Epiphany

We often think of Epiphany as just being one day/Sunday, but in fact it is a season in our liturgical calendar. For three weeks we celebrate how Epiphany is all about expanding God's Kingdom beyond his people Israel. 

Epiphany is celebrated in the church on the 12th day of Christmas, which falls on January 6th, and marks the official end to the festive season for many Christians. We also celebrate Jesus' baptism on this day and Epiphany also marks the visit to the baby Jesus by the Magi, (the three Kings, or Wise Men). The word 'Epiphany' comes from Greek and means 'manifestation'. It celebrates 'the revelation of God in his Son as human in Jesus Christ'. 

Epiphany Chalk Blessing
​A simple chalk blessing to pray over the homes and households for the year ahead. 
For background info about the blessing:

• Liturgy.co.nz website 
• Interrupting the Silence website

What you need: 

• A stick of chalk for each household
• Black construction paper for apartments (optional)
• A takehome sheet for each household. These are printed off double sided and 3 to an A4. Fold in half like a card. 

Other Resources

• Epiphany Preschool play dough mat (Flame Creative)
• Christmas on the Move Magi Templates (Connectible)
• Ornament Crafts (Church House Collection)

• Wise men christmas crafts -- a range of good ones here (Danielle's Place)
• An I-Spy printable nativity game (Paper Trail)
• A Vist of the Magi Wordsearch (Sermons4kids)
• A wise men code breaker (Biblewise)
• A star maze (Biblewise)
• Yarn wrapped star (Danielle's Place)
• Wise men colouring in page
• Star tea light mats (Flame Creative Kids)

I Wonder questions

• I wonder what why the wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus? 
• I wonder what they said when they gave them to Mary and Joseph?
• I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought when they received them?
• I wonder what gifts we can give Jesus today?

Epiphany Photobooth

What you need

• Print outs of the Photobooth props (pdf download from Connectible) on yardstick
• Kebab sticks 
• Tape
• A Photo Booth area set up — perhaps a corner of the room with gold, purple fabric
• Pens/sharpies for writing on speech bubbles. You might like to print a few of these. 
• A camera and laptop/printer for printing photos, or an instant camera printer. Or an old school polaroid! Use a digital camera if you want to share the photos with your church Facebook page or use in service powerpoints next week! 

What to do

• Take photos of groups of your church family. Encourage them to be creative and excited! Each person adds a prop or decoration to become part of the epiphany story — a wise man or woman! 
• Share the photos with your church community, or print them out on the day for families to take home. 
• Encourage all ages and members of the church to get involved — this is a great intergenerational activity. 

Media