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January 4th
Spiritual Directive
Happy New Year! In other denominations, some celebrate what is called Epiphany that is 12-day feast between Christmas and January 6th. Our service comes on the eve of Epiphany, so that's how I'd like to approach this Sunday.
Titus 2:11-14 is our foundational passage for worship.
For more on Epiphany, tap here.
Set List
(Apple Music links in Titles)
Thank You Jesus for the Blood
Chris lead
- - - - -
Good, Good Father
Ben lead / 1 step down
Players This Week
- Sonya (keys)
- Rand (electric guitar)
- Keith (mandolin, dobro)
- Tom (bass)
- Ben (acoustic)
- Brody (drums)
Epiphany: Our Spiritual Context against a Historical BackdropWhen it comes to religious traditions and calendars, the Medieval Church recognized that the Christmas season was (and still is!) an extraordinary period of time devoted to the waiting and arrival of Christ, which doesn't surprise me given the many passages devoted to the early days of Jesus shared in the gospels. Matthew and Luke provide a great deal of drama surrounding Jesus' appearance including Mary's song, Zachariah's muteness, the shepherds/angels, the Wise Men, Herod's panic, the flight to Egypt as refugees, and Christ's circumcision.
What we see here in the gospels is God's execution of coming to us and being with us that obviously disturbed the status quo considering He had been silent for 400 years prior. There was going to be a great deal of response in the Spiritual realm. Thus, church tradition innovatively recognized all these facets of celebration and disruption in scripture, so it aimed to disrupt whatever culture's present-day, business-as-usual rhythm was by establishing 12 holy-days in order to train man's attention upward while God graciously looked downward. All happening around the time of New Years.
The PointSo even as we celebrate a New Year culturally speaking, spiritually speaking, Epiphany, abides here perfectly as we celebrate the arrival of the gospel to not only Jews but Gentiles -- namely, all sinners who can find forgiveness through the person of Jesus. In essence, Epiphany promotes a central day on the calendar early on in the New Year for those who are made new in Christ, having clung to the "manifestation" of the Lord in their person. This is our focus at Shoal Creek.
By the WayAs far as the reason for 12 days, it has to do with balancing varying calendars throughout a post-Roman world between Western and Eastern sectors. Depending on the calendar, the Incarnation would have been celebrated at varying times between December and January. Thus, in order to reconcile these differences, the Medieval Church in 567 AD attempted to solve their administration problem using a 12-day stretch of time of feasting or in some traditions fasting until January 6th. Obviously, the expanse of the fracturing Roman Empire led to frequent issues like these that ultimately led to differing beliefs and schisms between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Read more here.
Regardless of the reason for the number of days, it's still interesting to ponder given the significance of the number 12: 12 Tribes, 12 Disciples, and this bit of early church history trying to sort out their practices. No matter what though, it's important to fill these holy-day holidays appropriately.
What we see here in the gospels is God's execution of coming to us and being with us that obviously disturbed the status quo considering He had been silent for 400 years prior. There was going to be a great deal of response in the Spiritual realm. Thus, church tradition innovatively recognized all these facets of celebration and disruption in scripture, so it aimed to disrupt whatever culture's present-day, business-as-usual rhythm was by establishing 12 holy-days in order to train man's attention upward while God graciously looked downward. All happening around the time of New Years.
The PointSo even as we celebrate a New Year culturally speaking, spiritually speaking, Epiphany, abides here perfectly as we celebrate the arrival of the gospel to not only Jews but Gentiles -- namely, all sinners who can find forgiveness through the person of Jesus. In essence, Epiphany promotes a central day on the calendar early on in the New Year for those who are made new in Christ, having clung to the "manifestation" of the Lord in their person. This is our focus at Shoal Creek.
By the WayAs far as the reason for 12 days, it has to do with balancing varying calendars throughout a post-Roman world between Western and Eastern sectors. Depending on the calendar, the Incarnation would have been celebrated at varying times between December and January. Thus, in order to reconcile these differences, the Medieval Church in 567 AD attempted to solve their administration problem using a 12-day stretch of time of feasting or in some traditions fasting until January 6th. Obviously, the expanse of the fracturing Roman Empire led to frequent issues like these that ultimately led to differing beliefs and schisms between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Read more here.
Regardless of the reason for the number of days, it's still interesting to ponder given the significance of the number 12: 12 Tribes, 12 Disciples, and this bit of early church history trying to sort out their practices. No matter what though, it's important to fill these holy-day holidays appropriately.
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