Sunday, January 5, 2003

Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" Acts 10:46b-47

In many churches Epiphany will be celebrated the first Sunday in January. It is one of those choices a pastor needs to make since Epiphany is January 6. Therefore, the choice becomes using the lectionary text for the first Sunday in January or recognizing Epiphany a day early.

The definition of Epiphany found in the Webster's dictionary reads, "a Christian festival commemorating the revealing of Jesus as the Christ to the Gentiles".

In other words, it is that time, that experience, that moment where one understands of Jesus and as a result God changes.

Perhaps this time is preserved in history books when a people came to know the good news. Perhaps it is a personal experience of God's presence that one now carries with them as part of their own life story. Perhaps it's a series of moments where the revelation of Jesus as the Christ continues to take on new understanding and deeper meaning.

With this in mind I would like to close these devotions with a poem written by Renita Weems. May it add wonder, as God adds wonder, to whatever may lie around the next corner.

I found myself turning the corner. After nine months of chaotic silence, the desire to hear my thoughts returned today. I woke up with an appetite for a well thought-out thought. I started a book this morning with the words "For everything I have learned there has been a season for getting it done." The season of my melancholy appears to be rapidly vanishing. The storm is passing over. Hallelujah!

A miracle isn't a miracle because it defies explanation. A miracle is a miracle because it is experienced as a miracle. It happened at the time when I needed grace most, namely, on the last day of miracles.

The truly remarkable transformation is not the one from unbelief to belief or from despair to hope.

The truly remarkable (and frightening) transformation is from dogma to wonder. From belief to awe.

Today, awe returned. (1) Amen.

John Ruiz

(1) Renita J. Weems, Listening for God: A Minister's Journey Through Silence and Doubt (Simon and Suhuster: New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Singapore) 1999. p. 187-188.