Epiphany Gospel Reading
The season of Epiphany (or Day of Epiphany, as the PC(USA) confusingly insists) is the time of the church calendar stretching from the end of the 12 days of Christmas to Ash Wednesday. The word 'epiphany' means 'manifestation' or, literally in Greek, "bringing light upon" - and it refers to Jesus' light reaching other nations, as represented by the Magi in the Matthew 2 text.
During this season of our church year, we focus heavily on learning Jesus' message, miracles, and teachings - and that presents an opportunity for you to do some focused biblical reading as a family. Each Epiphany, I try to pick one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and read through that particular gospel during the season. This can be a fascinating way to discover particular points of emphasis that each author had - for example, Luke was highly concerned with social justice, while John has a much more developed understanding of who Jesus was and what his ministry meant in the big scheme of things (just compare John 1 to Mark 1!).
The length of the Epiphany season varies depending on when Easter falls, but you should typically have a few months to read through the Gospel you choose - which generally breaks out to be a couple of chapters a week. Even if you only read a handful of stories and discuss them, this can be a valuable way of observing this season.
During this season of our church year, we focus heavily on learning Jesus' message, miracles, and teachings - and that presents an opportunity for you to do some focused biblical reading as a family. Each Epiphany, I try to pick one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and read through that particular gospel during the season. This can be a fascinating way to discover particular points of emphasis that each author had - for example, Luke was highly concerned with social justice, while John has a much more developed understanding of who Jesus was and what his ministry meant in the big scheme of things (just compare John 1 to Mark 1!).
The length of the Epiphany season varies depending on when Easter falls, but you should typically have a few months to read through the Gospel you choose - which generally breaks out to be a couple of chapters a week. Even if you only read a handful of stories and discuss them, this can be a valuable way of observing this season.