Epiphany is a season of the Church that begins after Christmastide (the twelve days of Christmas) and concludes the day before Lent. It is a season when people celebrate how a star led the Magi (the three kings) to visit Jesus after his birth. Like Christmastide, the season of Epiphany is an occasion for feasting and celebrating not only the birth of Jesus, but also the glorious reality that the light of Jesus has entered the world to shine on all peoples and nations. Epiphany is a greek word meaning to “show” or “reveal”.

The Magi who brought gifts to Jesus were really the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as King and thus they were the first to show or reveal Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi - reflected in Simeon’s blessing that Jesus would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2:32)” - was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people and all nations, and that God’s work of salvation in the world would extend even beyond Israel.

This installation encouraged the participant to enter into this season and communicate this idea of Jesus as savior for all by bringing and affixing a “gift” to the wall. During the six weeks of Epiphany, each week people were prompted to take a card (gift), and after following the instructions they placed their card anywhere on the board. Using the colors traditionally associated with epiphany (whites, greens, gold) each participant contributed to this “living” tapestry that gradually changed and grew over the course of the season. Our hope was that we would experience afresh the all-encompassing grace of God for the world, and perhaps be stirred with deeper desire to show and reveal the Light of the world.

Week #1:
Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1.5). God has placed many people in our lives who belong to him, but have yet to know him. One of the incredible aspects to prayer is that God uses people who were once far from him, to reach out and have an impact on those who have yet to know him. You get to be part of the blessing!

Instructions
1. Choose a colored card from the basket. (choose as many you like)
2. Write the first name of a person for whom you are asking God’s light to break through and shine in the dark. (hole at top of card)
3. Use one card for each name.
4. Hang your card(s) on the wall.

Week #2:
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote: Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise boast in their wisdom, let not the mighty boast in their might, let not the rich boast in their riches, but let the one who boasts boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord…” (Jer. 9.23-24). A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human creature, and the foundation of a knowledge of God is to understand his perfections as we see them revealed in the Bible.

Instructions
1. Choose a colored card from the basket. (choose as many you like)
2. Write down an attribute of God that you are thankful for during this season. (hole at top of card) Consider his supremacy or his patience or his power or his holiness or his goodness or his mercy or his love or his wrath. Let writing down this attribute be an offering of praise to God.
3. Use one card for each attribute.
4. Hang your card(s) on the wall.

Week #3:
God communicates his plan for the world and what he requires and expects from his people through his word, the Bible. God’s word teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). As we encounter God’s all-encompassing grace for the world on the pages of the Bible, it shapes us into a people whose desires become his desires, our hearts and lives become aligned with his. As we read, and the Spirit of God illumines our minds, the Bible forms us into a people who live to show and reveal the Light of the world.

Instructions
1. Choose a colored card from the basket. (choose as many you like)
2. Write down a scripture reference(s) that God has used to prompt you to consider others, pray for others, serve others. (hole at top of card) Let the recalling of God’s word stir afresh a heart for the other.
3. Use one card for each reference.
4. Hang your card(s) on the wall.

Week #4:
Many of us experience a gospel blindness in our lives. This happens for different reasons. Our sight gets dimmed by the things of this world that scream for our attention and devotion, by life’s daily demands that we face every day, by the pressures of success and the necessary steps we take to secure it. But the truth is the gospel belongs to every part of our life - our hearts and minds, our houses, our cars, our relationships, our jobs, our schools. Many of us simply become blind to the power and hope of the gospel of Jesus. 2 Peter 1:3-9 reminds us, His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

While we experience this blindness at times, praise God that we also experience the breakthrough of his power and the increasing of these qualities in our lives. This causes us to celebrate - celebrate his kindness toward his people and his faithfulness to complete his work in us.

Instructions
1. Choose a colored card from the basket. (choose as many you like)
2. Write down (hole at top of card) an area of your life where you have experienced an increase from God. Where has the Light of the world shone most brightly? It might be in a relationship. It might be a change in your posture toward money. Take a moment to offer praise and thanks to God for the grace he has shone you in this area.
3. Use one card for each area.
4. Hang your card(s) on the wall.

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EPIPHANY EXHIBITION (2021)