People ask me, what is epiphany?
It's a good word, it's just an unusual word.
And it's not even an English word,
it's a word from Greek, ancient Greek,
that means a showing or manifestation, or sudden awareness.
(choir singing)
My name is Clifton Daniel,
and I am the Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Devine
in New York City.
So the season of epiphany,
in our tradition, in the Christian tradition,
has to do with the appearance of the person
we believe to be the savior of the world,
Jesus is born in Bethlehem.
And then the three kings come and worship him
and manifest him to the whole world,
manifest Jesus to the world.
So, it's really a revelation of a divine person,
to a larger audience.
The only place we read about what has become the epiphany
is in the gospel of Matthew, which is one of four gospels
in the Christian literature.
And, it's an account that points to a reality
that it may not have happened in a way
that it could have been reported in the New York Times.
Come on, extra, extra!
The three kings, the Wisemen,
sometimes the Magi is another word for them.
The Wisemen, we don't know that they were men.
We don't know that they were Kings.
We just know that they were wise ones.
Now, who does that mean?
Anyone can be a wise one, a man, a woman.
So there were three wise people, who traveled a long way
according to Matthew's gospel,
to come to see the child Jesus in his home,
and they brought gifts, the gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Frankincense is, you know what incense is, right?
You light it and it smokes and it smells good.
That's frankincense.
Myrrh, is a burial ointment.
So they're the three gifts, two of them were sort of okay,
but one is sort of a clunker isn't it?
Epiphany is traditionally on January the 6th.
And if you count on the calendar, you'll find out
that it's 12 days after Christmas Day.
So Christmas is not just day.
The theist of Christmas, the observance
of the birth of Jesus happens on December 25th,
but the season of Christmas, which stretches out
those 12 days is the season of Christmas.
And it culminates with epiphany.
Latin countries, they celebrate it with fiestas and parades
and singing and guitars and trumpets,
it's a wonderful celebration.
It makes me wish I were in Mexico on that day.
Somebody said one time, that the American story
is the story of Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin
and ended up in the White House.
I said, but the Christian story is exactly the opposite.
Here's someone who was born, as it were,
in the White House, and then comes to live in the log cabin.
The Christian story is the story of a god who cares
passionately about his own or her own, God's own creation
and who comes to live with his creation,
not to live separate from it, remote from it,
but involved with it, day by day.
And that's the meaning of epiphany, isn't it?
God with us.
("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" Instrumental)