January 6 marks the beginning of the season of Epiphany, defined as “manifestation, disclosure, revelation.” Spiritually, this season asks us to release some of our old ways of being in order to allow new light to enter our lives. We are invited to explore new awareness, new consciousness, new perspectives that come to us as the light of Christmas grows with each passing day. Albert Einstein said, “No problem is solved by the consciousness that created it.” In Christmas, God has brought new light into our limited vision so we might see more clearly the way we are being called to manifest God’s grace and justice in our lives and our communities. Our consciousness grows as the child Jesus grows, manifesting new hope and love.
Sometimes these revelations are welcome events. We are delighted by the prospects of God’s invitations to grace. At other times, the revelations are difficult. They show us that we need to change some of the ways to which we have grown accustomed. New light, new understanding, new life signals the end of old patterns of living, challenging us to go beyond our comfort zones. We may find ourselves clinging to old patterns long after they have completed their purpose in our lives, no longer giving us meaning nor offering further justice and peace in our lives. We are reminded that an “expiration date” on an old behavior may have long passed. As we continue using that pattern in our lives, it may actually endanger the health of our body and spirit, causing a “soul-sickness” that usurps our energy for life itself.
T. S. Eliot speaks eloquently of this reality in his poem, “The Journey of the Magi”:
“All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down this, set down this:
Were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different: This Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I would be glad of another death.”
This Epiphany, may we understand how God hovers over us in our times of chaos or emptiness, ready to birth new possibilities in our lives and our world. But we must be willing to risk the letting go in order to be ready to hold on to the new world God is offering us. God is the One who brings us back to life when we have had to let go of all the illusory ways we thought we could save ourselves. God’s love is stronger than any of our fears or insecurities, showing us that every ending carries in it the possibility of a new beginning. May God give us faith to live into God’s realm of love and justice, welcomed into and welcoming the ways we can “love one another.”