LAST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Scripture: EXODUS 24:12-18, MATTHEW 17:1-9, PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14, PSALMS 99:1-9
Last Sunday after Epiphany
Kenneth C. Kroohs
Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; Philippians 3:7-14; Matthew 17:1-9
Later this week we begin my least favorite church season -- Lent. So let’s enjoy this last Sunday before then!! Lent is not a favorite season of mine and every year I wish it were only about 4 or 5 days long. Despite that, I very much appreciate the great gift we have in the church calendar. The sense of movement from one time to another. More importantly the sense of movement from one attitude to another. As human beings we relate to God, and to each other, in different ways at different periods of our lives. The church calendar provides a way to incorporate those changes into our spiritual life.
So, this is the last Sunday after the Epiphany. This is the last Sunday of what I will argue, is the most important church season of them all. Big statement, and one that very few people would agree with. We all know that Easter is the major event in the Christian year. And Christmas is the most anticipated event. And yet I am suggesting that Epiphany somehow overshadows them.
Epiphany is the most important church season for us because Epiphany is about who we are and who we want to become. Christmas and Easter are about God they are very much about what God has done for us, please never forget that. But in many ways during Christmas and Easter we are observers. Like fans at a football game we appreciate the team’s success, we bask in their glory, and we gain from their victory but we were not on the field.
Epiphany is when we begin to understand what that victory means in our lives, how that victory changes us, transfigures us. Unlike sports where the player is very affected by the victory, this victory made no change to the player. God didn’t change. In this case only the cheering fans have changed. We have changed. That is what we begin to understand in Epiphany.
Epiphany means ‘‘to make known’’ or ‘‘to become known’’. We tend to think it means a ...
Kenneth C. Kroohs
Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; Philippians 3:7-14; Matthew 17:1-9
Later this week we begin my least favorite church season -- Lent. So let’s enjoy this last Sunday before then!! Lent is not a favorite season of mine and every year I wish it were only about 4 or 5 days long. Despite that, I very much appreciate the great gift we have in the church calendar. The sense of movement from one time to another. More importantly the sense of movement from one attitude to another. As human beings we relate to God, and to each other, in different ways at different periods of our lives. The church calendar provides a way to incorporate those changes into our spiritual life.
So, this is the last Sunday after the Epiphany. This is the last Sunday of what I will argue, is the most important church season of them all. Big statement, and one that very few people would agree with. We all know that Easter is the major event in the Christian year. And Christmas is the most anticipated event. And yet I am suggesting that Epiphany somehow overshadows them.
Epiphany is the most important church season for us because Epiphany is about who we are and who we want to become. Christmas and Easter are about God they are very much about what God has done for us, please never forget that. But in many ways during Christmas and Easter we are observers. Like fans at a football game we appreciate the team’s success, we bask in their glory, and we gain from their victory but we were not on the field.
Epiphany is when we begin to understand what that victory means in our lives, how that victory changes us, transfigures us. Unlike sports where the player is very affected by the victory, this victory made no change to the player. God didn’t change. In this case only the cheering fans have changed. We have changed. That is what we begin to understand in Epiphany.
Epiphany means ‘‘to make known’’ or ‘‘to become known’’. We tend to think it means a ...
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