It is perhaps unfair to think of Epiphany as an observance in search of an event. Epiphany as a feast day and a season was, in fact, celebrated even before the church fixed Christmas in the liturgical year. But even then, the church differed on what it was celebrating – in the Eastern church, Epiphany was associated with the Baptism of Christ while in the Western church, Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi.

The common element is hinted at by the name itself – Epiphany means “manifestation.” When people speak of an epiphany, they tend to mean a great insight or a “wake-up call” or a surprising discovery. So, reading a book or learning a fact or hearing a truth might yield something we would call an epiphany.

If Advent was a season of waiting, Epiphany, falling on the heels of Advent, is the season of revealing what we were waiting for. We know what is revealed in the Scriptures of Epiphany. In the visit of the Magi, the Christ child is revealed as the Hope of the World. In Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan, Jesus is revealed as the Son of God. What will be revealed for our lives in the Sundays after Epiphany and in the New Year is yet to be seen.

As I write this, we are still in Advent, still waiting. Nonetheless the council and leaders of Saint Nicholas are busy planning for the New Year. Expect developments on the North Wing – we hope to select the building contractor, execute the loan from the Mission Investment Fund, firm up the construction plans and begin the work. You’ll be hearing from the presentation team every step of the way. Expect, too, to hear more about calling an Associate Pastor who will focus on our youth – the call committee has already prepared a congregational profile and has been in touch with the Synod to select the perfect candidate to help expand our youth ministries.

During Lent we’ll be holding a series of cottage meetings in members’ homes. The goal will be to “Meet the Pastor” and the pastor’s lovely wife – yes, I know nearly all of you have done that already, but the fall season was just too hectic to have more leisurely get-togethers where we could talk about our hopes and our dreams for Saint Nicholas and learn more, not only about the pastor but also about each other. We’ve become a big congregation and it isn’t as easy as it used to be to really know everyone you meet in worship.

One of my goals that we’ll be working on at the Leadership Retreat in January is to create a denser culture and a more engaged membership. I hope you’ll pardon me for sounding like a sociologist. When we were a small congregation, everyone knew everyone in many ways – as parents, as neighbors, people who shopped in the same places, maybe entertained together, maybe our children were friends or classmates. That’s probably no longer true, or as true. So, we need to be intentional about being the kind of community in which people can share their hopes and their fears and talk about what’s really important in their lives. A place where people can talk about their epiphanies.

We don’t know, right now, what those epiphanies will be, what insights we will have, how the Spirit will manifest in our individual, family and congregational lives. But we know for sure that we will have them, because we have a God who continues to surprise and amaze and move with power.

Expect epiphanies.

Pastor Greg