I was blessed to be able to attend Vespers on Saturday night, and heard this wonderful hymn

The feast that passed was radiant,
but the one to come is even more glorious.
There the Magi worshipped the Savior;
here the servant baptizes the Master.
There the shepherds saw the Child and were amazed;
here the voice of the Father proclaims the only-begotten Son!

I’ve written before about how the Nativity and the Theophany bookend the 12 Days of Christmas, and I liked what the hymn said about the even more glorious Theophany. In many ways, we focus on the Nativity more - it makes sense, there’s a Lenten-like preparation for it, we have food and gift traditions that surround it, the kids are excited, we have parties to attend and gifts to buy. But in actuality, the Theophany is a greater feast theologically as there is a Trinitarian manifestation, and we are aware of Christ’s baptism sanctifying the entire cosmos, as Father Stephen so brilliantly pointed out in today’s post.

We are still stuck in our freakishly cold and snowy winter, just barely having thawed from our pre-Christmas storm to find snow this morning. It appears that warmer air has come in behind it, though, and I am looking forward to trekking up to our parish’s chapel in the foothills, spending time with my Goddaughter, enjoying the feast, contemplating God’s abs, and taking time to really remember how life-changing it is.

Happy Theophany.