Today, on the Feast of the Presentation, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of Epiphany. We are a month in, but still have a month to go because the beginning of Lent is late. We have a full Epiphany season this year.
One way we can think about the seasons of the church year is to think of them as individual units: what is Advent telling us, what is Christmas telling us, what is Epiphany telling us. That is one way to think about the seasons. Another way to think about them is to think of them as larger units, as a series or stories that happen over multiple seasons. If we think of them this way, Advent and Christmas and Epiphany are one unit, a trilogy, or perhaps a trinity, of seasons that are working together for the same thing. These three seasons are all about the Incarnation. In Advent we are preparing for the coming of Christ, at Christmas we are celebrating the birth of Christ, and in Epiphany, people are having their epiphanies. They are realizing that in the person of Jesus, there is something happening. He is more than just a regular person. The thing that they are experiencing is the fullness of God dwelling within this human. So we have Advent, a season of preparation, Christmas, a season of celebration, and Epiphany, a season of realization.
Each week we hear stories of people having their epiphanies, their encounters and their realizations about Jesus. These stories don’t work perfectly chronologically. There are two tracks going on here. We have the kid track and the adult track. We start the season off with the Magi, who meet the baby Jesus. Then the Sunday after that we go to Jesus’s baptism when he is an adult, and the people who have their epiphany when the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and a voice comes out of heaven. Then we have the story of the first miracle at Cana in Galilee and the realization the folks there had. The following story was about Jesus in the Temple where he read the scriptures, and the people realized He was the embodiment of Isaiah’s dream for this world. Jesus said, today this has been fulfilled in your sight. He is the embodiment of the Good News to the poor, and release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.
This week we jump back to the kid track, and we hear Simeon and Anna and their epiphanies when they meet the baby Jesus. Next week we will go back to the adult track, and in the following weeks hear stories about people having their realization when Jesus calls them, when he heals folks, when people hear him teach or preach. The whole season ends with the most magnificent realizations when Peter, James, and John go to the mountain and have the experience of the Transfiguration.
If we think about these seasons, not as individual units, but a larger grouping of preparation, celebration, and realization, we notice there are other threads going through them. One of the threads throughout all three of these seasons is the thread of light. In Advent we heard readings about light, and we lit more candles week by week. At Christmas we celebrated the Light of Christ into the world, and we heard more readings about light, including the Prologue to John’s Gospel in which John said that the Incarnation of God is the coming of the Light into the world. No matter how dark it gets, John promises us that the darkness cannot overcome this Light.
As we get into Epiphany and the story of the Magi, we have the light of the star. Today we again have light. Simeon, when he encounters Jesus, says, “Lord, you have now set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised. For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior whom you have prepared for all the world to see. A light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.” What Simeon experiences is seeing the light. What Anna experiences is seeing the light, the light of Christ that came into the world that John promises us cannot be overcome by any darkness.
Why do we do this every year? Why do we have a church year with its seasons and patterns that we repeat every year? Why do we go through this? We go through this every year in order to form ourselves evermore into the likeness of Christ. We go through this particular trilogy/trinity of seasons in order to help us prepare, celebrate, and realize the presence of the Light in our lives today. We take time in Advent to intentionally prepare. We take time in Christmas to intentionally celebrate. And we take time in Epiphany, intentionally hearing these stories of peoples’ realizations of the Light, to help form us so that we can see it better in our lives. Each year we go back to it, trying to deepen our understanding, our appreciation, our vision to see that Light more clearly.
Here is the thing about the light and the darkness: the darkness might not be able to overcome it, but that darkness is strong, isn’t it? It has been there, it is still there, and it is going to continue to be there. The darkness shows up in all kinds of different ways. In comes in pain and suffering, illness, grief, sorrow over loved ones who died, relationships that fall apart. It comes in jobs lost, and in the powers and principalities of this world that are throwing all kinds of darkness into the world. I know that many of us have all kinds of darkness going on in our lives, from the personal to the communal darkness. I know that many of us see great, big, dark storm clouds coming in. But the reason we do this every year, is so that no matter how dark it gets, we can still see the Light, because the Light is still there, my friends. The darkness cannot overcome it. The Light of Christ is with you. It is shining a Light on the path. The Light of Christ is with you, trying to help you so you will not stumble and fall, so you can keep walking forward in faith and hope towards God, and his dream and vision for this world. The promise that God has made to us, the Light of Christ, is there. It was born, and it has been realized.
So, my friends, I encourage you, during the month left in this Epiphany season, to look for the Light. Look for the Light in the stories of other people. Look for the Light each week in the Gospel readings that we hear. Look for the Light throughout history in the stories of the Saints. There are great stories of their realizations, and the Light of Christ that they saw. You love St. Francis? Go read his story. Go learn how it is that he saw the Light. You love Dr. King? Go read his story. He told us how he went up on the mountaintop and saw the Light of Christ. People throughout generations have seen this Light, and when we read their stories we can also see it. A better place to look for the Light is in your own life, because the Light of Christ is shining there. Look for the Light that has been there throughout your life, and it is still there.
Look for the Light, and then, as Simeon says, the Light is not just for him, it is for the whole world. This Light is not something that we can hoard and keep to ourselves. This Light is something that we are meant to share with others to help them through the darkness, as well.
Seek the Light. See the Light. Share the Light, each and every day.
AMEN
