Church

Temporary

Temporary from the Latin temporārius and tempus, tempor meaning time, describes something that is fleeting. Our lives are temporary, although we don’t view them that way until we are staring into the abyss of our own mortality. This past month we have been starkly reminded of just how temporary life is. It can be gone in the blink of an eye either through sudden illness, horrific accidents, or unbelievably while worshipping in a sacred space on a Sunday morning.

I can’t make sense of what happened in Sutherland Springs, Texas; I don’t think any of us can unless we’ve lived through a massacre like that. What I can do is pray for that community and all involved as well as for our country and our lawmakers deciding what to do in the aftermath of this horror.

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Temporary

Epiphany

Epiphany, with a capital “E”, is celebrated on January 6th and is the festival commemorating Christ’s coming into the world for all people through the homage paid by the Magi.

It can also mean (when spelled with a small “e”) a sudden insight or perception into the essential meaning of something usually triggered by the ordinary. Its origin is late Middle English and comes from the Greek epipháneia meaning to appear.

Have you had any epiphanies? I know I have. Sometimes they come from watching the light shine just so on a field gleaming with frost. Sometimes they come from seeing snow on a discarded pine bough. Sometimes they come watching a small child master a new skill or seeing something new to them for the very first time. They can be awe inspiring and they can be scary too , but they always lead one deeper. Farther into understanding one’s place in the world, epiphanies provide us roadmaps and guideposts.

On this Epiphany, I wish for you a year filled with insights.