Author: Rosemary Lovelace

Lent 3C – George Yandell
I want to talk about changing hearts and community. It all starts in the passage from Exodus- God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. God recounts to Moses who God is in the lineage of those who preceded Moses. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all encountered God, but Moses’ encounter was personal, direct and terrifying. God gives Moses his marching orders, to rescue God’s people from Egypt. And Moses says, timidly, terrified, I think, “When I tell the Israelites you sent me, and they ask, ‘What is the name of the one who sent you, what shall I tell them?’ God said to Moses, in a voice like the Wizard of Oz in capital letters, “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you to them.” The name I AM in Hebrew comes out as ‘Yahweh,’ a verb. That moment changed the course of Hebrew history, and one can argue, the course of salvation for humankind. The gospels tell us Jesus is descended from Moses, sent to rescue God’s people forever and for good.  

The gospel story of the fig tree follows grim pronouncements from Jesus. Galileans whose blood Pontius Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, the 18 killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. “Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. Don’t think you’re any better– Repent or perish!” says Jesus. Luke has Jesus warning about a ruthless God, which is unlike Jesus in the other portions of the gospels.  

I have a hard time connecting the warnings of Jesus to the parable about the fig tree. The obvious connection is that Jesus seems to compare his unrepentant hearers to a fig tree that produces no fruit and is threatened with being cut down. But that doesn’t seem to explain things.  

Paul tells the followers of Jesus in Corinth that God was not pleased with many of Moses’ people, and struck them down in the wilderness, about 23,000 people falling dead in a single day. And about some who put Christ to the test and were destroyed by serpents. The key for getting behind Paul’s exhortation is realizing how often he uses the words “destroy” and “testing.” Paul says the dire events happened to others as examples to the followers of Jesus. It’s like Jesus and Paul’s teachings are stringing people along like they were yo-yos- up and down, up and down.    

‘Testing’ can also mean ‘being tempted.’ The difference for Paul is that he always means the whole community of Christians is being tested, not individuals. Testing from God aims for the whole community to be built up, the heart of the community changing as we help our fellows when we lag or falter. Only by supporting one another and relying on God’s faithfulness can the body of Christ be built up. Combining the dire warnings from Jesus and Paul, it sounds like God plays with God’s people like a yo-yo. There’s another understanding: It’s about the fig tree.  

I heard a story sixteen years ago from the archeologist on a pilgrimage to study Paul in Turkey at the sites where Paul was active. It was led by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. A life-changing time for me. Haluk the pilgrimage archeologist told us something only folks from the Middle East would know- he said, “If you want to play a bad joke on your neighbor, go at night into his garden and plant a fig tree. It will take over everything, and when you try to cut it down, it just grows back more prolifically. You can never rid your garden of the fig tree- it grows everywhere!” Immediately it changed my thinking about the parable.   

Now do you hear a different meaning from Jesus? His hearers would have laughed and laughed at the vineyard owner- they identified with the tree. They knew that even if the gardener had cut it down, it would spring right back up. Jesus is telling a joke, putting an end to the threats with a moment of relief in the fig tree parable. The joke means to disarm and reassure his followers- even if dire things happen, you will rise above them. You can’t be suppressed. Add in Paul’s perspective: even when the community of followers is being stressed and tested, God provides the way up together, and the community thrives as a result.  

What we need to hear over and over, is that the followers of Jesus had already engaged the kingdom of God. They knew the humor and compassion of Jesus were leading them into the heart of God. In all Jesus and Paul did they turned peoples’ hearts anew to God, leading them into the joy of God’s kingdom now. They preached it could only happen as a community. Changing hearts happens together- I rely on you, you rely on me, the fig tree flourishes, and it is us. No yo-yos here, just a string of tests for us that yields the kingdom.

Lent 2 – George Yandell

In 1984, I ran a 10 K race with Jim Ryan. How many of you know who Jim Ryan is? First man to run a mile in under 4 minutes. He was the hero of my generation in distance running. Jim Ryan had come to Nashville to promote the Music City 10-K; the charity was one of his favorites. When I say I ran a race with him, what I really mean is I ran in the same race as Jim Ryan. Mine I ran in 56 minutes, not too bad for an overweight guy. He ran his race in under 28 minutes, and did not win; but when he finished, he ran back along the race route, giving encouragement to those of us struggling to finish under 1 hour.

Running has never been easy for me, but I kept at it almost all my adult life until about 9 years ago. I realized early on when training for my first marathon in 1990, that runners come in all sorts and conditions. The fleet ones who run near the head of the pack in every competition just amaze me. How can they go that fast for that long? And then there are those of us who run more slowly, who don’t have that naturally fluid style. They struggle, yet keep at it. An 80-year-old man ran in the Memphis marathon of 1990; he finished behind me, but not by much. A marine corps unit had run the entire race with him, encouraging him, helping him through the hardest last miles. I learned early on as I trained at longer and longer distances that I appreciated anyone who decides to get out and “just do it”, as Nike promoted. I still feel kinship with anyone I see, running along the road. Since I no longer do so, it’s a wistful feeling. 

Jesus says in the gospel, “On the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” When Christians in American today read this passage, they come up with widely varying interpretations of its meaning. Often our brothers and sisters in Christ emphasize the part- “finish my work.” Others emphasize “it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

They suggest that Jesus meant to tell his original hearers, and us through them, that Jesus knew he was walking to his death. He had to confront the authorities. Others suggest that salvation necessitated his willing sacrifice.  Some of us play down the whole salvation thing, because God doesn’t desire anyone be sacrificed. We believe salvation has already been settled by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This is much the way the early Christians wrestled with the salvation question. And more often than not, those who would impose restrictions on entry into salvation life won the day. Is God really like that? Is the messianic age nothing more than new rules for an old game? A new elite supplanting an old elite, but the same reality: an elusive prize chased by many and won by few? “When the roll is called up yonder,” will the winner’s list be short?

The Christian era has proceeded along those lines. Unable to imagine that God truly was doing a new thing in Jesus, the early disciples fell back into the old hierarchies. They tightened up the membership requirements that Jesus had relaxed. They changed other rules, ousted the old players, installed themselves as God’s new chosen, and continued the familiar rituals of demanding and dispensing favors for salvation.

Jesus wanted something entirely different. When asked about score, he responded “strive.” Trying is what matters, not winning. In God’s kingdom, the last can become first, outcasts can draw near, the ancient hierarchies do not apply, grace is freely dispensed, and the skills that lead to worldly success do not count for anything special.

If the door to salvation is “narrow,” it is not because God loves only a few or because God demands perfection. It is narrow because it requires difficult choices. Anyone can make those choices.

So first of all, what is salvation, really? Frederick Buechner writes: “Salvation is an experience first and a doctrine second. Doing the work you’re best at doing and like to do best, seeing something very beautiful, weeping at somebody else’s tragedy– all these experiences are salvation because in them all two things happen: 1) You lose yourself, and, 2) you find you are more fully yourself than usual. You give up your old self-seeking self for somebody you love and thereby become yourself at last. You must die with Christ so you can be raised with him, Paul says. You do not love God and live for God so you will go to heaven. Whichever side of the grave you happen to be talking about, to love God and live for God is heaven. It is a gift, not an achievement.”

So then, what are the difficult choices that open salvation for us and for all? 

1) We choose to run the race, doing the necessary training, keeping the central goal always before us. The goal: to love God, and love others as oneself.

2) We choose to be companions with all God places beside us on the way. We stay with and support those who may run more slowly, because the race is in the running, not the winning.

3) We strive to stay the course. We all fall down, we all falter. When the way gets rough and you feel left behind, ask for help, confess your shortcomings, accept God’s forgiveness, and get back in the pack.

4)We stretch our limits. Test new ways of praying, of caring, of being Christ to all you meet.

5) We choose to pause along the way and refresh ourselves. Moments of grace often come when we look back and realize how far we’ve come together.  What we find is that we’ve been living in God’s domain without knowing it. We can’t claim credit, since it is God’s gift. In the striving is the winning. In the hand we give to those who need, we feel God’s own touch. That’s salvation. Thank you, Jim Ryan, for coming back along the race route to encourage us. 

Lent 1 C          George Yandell        

Did you hear the parallels? One trek in the wilderness is ending, another just beginning. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrew people are concluding their 40 years in the wilds, and Jesus is just beginning his wilderness sojourn. Moses is giving his final instructions to the people of God before they enter the promised land.  They have finally reached their destination.  Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. He was just beginning his ministry.  

In his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality (Oxford University Press, 1998), Belden Laneoffers an understanding of wilderness I never heard before. He says, “Yahweh is a God who repeatedly leads the children of Israel into the desert, toward the mountain…. The God of Sinai is one who thrives on fierce landscapes, seemingly forcing God’s people into wild [places] where trust must be absolute.” (p. 43) 

Instead of leading the people of Israel out of Egypt along the easier, more direct coastal route to the land of the Philistines, they had been pointed toward a longer route, more deeply into the desert, toward Mt. Sinai.  God intentionally opted for the more difficult landscape, as if this was God’s usual preference. God’s people were deliberately forced into the desert, taking the harder, more hazardous route as an exercise in radical faith.  (ibid, adapted, p. 44) “Perhaps others can go around the desert on the simpler route toward home, but the way of God’s people is always through it.” (ibid)  

Luke’s gospel tells of Jesus “being led” into the wilderness by God’s Spirit.  Luke bases his account on Mark’s gospel.  Mark uses a tougher descriptor- it tells of Jesus being “driven” into the desert, a harsher word.  It has the sense of Jesus being roughly thrown or violently propelled.  Jesus, like all of Israel before him, is forced to take the hard way, going directly from his baptism into the wilderness of temptation… The Son of God, still wet from the waters of the Jordan, impelled into the wilds, is [already] going to his death, headed already toward the cross. Yet Jesus finds renewal and comfort in subsequent ventures into the mountains and desert places. It leads to miraculous nourishment and hope.  _(ibid)

Jesus resists all the devil’s temptations- Luke’s passage ends with the words, “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from [Jesus] until an opportune time.”

After those 40 days, Jesus continued to seek the wilderness throughout his ministry.  As often as he retreated to the desert, seeking some quiet away from the crowds, people followed him.  They were curious, captivated, drawn to the edge of their experience.  It is in desert places that thousands were fed, and new community took form.  In the presence of Jesus, the desert created a sharing and openness that would be repudiated by the authorities.  They shunned the openness of contact and fellowship that characterized the Jesus movement.  The place of scarcity, even death, Jesus revealed as a place of hope and new life. (ibid, adapted pp. 44-45) The desert bloomed with Jesus.  

I suspect you know where I’m going with this.  Lent beckons us to explore the wilderness of the soul. It’s a time when we can confront what tempts us away from being centered in Christ.  We are offered a renewed sense of orientation.  It’s like finding true north after being disoriented.  Where better to encounter Jesus than in the challenging landscape of doubt, uncertainty, temptations.  He has been there before us. 

Walking through those tough passages opens us to mystical encounters with the cosmic Christ.  He is in the still and the quiet, waiting to nourish us.  He is with us in our hardships and frustrations. The tough landscapes of our past and future open us to honest, challenging relationships with God and one another. Jesus has bonded us as body of fellows. He keeps company with all who undertake his desert path. His trust in us is absolute. He invites us in turn trust him absolutely.  That trust yields transformed people, transformed fellowship of sharing and openness. Transformed more and more into the beings God created us to be. 

As Paul puts it in the epistle to the Romans, there are no distinctions in the company of Jesus.  “Jesus is Lord of all and is generous to those who call on him.”  

Epiphany 7C – George Yandell

“Who are your enemies?” I’ve been asking this question of people close to me this week. None of them reports having anyone s/he regards as an enemy. Thus I conclude we miss the point of what Jesus says- “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” I want to talk about enemy, balance, and more. I want to show you what’s at stake when we miss the point Jesus makes. 

These enemy/hatred sayings are the very core of the gospel Jesus taught. The Greek word ‘enemy’ comes from a root meaning “to hate.” It’s hard for us to admit hating anyone. Except maybe the driver who cuts us off, the politician who rubs us the wrong way, the drug dealer who sells to those who are addicted. But if we hear these sayings the way Jesus said them, then it’s not so hard to figure. My enemy is anyone who hates me. Anyone who hates me is the enemy. Jesus enjoins me to love that one. Love and pray earnestly for anyone who curses me, anyone who insults me, uses me spitefully. 

What possible benefit can there be for me in loving those who wish me ill? It’s not for a reward, although the gospel led the Beatles to sing, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Jesus clearly says, “Do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” So there’s some deeper intent in the transaction Jesus commands. 

I am reminded of growing up in E TN, where many looked down on our neighbors up north of the Mason-Dixon line. We called them ‘carpetbaggers’ when they moved in amongst us. We ourselves were held in disregard by our neighbors to the north who called us slow, racist, backward, hillbillies, hicks. Having enemies fills a strong human need. If enemies don’t exist in reality, then we create them in our minds.

Maybe there is a need to hate that we can’t admit to. But I think of it more as a need to blame. Blaming we hear all the time. What’s wrong? It’s them. Why is one’s world such a confusing place? It’s their fault. Why is the former order breaking down? It couldn’t be because it was flawed and is collapsing of its own weight. Why do I feel pain? It’s somebody else’s lack of empathy.

Not only do enemies explain what we otherwise can’t, but they provide the perfect hiding place. Why did I get cut from the team? The coach played favorites. Why am I short of funds? The evil banks forced credit cards on me. Why try if the deck is stacked against me?

The trick in loving one’s enemy is not just to take a new attitude toward the other guy, but also toward oneself. To love an enemy, you must love yourself. To accept the other, you must first accept yourself and stop forcing some other person, race or type into the enemy role. To stop blaming the other, you must take responsibility for your own life. Even if the enemy is real and dangerous, before you can make peace, you must make peace with yourself and stop clinging to a warped self-image. Jesus insists that his followers work for a balance between really knowing and accepting oneself, and really knowing and accepting the enemy.

Maybe, just maybe, the enemy gives a gift. Not the neurotic hiding place or blame target, but something worth receiving. The gift of humility, of course. Maybe more. An opportunity for compassion – that is a gift. An opportunity to see the world through another’s eyes – that is a gift. An opportunity to experience the agony of severed relationships – an agony far worse than losing belongings to thieves, an agony that instructs.

Striking back, then, could be seen as an act of ingratitude. A strange way to view things, perhaps, but Jesus had strange views. He did not see his accusers as enemies, but as ones to love. He did not strike down his tormentors, but carried his cross to Calvary. He did not conquer the Roman centurion through might of arms, but through the greater might of submission.

I think Jesus was encouraging his friends to go deep. He saw more in them than they saw in themselves. Once they saw that more, then they would be more like him, more accepting, more loving. As long as they were superficial in themselves, then their relationships would be superficial – utilitarian, quid pro quo, tit-for-tat back-scratching. We might even begin to laugh at the truth Walt Kelly spoke years ago in the comic strip Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Loving one’s enemy probably is not the first thing one does on the road to wholeness, but the last. So much other work must proceed it. Self-regard seems to start in knowing oneself as flawed – and knowing that God loves one anyway. Other-regard flows from seeing the other as flawed, too – and no less loved by God.

I want to give you a simple assignment.  It’s a simple addition to your regular prayers: Pray for everyone who might have a hard time with you.  Pray for anyone you blame for anything gone wrong. Pray for the one who gives you a hiding-place from admitting your own flaws. I believe you’ll find a peace you’ve been searching for. You just may find yourself transformed. That’s what Jesus intended.

Epiphany 5C – George Yandell

Janet was in my classes from 1^st to 5^th grade. Even so young, I knew she was poor. She wore the same thread-bare dress every day; in cold weather, she had a thin jacket, no coat, and her legs were bare to the weather. I used to think on the playground- “Her legs must be awful cold.” Janet shrank from attention- she rarely spoke, except when the teacher called on her. One January, just after Christmas break, Janet had on a new dress. Then she was wearing it every day. Soon it was wearing out. One of the girls who sat with Janet at lunch told me that the dress was her Christmas present. That third grade Christmas I’d gotten a shiny new bike with built-in horn and lights, plus sweaters and gloves and cowboy boots and hat. I remember feeling guilty, tho’ I probably wouldn’t have called it that at the time. I think Janet was so embarrassed at being poor that she wanted to fade away from us middle-class kids in the new suburbs. I don’t know where she went after 5^th grade. 

When we hear blessed are the poor, what do we make of it? The first people to hear Luke’s gospel would immediately have heard it as destitute– Blessed are the destitute. That’s what the Greek word means. They would have thought of two separate groups of destitute people and poor people– the nameless poor peasants all around them who lived from hand to mouth each day were destitute. Maybe even some poor folk they knew who followed the Way of Jesus were destitute. AND they would have thought of a legendary community of people who were called “The Poor Ones” or simply, “The Poor” in Jerusalem. This group of followers of Jesus grew up soon after his resurrection, and included Peter, John, and James the brother of Jesus. James was the hub of that group. These disciples shared all their goods, possessions and salaries and did what they’d seen Jesus doing- they tended the sick, no matter their background or religious practice. They fed the hungry who were the destitute. They told the good news of Jesus in small groups, and they preached it in the marketplace. They lived in joy, in spite of their elected poverty. They prayed, gathered in new disciples who found their way of living compelling, and each Sunday morning, shared the common meal, the Eucharist, knowing the resurrected Jesus was present with them. 

So when those early Christians heard ‘Blessed are you poor’, or better translated, “Congratulations you destitute, yours is the kingdom of God,” what they knew Luke meant was, the destitute were the ones for whom the Poor Ones’ community existed.  The destitute were blessed, because the community of Poor Ones was reaching out to them, embracing them with God’s love and care. 

The Son of Man lived in their midst, and they understood that for them, resurrection life had begun in the here and now. And in their community, the Poor Ones knew they were living in God’s kingdom since they were doing the work of Jesus. Do you hear how the destitute and the Poor Ones depended on one another to be followers of Jesus?

We stumble when we of means come up against the Janets of our days, and so we should. The discomfort, even embarrassment we feel because of the wealth we control just may be the Spirit of Christ nudging us, getting our attention, prompting us to change. Why might that be? Because the Spirit of Christ wishes us to experience the joy of living fully the Way of Jesus, as the Poor Ones did in Jerusalem. 

The Poor Ones were respected even by those Jews who collaborated with the Roman Empire. Those Jews, Pharisees and Saducess who’d worked to have Jesus crucified by Rome- they respected the Poor Ones. The enemies of Jesus respected them because the Poor Ones lived God’s justice the way the prophets and the psalms had foretold time and time again. Their living, no, their being Jesus together was a witness to God’s righteousness- witness to God’s justice opening up to all. What a compelling Way to live! The gospel suggests our days are to be lived the same way.

When Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome during the peasant revolts 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus, many of the Poor Ones were crucified with thousands of their fellow Jews. The remaining Poor Ones dispersed across the Empire. Some of their descendents are here with us today. 

Those are followers of Jesus who’ve lived the woeful existence of receiving their rewards now, and finding those rewards to be hollow and self-serving. Woe is living comfortably, wondering what to do regarding our discomfort at not being poor. Some of the woeful have turned toward the community of faith, eaten the common meal at the Holy Table, and begun to pool their resources with others, giving freely of themselves, and finding holy joy in this community/ joy they can find no where else. I am humbled to be in their company. They know deep within them the church is itself to be a blessing. You can be one of them. The tug of the Spirit may mean that today, you are standing on the threshold of God’s kingdom. I hope you will enter it.  I wonder about Janet. I hope she found a community where she was welcomed, and she was set free, no longer embarrassed by her poverty. Maybe she is the emblem for me of my discomfort. If so, I thank you Janet. You offer me the nudge of the Spirit to change. I pray we all will come to live fully the Way of Jesus with the Poor Ones as our guides. 

Epiphany V 2022 – Ted Hackett

Today is the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.  

Epiphany is the season of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, so it is fitting that we should move from the immediate revelation of who Jesus is…  

You know…His baptism, water into wine at the wedding and so forth…  

To stories of people who are “sent” by God. Sent…Sent to tell of God’s saving action.  

Now I must warn you…this sermon is going to trace some sometimes complicated theology…and I hope you aren’t bored…  

And if you are, there is a centuries-old custom during boring Sermons…going to sleep…  

I won’t be offended.                     

In today’s readings we began with the “call” of the Prophet Isaiah…about 700 b.c….  

And then we read a section of Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians…which ends with: “so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.”  

And finally, the call of Simon Peter…Jesus told him: “from now on you will be catching people.”  

Peter and Paul were Apostles…and Isaiah was too….                     

Because “Apostle”…from the Greek “apostello” means: “One who is sent”  

Isaiah, Paul and Peter were all sent by God to say what was God’s will.  

Of course we know about the Apostles….  

They all went around the Mediterranean world and preached the “Good News” of Jesus’ Resurrection and His return. And they invited all who heard them to be initiated into Jesus’ Church by baptism.  

But…from that point on, things get a bit muddier. Jesus did not come back immediately and the apostles, one by one, died off…many martyred.  

In response…the church elected leaders…“Shepherds” for the people…we call them “Bishops.”  

Now in Greek episcopos can mean shepherd…or overseer…as Paul was an overseer to many congregations…  

A bishop was in the line of Peter and Paul…who had known Jesus personally…  

He (and they were all men then)…he was the guardian of that Good News, and had responsibility for spreading it and keeping it faithful…  

In addition, as the leader of the congregation, each Bishop Presided at the weekly celebrations of the Eucharist. Furthermore, each successive Bishop was supposed to guard and teach that original Good News.  

It was the Same Good News that they had heard from other Bishops who heard it from Bishops who had heard it from Jesus  

They were ordained by several other Bishops to guarantee that would be so…  

That is what we call Apostolic Succession  

And Bishop Wright is in that “line.” So when he visits us he presides at the altar.  

He embodies the identity of the Church From Jesus through Peter through history to now. He is supposed to guard the Faith and preside at the Eucharist for the Church.   

Yes, preside at the Eucharist for the whole Church!  

Well by the early 4th century there were 8 churches in Rome alone…and the Bishop was not going to be able to be at all of them every Sunday and Feast Day…He did preside in each of them in rotation…but that was not the same.  

So the Church decided to add help…  

First by ordaining Priests who would “fill in” for the Bishop as pastors and Presiders at the Altar….so that every time the Rector or another Priest presides at the Eucharist, we are really “standing in” for the Bishop…  

And the Bishop is standing in for Jesus and all the Apostles.  

I said “Presider” at the altar…Because really all of us are the celebrants when we have Eucharist. The Presider…Bishop or Priest, speaks for all of us.   

O.K. you may be saying… “Interesting…maybe…but so what?”  

Lets go back to the Apostles…  

When Jesus called Peter and the other eleven, he often sent them out to preach and to heal the sick as a sign of the Kingdom.  

“One who is sent” in Greek is apostelos…  

Thus the original 12 were Apostles.  

Now interestingly, the Aramaic for this sort of person was Schaliach. A Schaliach is a person sent by a ruler on a mission to direct some activity…taxation or some such…in a provincial town. He carries with him a sign or an icon of the King to prove he’s the real thing. On this mission he speaks for the King…he actually embodies the king. Custom says he should be seen and treated as the King…  

A schaliach embodies…re-presents the King. To deal with the Schaliach is to actually deal with the King!  

In Collosians (1:15) Paul calls Jesus the “Icon of God.” He means that when you look at Jesus you see…mysteriously…the invisible God. Jesus is the ultimate Schaliach.  

Another way to put that is to say that Jesus is the Sacrament of God.  

St. Augustine said that a Sacrament is: “The visible sign of invisible grace.”  

Just as to see Jesus is to see the Invisible God, to see a Sacrament…  

To participate in a Sacrament…is to be joined to the invisible God…  

So…when we are baptized…we are joined to the Invisible God…we are baptized into the Church…  

Which, as Paul explains in Corinthians…is the Body of Christ.  

This is not just a metaphor…Paul isn’t saying that being baptized is like joining Christ…  

He says it is becoming part of Christ…      

And Paul further says in Corinthians that he hears there are members of the Church who treat each other badly…  

Who don’t honor the less honorable…who don’t share with the less fortunate. Who actually over-eat and drink too much at the dinner which was Eucharist.     

He says these people sin because they “don’t discern the Body” of Christ…  

That is, they don’t discern Christ in the Church as it celebrates Eucharist and re-calls from eternity into the present…the whole Jesus Christ…Crucified and Risen…who was and is and will be forever…  

The Icon, the image…the very Sacrament of God.      

Now…what I am saying is a rather startling claim.  

Paul, and the Church ever since has said: “To be baptized is to be joined to the Church…”  

and the Church is the very Body of Christ…  

So to be initiated into the Church is to be joined to Jesus as fingers are to a hand.  

And since Jesus is the Sacrament of God…  

All who are joined to Him…  

Share in that Sacramentality!  

So…Every one of us…is a walking, talking, living, breathing Sacrament of Jesus…  

And so…a living, breathing Sacrament of God!  

Can you imagine, as you look around this room,  

That all these people…every one of us…  

Is a sacrament of Jesus?  

Many of us have known one another for years…  

And we know that others can be ornery…can be mean-spirited…can be, in fact are,…sinners…  

Well…at least I speak for myself…  

I know I am a sinner…  

Often not able to treat my neighbor as myself…  

Often turning my back on someone who is in need of something…  

Often something I could provide…a moment of kindness, of really listening…of feeling sympathy.  

Or maybe really sharing something wonderful…  

A recovery from sickness…  

A grandchild born healthy…  

Even an exciting vacation trip… (Yes, they will come again after COVID)  

And in each of these moments of sin…  

I have forgotten that person…or those people…Are Icons of Christ…who is the Icon of the Invisible God.  

Maybe..more important…  

I have conveniently forgotten…  

That I am a walking, talking Sacrament…  

A Sacrament of Jesus…  

And to see me…  

God help me!   To see me…  

In my humanity  

Is to see God!  

Which…to say the least intimidates me…  

And I often deal with that…by ignoring it…  

But I forget Augustine’s definition of a Sacrament…  

“A visible sign of an invisible grace”  

Being a sign comes with empowering grace…  

And part of that grace is God’s loving, never-failing understanding of our human sinfulness.  

Some years ago the late, wonderful Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a visiting professor on the Theology School faculty at Emory.  

He was there for several years and his office was next door to mine…so I got to know him pretty well.  

One day, after he had taught a class dealing with third-world poverty, an earnest young man caught up with him in our hallway.  

He was noticeably agitated and sort of stammered as he talked. It may have been that he was intimidated by talking face-to-face with a famous Archbishop.  

He made a kind of confession: “Bishop…Sir…after your class today I felt really bad…I still do. I feel like I should do something about all those poor people but I don’t know what. I’m married and have two kids. We have very little income and I’m in debt for school…I feel so guilty…I don’t know what to do! I’m not doing anything to help!”  

The Archbishop listened quietly and with sympathetic patience…and then he laid his hand on the guy’s shoulder and broke out in that absolutely wonderful smile of his…a smile that lit up a room and sang: “Love and Joy”…and he said: “Don’t worry my son…you have no idea of how low God’s standards are!”  

He smiled again, patted the young man on the shoulder and said softly: “Go in peace!”  

The student smiled back and just stood there.  

Bishop Tutu went into his office.  

I was witnessing a moment of Sacramental Grace…  

I was looking at God’s Grace of Forgiveness.  

I was looking at two Sacramental       
Icons of God…              
I was looking at what I…
                 And each of us…         
                  Are…and can be!  
                                Walking Sacraments!
                                        Giving God’s Grace and love…
                                              And accepting it!            

Annual Parish Meeting Rector Report – George Yandell In my annual reports over the past eleven years, I have said these words, and I’ll say them again: This is your parish. I serve God with you, guided by the Spirit of Jesus. I want to tell what I perceive God has done, is doing, and what God may be leading us to do together.   If there’s a slogan that sums up the past year, it’s “bridge over troubled water.” That’s how I have experienced the life and ministries we’ve extended during the covid era. If the parish is a bridge for us in living into our baptisms in the company of Jesus, you have done remarkably well. The results of our pledge campaign have surprised me and made me most grateful.    Where is the bridge carrying us? That’s what the newly reconstituted vestry will continue to discern after they start their work in the meeting after this all-parish meeting.    We are now into our 36th year as a parish- the founding parents are almost gone. New members are finding Holy Family and becoming part of the ministering body. We added 6 new members in 2021 during Covid. There were no Marriages, 2 Baptisms and 3 Burials in 2021. 6 members/families moved away, and 7 died since last year’s annual meeting. We’ll remember them in the annual meeting.    Our average Sunday attendance in 2019 was 169. In 2020, our average attendance before we began worshipping outside and online was 146. It was tailing off by early February.   Last year average attendance for our Sunday services was 86.  For Adult Education online @ 12. Online Evening Prayer, Morning Prayer and Evensong engaged both parishioners and non-members.  I am so grateful to those who’ve stepped up and are leading those services.    Plus over 100 people who participate in some way in the parish but are not members. Even during Covid, people are finding Holy Family who might not have been aware of us before.     Online participation for Sunday and Holy Day services Facebook: 4403 views YouTube:    645  Website: More than 2023Views. Unique viewers:175   Those who watched all the way thru:377   We probably have around 266 active adult members, but there’s no way to be absolutely sure since we’re not able to have many activities in person.    Just to note- it’s not difficult to join the parish. Talk to me if you’re interested in joining.   In the diocesan council virtual meeting in November, the financial report showed that in 2020, Holy Family had the 27th largest budget in the diocese of ATL, out of 115 worshipping communities.   You will hear in the annual meeting about the finances in 2021 and the budget the finance ministry approved for 2022 and forwarded to the vestry- the vestry accepted it unanimously on January 25. Because of increased pledges and a good end to last year with good income and less than anticipated expenses, Holy Family is in good condition financially. You are the reason- your pledges have exceeded past years’ tallies, and you’ve set the table for enhanced ministries in this new year. 113 pledges totaling $445,000. These totals are remarkable when we cannot gather for most activities except via zoom.   Four years ago, a group of us started strategizing with the diocese to accomplish the final goal in the parish Long Range Plan: “Eliminate the mortgage before refinancing is due in 2023.” Members of the 2019 vestry unanimously endorsed this major step. We reasoned that without mortgage payments we can free the parish for new initiatives in outreach, in ministry, and build a strong platform for Holy Family to thrive into the future.   Gifts from over 60 members brought in more than anyone anticipated. Just over $468,000. The balance on the mortgage was just slightly less than $601,000. That left $135,000 needed from the Diocese. The diocese lent us that money, we paid off our commercial mortgage and the diocese loan was initiated at a much more favorable rate- @ 2%. This is saving the parish over $15,000 in mortgage interest and principal payments each year. It’s a major reason our budget for 2022 is conservative and balanced. This without any solicitations or without a campaign. I’ve never before had this experience in any of the other parishes I’ve served. Today the remainder of the diocesan loan is $54,692. It was $130,000 at the beginning of 2021. The numbers are published each week in the service sheet.   I am grateful for all of you, even when we’re not together as much as in pre-covid time. You keep me focused on what’s most important, and you challenge me and one another to love like Jesus. You can read about the work the vestry and parish leaders have been engaged in over the past year in the annual meeting booklet.   We have added new members to our ministries. They’ve brought strength and purpose. You can read about each ministry’s report in the annual meeting booklet. Worship: The Worship Ministry is chaired by Ric Sanchez, chief verger. With input from the clergy, vergers, altar guild chair, organist/choirmaster, usher chair, greeters, flower guild and others, we evaluate how services are working, and plan future worship.    After the third Sunday in Lent two years ago, we started taping the services. A crew of us with no experience used cell phones to tape and process the services through Good Friday. Then we had to move out of the nave and have solo worship recording. Michael DeCamp, Steve Franzen, Allan DeNiro and I (sequentially) sweated through the taping sessions, then spent hours trying to upload the services onto Vimeo. Sometimes the uploading took hours and hours. It was harrowing. We dropped our smart phones on occasion. Didn’t help the production quality.   Bit by bit we learned and gained more experience and recruited more volunteers to produce the services. We were able to move back into the nave in early summer under strict diocesan guidelines for recording and streaming. The team leaders contracted with 3Stage Design to record and process the services until the production volunteers could take on more of the taping.    Using restricted funds for building furnishings, the production booth was constructed by Terry Nicholson and Jacques LeBlanc. Holy Family purchased the equipment for us to produce on our own. The volunteer producers were trained and assumed leadership and kept us online. We have missed only two Sundays in the past 18 months because of equipment failure.   There are now 5 producers, 10 camera operators and 6 sound board operators. They can use 2 more sound people. Please consider joining the production team as we will need additional folks who can use laptops to stream live education classes. If you sign up, you get a reserved seat in the production booth.   Because of our online presence, folks who didn’t know about Holy Family are seeking us out. Some are contributing online. It is evangelism.   Thank you everyone engaged in our services for keeping our liturgy dignified, meaningful, and challenging. You can read Ric’s report in the booklet.   Vestry Initiatives –   Long Range Plan: The new vestry needs to revisit the Plan and make some adjustments. The LRP guides our work and keeps us on task. The Parish Development group was created to move us to having a more visible presence in our area and more intentional planning for gathering newcomers.   Working with this year’s vestry has been grace-filled. I am most grateful for all they’ve done. See more in Sr. Warden Phil Anderson’s report of the vestry. I find it hard as Phil, Patricia Stimmel and John Rowan and rotate off. All of the vestry have done exceptional work over the past year. The calls you made on parishioners, the follow-up calls during the pledge campaign, kept folks plugged in and contributing, against all odds. Phil’s leadership has kept us on track, has generated plans for developing the parish, and has kept me accountable for the whole year. I’m pleased I get to continue to serve with those remaining on vestry. We actually have fun together, even when we’re focused on sometimes difficult tasks.    Enhancing Stewardship of Money:   In 2021 the vestry refined the Every Member Canvass. The response in turning in pledge cards in fall 2021 was stronger than last year. The Canvass co-chairs Jeannine Krenson and Allan DeNiro gave excellent leadership in planning and carrying out the stewardship of money campaign. It was thorough and participatory. Along with vestry and finance ministry leaders they met with all the ministries to solicit their plans and needs for 2022. Those meetings gave us more data sooner than any year before in preparing a budget that met nearly every goal the ministry chairs submitted. The canvass just ended was exceptional during the Covid restrictions. Your pledging has equipped the vestry to meet almost all the requests from parish ministries for funding. You can hear more about the pledge results from Treasurer George Miksch and Finance Ministry Chair Jim Braley in the annual meeting.   Finance Ministry: Read the report of the Finance Ministry to learn the details of our use of your pledge dollars. I am most grateful for your work and especially for the leadership of Jim Braley as chair, and our treasurer George Miksch.   Clergy Colleagues: Holy Family is graced with three clergy who volunteer in service to our parish. Their ministries for us are grace-filled, generous and essential to our spiritual and emotional health. To have colleagues like these is an asset beyond measure. Not only do they preach, serve at the altar, lead EFM classes, and serve in the Worship Ministry, do pastoral calls and push outreach efforts, but we also have fun together. I am daily grateful for Katharine, Byron, and Ted.   Conclusions: How are we doing in accomplishing the mission of the parish: “Creating Christian Community: Engaging people in vibrant ministry”? Your input gives direction and support as parish leaders plan for stronger ministries. Your volunteering puts the plans into action. During Covid, your participation is a gift of community we all need more of. You can read about all the ministries’ accomplishments in the annual meeting report.   Most important question: Are you engaged in vibrant ministry? If not, volunteer. Engage yourself in the work of a ministry or committee. Seek a higher plane of engagement with the Spirit of Christ. Speak with the leader of the ministry. Your ministries through Holy Family help fulfill your baptismal promises. You find colleagues and friends you haven’t known before. Being engaged multiplies your joy as you work with others in company with the Resurrected Lord of Heaven and Earth.   This is a remarkable community of love, support and nurture, not only for one another, but for the wider community. I am honored to serve as your rector.   G. Yandell

3rd Sunday After The Epiphany – Katharine Armentrout

JESUS AND HIS BLUEPRINT   

We have just heard Jesus layout what I would call His “blueprint for ministry”. He was filled with the Spirit that morning, as he read the powerful promises from Isaiah 61:  

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,     
because he has anointed me         
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives     
and recovery of sight to the blind,         
to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  

And when he sat down and all eyes were upon him, he said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  

At the time that passage was written, faithful Hebrews had prayed for their long-awaited release from Exile and the rebuilding of Israel.  

And, at the time of Jesus, faithful Jews were praying for God to release them from Roman domination, release from their crushing taxes, their poverty and oppression that had been created by that Roman system.  

Jesus, when he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” is announcing that through his ministry those promises, promises made especially to the least in the kingdom, will be fulfilled and that the coming of God’s kingdom is upon them.   

When he arrived at the synagogue in Nazareth that day, he had already undergone a profound spiritual journey –  

He had been baptized in Jordan river where the Holy Spirit had descended upon him and a voice had announced “You are my son, the Beloved”; then, led by the Holy Spirit, he had spent forty days in the desert where he was confronted by the devil’s temptations.  

I think it was during that time of great temptation and privation that, to use our vocabulary, Jesus came to terms with what being the Beloved, the Son of God, would require of him, what he would face in his ministry, but also understood that the Holy Spirit would accompany him through that ministry.    

So, when he arrived at his hometown synagogue, Jesus took full ownership of who he was – the Anointed one – and proclaimed that Isaiah’s message of great hope would be fulfilled through His ministry.   

And what was to be the focus of Jesus’ ministry? What was the laser-focus of his work?  His focus will be God’s focus.  
And God’s focus has been clear from the first pages of the Old Testament: His unfailing concern had always been the welfare of his people – both the spiritual and physical care of God’s people, especially those who are at the margins.  

Remember it was our God who made clothes for Adam and Eve to cover their naked bodies before they left the Garden of Eden, a tender moment from the very beginning of our relationship with God;  

And it was God who broke open Pharoah’s hold on the enslaved Hebrews and set them free.  

It was God who sent the Cloud by day and the fire by night to guide them, and provided manna and water for the Hebrews as they made their way to the Promised land;  

It was God who gave the Commandments that establish the rules for right living; the Commandments that prohibit murder and covetousness and lying and adultery, each of which prohibition protects God’s people from one another, and especially protects the vulnerable.  

God is powerfully clear about his priorities when he says to the prophet: “Is this not the fast I choose? To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the yoke, to let the oppressed go free. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless into your house?”  

God from the beginning has had the care of His people foremost in his concerns. And those concerns have always been laser-focused on the poor, the oppressed, the captive, the blind.            

The word “poor” in both the Old and New Testament includes not only those who have little in the way of money or land or goods;  

it includes those who, for one reason or another, are on the fringes or the outside of society – those marginalized by gender, race, physical handicap. Widows and orphans. Prisoners.            

And who are the “oppressed”? They are those who are under the harsh control, either physical or economic, of others.  

In Pickens County they are the poor who won’t, or can’t, speak up for themselves because of fear of loss of job; or won’t speak up about dangerous conditions in their rental trailers because they fear eviction; or immigrants who hide their illnesses or abuses for fear of deportation; they are the addicts whose lives are quite literally a prison;, etc.              

If you wonder about this emphasis this morning on the poor and oppressed, if you are quietly saying to yourself “Oh it’s just Katharine the Deacon talking; she always talks like that”, then just consider this fact when wondering about the priorities of our God:  

There are over 300 verses in the Bible that address our responsibility to care for the poor and to work for justice. The poor and the oppressed always have a priority on God’s care and concerns.  

And it was these concerns that Jesus took up with his ministry.  

We remember so many specific examples of his ministry to them: he healed the blind; he ate meals with the outcasts and sinners; he confronted those who would put heavy Temple tax burdens on the faithful poor; he fed the hungry; he healed the child of a gentile woman.  

The ministry of Jesus to the poor and the oppressed followed the blueprint that he set that morning in Nazareth; and set the priorities and blueprint for his disciples and for us.   

Priorities which we took on at our baptism when we each promised to seek an serve all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves and promised to strive for justice and peace among all people, while respecting the dignity of every human being (not just those who look like us or think like we do) .. 

This is God’s kingdom-work, Spirit-infused work, and as Jesus’ followers, we, each one of us, is needed for the work. Each us has been given unique gifts by God, as the apostle Paul tells us in our Corinthians passage.  

Those gifts are essential to the mission and ministry that Jesus set forth on that Sabbath day long ago.   

“You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” Says Paul.(vs. 27.) Our individual gifts are important; and we know that when we come together with our gifts, as part of the Body of Christ, that we can accomplish even more.   

As someone wrote, the best way to understand Paul’s point with the body of Christ is to think of it in the true Southern plural: “All y’all are the body.”  

And the Kingdom work that is being done by “all y’all” here at Holy Family for the Pickens County community is remarkable. We pray each week for these organizations, but do you realize how many people from Holy Family are involved in making them work?    

You have brought tangible good news to the poor through the food pantry and CARES Financial Assistance center, which was established right here at Holy Family; it truly is a haven for the poor of this County, and many from Holy Family have volunteered there and continue to support this wonderful place with donations of food and money.   The Weekend Snack program, which provides food to kids in Pickens County, is an organization. It was started by folks at Tate United Methodist Church together with folks from Holy Family. And now 8 or 10 folks from Holy Family, along with other volunteers, pack almost 500 bags of food each week for the students who have signed-up for the program.  

You have brought healing to the broken and the sick through the work at the Good Samaritan Clinic which got its organizational start right here at Holy Family. Quite literally life-saving work is done by the staff and the volunteers at the clinic.  

Holy Family has many volunteers at Good Sam and a number of our folks are on the Board of Directors…Truly God’s saving work is done there.,  

ACES, The Appalachian Children’s Emergency Center, is a shelter established with the help of a number of Holy Family folks. It provides a safe, loving home for older foster children who have been removed from their homes and have no one to care for them.  

Our volunteers continue to serve on the board; they help raise funds for ACES; and they provide direct mentoring to the some of the kids.  

Additionally we have volunteers working with the Boys and Girls clubs; we have Holy Family folks now serving on the board at Habitat for Humanity; we have volunteers up at Arrendale Women’s prison in Cornelia; we have volunteers at the Senior Center and helping with.  

And this list does not include those volunteers go to Honduras and Haiti, when travel is safe.   And I know that I am missing some!   The needs of the poor and the oppressed just in this County remain great even though we are providing some wonderful services:   

For instance over half the kids in the county qualify for free and reduced lunch which means over half the children in our county come from families that are near the poverty level; we have a terrible scarcity of affordable housing and the rents are now very high – at the apartments behind the Mountainside Hospital is $1,100 a month for just a 2 bedroom apartment and that does not include utilities; we have no homeless shelter in the County and yet we have folks who, for no fault of their own are homeless and have no other support.  

Epiphany 2C – By George Yandell

Weddings in Palestine were major celebrations with extended family and friends. They typically lasted a week or more. In today’s gospel reading about the marriage feast there is more than meets the eye.

As today’s Gospel passage opens, Jesus’ mother is attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee to which Jesus and his disciples also have been invited. Food and wine were plentiful at such festivities. When the supply of wine runs out it was a social disaster for the host family. Jesus’ mother informs him of the shortage. Jesus replied to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come”. That seems harsh and abrupt, doesn’t it? Referring to his mother as “woman” is not an indication of a lack of affection or respect, but rather is how Jesus often addressed women. (Throughout John’s Gospel, Mary is not called by name but is referred to as the mother of Jesus.) [Adapted from “Synthesis, a Weekly Resource for Preaching and Worship following the Revised Common Lectionary” for this Sunday.]

Symbolically, a marriage feast points to the banquet associated with the coming messianic era as Isaiah portrays it in that passage for today. It was a joyful and extravagant event. When Jesus says, “Fill the jars with water”, the ordinary event of a wedding takes on cosmic proportions, as water becomes wine. The words of Jesus accomplished it. Acceptance of Jesus’ words is a crucial theme in John’s Gospel, as seen in Mary’s faith in her son: “Do whatever he tells you”.

An extraordinary amount of wine was produced—as much as 120-150 gallons. It draws attention to the extravagant abundance of the age of the messiah, beyond what humans can comprehend or expect. This abundance is exemplified again in the feeding of the five thousand later in John’s gospel. In the prophetic tradition, abundant wine is a sign of the restoration of Israel. [ibid] Notice the wine steward (probably as fussy as a good sommelier today) pronounced to the groom, “You have kept the best wine until now!” Jesus saved the celebration and the marriage- the guests at the wedding probably recalled the taste of that wine many times over the ensuing years. 

The ‘chief steward’ in Greek is actually ‘governor of the feast.’  This is the only time the word is used in this sense in the Bible-all the other times it refers to a governor of a kingdom or a region. When John’s original readers heard this title they would have thought- “Why does this character have this title? Certainly he was a person in charge of catering or tending the wine, but governor?” Archi-trik’-linos. Literally, the ‘architect of the feast’. He presides at the feast, but is not a servant, nor the best man, but a guest chosen to run the affair because he is on close terms with the bridegroom. He is the one on whom all the action turns- a ‘fifth business’. I believe the gospel writer meant for his readers to realize the importance of that office in their ongoing ministry in Jesus’ name.

Marcus Borg, now of blessed memory, gives insight into the miracle of the water into wine. As the opening scene of public activity in John’s gospel, it discloses what the entire gospel is all about. It frames the story of Jesus. He says, “Big things happen on the 3^rd day: in the Bible: notably the resurrection of Jesus.” [Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, 2006 Harper Collins, p. 58]

“The beginning of the gospel anticipates its climax. ‘There was a wedding’ are words equally important in framing Jesus’ ministry: Marriage was a rich religious metaphor in Judaism and early Christianity: the marriage of God and Israel, the wedding of heaven and earth, the mystical marriage between an individual and God, the church as the bride of Christ….The [whole] story of Jesus is about a wedding. And more, it is a wedding at which the wine never runs out….. where the best is saved for last.” [ibid]

That’s the metaphor for us–following Jesus marries us humans to the divine. The feast keeps on going. The wine never runs out. Disciples of Jesus are continually amazed and included in God’s work. We are the ‘archi-trik’-linos.’ Through our baptisms, we architects have pledged “to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving neighbor as self.” That supreme commitment means we engineer the ongoing feast that marries ordinary humans to God. And like the wine steward, we stand to be amazed at the abundance of joy that overflows- to be thrilled at the intoxicating love that results from those marriages. Sometimes a distressing event pushes us beyond our comfort zones to bond people together.

I was in ninth grade. My parish had begun to offer after-school tutoring to children in the neighborhood around our Church. It was a pocket of poverty with poor housing and lots of single-parent families. The youth group leaders pressed us to sign up to do one afternoon a week of tutoring to elementary school students in the neighborhood center. I didn’t want to sign up, but did, because they told us it was Christ’s work we would be doing. 

I would walk over from the Church with other kids from our youth group on Wednesday afternoons. I got to know two of the kids who were siblings-boys in grades 3 & 5. The younger needed help with math, the older with reading and writing. I became fond of those boys over the months we worked together. 

Then came an afternoon when they didn’t show up. The center director told me their mother was in the hospital and the boys were with their grandmother across town. I was distressed. I walked back to the church and went to the rector’s office- Mr. Garner let me in and I told him what had happened. He immediately got on the phone and called the neighborhood center, got the mother’s name and the hospital she was in. He said he was immediately going to see her. I waited until the other tutors walked back, and one of their mothers drove us home. 

Just after dinner Mr. Garner called and asked to talk with me. He said, “George, I’m glad you let me know about those boys’ mother. She was startled to see me. She said she had a flare-up of her heart condition, but would recover. And she said the boys were worried about missing their time with you. She asked if you would come back next week. I told her I was pretty sure you would. Thank you for letting me know she was ill. God needs us all to pull together to make Jesus present to those in distress.” When I hung up, I was sort of bowled over. 

I got back with the boys the next week. We were glad to be together. Then the following Sunday they showed up at Church with their mother. And they kept coming. When I graduated from high school, the older boy had started serving as an acolyte, the younger was singing in the choir. I’ll never forget Mt. Garner’s words- we have to pull together to make Jesus present to others.  For me that’s the message of the marriage feast- do you see the progression? Someone told Mary about the wine running out. Mary told Jesus. Jesus instructed the servants to fill the water jars, then told them to take some of the contents to the chief steward. The steward tasted the wine, then gave credit to the groom for saving the best till last. He didn’t know where it had come from, but the servants knew. That’s the real message of the marriage feast for me. The servants of Jesus recognize where the abundance comes from, even though others don’t. Jesus marries us humans to the divine. The feast keeps on going. The wine never runs out. Disciples of Jesus are continually amazed and included in God’s work. That’s heady stuff, isn’t it?

1st Sunday after the Epiphany – Byron Tindall

On this, the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the church in the west remembers the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by His cousin, John the Baptist.   

From the Merriam Webster website, we get the following definition of epiphany:               

“Full Definition of epiphany 
1:capitalized: January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ 
2: an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being 
3a(1): a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something 
(2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking 
(3): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure 
b: a revealing scene or moment”   

We’ll spend a little time this morning on the first definition provided by Merriam Webster, but first we need to explore the Baptism some.   

All three of the synoptic gospels have the account of Jesus being baptized in the Jordan, albeit they are somewhat different. The writer of John completely ignored this part of Jesus’s life. Mark 1:4-11 and Matthew 3:1-17 record the other versions of the baptism. A full version of the baptism is found in verses 1 through 22 in Luke’s third chapter.   

John was expecting the Messiah, the one who would save the Jews. I, personally, don’t think John’s expectations were fully met by Jesus.   

Several problems rear their ugly heads for me in the entire concept of Jesus needing to be baptized. In Matthew’s account, John tells Jesus that he, Jesus, should be baptizing him, John.   

Remember, too, that John was baptizing, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the citizens of “Jerusalem and all Judea” for repentance and for the forgiveness of their sins.   

Now, the church has claimed for a very long time that Jesus was without sin. He never sinned in any way, shape or form. Why, then did he need the baptism of John? If Jesus was fully divine, as the church holds, he didn’t need to have the Holy Spirit descend upon Him as he was already “a part” of the Trinity.   

My method of reconciling or answering these questions is a little bit complicated, but please bear with me.   

The church holds that Jesus was simultaneously both fully human and fully divine. I don’t feel that the human Jesus had a complete and full access to the Divine Christ at all times. Glimpses into his divinity, probably. Total access, probably not.   

I think that by this time Jesus had at least an inkling of who he was and what he had to do.   

Jesus came into the world to bring God the Father to the people. Emmanuel – God is with us. He came to share our human nature. He came to share our human feelings – the frustrations, the hunger, the thirst for righteousness, the pain and every other emotion felt by human beings. He came into the world to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us back to God the Father.   

In my opinion, Jesus felt he needed to be with the citizens of Jerusalem and all Judea in every aspect of their lives. Thus he presented himself to John to show solidarity with the rest of the population who had fallen away from the proper practice of their religion and were suffering under the rule of Rome.   

As far as the dove coming down and the voice from heaven go, these are just another example of an epiphany, an expression of “an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being.” This epiphany event was for those lucky enough to be present when John baptized Jesus.   

While the Eastern Church recognizes the Baptism of Jesus on January 6, and the Western Church uses January 6 to commemorate the visit of the Magi to the newborn Christ Child, both are classified as epiphanies for me. They both qualify as such using the Merriam Webster definition. God revealing Godself to His creation.   

Of course the Baptism and the visit of the Magi are not the only epiphany events in the life of Jesus. Other events were presented to smaller groups, even as few as a single person.   

Epiphanies are not limited to the New Testament. There are many events in the Hebrew Bible where Yahweh reveals Himself to one or more of His chosen people.   

Are epiphanies over and done with, a thing of the past? I hardly think so.   

God shows Godself in many ways in this day and age.   

Using the second definition from Merriam Webster, “an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being,” God manifests or shows “Himself” to me in a variety of ways. Sometimes, I see God in and through music. I find God in the beauty of nature. I feel God at times during a worship service. I see God at work through other people who are doing His work. I find God in reading the Bible. I’m able to feel His presence when at prayer. I am able to find God in any of His creatures and in every nook and cranny of His creation. After all, God, the creator of all, is in everything.   

The epiphanies today may not be as “spectacular” as at the Baptism of Jesus by John. Epiphanies can be extremely subtle. We just have to be on the lookout for the revelations so as not to miss them.