About 25 miles from Mitchell is the little community of Epiphany, South Dakota. I don’t believe Epiphany’s population breaks the 100-person mark these days. But did you know that years back, in the early 1900s, the town of Epiphany at times had 300-400 guests, not residents…but guests, staying wherever they could find shelter, just to receive treatment at the famous Epiphany Clinic.
The clinic was started by Father William Kroeger who also happened to be a trained physician. Fr. Kroeger came to South Dakota to get away from the stress and struggles of life (and ministry) that he was experiencing in Ohio and Indiana. He began serving the parish in Epiphany and soon discovered that Epiphany and the surrounding area had no medical doctor and thus very limited medical care. Kroeger’s Bishop, Fr. Martin Marty in Sioux Falls, encouraged Fr. Kroeger to not waste his medical knowledge but to put it to good use by caring for the sick and poor in the region.
That’s exactly what the good Father / Doctor did. He started treating the people of the community…and they started telling others of their being cured at the hands of Fr. Kroeger, and word began to spread, and spread, and spread. People began flocking to Epiphany, South Dakota to experience the healing of the miracle worker.
Epiphany is more than just a town; it is also a date and season in the Church year. Epiphany is always January 6, though in the Church it is often celebrated on the Sunday closest to January 6. This view of Epiphany focuses on one of two things. 1) The arrival of the Magi/three kings in Bethlehem and finding the “newborn king.” That’s the Western Church tradition. 2) Epiphany focuses on the baptism of Jesus and the voice from heaven declaring, “This is my beloved son, with him I am pleased.” This is the Eastern Church tradition.
But Epiphany is more than a location, still present here in South Dakota, and it is more than just a date in the church year. Epiphany is also an encounter…an experience…a moment in time in which something is revealed or made clear. The word means manifestation or appearance.
Technically, from a Church Calendar perspective, we are in the season of Epiphanytide, or the Sundays after Epiphany until Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year is on February 14, Valentines Day. Yet, an important realization for each of us to make is that we are to be living in “Epiphany” all year round. As followers of Jesus and as ones connected to the Church, part of what our faith is about is helping people see, understand, or realize who Jesus is through how we live our lives and live out our faith.
You see, at Jesus’ baptism, God announced to the world, “This is my Son…” But the rest of the New Testament is filled with story after story of people making this realization for themselves of who Jesus is. This usually happens through the person’s encounter with other Christ followers and how they tell or live their unique faith story. This is why God wants and needs each of us to be telling and living our story and sharing our gifts, because it just might be that through our unique story, or through the use of the gifts that we have, that someone might see or experience Jesus and have their own Epiphany moment.
So, don’t be surprised if at some point in May, July, or September, or whenever, that I wish you a Happy Epiphany. No, I’m not losing touch with reality…I’m just taking the time to remind myself and each of us that we are to constantly be an “Epiphany People,” living our lives is such a way that someone might come to see, understand, and realize just who Jesus really is. I have a feeling that Fr. Kroeger would have said that Jesus is the real healer and miracle worker…it’s just that Jesus gave him special abilities to use to reflect the presence and the power of Christ in the world today. The same is true for each of us! Let’s keep on reflecting Jesus in this community and world. We just might help someone else experience…Epiphany!!
Pastor Keith
PS…Fun trivia fact - Epiphany, South Dakota is the only town in the WORLD named as such…Epiphany!