Twelfth night thinking time

Here are the wise men with a touch of Sadlers Wells

We clear out the Christmas decorations and all the remains of Christmas today It is twelfth night, the twelfth night after Christmas itself and we clear out the old to make way for the next thing and in the Christian calendar, it isn't the January Sales! 

We are making way for Epiphany which is both the celebration of the visit by the Wise Men and also the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  It is no wonder that all these events in the Christian calendar are packed in on top of each other, after all, we are trying to pack in 33 years of Jesus life on earth into a single Christian year, all the events and all the importance of the events and what they might mean.  Epiphany is also described as a revelation, an emotional event which seems overwhelming with a sense of positivity that inspires you to act in such a way to either resolve an issue or it can motivate the creation of an idea.

Here on the right are our Xmas decorations photographed on my i phone to remind the family far away about our annual Christmas traditions.   They were made by our dear old friend Joan Evans who was a ballerina and artist.  You can see that she was a ballerina because all her lovely figures look as if they could take off across the stage at Covent Garden.  they are now packed away gently again in tissue paper but safe until next year although they are rather battered.  

 

This is the oldest angel Joan made

If Epiphany means realisation of a Truth, what might our Epiphany mean this year?  For me, the 2017 Epiphany comes in realising that even treasured things get old but not the spirit which created them.  I remember Joan and her qualities of selflessness and her delight in the smallest kindness.  It is still her spirit talking through the angels she made.  In the same way, the spirit which talks through the wise men, through the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, through that packed life of Jesus which clearly wasn't easy, breathes the goodness of the spirit which created it.  My epiphany is in remembering to be grateful to Joan for her kindness and for the enormous kindness of the spirit which comes to earth again and again and again and to resolve to put my epiphany to some good use.  Will you join me?