Star of Wonder

Today marks the end of the season of Christmas, twelve days in length, and the Day of Epiphany in the Christian year. Some traditions make more of a fuss over Epiphany than others, with worship services honouring the Magi or "Wise Guys" who arrived in Bethlehem in search of an auspicious child. The pope said a mass today in Rome, kissing a few babies for good measure.

The story is only in Matthew of the four gospels and it tells us that they followed a star from somewhere in the east. Scholars figure that these mysterious travellers were an elite group of the Zoroastrian religion, who used a combination of astrology and astronomy to connect with the divine.

Interesting that seekers from one religion, Zoroastrianism, found a child born into the Jewish faith, who become the founder of yet another religion, Christianity. Maybe Epiphany should be a day to reflect on the religious diversity of our world and the importance of the contributions of different traditions. Suspicion and hatred fueled by religion continues to be a major problem.

I wonder why we need to denigrate other religions in order to uphold our own?