“Know that we live in the holy presence of
God”
Today the
Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord. An Epiphany
is defined as a sudden striking understanding.
The Epiphany of the Lord is our sudden, striking understanding that:
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD
(He is) God with us – the Emmanuel
The Word made flesh
As the
Christ, - Jesus is born into the world, coming among us in human form to share
our humanity – God is no longer a far away uncaring master of the universe,
some abstract concept or some distant uncaring god living on a cloud. God exists, God is real, God is Holy and God
is here among us.
The Magi recognize
and understand this newborn infant is God, incarnate. They bring to the Christ child three gifts:
Gold, frankincense and myrrh. These are
gifts to royalty. They are appropriately
offered by the Magi to the newborn King of the Jews whom they worship as
God.
- Gold for his kingship – for he is the King of Glory and all creation
- Frankincense for his priest hood – for he is Holy: leading us to the Father and the Kingdom of heaven
- Myrrh for his suffering and death – for his humanity, his love and sacrifice for our salvation
For Jesus,
the Christ is Priest, Prophet and King, come into the world in human form to be
among us, his people; leading us into his Glory; bringing us his peace, loving
us completely, forgiving our sins and ushering us into the Kingdom of heaven
with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Just as John
the Baptist, when he saw Jesus at the Jordan exclaimed,
“This
is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
We, as
Church respond, “Happy are we who are
called to his supper.”
We recognize
and understand that we stand in the presence of someone special, someone
extraordinary, some one greater than ourselves – God among us, - holy and
divine. He comes among us; sharing our
humanity as we share in his divinity.
- For He is a God of love who loves and cares for his people so much that he brings himself into our lives to become one with us.
- He is a God who knows our happiness and sorrow, experiences our pain and joy, living among us as we grieve and celebrate.
- He is a God of Life, a God who stands with us throughout our lives; knowing our greatest desires and deepest fears.
- He is a God who carries us when we are weighed down in our darkest moments and a God who sheds tears of happiness at our greatest joys.
- He is a God who wants us, his beloved children, to be with him, sharing with us all that he has, - his bounty, - his creation, - his love and especially - his life everlasting in heaven.
Each day relive
the Epiphany of the Lord – knowing we are truly blessed for we - “Live in
the holy presence of God”
Peace,
Deacon Don Ron
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