Sunday 09 January 2022 is the First Sunday after the Epiphany.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica online: Epiphany, also called Feast of the Epiphany, Theophany, or Three Kings’ Day, (from Greek epiphaneia, “manifestation”), is a Christian holiday commemorating the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, and the manifestation of his divinity, as it occurred at his baptism in the Jordan River and at his first miracle, at Cana in Galilee. Epiphany is one of the three principal and oldest festival days of the Christian church (the other two are Easter and Christmas).
In the Church of Scotland, and many other Western Churches, the feast is observed on 6th January.
The main scripture for today is Acts 8:14-17. The events narrated there are extraordinary because they marked the first moment that non-Jews were baptised after coming to belief in Jesus Christ. This was a major development which challenged the prejudices and hurts resulting from long-standing ethnic tensions between Jews and Samaritans. (See – as a famous example of the general ‘bad blood’ between Jews and Samaritance – the Parable of the Good Samaritan).
God’s healing is communicated through the actions of one to the other. In a divided world, we must risk for relationship and change. Presence and touch are made to overcome the forces of fear and division.
Main scripture for today
Acts 8:14-17 (New International Version)
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
