013 Epiphany (Pod, Frankincense, and Myrrh)

Happy Epiphany! The calendar says that it's celebrated on January 6. But how many churches celebrate it then? Or at all?? • Show notes: http://www.riteandmusical.org/2018/01/013-epiphany.html

Download this episode (mp3).

• The Feast of the Holy Name is January 1. This feast takes precedence of a Sunday (BCP page 16).
• Epiphany traditionally commemorates three separate miracles
  1. The Adoration of the Magi (or the Wise Men; or the Three Kings, so numbered because there are three gifts mentioned in the Gospel, but not necessarily three kings)
  2. The Baptism of Jesus (see below)
  3. The Wedding at Cana (Jesus changing water into wine)
• The second miracle is chiefly observed on the Sunday after the Epiphany: the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is also one of the traditional Sundays for Baptism in the Episcopal Church. We touched on this in our very first episode: 001 Baptism (Becoming the Pod-y of Christ)
• Tribus miraculis - Note: David mispronounces this in the episode - some choral settings here: "Tribus miraculis" at CPDL
• from the marriage service, BCP page 423: "...our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee."
• Hymn 135: "Songs of thankfulness and praise"

  Songs of thankfulness and praise,
  Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise,
  manifested by the star 
  to the sages from afar;
  branch of royal David's stem
  in thy birth at Bethlehem;
  anthems be to thee addressed,
  God in man made manifest.
  
  Manifest at Jordan's stream,
  Prophet, Priest and King supreme;
  and at Cana, wedding guest,
  in thy Godhead manifest;
  manifest in power divine,
  changing water into wine;
  anthems be to thee addressed,
  God in man made manifest.

• Scott Gunn article on having an Epiphany service on the day itself (January 6): "When shall we celebrate the Epiphany?"
  • "First, the church will not grow by cheapening discipleship"
  • "Second, clergy leaders need to learn that their personal preferences must take a distant back seat to the common prayer — to the discipline — of our church."
  • "Third, congregations might discover that there is a substantial number of people who are actually eager to celebrate the feast days of the church in due course."
  • "Fourth, there’s no compelling reason to move the feast."
• Tune in next year when we talk about the idea of the "Epiphany season".
• Songs in the Desert - Sign up now to take part in this collabortive audio Lenten devotional for 2018. More information at sinden.org/hymns

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