Hello, 2024! Hello Friends!
Part of me doesn’t believe the first day of the New (calendar) Year really counts. Even if, like me, you don’t stay up to see the old year out and the new one in, the first day is sluggish, at least for those of us fortunate enough not to work in jobs like food service and retail, which so often know no days off.
In my house, New Year’s Day was spent finishing some Winter Break housekeeping so that I could go back to work on January 2nd and my wife could begin her next semester of veterinary school on the 3rd. We’ve been steadily retrieving boxes from storage at her parents’ house, managing the bins of our lives memories that we’ve dragged from home to home, state to state. We checked and repacked dishes inherited from family that our limited kitchen cabinet space can’t currently accommodate.
On shelves, the Nativity quietly nags to go back into the box in the closet, but I remind them – not yet. The Magi still wander, poised on a bookshelf a few feet away (and high enough that the cats can’t easily toy with them). My Advent-themed wall hanging, a lovely piece that’s also a compromise with my greenery-chewing housesits, also remains. It’s not so urgent. Slow down. These are the only items we put out at home to mark the season; other inherited Christmas decor remain boxed.
Most importantly, the final bits of winter break tidying are urgent because I’ll be having surgery next week and will need a tidy, easy to navigate space as I recover (and because my MIL will spend a few days with us to help). I ask your prayers as I prepare for, undergo, and begin to recover from an anterior discectomy and cervical fusion to address some of the disc degeneration and spinal arthritis that, in my thirties, have already proven themselves more troublesome than years of physical therapy and even a few steroid injections directly into my spine can handle, thanks to the connective tissue disorder that weakens structural tissue throughout my body.
What a way to begin this season, a few days into Epiphanytide.
Regarding Epiphany
I feel a bit bad for the Magi this year. It’s hard enough to get folks into the church building between Christmas and Epiphany in a good year, but when there’s actually only one Sunday after Christmas and it’s is also New Year’s Eve, it’s undoubtedly even worse. Clergy friends, I hope you were able to squeeze a good nap into this sluggish attendance season.
All of this is to say, I put out my Epiphany house blessing supplies on the Third Sunday in Advent in hopes people would actually remember to grab them. If you could still use a simple tool for sharing this practice, I paired the postcard/graphic below with some sidewalk chalk to guide folks through it. Chalking the door is certainly an act that feels uniquely mysterious, this strange bit of code, this little incantation to open the year – plus an opportunity to write on your walls. What’s not to like?
Beyond the actual Feast of the Epiphany, what are we to do with this season? In most Episcopal parishes, our linens will revert back to the green of Ordinary Time and yet this season isn’t quite that. In fact, Epiphany, depending on your tradition, doesn’t have a well-fixed duration or meaning, in many ways. It might last a few days, until the Baptism of our Lord or it might stretch until Candlemas. It may seem to linger in the air until Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (which, to be fair, is less than two weeks after Candlemas this year).
As a white American, I didn’t really give much thought to Epiphany until a few years ago, not long before I began writing here. Beginning in about 2018, my home parish was located in a predominately Latinx community, and I feel fortunate to have learned more about Epiphany traditions from some of my church school participants, whose family was from Puerto Rice (and, more recently, from children at a friend’s parish where I’ve done a little work). While the New England landscape outside my window is frosted over, it’s traditional to leave out a box of grass and some water for the Magis’ camels on the night before Epiphany; the Magi would leave gifts of thanks in their place. And, as opposed to the more typical consumption of King Cake at the end of Epiphany, as part of Mardi Gras, the King Cake eaten on Epiphany comes with an important job – making the tamales for Candlemas!
Epiphany isn’t until Saturday (maybe even Sunday if you’re focused on the date of celebration and your parish is moving the Feast – mine isn’t this year!), so you’ve still got time for a few preparations. Some resources I’d recommend:
The Godly Play Epiphany story. This is, of course, my stating point. None of you are surprised by now! We don’t have an official video of this story, which makes sense as it’s a bit small and fiddly, but it’s a lovely introduction to this season, and a particularly rich multi-sensory lesson as it involves lighting the incense and smelling myrrh and the jingle of gold coins. Even if you abandon the script, these gifts can be a lot of fun to explore and, with funny words like frankincense and myrrh, it’s useful to have a way to make these gifts more concrete.
En Coqui de Boriquen Con Los Reyes a Belén by Lara Mercardo. This book, available in Spanish or as a bilingual edition in English & Spanish, was written particularly for Puerto Rican children living across the United States and if you’ve got even a little Spanish understanding at your disposal, I highly recommend watching it as a read aloud. While I didn’t grow up with any understanding of Three Kings Day traditions in Puerto Rico, I definitely grew up with a friend who introduced me to coqui, the distinctive frogs that live on the island, and I love the intersection of the coqui and the kings!
Explore The Stars! We often say that one of the most distinctive things about the Magi was their knowledge of astronomy, and astronomy is indeed an ancient science. What do scientists have to say about the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem? What kind of astronomical study did ancient scientists engage in? What stars (if any) can you see where you live and how are they useful to explorers, sailors, and other stargazers? I grew up with airplane lights, not stars, and I remain absolutely taken by staring up at the glittery night sky, especially when camping.
You might even look up when the next major event is taking place overhead, such as a meteor shower or a night when Jupiter is expected to be particularly bright and visible to the naked eye. Get in touch with that magical-Magi-science-knowledge! Just last night I learned that a total solar eclipse will be visible in the Adirondacks this April! I wonder what you’ll find out.
Bless Family & Friends! Do you have a cluster of nearby family or close neighbors who might appreciate a House Blessing? Take your chalk on a walk, maybe even grab a few treats to share (as with St. Nicholas Day, “gold” chocolate coins remain a perfect option!), and surprise them with an Epiphany blessing.
Resources & Looking Ahead
You should hear from me at the start of next week before I have surgery, but after that it may be up in the air for a few weeks – I’ve never had surgery before, so I have truly the most minimal idea of what to expect! With that in mind, a few things –
’Twas The Season of Lent is here! Yes, friend of the newsletter Glenys Nellist is back with a new seasonal devotional, this time for Lent, and it’s available now! Glenys’s work is so beloved, and she’s broken down this season into manageable moments with Jesus’s life and ministry alongside prayer prompts. Lent starts early this year, so get yours now!
Messy Church’s January Pack has some just okay secular stuff, but a couple of very good church-y pages, including a cute coloring page illustration of a verse from Proverbs, and a little wondering about the Magi. It’s free or donation of your choosing, so definitely worth checking it out!
My friends at Every Day Godly Play have put out a new episode of Mess Makes Meaning! Go listen to them chat. While Spotify tags it as a parenting podcast, we all know any Godly Play-adjacent conversation comes with wisdom for all of us!
Yesterday, January 1st, was the Feast of the Holy Name, January 7th is the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, and February 2nd is Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation. And then, before any of us are ready, it will be Ash Wednesday on February 14th. February 1st if also St. Brigid’s feast day and we could really pack the calendar as much as we want, but let’s take a breath. We’ll tackle the big February dates next week!
A curiosity: Did you take on any new practices at the start of the new liturgical or calendar year? I started reading from Day By Day We Magnify Thee, a 1950s collection of devotions drawn from Martin Luther’s writings (and very much from a book acquired from my childhood church’s library when it closed). I don’t really do traditional New Year’s Resolutions, but a month in, Luther reading is going fairly well. (It helps that it’s usually less than a page a day!)
I’ll be next week with some pre-surgery programming resources, but for now, onward toward Epiphany. The Magi were kings who were coming, but not that kind of King with armies and riches, nor The King, the Prince of Peace who was just a baby. They are coming soon. Let us wait patiently and with joy for their coming!
Peace,
Bird