1 Epiphany, Year B 2006 Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 89:20-29, Acts 10:34-38, Mark 1:7-11 January 8, 2006 The Rev. J. Brian Ponder Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi In the Name of the Beloved. Amen. Wonders and wandering. The heavens show forth God’s glory. This morning as we celebrate the first Sunday after the Epiphany, we mark in sacred storytelling the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by his cousin—an epiphany action by God through John showing forth a new reality to those who witnessed and participated in Jesus’ baptism, to Jesus, he who heard the voice of God and saw the tearing open of the heavens, to those who saw with their own eyes the glory of God in their midst and to us in later generations who continue to hear and tell the story. On Friday night, a number of us gathered here to celebrate the Epiphany, the Feast of the Manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles—an observance of revelation, of God’s disclosure of God’s self to the world as Emmanuel, God in our very midst, revelation that Jesus the Christ, as Messiah, as Lord and Savior, is for all, not just a “chosen” people. This season into which we have entered is about revelation—true Epiphany—and it’s about manifestation. Epiphany is about moments of connection in the lives of those who witnessed Jesus’ ministry, and it’s about those moments of connection when Jesus is revealed in our own day. Our marking of the season continues the celebration of God with us, a celebration of the possibility, no … the reality that God is doing something new in, of, for and through us and this world of ours—even if we are not the direct recipients of guiding and guarding signs in the heavens. It would seem to me that God’s words through the prophet Isaiah ring stronger and more clearly in Epiphany: “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.” (42:9) These words seem to point to a new reality in Mark’s gospel as God further breaks forth into the creation, announcing to Jesus: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (1:11) … an even more personal claim upon Jesus than in the Matthean account we heard this time last year, where God tells those gathered just who this Jesus is. Here, God personally claims Jesus as the Beloved and, thus, speaks in terms of a new creation—an even newer manifestation of relationship. This is truly a new understanding of Emmanuel—God with us—a new thing which speaks to us through the baptism-life of Christ which ushered in an outpouring of holiness upon all creation as Jesus received his commission in and through the waters of the Jordan. … In baptism, Jesus received both an outpouring of the Spirit and a commission. … The outpouring of the Spirit was for the world; his commission was to the world. Mark’s gospel, it would seem, has an agenda. In it there is no poignancy, no nostalgic scene-setting for the Incarnation. Rather, the story moves us straightway into the life and ministry of Jesus. There is no lingering, no fleshing out of the Word made flesh, only this leap to the water’s edge … to Christ’s baptism. We are thrust to the point of transformation from the get-go, where nothing before is important, only what comes after … this new thing that God is accomplishing. Perhaps there is something for us to learn from this. As we continue our celebration of the manifestation of the Christ into this world and today his baptism, so too we celebrate our own baptismal lives within the Church and the larger Body of Christ. We again mark this as a day of entry point, particularly for those who will be baptized [later this morning / in a few moments] into the fuller realization of relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We mark this as a day of renewal for ourselves in the lives we have promised to live and lead. [Later] Today, as a community of faith, we will baptize Beatrice Rose Cook Dobson and Andrew Larkin Perry, a daughter and son, into not only this branch of the Body of Christ—Church of the Resurrection in Starkville, Mississippi, part of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, but we will welcome them into the larger Body of Christ, the larger body, the one Church. Today, God’s working will seal them in relationship, in identity, as passage and movement marks these already- and wonderfully-made children of God. On behalf of the family of Christians everywhere—and more importantly in God’s Name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit—we will welcome them into the priesthood of all believers, creatures of God’s own making, children of God, beloved in their own life—reminding us that we, too, are beloved—those … we who share in Christ’s eternal priesthood. Something new. Wonderful signs marked within them and on them and within us and on us, truly wonderful signs that guide and guard us. We Christians understand Baptism as rebirth, fresh start … new birth … new birth into the loving arms of God … new birth into the saving grace of Jesus Christ. In it we share in an everlasting promise that we will be made new again and again and again. That our life in Christ is strengthened in this new relationship, this new way of being—a dying to the old and what is past. And [whether here now or present later this morning for their baptisms] we make promises for ourselves and on behalf of others, to dedicate our lives and the raising up of others within the life of the Church and Body of Christ. New things … new ways of being. Today we [will] baptize two children into the household of God, proclaiming God born, crucified, risen and glorified, and called to proclaim a common story of pilgrimage to and from the font and back again. Theirs are our same stories, all of which we are called to share with every new member received into the Body, particularly through our own renewal of vows in the Baptismal Covenant. In the making and renewal of vows we live into this priesthood of all believers, understanding that just as Christ received a commission, just as Christ was sealed by the outpouring of the Spirit, our own baptisms make a claim upon us and seal us in an understanding of just who and whose we are. Today we make connection in that sacred movement to the waters’ edge, where we all find rebirth into Christ—his suffering and death, his glorious resurrection and ascension. For it is in the waters that we find Jesus. Today we claim Jesus’ story as our own … shared … experienced … manifest, true and real in our own lives in our own day. … I’ve shared some of Ted Loder’s prayers here before, and I’d like to share another one with you, one that offers us an Epiphany understanding of baptism as starting place for that which is yet to unfold. May the new beginnings of our baptismal life ever unfold in ways of transformation and blessing for ourselves and those whose lives we are called to touch. [Help Me to Believe in Beginnings by Ted Loder was read here. ] Amen.   Loder, Ted. Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the battle. San Diego, CA: LuraMedia, 1984. Pages 98-99. ISBN: 0-931055-04-0.