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Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise,
Manifested by the star
To the sages from a far,
Branch of royal David’s stem
In Thy birth at Bethlehem:
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in man made manifest. (Lutheran Service Book 394:1)

So Christopher Wordsworth’s 19th-century Epiphany hymn begins its recapitulation of some of the Lord Jesus’s revealings of Himself as God in human flesh. In the hymn, Wordsworth goes on to mention such things as Jesus’s baptism, His miracle at Cana, His healing miracles and exorcisms, and His final coming on the Last Day. (Wordsworth’s hymn text is paired with the tune ST. GEORGE’S, WINDSOR, that many may also know from the hymn text usually associated Thanksgiving, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” [Lutheran Service Book 892].) Such showing-forths of Jesus’s Divine nature created faith in Him then, even as His making Himself manifest in His Word and Sacraments creates faith in Him now.

Celebrated for maybe some 100 years before Christmas was, Epiphany focuses especially on the revelation to the Gentiles of God in the flesh of the man Jesus, which revelation brought spiritual growth to those individuals and overall growth to the Church, reflected in the season’s green paraments, used for this year’s three “middle” Sundays of the season. Without the revelation of God in the flesh of Jesus Christ, neither His birth nor His death really would be of any value to us for the forgiveness of sins, life, or salvation.

This year we will actually observe the day of Epiphany with a Divine Service at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6th (at which the Gospel Reading is the coming of the Magi as told in Matthew 2:1-12). The five Sundays after Epiphany this year (with their Gospel Readings according to Lutheran Service Book‘s 3-year series of readings) are as follows:

  • First Sunday (01/10): Jesus is baptized for us (Luke 3:15-22)
  • Second Sunday (01/17): Jesus miraculously blesses newlyweds (John 2:1-11)
  • Third Sunday (01/24): Jesus preaches about His fulfilling prophecies (Luke 4:16-30)
  • Fourth Sunday (01/31): Jesus casts out demons who know Who He is (Luke 4:31-44)
  • Fifth Sunday (02/07): Jesus is transfigured before His disciples (Luke 9:28-36)

If you cannot make it in person, you can listen to recordings of the sermons here. For more information about Epiphany, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, and the like, please use the Contact Information at right. (You can also read more about Epiphany in a 2016 Kilgore News Herald article that featured Pr. Galler here.)

Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord,
Present in Thy holy Word–
Grace to imitate Thee now
And be pure, as pure art Thou;
That we might become like Thee
At Thy great epiphany
And may praise Thee, ever blest,
God in man made manifest. (Lutheran Service Book 394:5)

The banner graphic on the top of this page and the slider graphic on the main page are based on an image found here, where its artist was not identified. The graphics were composed by Carla Adsit, to whom we here express our appreciation.