After Epiphany
It’s January 25th and I might as well confess that we still have two Christmas trees and far too many decorations up in our house. My ability to pretend we are French and waiting for Candlemas is waning. Most of it looks pretty tired, like me. But the “front room tree,” aka the pretty one, still looks gorgeous. As I stand in the kitchen doorway I can see its quirky branches and gold and glass ornaments catching light in the sun. I ask the kids to turn the lights on and suddenly, it is magic once again.
The branches of the tree are as sturdy as ever, but the slightest motion, even just walking too closely results in a shower of needles. It’s time, the needles sing as they sprinkle to the ground, it’s time. Time to move on from the season of festivities and celebration. It is time for life after Epiphany.
I love Epiphany because it is really a beautiful send off into the world of Ordinary Time. Epiphany reminds us of the good news shared for all and the beauty of seeking. It reminds us of the need to look for the light. Epiphany says, “Here is the roadmap. Now go live.”
Yet, it is the in between, the time without holiday or pomp, that for some (me) is the hardest to live out. I think that is why I love the rhythm of the church calendar. There is a grounding to history and tradition, yes, but if I am being honest it is also that I know what to do during those high holiday times. This is why I love Lent. It is a dark and heavy season, yes. But there are guardrails and rhythms that show me what to do. The in between of Ordinary Time
leaves us wandering a bit.It seems right that it is this season I currently find myself in, as I have been wrestling with the current manuscript. What do we do next? This is the question written in giant sharpie letters in my office. The question looms large and tends to cause us (me) to freeze in the face of its bigness. But as I have wrestled with the day of Holy Saturday I have become convinced that the answer to this question is immeasurably important.
The other day the kids and I were talking about the A.W. Tozer quote, “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” (By the way, ask those you love what does come into their mind when they think about God-it is beautiful and insightful and really important.)
I would add to Tozer’s insight that how we live out the in between, that is, Ordinary Time, and yes, Holy Saturday, is how we live out our whole day to day faith and is also important. That is certainly what I am discovering as I sit in the looked over day of Holy Week. I am more and more feeling ready and equipped to begin sharing what I am learning and seeing as I look around that day. It is grueling work. I said that last time with Life Surrendered but this feels perhaps more so.
The next six weeks involve a major writing push as I attempt to get that terrible first draft complete and into the hands of my editor. Please pray for me as I trudge around the words and this big question. It is an honor to do this work. In my best moments I am reminded of a nugget or two of truly inspired insight that has helped illuminate the goodness of God for someone in a new way. Most of the time, it is praying I am not simply adding to the noisy landscape of Christianity.
The trees will come down today. Yet I will continue on, as I hope you do, looking for the light.
For those who are paid subscribers I will be posting our Q1 workshop in the next two weeks. We will be studying The Lord’s Prayer and how to read the Psalms (yes all the psalms) using The Lord’s Prayer as a guide. Be sure to join as a paid subscriber if you would like to participate in that workshop.
You can read my latest book Life Surrendered: Finding Freedom at the Cross Available wherever books are sold: Amazon | Leafwood
It is important to note that in some church traditions Epiphany is not a day, but a season. The season leads directly into Lent and therefore, for some, it is not yet Ordinary Time.