The Incarnation Cycle: Christmastide & Epiphany

Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place,

and with true love and charity each other now embrace;

this holy tide of Christmas doth bring redeeming grace.

O tidings of comfort and joy!

~Hymn 105 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us . . .

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.     

~Luke 2.15,19

Merry Christmas--still! While much of the world packs up the Christmas decorations by the evening of December 25, in the church the celebration has only just started. After our season of preparation during Advent, we joyously celebrate the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ--and the party continues for twelve days! Several additional holy days follow directly on the heels of Christmas Day, including, on December 28, the commemoration of the Holy Innocents slaughtered by Herod. This season is not simply about warm hearths and nostalgia, but is about the inbreaking of God's work of salvation for us, and the violence with which it is met by the powers of this world.

The civil calendar rolls over in the middle of Christmastide. January 1 marks not only a new year, but also for us the octave of Christmas. Eight days after we celebrated the Savior's birth, we celebrate his naming: Jesus, the name that is our salvation.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.     

~Luke 2.21

Immediately following the twelve-day season of Christmas, on January 6 the church celebrates the feast of the Epiphany, also called the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The Prayer Book commends it as one of the seven principal feasts of the church year, and it is one of the most ancient (probably only Easter predates it in observance). 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.     

~Matthew 2.1-2

Epiphany means “appearing” or “manifestation.” What appears, what is brought to light for all the world, is none other than God in the flesh. The Gospel on Epiphany relates the adoration of the “wise men.” These magi were not Jews. They were probably Persian priests and astrologers, and yet they bow in worship and acknowledge as king a Jewish infant, enthroned on the lap of his peasant girl mother. The other manifestations associated with Epiphany are Christ’s baptism (observed the following Sunday), and the beginning of his miraculous signs at the wedding in Cana.

Through Christmastide, Epiphany, and the weeks following--a season and cycle of the Incarnation--we are presented with an opportunity. As the earth turns and the light grows, pray for grace to see, hear, and believe. Like Mary, for grace to treasure these things and ponder them. Like the shepherds, for faith to believe the good news and to hasten to act on it. Like the magi, for devotion to seek out the Christ, and humble wisdom to find him in unexpected places. Like John at the Jordan, for ears to hear the voice of God that confirms the Beloved.

Songs of thankfulness and praise, Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise,

manifested by the star to the sages from afar;
Branch of royal David’s stem, in thy birth at Bethlehem;
anthems be to thee addressed, God in man made manifest.
~Hymn 135

Adoration of the Magi (tapestry, 1894; designed by Edward Burnes-Jones)