Happy New Year & Happy Epiphany!
Entering into a New Year causes us to look upon life’s direction and plot our course toward new goals and old dreams. It is also an opportunity to look within and mull over our anxieties and fears of unaccomplished goals and to wonder how they reflect upon ourselves.
According to liturgical traditions, starting from January 6th we enter into the season of Epiphany, which celebrates the initial revelation of Christ to the world. For centuries, Christians lived in accordance with the spiritual rhythms of the church calendar. These rhythms enabled worshipers to reflect on the life of Christ throughout the year. This season is the time of remembering that the glorious Christ has and is continuing to reveal Himself in our ordinary lives.
As my family begins another new year, there is excitement for the possibilities but also anxiety for the potential disappointments that await us. Possibilities and disappointments are often the regular rhythms of military life.
Will we PCS again? Will I make good friends here? When will my spouse be promoted? Where will my spouse deploy and when will they return? Will we be able to retire in 20 years? The possibilities are endless.
Life in the military is a life of constant celebrations and let downs. No guarantees and no certainties. Then how do we find a sense of sanity in the midst of the insanity we call the military? What does stability look like for the military family?
Before Christ came to us as a baby, Israel was also living in a state of constant instability, wondering if they would ever recover their homeland. They were hungry for a revelation of God. But now, we can rest knowing that Jesus has revealed Himself to us! His light has come to this world and His promises are both glorious and eternal. This means that we can take comfort knowing that all our anxieties are temporary in light of the revelation of Christ in our lives. Truly permanent PCS orders have come from the King of kings and this hope gives us courage to face the disappointments of today as we anticipate eternity in Christ.
*An Epiphany Tradition: The blessing of homes during Epiphany. The letters, M, C, & B are usually traced on doors. The initials stand for “May Christ Bless the Dwelling.”
Prayer for Epiphany
How incredible it is that God invites us to hear and know His will. As we’ve entered into the New Year and this season of Epiphany, will you join me as I pray in anticipation with my family, both for the eternal blessings and the every day blessings God provides?
Will you pray for a revelation of God in your mundane, ordinary days, but also in the extraordinary ones?
Planting Roots is praying over your family and our own–that in every season we would Worship, Seek, Remember, and Stand. Let’s pray this over ourselves and our cherished ones.
Let us pray,
grateful for the glory revealed today
through God made man.
Father of light,
unchanging God,
today you reveal to men of faith
the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh.
Your light is strong,
Your love is near;
draw us beyond the limits
which this world imposes,
to the life where Your Spirit
makes all life complete.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer by Saint Joseph Sunday Missal
Joanne Kim is a proud Army Chaplain’s wife & a blessed mom of two. She met her husband while pursuing her Masters in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. She has a passion for children’s ministry, theology, and making stuff! You can find her all over Colorado Springs, wearing a super hip fanny pack & eating Chick-fil-A with her kids. She is also the new bookkeeper at Planting Roots.
