Many families begin taking down their Christmas decorations, trees and outdoor lights on, or soon after, New Year’s Day.

There are a faithful few, however, who leave the decorations in place until Jan. 6 when the Christian Church celebrates Epiphany.

What is Epiphany? It is when we remember the visit of the magi to the Christ child. Epiphany means “manifestation” and we celebrate the ways in which Christ was made manifest to the world — not just to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. In other words, Christ came for all people.

You might be saying, “Oh right, you’re talking about the three kings who arrived at the stable to worship the newborn Jesus on the night of his birth.” There are a few things I need to clear up, and I hope no one’s faith is shaken to the core as a result.

The story of the magi is found in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, verses 1-12 in the New Testament. First, the magi, best translated as “wise men,” were not kings.

So why do we think they were? It’s all thanks to John Henry Hopkins Jr., who in 1857 was an American Episcopal priest and musician who needed a carol about the magi for a Christmas pageant he was writing. As he composed the carol, the words “magi” and “wise men” did not fit — he needed a one-syllable word. So, alas, he turned the magi into “kings” and proceeded to write one of the great Christmas carols in the history of the church, “We Three Kings.”

Since that time, our nativity scenes and Christmas cards show three men wearing crowns and royal robes kneeling at the manger. They may have been “kingly,” but they were not kings, and John Henry Hopkins knew this.

Who then were the magi, or wise men? They were scholarly Gentile astrologers from Persia who watched the skies for unusual displays of stars. They had been studying the night skies and discovered that God was doing something new, so they decided to follow that unusually bright star in search of a king.

Second, I don’t mean to upset anyone, but the magi were not at the stable the night Jesus was born. I know, as I mentioned earlier, figures of the magi are present in all our nativity scenes, including mine.

However, Biblical scholars agree and estimate their arrival when Jesus was closer to 2 years of age.

The scriptures state, “on coming to the house,” so by the time of their visit, Mary and Joseph were in a home, not in a stable.

Being made aware of this does not make the visit of the magi any less significant.

The magi presented three gifts to Mary and Joseph — gold, frankincense (incense) and myrrh (a sort of perfume).

Many of us have received gifts of love from friends and family that endear us to them. When we accept a gift, we accept the gift giver. This Jewish couple accepted this group of Gentiles, those outside of the faith, and this was a big deal. Why?

The Jews separated themselves from all other groups because they had a special relationship as the chosen people of God.

God had established a covenant with Abraham that He would be their God, and they would be His people.

This covenant was renewed and passed on with each of the patriarchs (fathers of the faith) in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament). Jews believed they only needed to befriend their fellow family who were of the Jewish faith. Outsiders didn’t have much of a place.

In his book, “The Birth of the Messiah,” Raymond Brown writes: “In these magi Matthew sees an anticipation of Jesus’ promise: ‘I say to you that many will come from east and west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.'” In other words, all are welcome at God’s heavenly banquet, and that is the message of Epiphany.

You won’t be surprised to hear that after all the work involved in celebrating Advent and Christmas in the church, there aren’t too many pastors or lay people willing to take on another holiday. The Rev. David Joachim, a retired Presbyterian minister told me, “Of course I loved preaching on the magi and the meaning of Christ revealed to the world. But Epiphany really wasn’t celebrated that much other than the sermon.”

It’s important that pastors give Epiphany a nod by at least preaching on its meaning and significance.