~ From an Epiphany sermon by the Most Rev. Robert S. Morse, Founding Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Christ the King
Today, the beginning of the Epiphany season, is often called the Feast of Lights. On this winter day when darkness comes early and night lingers late, Christians celebrate the Epiphany of Christ, when he revealed Himself in history as God Incarnate, God become man. St. John writes, That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came into his own and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
What a mysterious moment this Epiphany of Christ is, God come among us as one of us. St. Paul writes, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. We must each experience our own epiphany.
I remember being a freshman in college, soon to be swept up into World War II, and rummaging through the library stacks of the university. It was one of my favorite sports. Raised to think that man would find his way through science, I came across a history book, a biography of a famous warrior and conqueror that agreed with the words of the Psalmist, “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that therein is.” I was struck for a moment with that truth. It was my first epiphany. It is perhaps why I stand here today, for “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that therein is.”The belief that God is the source of all is the beginning of faith and leads us to the Wise Men at the manger, where God became man, God Incarnate, God one of us, Epiphany.
[source: The Shepherd’s Staff, January 2022]