Epiphany is the Christian festival which occurs on the 12th day of Christmas – January 6th and the season of Epiphany lasts until February 2nd. Traditionally it is accompanied by the story of the visit of the Magi (3 kings) to the infant Jesus. This story is not in Luke’s Gospel – it is in Matthew. This festival and season are concerned with the ‘showing forth’ or ‘manifestation’ of Jesus and our Bible readings explore some of the ways in which the gospel writers show how Jesus is recognised and shown to be the 'Son of God’.
The season of Epiphany is a bit like Christmas II. Our traditional tale has a stable and shepherds and kings and the Holy Family all together in one big gathering – a scene to be seen in many places around the country. However, the stories from Matthew and Luke are not quite like that as we will discover.
Downloads:
Special: Epiphany and Psalm 85
Special: Epiphany and Psalm 96
Music (and more) notes:
For music you could use Respighi’s Adoration of the Magi from his Three Botticelli Pictures which is beautifully evocative and quite accessible – listen out for O come O come Emmanuel at 1.12 (ish)
There are also many, many pictures of the visit of the wise men to Jesus. These could form an Epiphany display. Encourage questions about them.
For later in the season, you might use something reflective such as Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending, here is Nigel Kennedy on YouTube.
There is also a Descent of the Dove piano piece on YouTube though it might not be quite to your liking.