Well, for Episcopalians, in The Mother Church of the Church of England, The Epiphany Season is described as six "Sundays after Epiphany" in the Book of Common Prayer. The Season is designated as the varying number of Sundays after Epiphany until Septuagesima.
Septuagesima, you ask? What in the name of all that is holy is Septuagesima? Well, your high school Latin might have given you a clue. Septuagesima is the ninth Sunday before Easter, and the third before Ash Wednesday.
The word Septuagesima comes from the Latin word Septuagesima, which means "the seventieth". The Septuagesima season is 17 days long, and the start date depends on the movable date of Easter.
See? And, now your life will be changed and transformed and you will never again be the same. Just as Jesus would want it.
Some of you are shaking your head and saying, "But the Churchman's Ordo Kalendar says that the days after The Epiphany and before Ash Wednesday are considered "Ordinary Time". We know that because all the days are in green."
And, that's perfectly fine, if you're stuck somewhere in the late 1950s. Some of us think the world - and the church - needs more light. Besides, there's nothing in any rubric or canon that says one can't celebrate and lift up all the ways Jesus brings light into the world.
Indeed, if you read the language of the rubrics of the BCP, there's a lot of elasticity there. There are very few 'shall's' or "must's" and a whole lot of "may's".
It's not like it's a bad thing, yeah? Having an Epiphany Season is something, in fact, that the lectionary readings support, including the Baptism of Jesus, the miracle of the Wedding Feast at Canan, the first sermon of Jesus in the Temple, and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
After that, we hear of the miracle stories of Jesus, right up to and including the Transfiguration of Jesus the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
That's hardly "Ordinary Time".
Now, there was a time in the church when all these events were carefully marked and followed in The Episcopal Church. Indeed, in some places, they still are.
If you are currently in an Episcopal Church that still uses a Hymn Board, you'll note somewhere in that wonderful wooden box someone once made, a long, long time again, with an individual cubby for a stack of each individual number, that there is also a large, long cubby with liturgical titles for the particular Sunday.
Some even have Roman Numerals to designate the Sundays from the Arabic Numbers used to denote the Hymns. So you might see "Advent III" or "Lent V". Or, "X Sunday after Pentecost".
You will find pieces of long, black cardboard with white lettering, denoting the liturgical Seasons "Advent," "Christmas," "Lent", "Easter," etc. That's where you'll find "Septuagesima". You'll also find "Sexagesima" (the second Sunday of Septuagesima), and "Quinquagesima" (the third Sunday of Septuagesima).
I know. It's hard to believe, but it's true. I am not making this up.
I remember the women in one class ahead of me in seminary laughing uproariously because the "trick question" on that year's "Coffee Hour Question" segment of the GOEs (General Ordination Exams), included one on Septuagesima Sunday. The guys were not laughing.
"Ha," the women said, "We all came up through the Altar Guild. For years, we had to rummage through those wooden boxes, climb up that rickety ladder, and put those damn Hymn Boards together. That's why we know this stuff."
Ah, yes. What was it MLK, Jr. said about "Redemptive Suffering"?
Well, that's enough of a lesson on the minutia of the church for the day - for any day. Oh wait, here's another fancy church word for you: "Aidiaphora".
All this stuff about Seasons and specific designations is really "adiaphora" which is the Greek word meaning "indifferent". None of these things are necessary for your salvation.
As one of my theology professors - a Roman Catholic woman at Weston School of Theology - used to say, "Hey, everybody's gotta do something while waiting for the parousia."
I suppose marking certain Sundays on the Kalendar and coming up with important-sounding names for them is not such a bad thing to do while waiting for Jesus to come again (which is what 'parousia' means).
I can think of at least six other things without breaking a sweat but, that's what the gifts of Free Will and Grace are all about.
I hope something good happens to you today.
Bom dia.
Title of Art Piece: Epiphany
Category: Mixed Media
Student/Artist’s Name: Diane Murph
School: Petersburg High School
Grade: 11th
Artist Statement: After pondering what this piece truly represents and illustrates, I realized I would rather the audience puzzle over it and decide for themselves. This piece is meant to invoke curiosity. Drawn with pen, colored pencil, and marker, every detail is unique and came from my imagination.
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