Light
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Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. - This Sunday’s Collect
This whole season of Epiphany is about the ways Christ is revealed to us in the world. It’s the season when the three Magi finally see Christ with their own eyes and perceive who he really is in their own hearts. It’s the season when none other than the voice of God proclaims Jesus as his own, beloved child. This Sunday we’ll read about the wedding at Cana - Jesus’ coming out party, really. It was the event at which he revealed who he was with the first of his first miracles, or signs, and everyone could taste the miraculous wine he’d made out of plain water. Seeing, feeling, perceiving, hearing, tasting. Epiphany is an embodied season - a season of Christ’s incarnation coming home into our own bodies and selves. It’s a season of discovering more deeply who Christ is - in us, between us, and among us
Light is an appropriate metaphor for this season, because light emanates strongly from somewhere and reaches our eyes. We can not only see light, but it helps us to see other things, also. The light of Christ shines out from his incarnated, God-self. That explains why people saw far more than they would have expected in this simple Galilean carpenter. And when people were in his presence they saw not only his light, but THE light. The light of God. The light of the world, which illumines everything in a whole new way.
As we approach this radiant light in Epiphany, we pray that it not only illumines the world for us, but that it might illumine us, too. First, that it may illumine our minds and hearts so that we can see and understand God’s world more fully. But also, that some of the glow may sink into us and become a part of us - incarnated in in us, too.
This Sunday’s collect reminds me of Moses’ encounter with God on the mountain, and how when he came back down to the people, his face was glowing. This Sunday we’ll pray that the light of God not only shines on us and helps us see other things more clearly, but also that the light of God may rub off on us - and shine in and through us. May we, like Moses, glow, with God’s light for the sake of others.
Come to the wedding at Cana with us this Sunday!
