Weekly update: Epiphany

Weekly update: Epiphany

When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan the worship of the Trinity was made manifest! For the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee, calling Thee his Beloved Son. And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of his Word. O Christ our God, who hast revealed Thyself and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee (Troparion).
Today Thou hast appeared to the universe, and Thy Light, O Lord, has shone on us, who with understanding praise Thee: Thou hast come and revealed Thyself, O Light Unapproachable! (Kontakion).
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP)

The Journey of the Magi and the Baptism of Jesus, images brought together in Epiphany. God reveals himself to to the world in the human Jesus. The Eastern Church and the Western Church chose to emphasize different aspects of what was originaly all celebrated on Epiphany, including the Nativity. We now separate out the Nativity(Christmas) and the coming of the Magi (Epiphany) and the Baptism of the Lord (First Sunday after Epiphany).

And so we have moved from waiting for Christ's coming into walking into the reality of God's presence with us in Christ, the Church, Christ's Body, and in the Eucharist. We come like the Magi seeking God with us.

This is our journey at Reconciler, seeking Christ who has found us and incorporated us into one Body through baptism and faith.

There are several things ahead of us. We are still in the process of writing our constitution. We will have our next congregational constitution meeting after worship on Sunday January 13th. Upon the recomendation of Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintedent of ECC Central Conference, we will not be seeking reception by the Covenant this year, so we have more time to iron out some of the challenges of institutionaly bringing three different denominations together in one congregation. However, we still need to have a proposed constitution that we can present to the relavent bodies and for our own day to day functioning as a church

Lastly we want to encourage you to continue inviting your friends and sharing Reconciler with people you meet.

We Three Kings

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

The peace of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, be with you this Epiphany, and every day.

the Pastoral Team