Epiphany – Opening our Eyes to God

 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
~Matthew 2:10

The liturgical (church) season has changed once again. We are out of Advent, out of Christmas, and into the season of Epiphany. This is one of those few times during the year when my hair doesn’t match the stoles and paraments. And it’s one of those church seasons we might skip over.

During the Time after Pentecost I’m the green haired pastor for more than 6 months, and honestly I get so excited to be the blue haired pastor in Advent, that by the time Christmas has ended and Epiphany begins, the last thing I want to do is go back to the green. Another six weeks more weeks of green? I’m not ready!

But the reason the season is marked by the color green, is like the Time after Pentecost, this is a season about growth – specifically about the growth we find in the epiphany-revelation-open-eyes we receive through the birth of Jesus.  Like the magi on their journey, we too need our eyes opened.

As we move into this new year, the Christmas decorations are packed away and we begin to look forward to the hopefully-sooner-than-later spring, we might forget about this revelation we received just a few short weeks ago:

Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was born.

And this statement is meant to do more than get us excited about Christmas day, it’s meant to open our eyes to God in our midst – to the child known as “Emmanuel”, “God with us”.

The magi were on a mission from the king Herod to find the Messiah and return to Herod with his location. But the magi see this star in the distance, finally stopped over Bethlehem, and are told in a dream not to return. For the magi, their eyes were opened to God – to where God was calling them and what God was calling them to do.

For us – this eye opening, this epiphany – might be a reminder to open our eyes to God in our lives, how might God be acting? How might God be calling us to reach out to our neighbor? How is God trying to work through you?

So even though my hair isn’t changing, I am excited for this season of Epiphany, that we might wrestle with some of these questions, that we as Christians might view the world around us with love and hope – that like the magi, in the midst of so many fears and difficulties in their travel, that like the magi our eyes might be opened to God, and we might be overwhelmed with joy.

Are there any ways God might be trying to open your eyes? What are some ways you might look for God in your life today?

Pastor Megan Filer
Pastor Megan Filer