The Christian feast of Epiphany is ostensibly about the wise men who visited Jesus as a child bringing gifts of gold, frankensense and myrrh. These holy men from far outside the borders of God's people, Israel, have inspired much imagination over the years, including songs like We Three Kings and plays like Amal and the Night Visitors.
What they represent in Christian theological thought, however, is something far more profound. These visitors from far away demonstrate, in dramatic narrative, how precious God holds all people, and the mysterious and creative ways God finds to include everyone in God's coming kingdom of wholeness, justice and blessing. The magi were completely unexpected; the came to Jesus' side from a different religious tradition and ethnic background, from outside the political controversies of his day and operating on a wholly other agenda--and became some of the most striking harbingers of the arrival of God among us in the entire nativity story.
On Epiphany we celebrate how much bigger God's family is than we ever imagine, how much broader God's imagination stretches than ours ever can and how deeply, inescapably inclusive the story of God is in our world. Epiphany is for all of us. Epiphany is about all of us. Epiphany reminds us that we are all included in the family of God.
Image: Twinflame Supermoonar Eclipse by James R. Eads 2015