A couple of days ago, in my inbox, I got the Troparion of the Forefeast of Theophany (or Epiphany) (which in the Eastern Church commemorates Christ’s Baptism, not the Adoration of the Magi):

Make ready, O Zebulon, and prepare thyself, Nephthali./ River Jordan, stop flowing and leap for joy at the Lord's coming for Baptism./ Rejoice, O Adam, with our first mother;/ hide not yourself as in Paradise of old./ For seeing us naked He has appeared,/ to clothe us with our first garment./ Christ has appeared, to renew the whole of creation.

I was struck how much it reminded me of the Troparion of the Forefeast of the Nativty:

Prepare, O Bethlehem, for Eden has been opened to all. Adorn yourself, O Ephratha, for the Tree of Life blossoms forth from the Virgin in the cave. Her womb is a spiritual paradise planted with the fruit divine; if we eat of it we shall live forever and not die like Adam. Christ is coming to restore the image which He made in the beginning.

It’s not surprising that these two feasts that bookend the 12 Days of Christmas – The Nativity and Theophany - have similar liturgical hymns, for as Father Thomas (who sent the above email as well) writes:

The sixth of January is the feast of the Epiphany. Originally it was the one Christian feast of the "shining forth" of God to the world in the human form of Jesus of Nazareth. It included the celebration of Christ's birth, the adoration of the Wisemen, and all of the childhood events of Christ such as his circumcision and presentation to the temple as well as his baptism by John in the Jordan. There seems to be little doubt that this feast, like Easter and Pentecost, was understood as the fulfillment of a previous Jewish festival, in this case the Feast of Lights…
The services of Epiphany are set up exactly as those of Christmas, although historically it was most certainly Christmas which was made to imitate Epiphany since it was established later. Once again the Royal Hours and the Liturgy of Saint Basil are celebrated together with Vespers on the eve of the feast; and the Vigil is made up of Great Compline and Matins. The prophecies of Epiphany repeat the God is with Us from Isaiah and stress the foretelling of the Messiah as well as the coming of his forerunner, John the Baptist [who is]:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Is 40:3-5; Lk 3:4-6).

As we get ready to celebrate the Feast tomorrow, and begin our annual season of house blessings, my best wishes to you and yours.
Christ is Baptized! In the Jordan!

2006 in Review.

Stolen from the Birthday girl, Rebekah.

Year in Review Instructions:
Go to the FIRST BLOG of each month for the past year.
Copy-n-paste the LAST SENTENCE of each blog.
That is your Year in Review.

Except, I misread it and put my first sentence, and I’m too lazy to go back and change it.

January - Happy New Year! Did you enjoy the extra second?
February - Happy St. Brigid’s Day!
March - Everything is Connected
April - Turtles and coral and lava, oh my!
May - If it’s Spring, it must be Baseball Season.
June - What is so rare as a day in June? Apparently a blog post from me in June
July - A Big Ol’ Box of Britain and Barcelona
August - After reading Ian’s post on the Procession of the Life Giving Cross yesterday
September - Happy New Year!
October - We're in the playoffs, baby!
November - Overheard in our neck of the woods recently:
December - What I'm reading now, when the cat isn't using it as a pillow

It’s also my good friend Mary’s birthday, so Happy Birthday to her as well.

How I spent my Christmas Vacation (photos to follow).

Flying on the Saturday before Christmas - Enjoying Breakfast with my Grandmother - Spending time with my Best Friend – Enjoying being an Aunt – Christmas through the eyes of my kids – Celebrating the Nativity – Oversleeping and missing Liturgy – Seeing cousins and extended family – Getting coffee as a gift (some from Costa Rica
even!) – Going to San Francisco – Learning everything I know about Dinosaurs is wrong – Shopping on Pier 39- Having Coffee with Red Molly (and meeting her awesome family!) – Seeing aforementioned best friend’s new house – having real Mexican food (yum, what a treat!) – spending time with family – flying out on New Year’s Eve – getting home an hour before the New Year.

Christ is Born! Happy New Year!