To begin our reflection in the beginning of this brand new year, I have couple of holiday Did-You-Know trivia questions. We’ll start easy and then get harder.
Did you know that…
- The 12 days of Christmas, beginning on Christmas and ending with Epiphany, originated with Pagan traditions?
- The Christmas song The Twelve Days of Christmas originated in England as a children’s memory game in the late 1700’s?
- Today is the 11th day of Christmas, and “eleven pipers piping” symbolizes the eleven faithful apostles of Jesus (minus Judas) spreading the Gospel? (For some, the partridge in a pear tree symbolizes Jesus as the partridge, with the pear tree representing the cross.)
- Epiphany was celebrated in early Christian circles long before Christmas? It wasn’t until the 4th century that Christmas was made a holiday. Prior to that the early church observed the Feast of Epiphany on January 6 to celebrate Jesus’ divinity being “manifested” in the world. (The term ‘epiphany’ has Greek origins meaning ‘to reveal’ or ‘to manifest’).
We traditionally associate Epiphany with the visit from the Three Wise Men from the East, who followed a star to arrive at the manger in Bethlehem.
Finding the holy infant, they presented him with gifts – gold (for royalty…to underscore Jesus being a King); frankincense (for divinity…to represent Jesus being God); and myrrh (to foreshadow his human death).
The story about the Three Wise Men and their gifts symbolized the revelation of Jesus’ identity, fulfilling a prophecy and revealing his human and divine nature.
As with other traditional Christian doctrines, this becomes a little dicey for folks who don’t necessarily espouse the theology of Jesus’ divinity. I must admit that I had been waiting for an epiphany regarding a observance of Epiphany.
Then it humbly arrived, like a precious babe being born in a manger. My epiphany came in second-hand, weeks-old, coffee-stained retirement home newsletter.
Often when I visit Joe Boudreaux he passes along to me the weekly newsletters that Luther gives their residents.
From one recent newsletter a tidbit caught my eye – a quote from Dick Van Dyke.
In the newsletter dated Dec. 13, 2025 – the 100th birthday of this prolific entertainer – was this gem.
Mr. Van Dyke had said, Just knowing you don’t have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn – and those are all good things.
Let me pause for a moment from that to say that maybe there’s some providence in Epiphany being celebrated at the beginning of the new year,
“Ok, the new year just arrived, and I’m resolved to make XYZ changes in my life.”
Resolutions. Resolute. Clarity. Answers.
This applies to our secular idea of epiphany.
To have an epiphany is to experience a flash of deep insight, an a-ha! moment when a formerly hidden truth becomes revealed. When you have it, you know. Clarity. Truth. Answers.
This isn’t an evolving process that unfolds over time. It’s a POOF! event.
We like epiphanies, don’t we? They feel like a gift when they occur. Freebees, so to speak…unanticipated morsels of wisdom that bring clarity. And answers.
But they’re as infrequent as they are unexpected. What about the rest of the time. Like, the 99% percent of the rest of the time.
We like epiphanies because we like answers. And quick answers are all the better! Answers, clarity, now are generally more comfortable than mystery, process, unfolding.
This has played out in in our religions.
The Emperor Constantine decided he would allow Christianity to be officially recognized, but he told church leaders that they had to come up with guideposts (commonly known as doctrines) – an infrastructure for this fledgling religion.
And so, this occurred, and with it came theologies and traditions which, with time, became belief.
‘Answers’ to unanswerable questions appease our discomfort with mystery and satisfy our appetite for clarity.
But what if our epiphany, our moment of clarity, was about the okay-ness (dare we call it the grace?) of not being clear, not having the answers?
What if our a-ha! is the realization that it’s really about the means – the process – and not so much about the answered end?
What if our clarity is that answers beget satisfaction, and satisfaction begets certainty. And certainty… is known to be the opposite of faith.
I know that I’m preaching to the choir here. We espouse all of this, as evidenced by our being in a faith community such as New Covenant. To quote our belief statement…
We experience doubt and questioning as a positive part of the journey of faith. We don’t presume to have final answers. This very statement about what our beliefs are is a “work in progress.”
If Dick Van Dyke lived locally, he’d fit right in with us. We share an intuitive knowing that not knowing, but instead seeking, is a cultivator of humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn.
We touched on this at our Christmas Eve gathering. After hearing a story about a young angel who went through some big changes, we observed how Christmas is so much about traditions – rituals, familiarity, patterns.
And while this is a beloved part of the holiday, if we aren’t also changed by it, if we’re not open and eager to learn and transformed by it, we pretty much miss the point. Because Jesus didn’t come for status quo.
He was a teacher. We have some teachers in our midst, and all would attest that the best educators teach us how to question.
If we’re not aiming for the arrival of answers, what are we aiming for?
What do you want your a-ha! epiphany to be that actually makes a difference in your year/your life?
This is the part of Mr. Van Dyke’s quote that keeps coming back to me – the eagerness to learn part.
And in that sphere of learning, the recurring pull for me is around learning more about myself. Afterall, it starts with oneself, right?
The seeds of all that we do… our relational offerings, our spiritual connectedness, our emotional well-being exist within our soul’s soil, and then emerge beyond.
I recently found some fertilizer for those self-learning seeds. Check it out….
https://www.tiktok.com/@lovingsingle/video/7302508391438535979
I like this because it might seem like an answer…the identification of my word. Period.
But it’s so much more than that if you approach like this gal did.
The word is soulfully chosen…chosen by the soul, for the soul.
She makes a great point…research this word. What does it mean? What does it mean to you? Why do you suppose you’re drawn to it?
As you can see, such a process isn’t a quick arrival, it’s a journey. And that’s just the beginning. Let me tell you what I mean.
I have spent some time with this, and have identified my word.
My word for this year is Joyful.
Like the woman in the video, I know that the choosing of this word isn’t so easy as saying, “I want to have more joy in my life.”
Of course I do…who doesn’t?
I know that, for my process – my learning – this year’s journey about joy doesn’t stop with arbitrarily wanting more of it.
The questions – the requirements of engagement – are already coming, with the biggest one being What in my life diminishes my joy?
I’ve always thought of the presence of joy is an indicator of spiritual grounded-ness. Not the ecstatic kind, but the sage kind. The grounding, quieter kind.
That’s a peek into my epiphany for this year. The first one, anyway.
As I hand the microphone over for our discussion today, I look forward to hearing your thoughts about process vs. arrival, mystery vs. certainty. That, or what your thoughts are about a resolution being about a process, a self-learning.
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