Epiphany and Lent Overview of the Church Season and Lessons The seasons of Epiphany and Lent are placed side Epiphany by side in our church liturgical calendar, so we often think of them as linked. However, they are two January 6th is the date of the Epiphany. On this day, separate seasons, each centered around two different we celebrate the coming of the Magi (Wise Men) Christian cycles. to visit Jesus, a symbol of the manifestation of Jesus the Christ to the world. Some traditions also usher Epiphany centers around the Feast of our Lord’s in the Epiphany season by a celebration of Twelfth Nativity: Christmas Day. It is at the end of what is Night, the last night of the Christmas season and the called the Incarnational Cycle. eve of Epiphany. Lent centers around the Feast of our Lord’s On the first Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate Resurrection: Easter Day. It is at the beginning of the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. His baptism what is called the Resurrection Cycle. is seen as the primary baptism, the one on which all Around February or March, at the end of one cycle baptisms follow. So Epiphany has a double focus: and the beginning of the other, these two parts of the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God to our Church year come together. the world through the coming of the Wise Men, and the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God It is during this time of Epiphany and Lent that through his baptism. we focus on the life and works of Jesus Christ— especially his acts of healing and his miracles—that In the gospel readings for all years, on the First reveal him as the Son of God. Sunday after Epiphany (Year A: Matthew 3:13-20; Year B: Mark 1:4-11; Year C: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22), Jesus is proclaimed as the Son of God by the voice of God from heaven, and the Holy Spirit is seen in the form of a dove. God is now made known in the person of Jesus Christ.

© 2011 By Joanna Leiserson. Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only. 2 | SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS | EPIPHANY AND LENT: OVERVIEW OF THE CHURCH SEASON AND LESSONS | WEAVING GOD’S PROMISES

During the three to eight weeks after the Epiphany, Lent we learn in the gospel lectionary readings about Jesus’ miracles of healing and his teachings. In these Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the fortieth readings, we learn the various ways that Jesus has weekday before Easter. Lent is a period of special revealed God to us by making God known through fasting and preparation, and especially a time of mighty signs and teachings. discipline and preparation for those who will be baptized at Easter. On the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, we observe the Transfiguration of Christ, when Peter, James and As Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness fasting, John saw Jesus in the light of his divine glory, and praying and being tempted by Satan, so we follow Jesus is again proclaimed as “My Son, the Beloved” him in a period of discipline and prayer. The passage by God. for the First Sunday in Lent is always—and always has been—the account of Jesus’ temptations. This The season of Epiphany for us is the time for reading sets the theme and the length of the season. recalling the birth of the Light of the world in the ministry of the Church, and for rededicating The Book of Common Prayer asks us on Ash ourselves to our own missionary task of continuing Wednesday to observe “a holy Lent, by self- to spread that light to all people. examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s The liturgical color of Epiphany is green. holy Word” (p. 265). Lent is, then, a season of penitence, but not only that. It is also a time to “prepare with joy for the Paschal feast” (BCP, p. 379, the Catechism). It is a time of preparation for Jesus’ death, but above all it is a time of anticipation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our own redemption through that saving act. The liturgical color of Lent is a deep purple, the traditional color of penitence.

© 2011 By Joanna Leiserson. Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.