Epiphany lights up

Happy New Year, Found Family!
Hey, I’ve got an idea: Let’s talk about Epiphany!

This Sunday is Epiphany Sunday* and Epiphany is all about light: The star in the sky leads the magi to Jesus, who is the light of the world. As the Gospel According to John reminds us, “The light [of Christ] shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”

*Yes, you’re correct; technically, Epiphany isn’t until January 6th. But since we don’t meet on Tuesdays, our tradition is to celebrate Epiphany on the first Sunday of January.

Epiphany is all about light. Like the gospel of John denotes, we often contrast light with dark. These are ancient religious themes. But let’s be honest about how we in western culture have tragically misused and abused the themes of light and dark. Far too often we’ve equated dark and black with evil and sin; we’ve equated light and white with goodness and purity; and then we apply those ideas to racial identity to justify our worst ideas: enslavement, segregation, and bigotry toward Black folks.

Let’s not do that anymore.

Instead, let’s be conscientious about how we use light and dark. As one of my favorite authors, Diana Butler Bass writes:


In spiritual literature and theology, light and dark are a complimentary and necessary pairing. Each has a distinctive place in creation, equal in meaning and purpose. To speak of light overcoming the dark is to borrow an image from nature. Each day, as the earth rotates, light overtakes dark — even as dark overwhelms light each night. We humans see in light. Dark is for rest, sleep, and renewal. Light is warm, hot. Dark is cooler, colder. Light and dark have their own beauties and carry distinctive wisdom. After all, the star the magi followed couldn’t be seen without the midnight sky.