Calendar News

The Season of Epiphany

“Epiphany” comes from a Greek word meaning “showing forth, appearance, manifestation, revelation.” On January 6th we recognize the manifestation (or revelation) of Christ to the Gentiles when the three kings arrived with gifts for the newborn Jesus. The star that guides them is part of the imagery of this whole season, as are the celestial sun and moon.  The Feast of the Epiphany is followed by the “Sundays after the Epiphany.”  The length of this season of Epiphany varies from four to nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter. This year, the season lasts through January to March 2.

 

All Good Gifts

There are three biblical lists of spiritual gifts. The gifts identified in Romans 12 are prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, and mercy. A few definitions (more to come):

• Prophecy – The Greek word translated “prophecy” in both passages properly means “a speaking forth.” To prophesy is to declare the divine will, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any way the truth of God that is designed to influence people.

• Serving – Also referred to as “ministering,” this gift involves providing service of any kind; it is the broad application of practical help to those in need. “Serving” is a translation of the Greek word diakonian, from which we get the English “deacon.”

• Teaching – This gift involves the analysis and proclamation of the Word of God, explaining the meaning, context and application to the hearer’s life. The gifted teacher is one who has the unique ability to clearly instruct and communicate knowledge, specifically around scripture, theology and the doctrines of the faith.

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Gifts in Action

In these weeks of January, we will hear from our leadership about our servant ministry in short reports of our “outward signs” of invisible grace and giftedness during each service. We will learn about each other and our work, which will help us prepare for the annual meeting of our membership on February 9, 2025. Today, Diana Anderson will report on the Thrift Shop, while Lynda Ramier, Senior Warden and Oscar Trevino, Junior Warden will  talk about St. John’s Vestry.

 

Upcoming Events

• Park County Citizens for Sustainability (PCCS) is hosting Telluride Mountain film on Tour in Cody next Thursday, Feb 6th at the downtown Cody Theater. Doors  open at 5:45 and films begin at 6:30. This is a FREE event and it’s family friendly! Mountainfilm on Tour brings a selection of culturally rich, adventure-packed  and incredibly inspiring documentary films curated from the Mountainfilm  festival in Telluride, Colorado. Mountainfilm’s mission is to use the power of  film, art, and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. You can find  more about the films being shown next week here: 
  https://www.mountainfilm.org/tour-show/cody-wy/ Please come!! It’s going to be a fun and inspiring evening!

 

• Annual Meeting is scheduled for February 9 during Coffee Hour.  The Thrift Shop Team will be providing lunch for us.  At this meeting, we will elect delegates for Diocesan Convention.  These newly elected delegates will also participate in the Virtual Walk-About – In preparation for the March 2 Special Convention to affirm  the candidate for Bishop Provisional (the Rt. Revd. Todd Ousley), the diocese will  be hosting the second of two virtual question and answer sessions on  Saturday, February 8 at 2pm.  Please follow this link to join the meeting: https://diowy.info/3PQuSSO   Passcode: 012755

 

• Special Convention on March 2 via Zoom to affirm the nomination of the  Rt. Reverend Todd Ousley as bishop provisional. This important gathering will  ensure continued leadership and support for the Diocese during the discernment,  search, and eventual consecration of a new bishop diocesan.  Please follow this  link for more information:  https://www.episcopalwy.org/special-convention

 

Sign of Peace

The cold winter months bring us opportunities to be indoors and in close proximity  with each other.  It also brings many opportunities to be sick.  The flu, RSV, COVID  and such are all around us.  As we are all invited to share the peace on Sundays, let  us be mindful of each other in keeping distance as necessary.

 

Thoughts and Ponderings for the Week Ahead

• February 3 is the birthday of American author, painter, and illustrator Norman Rockwell, born in New York City in 1894. Rockwell painted more than 4,000 original works over  the course of his career, including some of the most iconic theological images in  American popular culture. Among these are “Saying Grace,” “Freedom of Worship,” and “Golden Rule.” In the early 1960s, Rockwell had something of a conversion with  regard to racism and social justice in the United States, and the result was the  classic, “The Problem We All Live With,” inspired by the courage of Ruby Bridges.

 

• February 4 is the birthday of Rosa Parks, born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1913. In the  1940s and 50s, she served as secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP,  working as a civil rights organizer and activist.    In August of 1955, black teenager Emmett Till, visiting relatives in Mississippi, was  brutally murdered after allegedly flirting with a white woman. Parks attended a mass meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery on November 27, 1955;  the meeting’s speakers addressed the Emmett Till case at length, including the news  that Till’s two murderers had just been acquitted. Parks was deeply disturbed and  angered by the verdict, not least because Till’s case had received such widespread  public attention, far more than other cases she and the Montgomery NAACP had  worked on over the years. Just four days later, she took her famous stand on that fateful Montgomery bus ride. She later said that when the driver ordered her to move, “I thought of Emmett Till and I just couldn’t go back.”  In 1995, she published her memoir, Quiet Strength, focusing on her Christian faith.  She insisted that her abilities to love her enemies and stand up for her convictions  were gifts from God: “God has always given me the strength to say what is right.”   A devoted member of St. Paul AME Church in Montgomery, Parks taught Sunday  School and regularly helped prepare the Lord’s Supper. “I had the strength of God,” she said, “and my ancestors.”  When she died in 2005 at the age of 92, she became the 31st person, the first woman, the second African American, and the second private citizen to lie in  honor in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. More than 50,000 people came  through to pay their respects. Her birthday is celebrated as Rosa Parks Day in  California and Missouri; Ohio and Oregon celebrate the day on December 1,  the anniversary of her arrest.

 

• February 6 is the feast day of St. Dorothy, a fourth-century martyr for her faith. The story goes that, on her way to her execution, as she passed by the jeering crowds, a lawyer named Theophilus sarcastically asked her to “send me some fruits and flowers from paradise when you get there!” The crowds laughed, Theophilus went home satisfied with himself — and the next day, it is said, he received a basket of three apples and three roses.