THE JOURNEY
The Christian Year is a Life-Cycle and a Journey, no matter how you look at it. It begins with birth, followed by growth. After a season of growth and life, the journey proceeds to The Cross, and death. For most, this would be the end, however for Christians, with Easter and Pentecost, death isn’t the end, but more like a New Beginning.
Can you see it? The Christian year divided into two parts? The Nativity Cycle and The Paschal Cycle. Then, with a deeper look, we see these Cycles consist of Four Season: Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, with intervals between the two parts, Epiphany and Pentecost.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
And so, here we are. We find ourselves in the interval of Epiphany. As we transition from seasons of Almost-But-Not-Yet and God-With-Us, we are there, or here: Epiphany.
Epiphany is the season of our life where we are or have been introduced to Christ. As you consider the possibility of this, or even the probability of this reality, it is not a stretch to recognize Christ is shared with us countless times each day. Through friends, co-workers, and even the folks on the road, driving to work. These moments are the external experiences of God’s Grace and love acting on our heart. As we pay attention of The Journey, we begin to see these moments are not few-and-far-between, but instead, we are bombarded with these experiences. Where are we? We are in the thick of it all! So the question is, where is the ah-ha?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE GET THERE?
To my way of thinking, when we “Get It” the external experience of Christ meets the internal experience of Christ. It is the point in which we are changed and there is no going back. It is the point where we “get it”. The epiphany for Christians is when we “get” that Christ has come for me, yes, even me. It is the next step on our journey. This journey, I might add, is when we become the friend, the family and the driver on the road who offer Christ to the Christ-less. Our role in the journey is to be the external experience of Christ in this world. We accept the Sojourn nature of being a Christian, a Disciple, a world-changer and kingdom-builder!