Epiphany!
By the Revd Roy Shaw, a retired but active priest in the diocese of York, where he is a spiritual director.
You probably know from tales of Greek mythology that gods and goddesses would often appear out of nowhere in ancient Greece to beguile or trick mortals. The word for this in everyday Greek was ‘epiphany’; - the appearance or manifestation of a divine being on earth to humans. For Christians Epiphany is the season after the 12 days of Christmas.
Our Epiphany Bible readings tell of the ‘manifestation’ of Jesus to a wider audience than those in the Christmas stories. We mark this in the first instance by placing the Wise Men in the crib scene; they have now arrived to see the consummation of their hopes and travels in the infant Jesus. And our Epiphany readings usually continue through the season with Jesus’ baptism; John the Baptist’s witness to Christ; Jesus’ family attempting to take charge of Him because of His popularity with the crowds; and the Presentation in the Temple. In all these, something of divine glory is being made manifest.
In more common parlance today, an epiphany means a sudden or blinding realisation (‘I had a sudden epiphany that John was going to marry Celia’). That modern meaning is helpful; ‘Gosh, epiphanies can be part of our Christian experience!’
Remember that occasion we were so conscious of God’s love holding us? Or the time we knew the words we used to that stranger were infused with a grace we didn’t know we had? These and similar experiences which we’ve probably all had can be seen as our epiphanies- a time when God was made manifest to us (and possibly through us) in a distinct w
Have you ever thought of those sorts of experiences as an epiphany? Not ring-fenced to a particular time of year, but part of our everyday experience, as we seek to live out our baptism promises, and follow Jesus through the ups and downs, the humdrum and the extraordinary, the joys and sorrows of the everyday.
The promise and reality of Christmas is ‘Emmanuel-God with us’. And the reality of Epiphany is that God IS with us, in the everyday realisation of how great God is, how much God loves us, and how God pours upon us grace after grace after grace.
May we have many epiphanies in 2026, and may they all bring us closer to the God who has chosen in His love to reveal Himself to us
From: The Parish Pump
(November 2025 Curry Rivel News)
Sacrifice
(From a previous ‘Scott’s Spot’)
As Remembrance Sunday approaches, we rightly turn our attention to remembering those who through their sacrifice ‘gave their tomorrows for our todays’. It is a time to remember the appalling cost of war in terms of front-line casualties, but also to remember the lasting repercussions endured by survivors or by those who lost loved ones. War, and the far reaching consequences that accompany it, needs to be remembered, not least when future conflict is considered.
This part of the year is also a time where we stand in awe of what human beings are capable of. When self-preservation may scream ‘run away,’ the accounts of bravery and self-sacrifice in war bring both admiration and that back of the mind nagging question: ‘what would I have done in their place?’
So for me, as a Christian minister, when I hear the account of Father Kolbe, the Polish Catholic Priest in Auschwitz, I ask myself that same question. The story goes that there had been a failed escape attempt, and the response of the Commandant was to pick ten men at random to be publically starved to death. As the victims were chosen, one man cried out “O no, my poor wife and children, what will they do without me?” On hearing this, Father Kolbe volunteered himself as a substitute for this family man and bravely faced that death himself. The manner of his eventual death is another story that you might like to look up sometime
There are of course a great many accounts along similar lines. Tremendous acts of bravery and self-giving that from the Flanders Fields of the First World War, to the deserts of Afghanistan, remind us that human beings are prepared to offer ‘their all’ in situations where the needs of those they love, or care for, are threatened
At this time of year there’s often a link made between the accounts of human self-sacrifice in times of war, and Jesus’ self-sacrificial death for us on the cross. As Jesus gave his life (paying for our sins) so that we might know life, the parallels seem obvious. But, it’s where the parallels break down, that we find something that lifts Jesus’ sacrifice into a league of its own. You see, as far as I can tell, the reasons that stand behind every act of human sacrifice that we remember this month, are rooted in the service of the deserving.
Father Kolbe gave his live for that family man; we hear of soldiers risking everything to carry wounded friends out of danger; the Battle of Britain pilots faced the odds they did in the service of our country and those they loved. What I’d like to challenge us with though, is the Bible’s teaching that when it came to Jesus’ self-giving sacrifice for us human beings, none of us were deserving. The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:18) wrote this: ‘Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous (Jesus) for (us) the unrighteous’.
That we could even go as far as saying that the Son of God choose to die for those who considered him their enemy, is what lifts his sacrifice into a class of its own.
To me, the choice to die for enemies is what lifts the Christian gospel from the level of merely human thought, to the majesty of divine grace.
With every blessing, Revd. Scott Patterson
(September 2025 Curry Rivel News - From The Parish Pump)
New beginnings by Canon Paul Hardingham
September is the time of year when we get back to our routines after the summer break. As whole-life disciples (literally: learners) we are all called to learn from Jesus and live like Him. God wants us to make a difference in our workplaces and schools, and with family and friends. As Paul writes:
‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.’ (Colossians 3:17).
‘WHATEVER you do’: God is at work in every aspect of our lives. He can use whatever we do to make a difference to those around. Do we believe this? Our lives shouldn’t be like an orange, segmented into the sacred and secular, but more like an apple, in which all of our lives are available to Him.
‘Whatever YOU do’: God wants to use us to share God’s love as we serve others around us, wherever we spend time. We can trust Him for the resources we need hour by hour, day by day, year by year. What do we need from Him?
‘Whatever you DO’: We work for God alone, in responding to God’s love for us. How does this perspective make a difference when what we do is hard, unrewarding, or even unappreciated by others?
A man standing on a train platform was asked one day: ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘I am a Christian thinly disguised as an accountant.’ If we were asked the same question ourselves, how would we respond? As disciples of Jesus Christ, our identity is rooted in God and His call upon our lives. For each of us, September means learning from Jesus about how we might live for Him in the different places we find ourselves.
(April 2025 Curry Rivel News)
Looking for signs of life.
I love all the sunshine we have been having recently! I find myself looking for signs of spring as hungrily as I do when I stand in front of the fridge, looking for something to snack on before dinner. I love seeing the hedgerows and trees bursting with bright green, taking in the sweet smells of fresh growth and feeling the warmth on my skin.
All this hopeful looking for life makes me think back to my teaching days. We all thrive on encouragement, but children quickly see through empty compliments. I remember one young person I taught who called me out on this one day. The truth was empty compliments were as demotivating and insulting to his abilities as criticism. A good teacher can find genuine achievements to praise and commend, however small and seemingly insignificant they may appear. These can be the glimmers of hope that growth is possible, that success will come.
In the church calendar, we are in the season of Lent; reflection, prayer and simplification to humbly prepare ourselves for Easter. This year I am challenged to not wallow in my past failings, but to see glimmers of hope for change and life. Poet Gregory Orr puts it this way: “Not to make loss beautiful, but to make loss the place where beauty starts”. I think this is where my understanding of Easter lies.
The Christian hope is that life came out of Jesus’ death. That there is a hope that broken things can be mended, and reconciliation is possible. The Easter story, which recognises loss, invites us into the place where beauty starts.
On the subject of new seasons, my time as Curate here in the village has come to an end and I will be moving on after Easter. It is sad saying goodbye and we are grateful for the friendships we have made during our time here. I also pray, particularly for my kids, that their sadness in leaving will be a place where beauty starts too.
I leave a blessing from the Northumbria Community with you.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness and protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.
Rev Mark