It is Epiphany, the Christian feast day which ends the Christmasseason. It is seen in some traditions as the day that commemorates the comingof the Magi indicating the Light of the World being made known to the worldbeyond the Jewish community. In othertraditions this is the day that commemorates John's baptism of Jesus.

But this word epiphany is used in so many places. It hasbeen the name of rock bands, albums and songs. It is a name given sometimes topeople (not often) and used as titles of articles, books, movies, and works ofart.

Epiphany, (let's get out the big book of words shall we?). "Epiphany:a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning…"(Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary).

A sudden understanding of the essence or meaning. The lightdawns over Marblehead…thelight bulb goes on in the mind of the cartoon character….

Where do we need to have some light shed on a matter? Where do we clamor for meaning? Where do welook for answers? As a culture, what isthe biggest question, most widely asked, about the meaning of something?

There is something very reassuring to me about this notionof an epiphany, that I can know anessential meaning. The hope of epiphany warms my heart, encourages me forward.That God has revealed God's self and that it is of God's nature to do so isexciting. That's a journey worth going on. That's a star worth following.

But an experience of epiphany can also be a very dangerous encounter as well. For some, what I think I know to be true is too often used to identifyoneself over and against someone else. Perhaps we need to heed the confession of the Christianwriter Paul more often, "I see in a glass darkly…." Or as the 20thcentury theologian Paul Tillich has taught me, (in my own words, not his) wesee this kind of deep meaning only fragmentarily. We have an encounter with truth and then anyreflection we make upon that encounter fragments it the minute after the momentof insight. The action of reflecting on what we have seen or known, that actionitself narrows the truth. Naming the meaning narrows the meaning.

Oh there are times that langugae is a gateway to epiphany, but a languageconstruct can never fully reflect the fullness of deep spiritual meaning ortruth behind the language. So we are always living with one part of ourselves grasping truth, themeaning we have just encountered, and another part of ourselves confessing ourinability to see and tell the whole of the thing. It takes courage to know Godthis way, to live with truth this way. Here's to a year full of the courage toknow our limits and still be caught by the epiphanies!

Anyway, happy Epiphany, God bless us everyone!

Blogging returns next week. Let's talk about Obama shall we?