Epiphany--A Shining Forth!

Epiphany means a shining forth, an illumination of splendid beauty.

Often in cartoons a light bulb appears over a character's head signaling a bright new idea. Or pictures of Saints show a halo around their heads which accentuates their beauty.

In the book Diamond Presence I wrote a story titled "Epiphany In Saint Louis."

It told the story of my first attendance at a major League ball game, at age 12 in Saint Louis beween the old St. Louis Browns and the old Philadelphia Athletics.

Walking into that staduim was an epiphany to a 12 year old's eyes. The field was flooded with light, the grass a vibrant green. The base paths must have had dirt imported from Oklahoma, for they wore a splendid red color. And there sitting next to the A's dugout was the Patriarch of old time baseball -- Connie Mack in a Panama hat and blue suit. It was a scene out of a dream--an epiphany to a small boy's eyes!

And so today, we celebrate the Feast of Light, the Feast of Illumination, the Feast of Splendid Beauty!

And where was the light? It shone down from the Star that led the Wise Men to the crib.

There is a Lutheran Church in Ralston Nebraska named Beautiful Saviour!"

How fitting!

For the Wise Men,s quest led them to the beauty that lay in the crib and the illumined faces of Mary and Joseph who knelt nearby.

And so we pray:

O God, we ask in this New Year

for the gift of Epiphanies:

to glimpse the splendid beauty

shining forth from the faces of loved ones,

the beauty of sunsets,

and of the shining moon,

and the beauty all around.

"Thi little light of mine,

Let it shine!

Let it shine!

Let it shine!

Amen