The Epiphany of our LordO GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee now by faith, may be led onward through this earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Baptism of our LordO HEAVENLY Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ did take our nature upon him, and was baptized for our sakes in the river Jordan: Mercifully grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may also be partakers of thy Holy Spirit; through him whom thou didst send to be our Saviour and Redeemer, even the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epiphany of our Lord is actually the 6th of January, but is often transferred to the preceding Sunday. It is a continuation of a season that includes the Nativity, Circumcision, and Baptism of the Lord. In secular terms, it is also the first Sunday after New Year’s Day, which caps off the secular ‘Holiday Season’ of Christmas and New Year’s. For the Americans, this is a season which begins after their Thanksgiving in the end of November. This year in particular, the American shopping holiday of Black Friday--which truly does speak to the supremacy of materialism in modern Western culture--was larger in places like Canada and the United Kingdom than any time previously, despite the fact that Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated as Harvest Thanksgiving in October in Canada.
It is a season in which consumerism and consumption are foremost in the minds of many. In its secular context, even the best messages to come out of Christmas are consumerist and materialist, speaking to the joy of giving things and even ensuring that all receive something and are able to have a feast on Christmas. At worst, it is a season in which we show off. We consume giant feasts, and treat all our relations and friends with gifts and we drink considerable amounts of alcohol, particularly on New Year's Eve. Even for those of us who focus our celebrations on Advent and the Nativity of Christ, there is a strong pressure to conform to these pressures. Santa Clause is just as prominent in Christian households as non-Christian households.
The pressure of secular culture can be overwhelming and it's not surprising that it infiltrates even Christian households, and it’s something that detracts from what CS Lewis describes as one of the cardinal virtues of Christianity in his Mere Christianity. He later goes on to describe and define temperance in a section that gives the title to this blog post:
When we allow the influence of the world to affect our views of Christmas and how it should be celebrated, however imperceptibly, we are shifting our focus away from Christ. Whenever we allow something--be it consumerism or a love of contract bridge, as Lewis notes--to replace the focus of our lives, albeit temporarily, from Christ to that other thing, we run the risk that Christ will be completely supplanted in our lives.
In his epistle to the Romans, St Paul reminds us that, “you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness,” (Rm 6. 17-18). In this, he reinforces the words of Christ who is recorded in the Gospel of John as saying, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free... Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin... So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,” (Jn 8. 31-35).
Intemperance here refers to the sins of lust and gluttony. Holy Scripture’s prohibitions (Prv 6; Gal 5) are clear and many Christians over the centuries have spoken to the impact of the sins of intemperance on our lives. In his Summa Theologica, St Thomas Aquinas wrote on the nature of both lust and temperance. His work remains one of the most influential in Western Christianity, indeed CS Lewis’s own writings on the cardinal virtues in Mere Christianity are based on the definitions of the cardinal and theological virtues.
Epiphany is a time in which we remember Christ's manifestation to the gentiles, and it caps of a time when we celebrate God's love for mankind: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” (Jn 3. 16). It is a time when we are meant to be fully focused on the one who saves us from slavery to sin, yet the secular world is telling us instead to focus on something which will lead to sin.
This is a season in which we are meant to contemplate the importance of the incarnation. It is a time when we are reminded of the joy of the personal relationship we can have with God which is enabled through Christ. Instead, for many it is a season in which they are encouraged to view it as positive we buy gifts, eat giant feasts and, in the case of New Year’s, drink. These are presented as virtues: generosity, peace and joyfulness.
As we enter Epiphanytide, a time of growth and renewal when we are reminded of these truths of the incarnation, we should seek to grow truly in faith, the freedom of Christ, and in true virtue, temperance.
It is a season in which consumerism and consumption are foremost in the minds of many. In its secular context, even the best messages to come out of Christmas are consumerist and materialist, speaking to the joy of giving things and even ensuring that all receive something and are able to have a feast on Christmas. At worst, it is a season in which we show off. We consume giant feasts, and treat all our relations and friends with gifts and we drink considerable amounts of alcohol, particularly on New Year's Eve. Even for those of us who focus our celebrations on Advent and the Nativity of Christ, there is a strong pressure to conform to these pressures. Santa Clause is just as prominent in Christian households as non-Christian households.
The pressure of secular culture can be overwhelming and it's not surprising that it infiltrates even Christian households, and it’s something that detracts from what CS Lewis describes as one of the cardinal virtues of Christianity in his Mere Christianity. He later goes on to describe and define temperance in a section that gives the title to this blog post:
One great piece of mischief has been done by the modern restriction of the word Temperance to the question of drink. It helps people to forget that you can be just as intemperate about lots of other things. A man who makes his golf or his motor-bicycle the centre of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as “intemperate” as someone who gets drunk every evening. Of course, it does not show on the outside so easily: bridge-mania or golf-mania do not make you fall down in the middle of the road. But God is not deceived by externals.The point Lewis makes is two-fold. First, the great piece of mischief he refers to is the fact that in modern English, temperance has come to be associated with the abstinence from drink, rather than, “all pleasures; and it meant not abstaining, but going the right length and no further.” Second, and perhaps more importantly, he points out that it is the substituting of the excess of things for God in our lives.
When we allow the influence of the world to affect our views of Christmas and how it should be celebrated, however imperceptibly, we are shifting our focus away from Christ. Whenever we allow something--be it consumerism or a love of contract bridge, as Lewis notes--to replace the focus of our lives, albeit temporarily, from Christ to that other thing, we run the risk that Christ will be completely supplanted in our lives.
In his epistle to the Romans, St Paul reminds us that, “you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness,” (Rm 6. 17-18). In this, he reinforces the words of Christ who is recorded in the Gospel of John as saying, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free... Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin... So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,” (Jn 8. 31-35).
Intemperance here refers to the sins of lust and gluttony. Holy Scripture’s prohibitions (Prv 6; Gal 5) are clear and many Christians over the centuries have spoken to the impact of the sins of intemperance on our lives. In his Summa Theologica, St Thomas Aquinas wrote on the nature of both lust and temperance. His work remains one of the most influential in Western Christianity, indeed CS Lewis’s own writings on the cardinal virtues in Mere Christianity are based on the definitions of the cardinal and theological virtues.
Epiphany is a time in which we remember Christ's manifestation to the gentiles, and it caps of a time when we celebrate God's love for mankind: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” (Jn 3. 16). It is a time when we are meant to be fully focused on the one who saves us from slavery to sin, yet the secular world is telling us instead to focus on something which will lead to sin.
This is a season in which we are meant to contemplate the importance of the incarnation. It is a time when we are reminded of the joy of the personal relationship we can have with God which is enabled through Christ. Instead, for many it is a season in which they are encouraged to view it as positive we buy gifts, eat giant feasts and, in the case of New Year’s, drink. These are presented as virtues: generosity, peace and joyfulness.
As we enter Epiphanytide, a time of growth and renewal when we are reminded of these truths of the incarnation, we should seek to grow truly in faith, the freedom of Christ, and in true virtue, temperance.
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