St Mary's Church, Dymock

The church divides the year into eight main Seasons, each with one or more Major Festivals, that remind us of the important times in the life and work of God and Jesus, and consequently have major significance for his followers, so are usually observed by most Christians.

As well as the Seasons and Major Festivals, the church celebrates several 'Special Days' throughout the year to remember, honour or support our work in God's world. Celebration of the Special Days is usually optional, Christians chose which they want to include. Click here to view the 'Special Days'.

Epiphany is a Greek word that means 'Reveal' and celebrates the revealing of Jesus to humanity. The season of Epiphany runs between Christmas and Lent and begins with the 'Festival of Epiphany', which is always on January 6th. Lent always begins 46 days before Easter, but as the date of Easter is defined by the phases of the moon, so the end of the season of Epiphany varies each year as the start of Lent moves with the moon's phases.

The Festival of Epiphany celebrates the visit of wise men to the baby Jesus, and through them Jesus was reveled to non-Jews. This is often celebrated as part of Christmas, with the wise men shown with the other characters in the crib scene used for the Advent Crib Service, but scholars suggest that the wise men probably arrived some time later as king Herod, who felt threatened by a rival "King of the Jews", had all boys under the age of 2 killed (Matthew chapter 2). If the visit had been at the time of Jesus' birth, Herod wouldn't have needed to slaughter so many innocents.
.
It's usual to talk about the 'three wise men' but the Bible doesn't say how many there were, it only mentions three gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:1 & 2:11), but people have assumed that as there were three gifts, so there must have been three wise men, although there could have been more or less men. (Return to top)

The season of Epiphany includes the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. Baptism (also called 'Christening') is a sign of the washing away of our past wrong-doings (sin) and the start of a new life as a member of the church of Christ. Jesus was the first to be baptised to start the church. As he came up out of the water of baptism, he was revealed as the Son of God, because a voice was heard saying 'This is my Son.... with whom I am well pleased' (Matthew chapter 3). Followers of Jesus to this day see baptism as an essential part of becoming a follower of Jesus - a Christian - and so being saved from our wrong doings (sin), and eligible to be considered for eternal life after death.

The season of Epiphany also includes the 'Conversion of Saint Paul'. Paul was a very devout Jew, a Pharisee, a class of Jews who believed that they should adhere absolutely to God's Laws given through the ancient prophet Moses, so after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul made it his business to hunt down and persecute anyone who tried to follow Jesus' teachings (Paul thought Jesus was wrong as he didn't follow exactly the traditions taught by Moses). As he was travelling to the city of Damascus to persecute Christians there, Paul was blinded by a bright light and thrown to the ground, where he had a vision in which Jesus was revealed to him.
.
Despite his previous impassioned persecution of Christians, Paul now became a Christian himself and one of the main people to spread the knowledge of Jesus, and hence Christianity, throughout the rest of the world (Acts, chapter 9). Paul now saw his task was to make Jesus known to non-Jews, so he visited many of the countries around the area and wrote many of the letters now included in the latter part of the Bible. (Return to Top)