Today is January 6, 2012, which means it’s Epiphany — the date commemorating when the 3 kings (or wise men) visited Baby Jesus. It’s the 12th day after Christmas, but a lot of churches wait until the following Sunday to celebrate.

The well-loved Wise Men from one of our family's Nativity sets. Yes, our kids play with the people and animals like I did. :-)

What’s the big deal about the kings? You’ll find different opinions from people a lot smarter than me if you dig into things, but here’s one explanation I especially like: the kings signify the extension of salvation to the Gentiles. And that’s definitely a reason to celebrate!

The sad thing is, a lot of wise men get packed up with all the other Christmas stuff and are forgotten until the next year. Epiphany comes and goes without many extra thoughts. But when we were kids, a friend’s family set their wise men away from the Nativity stable and moved them a little closer each day. They kept the Nativity set out until after Epiphany, so the wise men had their turn at celebrating. Kind of neat, I thought.  Maybe that’s a tradition we need to start in our own family.

Several years ago, our Christmas cantata included a song about the wise men called “One King.” I liked that, because we don’t normally sing about them outside “We 3 Kings of Orient Are.” My favorite line in the song was “silhouette of a caravan, painted against the sky … wise men, searching, for the Holy Child.” Maybe it’s the writer in me, but I just loved the picture that set in my mind. Traveling night and day, for weeks and months, across deserts and through towns, until they reached the Christ Child. I could learn a lot from their persistence.

“One King” is on the Point of Grace CD “Christmas Story.” Here’s a video I found on You Tube that someone made to go along with the song — I hope you enjoy it.

 

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