Aphorisms at Epiphany are short, memorable sentences that carry deep theology in plain language. If preaching is a collaborative effort, then Epiphany’s aphorisms extend that logic out to the whole parish by creating a shared vocabulary—easy to learn and easy to recall and take out into the world. In this way, they function as sign posts on the roadmap of the Kingdom of God.
Wherever You Are on Your Spiritual Journey, You Have a Place at Epiphany
Two theological convictions are woven into this, Epiphany’s signature aphorism, the first that most of us encounter when we walk into Epiphany. Everyone is on a spiritual journey. If you’re alive, you’re on one—the only question is whether it’s intentional or accidental. Epiphany exists to help people walk it with intention. Everyone is included. No doctrinal test is required for belonging to God’s realm, because to exist is to be included.
Belonging Before Believing
This aphorism follows from the last: to exist is to be included, therefore, to be included is to belong, with or without belief. Belonging is a function of our existence as embodied creatures in space and time; belief is simply how we come to understand that reality. Belief changes over time; belonging does not. It’s why Epiphany houses the unhoused, feeds the hungry, and visits the lonely — because everyone already belongs, to God and to us. The same logic extends to creation care: every being, always, has a home here.
The Church Is a Spiritual Gym
If belief isn’t the prerequisite for belonging, then practice is the foundation of our spiritual formation. Like the body, the spirit is shaped by what we do and the habits we develop. Epiphany teaches seven core spiritual exercises in two categories: sublunary practices—worship, prayer, the liturgical calendar, Sabbath, pilgrimage — that set aside time for God, and somatic practices—fasting and tithing—that loosen the body’s grip on habit and fear. Practicing them, again and again, is how a spirit grows stronger.
Relationship Is Primary
With the above three aphorisms in mind, creation reveals itself as an interconnected web of relationships. In theological terms, this reality is explained by the concept of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons eternally in relationship. However you understand this idea, Epiphany takes the trinitarian shape of reality as a mandate: our relationships with one another aren’t incidental to faith but an expression of it, lived out through person-to-person love.
Curious for more? Visit epiphanyseattle.org/aphorisms.