On View: Epiphany Times Three by Kathrin Burleson. Watercolor, 2007, 8" x 10" .

As seen in: Feasts for the Eyes, an exhibition of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts. Judith McManis, curator.

On View: Epiphany by Frank Logue. Infrared film, toned gelatin silver print.

As seen in: A New Light : Collects of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, an exhibition of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts. Bradford Johnson, curator.

"Epiphany, which today is primarily associated with the birth of Jesus and the visit of the magi, originally celebrated three manifestations - the visit of the magi, the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and the first miracle at the wedding at Cana." - Kathrin Burleson.

Kathrin is an artist living in Trinidad, California, and her thoughts on the meaning of Epiphany are thought-provoking. Read more of Kathrin Burleson.

On View: Epiphany by Dennis Di Vicenzo. Mixed Media, 2007

As seen in: Feasts for the Eyes, an exhibition of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts. Judith McManis, curator.

On View: Road by Ruth Tietien Councell.

As Seen In: Comfort and Joy, Painting by Ruth Tietien Councell. January 6 - February 1, 2008. Trenton Cathedral, Trenton New Jersey.

What we remember about the past is so closely linked to the stories that we tell. What others will know about us, about how we lived the days that were ours, depends on those stories and the questions that they answer. Was life filled with grief and illness? Did pain overtake us? How did we manage when faced with our own call?

Our stories are personal and they are communal. Just as my actions today have an impact on those with whom I work, my own scripting of the events of my day and the nature in which I chose to describe these events also has an impact on the body of creation within which I live. In other words, what memories am I creating with the stories that I tell? What questions was I faced with today and to whom did I turn for guidance and counsel? When I was criticized, when I was praised, when I noticed the need of another - and when I tell that story, am I telling from Love or from self?

Your story-telling, and mine, can weave living and family and work and hope and worry and yielding and triumph all the while as it carries the possibility of the transformative moment. Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? ~ Mary Oliver, from "The Summer Day", New and Selected Poems, Beacon Press, Boston, MA 1992

On View: Morning by Ruth Tietien Councell.

As Seen In: Comfort and Joy, Painting by Ruth Tietien Councell. January 6 - February 1, 2008. Trenton Cathedral, Trenton New Jersey.

Life Essentials
from the website of Episcopal Relief and Development

Episcopal Relief and Development provides emergency assistance in times of disaster; rebuilds devastated communities and offers long-term program development solutions to fight poverty.

We save lives after an emergency
Disasters - whether man-made or natural - happen all the time. When they strike, we help people by supplying food, water, and medicine immediately. We prevent vulnerable people from further suffering, especially women, children, and the elderly.

We help communities rebuild when the crisis is over
Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other catastrophes leave people with nothing. We work hand-in hand with local communities to build new homes, plant crops, create clean water systems, construct clinics and schools, and offer critical post trauma counseling.

We create opportunities for people living in poverty
In many places in the world, people can't feed their families or give them basic health care. Through our food security and primary health care program, we provide farming and business training, health care services, and HIV/AIDS programs in communities where families are struggling to survive. We give people the tools to earn an income and create opportunities for their children.

To learn more about the work of ERD and how you can help, read here.

On View: Life Essentials, by Episcopal Relief & Development. Photograph, 2005. Ayana Davis, Episcopal Church Center - New York, NY.

As Seen In: Visual Preludes 2006, an exhibition of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts.

Photographers and their ways of seeing have profoundly changed the way I walk through the world. Just yesterday I was silently thanking my artist-photographer friends for opening up new ways of seeing, simply by doing what it is they they do best.

As the sun warmed the street in front of my mailbox there were stripes of brilliant green emerging from cracks in the asphalt. Each was a perfectly formed wisp of color, with arching leaves and pulsing veins. Some had tall thread-like extensions that ended in rounded seed-like shapes reaching high into the air above the matting of leaves below. Together they paraded a vibrancy of life, drinking in the sun for nourishment as we might enjoy a glass of orange juice with our morning toast. The not-so-ordinary in this for me was getting down on my knees so that I could notice each wisp was no larger than the head of a pin.

In that instant, I received a blessing in the form of a pause amid my daily work for a brief yet sustaining glimpse at the wonder of God's creation. I found myself less connected with the events of my day and more reflective on the gifts of God. The sense of renewal that I experienced pointed toward a kind of personal photosynthesis, akin to the plant kingdom's gift of taking sunlight and water and converting it into the stuff of life.

"An encounter with the beautiful lifts our eyes beyond the commonplace and gives us a reason for going on, for ranging beyond the mundane, for endeavoring ourselves always to become more than we are." - Joan Chittister, OSB, 'Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light', Religious Life Review, vol. 40, May/June, 2001; as quoted in Theological Aesthetics, A Reader, Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen, ed., Wm. B. Erdmans, 2004.

On View: Church Office, Thanksgiving. Photograph by the Rev. Scott Fisher, Fairbanks, Alaska. With thanks to Ann Fontaine for the hat tip.