Outsiders bearing gifts
Christmas in the United States is such a mammoth economic phenomenon that when it comes to a crashing end on December 25 it feels like a total cultural collapse.
Even though we should know better, churches too experience a post-Christmas letdown. Preachers know that the Sunday after Christmas is one of two “low Sundays” in the year, and they often take the day off. I did this for years, sometimes extending the day into a blessed two-Sunday holiday. So it is helpful to be reminded that for many of the world’s Christians, Epiphany is the main event—and that in liturgy, song, food, and gift-giving, Christians mark the arrival in Bethlehem of the Magi.
The Magi are by far the most exotic characters in the Christmas story; they have inspired literature, art and music, from O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi” and T. S. Eliot’s poem “Journey of the Magi” to traditional Christmas pageants in churches; from Hollywood-like productions with “live flying angels” to the bathrobe dramas immortalized in Barbara Robinson’s classic children’s story The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
