Next Wednesday, the church Season of Epiphany will end.

            The Season of Whaaat? Epiphany -- sudden realization or insight.

            The church year marches somewhat out of step with the calendar. It doesn’t start January 1, or at the winter solstice, which would be a logical beginning point. The Christian year starts four Sundays before Christmas.

            Twelve days after Christmas, tradition says, the Wise Men or Magi followed a star to Bethlehem, to pay homage to the Christ child. Whether it happened that soon – indeed, whether it happened at all – doesn’t matter; that encounter is called The Epiphany, the moment when divinity was revealed to humans, as a human.

            The Magi’s visit launches the Season of Epiphany. Which later becomes the Season of Lent, the penitential period leading up to Easter.

            Because Easter changes its date every year, depending on the phases of the moon and the spring equinox, so does the timing of Lent. This year, Ash Wednesday occurs on Valentine’s Day, February 14 -- an odd coincidence that calls for combining sackcloth and ashes with wearing your heart on your sleeve.

A theme of light

            All through Epiphany, church services have focused on the coming of light – like the lightbulb that used to go on over cartoon characters’ heads when they got an idea.

            Light is important. But I found myself wondering, one evening during a quiet, contemplative worship service, why we ignore darkness.

            Darkness is also important. Seeds germinate in darkness. During the hours of darkness, our bodies recover so we can face a new day. We cuddle loved ones in darkness.

            During that contemplative service, most of the church was dark. We gathered in a softly lit circle, around a candle, feeling ourselves wrapped in a shawl of darkness. We felt close.

            Most families have fond memories of sitting around a campfire, watching the flames dance, watching the firelight flicker on children’s faces.

            Light and darkness are partners, not enemies. A world without darkness would be as intolerable as a world without light.

Partners

            Many years ago, I toured a potash mine near Esterhazy, in Saskatchewan. We went deep underground – almost a mile, by the measurements of the time. In a cavern the size of a football field, the engineer guiding us flipped a master switch.

            And all the lights went out.

            Even the instrument lights in the excavating machines.

            It was utterly, totally, black.

            Our eyes strained to see. But they couldn’t. We could never get used to the lack of light, because there wasn’t any.

            And then, just before anyone started screaming, the engineer flicked on a light.

            His cigarette lighter.

            And that tiny flame, held above his head, was enough for us to see into the farthest reaches of the cavern.

            A light doesn’t have to be powerful.

            Too much light is as dangerous as too little light. You cannot stare directly at the sun, or at a carbon arc, without destroying your eyes. You cannot spend too long in the sun without risking skin cancer.

            Light and dark are two extremes of a spectrum. Either extreme is deadly. Somewhere in between is the ideal blend of light and darkness.

            It seems to me that’s what we should be seeking, and celebrating, during the Season of Epiphany.

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

You didn’t get a column last week, because I couldn’t persuade the computer that forwards these columns to the mailing list that it was really me trying to send it a column from my iPad. It kept rejecting my emails as unauthorized. Obviously, I’m not as computer savvy as I thought I was.

            So these are actually the letters that came in for the previous week’s column, on how we humans create and respond to theories.

Isabel Gibson agreed with my view: “A psychiatrist friend used to say that there came a point in most people's lives where they stopped adapting their ideas or rebuilding their theories to account for the facts. When it got to be too much trouble, they just started ignoring new facts that contraindicated what they thought they knew.

            “I go for Occam's razor when I can, using the simplest explanation available.

            “And as some wag said, never attribute to evil (or conspiracy or . . .) what can be readily explained by stupidity.”

The same for Tom Watson: “Your thoughts, and Seth Godin's, about using a theory until it doesn't work and we need a new one reminds me of something Northrup Frye said: ‘The function of an answer is to help figure out a better question.’ And we ask the better question with the hope that it will lead us to a better answer. All of this makes the world, and us, more sensible than sticking with theories/answers that no longer fit.”

But Bob Stoddard wanted to clarify the use of the word “theory”: “You wrote that when reality doesn’t agree with our theories, we prefer to believe they’re infallible. When reality doesn’t agree with our theories, ‘we’d rather reject the facts than revise the theory.’  Obviously Seth Godin does not understand the nature of a ‘theory’ (or Godin is confused about how the term is used in scientific studies).  Researcher do NOT consider a theory as a fact – it is always a working hypothesis.”

And Lois Carey wrote, “I often say to members of the family, in particular my grandsons, that ‘I have a theory about that.’ In fact I have said more than once that someday I will write a book on ‘the theory of everything.’

            “I sent your previous column about getting a snowblower to two senior guys who were both contemplating getting one, as we do have a lot of snow here [North Bay]. One got a snowblower; the other is considering moving to a condo instead.  Whatever works!”

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PSALM PARAPHRASES

The lectionary calls for Psalm 50:1-6 for this coming Sunday. I don’t particularly like the psalm, and I don’t particularly like my paraphrase of it – it feels too much like the Almighty-Judge-in-the-Sky. Unfortunately, I don’t have an alternative to offer you.

1          As an alarm drags us out of deep slumber, 

2          so God rouses us from our lethargy. 

3          God does not sneak into our consciousness on soft-soled slippers.
God enters like a roaring lion,
a tornado rampaging across the prairie,
a parent who has already warned us three times. 

4          God rattles our excuses.
Feeble rationalizations cannot defend us. 

5          At baptism, at confirmation, at communion, we make promises.
God comes to judge how well we live up to our commitments.

6          How can we challenge God's verdict?
We know how often we have failed. 

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

            To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to jimt@quixotic.ca. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message or subject line) to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

            I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

            I’m leaving out some of the links to other blogs and pages, to see if those links have caused the recent blockages, preventing some of your from receiving the columns at all, and preventing others from sending responses. We’ll see.

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

            Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

            Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

            Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

            Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet