First Communion
110 North Gammon Road, Madison, WI 53717
Church: 608-829-2136
Early Learning Center: 608-829-3598
EPIPHANY
SEASON
Epiphany Terms and Symbols
Epiphany is a Greek word that means the revelation of something that has been hidden. In Ancient world, the invincible sun's power was revealed with each dawn. So it was logical that the sun's supreme power should be an image for the Son's revelation of his Father's power, if one could see beyond his humble birth and humiliating death.
Magi were priests-scholars from an ancient world, not kings. The early Christians were fascinated by them. The magi appear in countless Christian mosaics and manuscripts- colorful visitors from "the nations" in otherwise humble nativity story.
Gold, Frankincense and myrrh are gifts suited for royalty-- and for death, for myrrh may have been used by Nicodemus to embalm Jesus. Moses offered myrrh on the new altar of the first tabernacle, and Psalm 45 calls it a perfume fit for a king. The Romans used it as a perfume, medicine and incense.
