New Thing: Celebrate The Feast of the Epiphany/ Top High Holy Day Related Posts from 2011
Inspiration: 365 Alive, The Feast of the Epiphany
Cost: $0
Time: About an hour
Bottom Line: "We three kings of Orient are..."
Reflection: Today is The Feast of the Epiphany. Here is James Kiefer's description:
"Epiphany" is a word of Greek origin, related to such English words as "theophany," "phenotype," and "phenomenon." It means an appearance, a displaying, a showing forth, a making clear or public or obvious. On this day, Christians have traditionally celebrated the making known of Jesus Christ to the world.Several events have been thought of as special instances of the making known of Our Lord, such as: His birth; the coming of the Magi; His Baptism; His first miracle at Cana. Current majority usage, at least in the West, celebrates His birth on 25 December, the coming of the Magi on 6 January, and His Baptism on the next Sunday. On the following Sundays up to the beginning of Lent, we remember Our Lord's public preaching of the kingdom, particularly the earlier stages of that preaching when opposition had not yet crystallized. On the Last Sunday after Epiphany (the Sunday before Lent), we commemorate the Transfiguration, the climax of this first phase of our Lord's public ministry. Today, then, we commemorate the visit of the Magi, a token of the day when all the peoples of the earth will acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior. The visit of the Magi is recorded in the second chapter of Matthew.
A few years ago, we had the pleasure of joining Anne Kitch and her family as they celebrated "Three Kings Day" in their home. All of the kids dressed up as the wise men and went in search of the Christ Child by following a set of clues that Anne had made. Well, we have stolen that tradition this year and had our own Jesus hunt.
I hid all of the pieces of D.'s plush Nativity in different places of the house and then the three of us got dressed up to go on the hunt after I read the story. Now, I had envisioned that we would dress in more traditional Kings clothes--but D. opted to go as a fairy and Ken chose a bathrobe, tie, news-boy hat, and cape. So, I let them dress me and they came up with quiet the costume as you will see. We even had a lantern with stars cut into it to lead us by starlight. Jesus was found in a chalice in our upstairs candle lit chapel to remind us that Christ comes to us in many ways including the Holy Eucharist. We all said prayers together to thank God for coming into our midst--even in the form of a young child found in a manger or a crazy little family. Here are some pics:
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| Reading the story. |
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| Getting ready for the hunt. |
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| Mimi at the manger. |
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| We found him! |
This whole thing has me thinking about the different traditions that we have established as a family this year surrounding the High Holy Days. As a Christian patent, it is important to me to bring God into our everyday lives and not just leave the rituals to Sunday mornings. It feel as though we have gotten away from the "home religion" and was amazed to find some many ways people have marked Holy Days through the years and all over the world. With that in mind, I knew I wanted to make the Church Calendar a priority in our own family calendar. Here are a few of my favorites that will become staples for us.
EDIT: So, after going through all of these celebrations and not even hitting all of them (not to mention some of the other non-feast-day ways we celebrate God in our family this year like Moses bath time)I have to say that I am truly humbled and so grateful to see this hand print of God on our household. It has been such a blessing to celebrate God and his saints and to see how that has carried us and united us as a family. My heart is warmed by this reflection.
- Day 339: 12/6/11New Thing: Celebrate St. Nicholas Day
- Day 314: 11/11/11New Thing: Martinmas Lantern Walk
- Day 271: 9/29/11New Thing: Celebrate Michaelmas
- Day 226: 8/15/11New Thing: Make a Marian Lady Chapel with Delia
- Day 218: 8/7/11New Thing: Transfiguration for the Transfiguration
- Day 113: 4/24/11New Thing: Easter Egg Cook-Out
- Day 111: 4/22/11New Thing: Build a Tomb out of Dough for Good Friday
- Day 106: 4/17/11New Thing: Palm Sunday Easter Baking & Paschal Butter Lamb
- Day Eighty-Four: 3/25/11New Thing: Prayer Day- Sowing Seeds in Celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation
- Day Thirty Two: 2/1/11 New Thing: Celebrating The Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas)
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