Eureka V: The Church as Epiphany

If you have been worshipping at Christ Church (or another Anglican church) for any length of time, you have noticed our repeated use of the word “collect” (pronounced KOL-ekt). At the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word, there’s a Collect for Purity followed by the Collect of the Day. Collects do exactly what the word suggests—they collect our thoughts and intentions in worship into a single prayer. When the Celebrant says the Collect of the Day appointed for that given Sunday, he is declaring the focus of our service, including our lectionary readings, our prayers, and our worship.

Consider, then, the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (this coming Sunday, 2/5):

O Lord, our heavenly Father, keep your household the Church continually in your true religion, that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace may always be defended by your mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

The focus of our worship for this coming Sunday, according to this Collect, is Christ’s work of continually sustaining his Bride, the Church. Our Gospel reading appointed for this Sunday communicates that theme as well. In keeping with our Epiphany-themed Compass articles, however, why would we take the time to focus on the Church during a season explicitly focused on the manifestation of God’s grace in the world through the God-man, Jesus Christ? What does the Church have to do with the season of Epiphany?

The Church as Epiphany

Our Gospel reading for this Sunday picks up immediately after the Beatitudes with these words from Jesus:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Mt. 5:13-16).

Christ’s message here, delivered to his disciples early in his ministry, is also a message to God’s people today, living in light of the Cross and Resurrection. If Jesus is the true Epiphany—the true and perfect manifestation of God’s glory—then the Church is the agent of His continued Epiphanic mission to illuminate the glory of God through the person of Christ. To put it simply, the Church’s mission is to shine a spotlight on Jesu, that the world may come to saving faith in Him and be eternally reconciled to God.

Salt and Light

The specific metaphor Jesus uses to describe the Church’s Epiphanic mission is the metaphor of “salt and light.” Growing up in the South, any time a person was especially nice or mannerly, I would hear them described as “the salt of the earth.” The metaphor is so ubiquitous that I recently heard it used on a sitcom to describe someone who was particularly down-to-earth. What Jesus is communicating here by describing the Church as “the salt of the earth” is far from a matter of etiquette or nicety. Instead, Jesus is describing people who are flammable or combustible.

In first-century Judea, salt from the Dead Sea was an everyday commodity. Since this salt contained magnesium, it was used to rekindle waning flames used for cooking, heating, and light. If you’re one of Jesus’s disciples hearing this message for the first time, you recognize that “salt” and “light” are not two separate metaphors. The salt serves to make the light brighter and burn longer. This is the Epiphanic mission of the Church. We shine forth with the radiance of Christ’s glory to draw all the nations to Him.

But the light that we have been given is not our light. Christ Himself causes the light of the Church to shine, penetrating the darkness of the world. If you have ever witnessed an Anglican baptism, you will remember that the newly baptized person is given a lit candle. Upon receiving it, these words are spoken: “Receive the light of our Lord Jesus Christ who said: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” If you belong to Jesus, the light of the world has been given to you. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you are made to be like salt which causes the flames of Christ’s light to leap higher. You, Christian brothers and sisters, are the Epiphany.

And again, I say, Eureka!

Dcn. Bree Snow
Minister of Formation and Catechesis