“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2: 9-11

As for many the celebration of Christmas is over.

The gifts all given, festive dinners had, trees, tinsels, and tokens all tucked away patiently waiting their return at the end of the slog through the new year ahead.

For any who want one more chance to savor the true meaning of Christmas, we still have one more day. 

Tomorrow is Epiphany, I personally do not believe that one has to be of any certain denomination to celebrate a day marking a truly wondrous event.

When the wisest of the wise were divinely led and kneeled before the true King of Kings and the absolute Lord of all Lords.

We will look in a bit at the mirroring of that event in the future days as all will bow before the one who came as that precious babe takes his rightful place as the acknowledged absolute King over everything.

I was very fortunate to have a mother who loved keeping old traditions alive and retelling the stories passed down from her own mother of days and customs long ago.

I had my entire life heard of old Christmas as being celebrated January 6th and often wondered why I got such strange looks when mentioning it, very recently discovered through my daughter that this custom was so old that its very existence is practically unknown to most in the modern word.

I was thrilled to see on the local news that there is now a new festival honoring these traditions.

Life was different then, celebrations meant something, a time to look forward with joy and expectancy rather than the stressful hurried rush of planning, purchasing, and pondering that forces the holidays of today into one of the most difficult times of the year for many who battle sorrow and depression.

The true intent of joy and celebration being perverted by the enemy into a tool of hinderance and dread.

Epiphany is a day for me I hold dear for my own reasoning, I preached my first message on Epiphany 2008

Years later my uncle made his heavenly journey home on that very day, his wife later would follow passing also on the day marked as the day of the appearing of Christ himself and there is such a bittersweetness in that.

I loved him like crazy, and he was my spiritual father as I was called in ministry, he encouraged me to be bold as our denomination being male dominated and not female friendly required thick skin and resolve, and his influence still pushes me to this very day.

To go home for Christmas, a precious request that my dad had told his aide months ago that he had. He had gone to the brink of death many times over the last few years but always bounced back, God in his mercy sparing him yet a little longer. 

But the past year was something else and the last three months has been a journey that only God could walk us through.

He just had so many issues with health and had fought so long, I think he just grew weary.

He was such a character and age meant nothing to him, he actually drove until he was ninety-one, and failing eyesight was the only thing that prevented him from continuing.

He could be so sweet and funny, and as us all, other times contrary and ornery, but his love for Jesus was the constant through it all.

He would pray for anyone that asked, he prayed right then and right there, post office, grocery store, wherever he found himself, he did his best to be good servant to God.

He had an extremely traumatic life and overcame incredible obstacles, like many parent/child relationships we had our moments, to say the least.

I was always strongly opiniated and very vocal and he was the traditional father which led to some serious head-butting especially during my teen years but when conviction time came for my soul, he was in fact who prayed with me for salvation, and he prayed with me when I received the Holy Ghost and our relationship took such a strange but positive turn, he was no longer “The Man”, to be fought against in some feigned fight for freedom but he actually became my friend.

Once I actually bothered to listen with my heart, I understood and I understood things that would make my heart break and allow me to see something that I have never seen, “The Man” or not, he was human.

When I was a kid, in the nineteen seventies he had a poker house and the later irony in that was coming to understand how well he ended up playing the hand he had been dealt in life.

After many discussions with friends who have also lost parents, I have come to believe the hardest part of becoming a caregiver is not necessarily the inevitable, but the process of the becoming.

The one who was so strong, so tall, you could always call on suddenly becoming frail, and tired, and distant as disease and illness effect every single aspect of life.

My brother and I have pondered this also, I don’t think he would mind me mentioning him, but there is just something so surreal and other worldly about the whole process and your mind just kinda goes numb.

Just try to be strong and be strong for them and do everything you can to keep them comfortable and positive and try your best to not break down in front of them as you just watch them fade away.

Death is the playing field that is level for us all, no one is exempt and sorrow and grief come to us all.

Different ways, different degrees but we are all subject to loss, part of being human and being on this earth and that is why we always have to remind ourselves that this is not our home and death does not have the final say.

If you have read me before, you may know that I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God and I believe that as we are taught through the Bible that he knew us before the foundations of the earth were lain and in that we must know that he also foreknew the moment that our time on this earth would be no more.

Job 7:1: ” Is there not an appointed time to a man upon earth? are not his days like the days of a hireling? (known in advance)”

He also foreknew the moment that we were to return to him and often as caregivers or those who have experienced terminal illness in our families we can become so overwhelmed with the feeling of not understanding or even questioning circumstances but in that sovereignty and if you believe in that sovereignty, we also have to accept that he knew our place in that plan.

Ecclesiastes 12:7: “The shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

In that sovereignty, we are never alone, we may feel alone, we may feel overwhelmed, but He is there.

The day I came to realize this with such a newness and peace was a week to the day that my dad would die.

I was at the bed, adjusting his blankets, trying to make him as comfortable as possible, just doing the things you do when your mind goes into autopilot because you don’t know what to do and I leaned down to kiss him on the head and he put his arm around me and patted my back and said “It’s going to be okay” and not long after gave me the sweetest smile and those were his last words to me.

You know, even though we both knew it was not okay by world standards that somehow God would get us all through it.

So many others that are close to us have been through a season of loss recently also and we all process it so differently but just like Daddy wanting to comfort me while he was the dying himself, Jesus wants to comfort us all.

He loves us, even when we face the worst of our days, he is there, but you have to believe that and look for that.

Just as the magi looked and saw. 

Look for the hands of God, look for the little things, words of comfort, friends that were sent, messages of comfort, sometimes it’s hard to see the hand of God through all the tears but it is there, just look for it.

Maybe you are struggling with sorrow and loss today, maybe you even feel that God abandoned you in it.

God does not just hurt us, he does not just take our loved ones, and sometimes people do get miracles, but we all have an appointed time to go, and God knows that time and he has reasons for the time we are given.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8: ” Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst (while) we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight) We are confident,  I say, willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

But he will never leave those left behind alone in their pain.

Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

In grief it’s always the little things, it will never be the same without him, I miss him like crazy, after my brother died he refused to say Goodbye to anyone, and we always had to say 10-4 instead of goodbye and for us and my cousins that spoke with him often, 10-4 will never be heard the same way again.

He had his own language which was so endearing, old Scot and a wee bit of English pirate that my mom desperately tried to correct, but some things are awesome just as they are.

Death takes not only our loved ones, it takes our sense of self, as one friend wrote, when she lost her mom, she became Daddy’s girl.

No matter our age once we lose both, we ourselves feel lost.

Our identities are so locked into who we came from and who they are and who they were and who they raised us to be and to navigate that we must go back to our heavenly father.

Psalms 27: 10: ” When my mother and father forsake me. then the LORD will take me up.”

I don’t think that necessarily means that they actually forsake us and throw us to the wolves, which it certainly could apply there, I think we can also apply it the loss of those relationships through death.

Daddy made it home for Christmas, we laid him to rest one week before Christmas Eve.

Back to the beautiful child to whom kings bowed down.

I know this post was kinda like a patchwork quilt, but sometimes it just works out that way.

I am so tired of hearing about Owens and Carlson and all these Jew hating jerks that I am refusing to even watch shows I once enjoyed.

Top that off with the reversal of executive orders in NYC and if being sworn in in a virtual tunnel is not a little tongue in cheek slap to the face of those who love Israel, I don’t know what could possibly be.

I want to give you a wonderful thought to hang on to, it will help with the disgust of it all.

Just as the wise men willingly bowed before Jesus, in our love for him we do also, not because we are forced or demanded, we do it from love and absolute adoration for who he is and what he has done out of his love for us, and he and he alone is worthy to be praised.

When all is said on earth, when all is done and time is fulfilled, all will bow before him.

Regardless of politics, regardless of belief system, regardless of wealth, social standing, regardless of snobbery or hobnobbery all will bow before the Lord and acknowledge him.  

Isaiah 45:23: ” I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear”

Romans14:11,12: ” For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”          

Philippians 2:9-11: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should (will) bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 

And that every tongue should (will) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Sometimes it’s so good you just gotta say it thrice! Thrice of course used in keeping with our old tradition’s theme;)

I would venture to say under the earth would indeed cover tunnels. Wouldn’t you think?

The greatest Epiphany, which is to come, in the presence of the King.

Revelation 7:9-12: “After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands;

And cried with a loud voice, saying Salvation to our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beats, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”

Have a wonderful old Christmas, Blessed Epiphany and a wonderful week ahead!

Peace & Love, until next time! Thank you for reading.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2026/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson