#what is epiphany

[walkswithmyfather]

“When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.

Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?” They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote, ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judea, you are very important among the towns of Judea. From your town will come a leader, who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I also want to go and worship him.” The wise men listened to what the king said and then left.

And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They were thrilled and excited to see the star. When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him. Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.” —Matthew 2:1‭-‬12 (CEV)

“Following The Star” - A Sermon For Epiphany By Dr. Robert D. Cornwall:

“According to Matthew, Magi – Zoroastrian priests from Persia -- followed a twinkling star to the house of Jesus, so they could honor him as King of the Jews.

In Matthew’s story, a star shines brightly in the darkness of the night sky, drawing the attention of the Magi, who recognize that this light in the sky is a sign that something important is occurring, and that they need to follow the sign to where it leads. You may have heard the slogan: “wise men still seek him.” It’s an invitation to join these men of wisdom in finding enlightenment at the feet of Christ.

There are, of course, other characters in this story besides Jesus and the Magi. There’s even a villain – Herod, the titular King of the Jews. That is, while he holds the title, his claim is questionable. He’s not a descendant of David, and he came to power in part by marrying into the last Jewish dynasty, but what is more important, he had the support of Caesar.

So, while it’s not surprising that when the Magi come looking for the “King of the Jews,” they first stopped at Herod’s palace, this wasn’t their final destination. What they learn from Herod, however, is that the prophet Micah had spoken of a shepherd arising out of Bethlehem. And so, they head out from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to find their promised king.

When the Magi reach Bethlehem, their search ends at a little house in Bethlehem. Upon their arrival, they fall on their knees and honor this child with tribute – gold and incense – recognizing in him the rule and reign of God.

The Magi recognize Jesus as the true king, but as we learn from the gospels, his kingdom is very different from that of Herod. His is a kingdom of light rather than darkness; love instead of domination. Instead of enslaving us, it sets us free. In fact, it’s the kind of kingdom described in the Beatitudes, where Jesus declares: Blessed are the poor, the grieving, the meek, the ones who hunger after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted.

It’s no wonder that Herod tried to snuff out the realm of God at the beginning, even as Pilate tried to do the same later on. It’s just not the way the world does things!

So, where do you see signs of God’s kingdom present in your life? If you’re looking for lights in the sky, then you’re probably looking in the wrong place…We, having been enlightened by our encounter with the child born in Bethlehem, carry the light of God into the world.

The message of Epiphany is this: The light of God is made manifest in Christ to the world, and as the body of Christ, the church continues to shine this light into the world. As Jesus said: don’t put your lamp under a bushel basket; instead put it on a lampstand so that your light will “shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16 CEB).

So, as Isaiah puts it: “Arise, Shine! Your Light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you” (Isaiah 60:1 CEB). Darkness may be closing in on you, but “the Lord will shine for you; God’s glory will appear over you.” (Vs. 2).

The good news is that each of us has access to the light of God that twinkles in the night sky, guiding “us to thy perfect light.”

[Edited from a sermon preached by Dr. Robert D. Cornwall, Pastor

at Central Woodward Christian Church, Michigan]

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

Guy who has wandered through the halls and corridors of your body not with any special kind of love but with the untold intimacy of a contractor assessing the damages and potentials voice: right, so the main issue here is that the body is currently a temple, okay, and what we want is for it to be a home, cause temples are pretty and all and occasionally nice to be in if you're into that sort of thing but very few people would actually want to live in one. So what we're gonna do first is you're gonna take a look at what's here, the carrying walls and windows and all that, and you're going to come up with something you'd actually like to be alive inside of, and it's going to be a lot of work and it's going to feel strange and stupid and embarrassing but you're still gonna do it, because otherwise this construction site is fucked. And maybe what you want to live in is a skatepark or an anime-themed cat cafe or an esoteric library that has a dildo section for some reason, so it might feel like it's a downgrade from a temple, but it's actually the opposite cause the main customer for a body is you and the main customer for a temple are templegoers and maybe higher powers of some kind, - i wouldn't know about those, they never hired me, - not the temple itself, which is what you are, right, cause the body/mind/soul separation doesn't actually do anything, so what you're gonna do is look at the current layout and dig out whatever hope and ability to want you have and come up with a blueprint, and then my boys can actually get to work. Oh, and you have got to change the windows, it's drafty as fuck in here.

[monicascot]

From Ghetto to Glory: Inspiring Transformation by Author Latanya 'Epiphany' Richardson | Woke Up

Author, Latanya "Epiphany" Richardson has a miracle story. She was born and raised in Philadelphia Pa in one of the roughest, poorest, violent, ghettos. Growing up, she was told she would never amount to anything.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lap Pillow

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[reunitedinterlude]

phil spitting on dan <3 (1, 2, 3)

[stuckinapril]

I genuinely love not having a crush like I’m not over here feeling physically sick over some mid guy being dry to me I’m literally chilling

[orengejoshi]

Paperhatober Day 12: Ghost

[lilacthebooklover]

"Also the rats were his idea? I get it now. I'm gonna. We're gonna"

heya ford. ford, buddy. get what? what are you gonna do?? please explain???? ford get bACK HERE

[a-small-writer-in-a-big-world]

Price who knew Simon before Roba. Who thought he was a good kid, disciplined solider and got along well with him.

Price who then found out about what happened and decided to check up on Simon when he was cleared to come back.

Price who thought Ghost’s aversion to food was a trauma response. Who thought him staying up all night was because of nightmares and joked that he needed to stop covering himself up when he went outside because, “you’re as pale as a ghost.”

Price who noticed Ghost’s irises were red, not brown, but always thought it was the trick of the light or the fact that his eye color was always dark.

Price who noticed his strange speed and strength. Who began to get a little concerned when Ghost started getting aggressive, how he always blamed it on him being “hungry”.

Eventually one night, after noticing how strange Ghost was acting, he went to confront him only to see Ghost eating what he assumed was a rat.

Price who had to take a moment on whether or not he should call for Ghost’s removal from the military due to psychological distress or to politely ask him what the fuck was going on.

Only for Ghost to look back at him shocked but with hungry eyes that Price could only describe as “not human”.

Ghost who had to explain what exactly happened with Roba and how he’s different, how strange everything’s been, how he can’t go out into the sun without feeling like he has a sunburn or how he sees better in pitch black darkness and how no matter how many times he tries to eat real food he just throws it back up, so he resorted to drinking blood.

Price who had to take a long time to sit with this information before he took action, making sure it was only him who knew about this and making sure Ghost never hurt anyone when he got too “hungry”.

Price who trained him to cope better with daylight and helped him with his new found strength and speed. Who told him the only people who could drink from were enemies and that if that wasn’t an option he’d give his own blood.

Price who now as the leader of the 141 is the only one who knows what Ghost really is and refuses to disclose other information about it to save his lieutenant from other experiments.

[matznothere]

is the spectrum real

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

rip secunit 3 😔😔😔 you're not dead but you would have loved saving the lives of a whole colony of innocent humans by making a factually honest and emotionally compelling documentary 😔😔😔

[pealeii]

EPIPHANY IS FUCKING INSANE BC ITS *violins that sound like fucking bees* there’saholeintheworldlikeagreatblackpitandit’sfilledwithpeoplewhoarefilledwithshitandtheverminoftheworldinhabirit *some fucking horns* B U T N O T F O R L O N G … *the scariest ritardando you’ve ever heard in your life*

[fearandhatred]

headcanon that aziraphale's Look in 1941 was not him realising he loved crowley but realising that crowley loved HIM

[unproduciblesmackdown]

always enjoyed the Chess Set In The Foreground perspective framing used here

now also noting like, huh, a chess set in a general store just visited by marigold competitors who killed one of their guys and are now on the way back from their rendezvous point w/suppliers

[crustyfloor]

I noticed this a while back and It's even worse when I think of these scenes, and their pacing and read it as Ivan glancing at Till in that moment and being reminded of those days back in their childhood when Till would have a bad day Ivan could easily go over and try to 'cheer him up'

And then he comes to remember where they are, and that they aren’t those kids anymore

ugly sobs

[stuckinapril]

Sometimes I’m like I wish I could sit my 17 year old self down & just force feed her all the lessons I learned so she wouldn’t keep wasting time on things that didn’t deserve it. And then I remember how utterly stubborn I was at 17 & realize that maybe everyone’s just stubborn at that age & what they rly need is to live a little a bit more & learn. & then I extrapolate that to me rn & imagine what me 2-5 years from now would want to say to me & I try so hard to behave reasonably against my deeply ingrained impulses. It’s absolutely hit or miss but it’s actually mind blowing to me how much strife I could dodge if I simply listened to the voice of reason in my head at the cost of momentary comfort