Epiphany

These are the readings we will reflect on tomorrow for Epiphany

Seeing the light
We can’t be sure there were three of them.
We can’t be sure they were men.
And they don’t seem to have been particularly wise,
stirring up a political storm, causing havoc in their wake and untold grief
at the slaughter of innocents.
Condemning the holy family
to life as refugees
is their gift about which we rarely speak
choosing to focus instead
on the gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And yet perhaps that gift of flight was as significant as any other
in determining the affinity
that God laid down
with suffering, oppressed humanity, unlocking the way
that all might see
that God was, and is,
one of us.

Flight to Egypt
As the Holy Family fled
from the backlash
of a power hungry ruler,
did they have time to reflect
on how the Son of God
was worshipped by lowly shepherds
who journeyed to the stable
just as they were
responding to good news
as only they could.
Abandoning for a moment
their mundane hillside task
to pay homage with all that they had
recognising instinctively
something wondrous
unfolding in their midst.
And yet the star gazers
with all their power and privilege
brought a whole caravan of trouble
stopping off en route
to alert an insecure king
to the possibility of threat,
lured by their heritage
to a royal courtyard
rather than a stable floor.
And if they did
were their reflections harsh
and resentful
blaming their predicament
on the crassness of those
unfamiliar with poverty
and with life at the margins?
Or did they recognise
that to worship the Messiah
was a gift extended to all?
Were their hearts open enough
to welcome the homage
that each brought
from all that they knew best?
To know that each and all
are invited and welcomed
and valued.
To know that each and all
are offered the opportunity
to worship
the Son of God.
In such knowledge is Epiphany.

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