I know that January 6th has passed, but we are still in the season of Epiphany, so I wanted to share an Epiphany story with all of you.
As many of you know, January 6th is the day that we celebrate the visitation of the Magi to Jesus and his family, and they present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They followed the star from the east and we assume they traveled by camel, and they are warned in a dream not to return to Herod to tell about where Jesus was and head back east.
Well, I have to tell you how incredibly surprised and excited our family was (maybe just Bekkah and I) when we went to see the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo on the night of Friday January 5th. I say that because when we got inside the gates, we saw a sign (Bekkah saw it first) that said that they were having an event during Zoo Lights where you could meet the Three Kings.
After wandering around looking at lights for quite some time we headed up the stairs to one of the pavilions and proceeded to walk up and meet the Three Kings. Madi was excited and went up and took her picture with them. It was so much fun to see something like this. It wasn’t just the meeting of the magi though, there was also a room where you could decorate your own crown, which we did, as well as a sensory station.
At the sensory station there were 6 items we engage with: gold, frankincense, myrrh, straw, camel’s hair, and sand. Again, we were so excited (mostly Bekkah and I) about this station. We were able to smell the frankincense and myrrh, even though they weren’t very potent. We got to touch the gold (not real gold) straw and the camel’s hair. By the way, the camel’s hair was actually quite soft. Perhaps John the Baptist wearing camel hair wasn’t as odd and itchy as we imagine it to be. Finally, we were able to see and shake the sand inside the jar to see and hear it.
The gold, frankincense, and myrrh were obviously there as the gifts from the Magi. The straw was for the manger that Jesus was laid in. The camel’s hair was for the camels that the Magi traveled to see Holy Family and the sand represented the distance the kings traveled while following the star.
I cannot express how exciting it was to have this experience at the Phoenix Zoo. We got to meet the Magi and experience the world they were in while making some crowns for the girls. As I mentioned it was also on January 5th,so it was right before the day we celebrate Epiphany and the visitation of the Magi.
I pray that as we continue to dip our toes into this new year, we all can experience joy and excitement at the wondrous things that God does in our lives and in the lives of others.
Blessings to you this Epiphany season and for the rest of 2024.
Pastor Brian
