reiche Gott­es, 1838

As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold;
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright;
so, most gracious Lord, may we
evermore be led to thee.

As with joyful steps they sped,
Savior, to thy lowly bed,
there to bend the knee before
thee, whom heaven and earth adore;
so may we with willing feet
ever seek thy mercy seat.

As they offered gifts most rare
at thy manger, rude and bare,
so may we with holy joy,
pure and free from sin’s alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee, our heavenly king.

Holy Jesus, every day
keep us in the narrow way;
and when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.

 

We have seen his star in the east

The Christ Child Pictures by Maud & Miska Petersham

Wise men right crop

 

Wise men left detail

 

Wise men right detail

from The Christ Child pictures by Maud and Miska Petersham

Look at those tassels swinging! And such colors and patterns!

Treachery, violence, Epiphany

Departed

Godfather Michael Corleone

 

…your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.

No one enters suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
They hatch adders’ eggs,
they weave the spider’s web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.
Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands….

Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands afar off;
for truth has fallen in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. (from Isaiah 59)

 

Sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4: 7)

 

Holiday time is movie time at my house, and this season, along with other more light-hearted fare, we watched a number of organized crime stories. You wouldn’t think that The Departed and The Godfather would prepare a person for Epiphany lectio divina, but I found that they did. The machinations, the treachery, the lying, the violence, and the vulnerability of anyone who tries to walk away from evil–it starts with Cain and Abel and never stops. That beautiful star heralding the Christ Child shines in a darkness of Herod’s vicious, ruthless ambition. Mary marvels, Rachel weeps. It’s never simple. It’s never easy. The ugliness and pain are so intense, betrayal so frequent. “Who can you trust?” “No one.” 

Which is why I cling to the Christmas miracle–that subversive intervention in human history: God incarnate as a child (!) come to show us a way out of this mess.

 

We look for light, and behold, darkness,
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope for the wall like the blind,
    we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
We all growl like bears,
    we moan and moan like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us. (Isaiah 59)

 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 

Behold the star

 

For years my parents have hung a Moravian Star throughout Advent and Christmas and on up to Epiphany, and when I think of Epiphany, this is the star that appears in my imagination.  It’s the star I think of, more than the Wise Men, probably because the star gives me hope.  Hope that God will give me a sign, a light in the darkness, that he won’t leave me wandering and stumbling, trying to get to Him without any help.  It’s why I love the hymn, “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” –which to my mind is not really a child’s hymn, though I’ve taught it to children and been warmed by their singing.

In him there is no darkness at all;
the night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God:
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

 A blessed Epiphany to us all.