Epiphany reminds us that the religious establishment does not have a monopoly on the experience of God.

After all, the religious leaders of Israel, whose mission in life was to study the Scriptures and prepare for the arrival of the Messiah, failed to recognize that the savior of the world was to arrive at that time in the form of a newborn child. The task of recognizing the birth of the Messiah fell to ordinary observant Jews like Mary, Joseph and Elizabeth.

And today we celebrate the fact that "magi from the east" arrive in Jerusalem asking, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."

Now you might imagine that these "magi," elsewhere referred to as "astrologers" or "wise men," provoked a puzzled response from the civil and religious authorities. Since they had not recognized the arrival of the Messiah, the religious leaders might be surprised to find some Gentile religious figures in town expecting that everyone else was already worshipping the newborn king. Indeed, the only person who seems to take the magi seriously is Herod, who as we know eventually uses their information to attempt to search for and destroy the Christ child.

I often wonder if we might miss the return of Jesus Christ to our world, just as Jewish leaders missed the arrival of Jesus 2,000 years ago. We all tend to get comfortable with our religious traditions, and to assume that God is just as comfortable, and will continue to work in ways that we have come to expect. Surely if Christ were to return to our world in person, he would come in the form of a pope, or at least cardinal or archbishop, right? And we would surely recognize his holiness, wouldn't we?

But what if God came to us in the form of someone as ordinary and helpless as a homeless child in some makeshift shelter in the middle of nowhere? And what if the only people worshipping him were leaders of some fringe religion from a far-off land, and a bunch of ranchers?

The wonderful news of Epiphany is that Jesus is the light of the entire world, not just the Jewish world. The news is still true today; the light of Christ illumines all peoples, not just Christians.

The challenge of Epiphany is the reality that some outside our religious communities may be more in tune with the work of God than we are. It is humbling to think that our 2,000 years of traditions might actually hinder us from recognizing the presence of Christ in our lives and our communities. We must be always open to God working in unexpected ways, and we must open our hearts and minds to the Scriptures, and in prayer, to allow God to continue to surprise us.

As we close the Christmas season, we celebrate the truth that God is revealed to sincere seekers of the truth everywhere --- magi from the East, a Jewish carpenter and his fiancé, and a handful of shepherds among them. Let us pray that, like them, we have the wisdom and humility to recognize the presence of the Messiah in our own midst, and follow that light wherever it might lead us.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.