St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
Parish Canterbury
| Archive |
| Contacts |
| How to find us |
| Links |
| What's New |
| Site Map |
| Home Page |
The Feast of the Epiphany, traditionally celebrated on January 6th, began life in the Eastern Church in the 3rd century where it actually celebrated the Baptism of Christ. In the East it would become one of the three great festivals of the time, alongside Easter and Pentecost: and it was at Epiphany that the waters of baptism were solemnly blessed.
Epiphany reached the Western Church in the 4th century but the Baptism of Christ remained a separate festival occasion, Epiphany being associated instead with the first manifestation or showing of Christ to the Gentiles in the person of the Magi. The symbolic power of the narrative of the Magi had impressed itself upon Christians living and serving further away from the place of these events. Just as the wise men travelled to the child Jesus, so the faith of Jesus Christ would one day travel to the West.
In some ways this throws some light on the concept of Christian pilgrimage. Why do Christians (like people of other faiths) make journeys to places of supposed holiness" Well, obviously within us there is a desire to make contact with the sacred in a tangible way, and in a way that involves some sort of effort of journeying; such pilgrimages reached their height in the Middle Ages and were not only a source of spiritual guidance and encouragement but also a considerable source of income for such sites as Canterbury Cathedral, with its Shrine of St Thomas Becket, and the little town of Walsingham in Norfolk, where a wealthy lady called Richeldis had had a vision that she was commanded to build a "holy house" replicating that where Jesus was born. This was miraculous indeed and also very practical: people who could not travel to the Holy Land could travel to Norfolk instead. Certainly these shrines brought income but they did give something in return, surely; a sense of blessedness, of achievement, of encounter with the mystery of God in the veneration of the site. By the time of Henry VIII, these sites were already controversial; some were clearly deceiving people with mechanically achieved signs and wonders, prompted only when gifts or money were handed over; some were administered by clergy and monks living scandalous lives. The growing desire to meet the Lord in the simplicity of his Word and the promises of Jesus challenged a Church cluttered with such things and placing expensive barriers between people and salvation.
But in the 19th century there was a reawakening as it were of some of the elements removed with such spiritual reason at the time during the Reformation. Symbolism and personal devotions of a more catholic nature came back into the Church of England with the Oxford movement. More extreme in some churches but, in many, just the sort of thing we see around in this building: richly coloured glass telling the story of Christ; altar frontals, and such things as the murals of the four apostles; the hangings on the altar and the centrality of the Eucharist. Back also came the concept of pilgrimage with many sites rediscovering their shrine heritage and many people their vocation to the monastic life. In in 1930s, Norfolk Fr. Hope Pattern defied the more conservative Church by restoring a shrine to Walsingham. Like it or hate it, it draws many to it. Later on places like St. Alban's would restore their shrines and encourage pilgrimage, as of course would Canterbury Cathedral. It may seem we go in circles and we do but always moving forward. This was not a step backwards but a step onwards, picking up elements of past tradition long denied that nonetheless less speak to the modern heart in its quest for God in what can be seen and touched and travelled to.
Perhaps now also we can rediscover the power of the Western interpretation of Epiphany; the Kings travel to the Christ child who will one day travel to us: we share in their journey today when they arrive at the crib at the 10.30am service and then we travel back to our own homes knowing that the blessing of the Christ child goes with us. Whoever they were, these men in their time spotted something that wasn't part of their culture and went to find it, bringing gifts of meaning. They went back satisfied. Our culture is changing too but we remain constant with the centuries of faith that have seen the love of God come into all the world for all his people, and from now we must make our lives an Epiphany, a showing, a faithful revelation of that truth.
Amen
