“God became like us, so that we might become like God.”

Epiphany used to be quite a big deal in the church. It still is, of course, but now it’s often eclipsed by Christmas. Yet Epiphany was around long before Christmas, it turns out. It was the third great feast day of the church after Easter and Pentecost. If Easter celebrates Jesus’ resurrection and Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit, Epiphany celebrates the early manifestation of Jesus to the world. In the early days of the church, Epiphany celebrated Jesus’ baptism since that was the beginning of his ministry—it was later in the western church that it became associated with the three wise men. Overall we might think of Epiphany as a hipster Christmas—the celebration of Jesus’ coming into the world before it was cool to celebrate Jesus coming into the world.

Yet what do we make of Epiphany? In these few weeks we celebrate…