Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord

A sermon by Bishop Don Phillips on Genesis 1:1-15 and Mark 1:4-11

Let us bow our heads in prayer. Gracious and loving God we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us gathered here and gathered in our homes. Help us now to open our minds. Our hearts, our whole lives to receive. The gift of. Your living word for us this day and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

Amen. I probably should tell. You at the very beginning that this sermon is an amalgam of three different substances. I have a chemistry background, so let's hope that they combine in the way that they are meant to.

First of all, what are we celebrating tonight? Is it epiphany? Or is it the baptism of the Lord? And the answer is yes. Is both Epiphany takes place on January 6th and the word Epiphany comes from the Greek and it means a manifestation or a showing forth a revealing of the true nature of a person. So for instance in children's fairy tale stories. When the banished Prince returns to the Kingdom disguised as a wandering beggar, and at the climactic moment is revealed as the heir to the throne. His or her true identity has been revealed or manifested. It's an epiphany moment.

Tonight we celebrate the epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ, the child Jesus, born to Mary and Joseph, is shown to be the divine son of God. Traditionally, we tend in this church and Western churches to associate the visit of the Magi who I think are up here sort of the visit of the Magi, with their gifts, presenting them to the newborn Jesus. Well, how does the visit of the Magi, these wise men from the East, fit into this epiphany theme?

Well, it's because they are not Jewish. They are foreign dignitaries and it reveals to everyone who witnesses it that this child, Jesus is first of all a king, and secondly that he is king not only for the Jewish peoples but for all peoples. That's the epiphany moment.

OK, so where does Jesus baptism by John in the Jordan River? Some 25 years later, or so fit into this epiphany event? Well, something extraordinary happens when Jesus of Nazareth is baptized. We read. And justice, as he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw the heavens torn apart and the spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven. You are my son, the beloved with you. I am well pleased. This experience of Jesus baptism in this way reveals. That he is God. 'S son, meaning that he shares the divine nature with God.

So like the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus is also an epiphany event, because it reveals Jesus divine nature that God is literally present in the person of Jesus. So where do these observances come from? Though? There's this thing on January 6 called Epiphany. The celebration of Epiphany predates the celebration of Christmas. In fact, if the Epiphany had not happened. There would really. Be no significance to Christmas. The epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ is what makes Christmas significant. Otherwise it would just be another young couple having their first child.

By the 3rd century, the Eastern Church, which the Pignat family represents, the Eastern church celebrated Epiphany, focused around the baptism of John of Jesus by John. In fact, by the 4th century there were three great feasts in the Christian Year, Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany.

Then later in the 4th century, the Western Churches celebrated Epiphany, but they chose the visit of the Magi as featured prominently in the Epiphany event. So both the baptism and the visit of the Magi manifests something of the real nature of Jesus. You can take your pick as to which event speaks more clearly to you.

So what about our celebration tonight? This is the second piece. Why do we read the 1st 5 verses of the creation Story in Genesis Chapter one? Or what do we read? Well, we read these words. The Earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. A wind from God. In the biblical languages, that could also have been translated breath from God or Spirit from God.

What happens next? Then? God said, let there be light and there was light. God's voice is heard and something comes into being. This is how God's creating is understood. Then we hear from the first chapter of Mark's Gospel after some verses introducing John the Baptizer what he was doing and why, including a verse about what John was wearing. Which seems initially kind of strange. It says now John was clothed with camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locust, some wild honey. Well, John is not a fashion designer or excuse me, Mark is not a fashion designer. In trying to describe this marks hearers would have recognized that clothing. As the appearance of a prophet like Elijah in the person of John, that's why the description of what he looked like and what he ate.

Then we get the description of Jesus baptism. Mark says the heavens were torn apart to violent rupture. And he says, what do we see? God's spirit moving over water and Jesus and the voice of God is heard as something new comes into being.

What does that? Sound like God creating this is a new creation. Parallel to what? We read in Genesis a new creation in humanity, and as each person is baptized into Christ, they too are adopted daughters and sons of God, God's children. Brothers and sisters with Christ and each other.

What is so powerfully transforming about Jesus baptism is not just some spectacular display of divine power. It is the manifestation of God's life, God's breath, God's spirit in human flesh. Like ours. That's the two pieces. What's the third? Well, in tonight's call it prayer. We prayed these words. Keep your children born of water and the spirit faithful to their calling. Everyone of us is marked as part of God's new creation. Every one of us is caught up in the manifestation of Jesus baptism. Filled with the same spirit as Jesus, empowered with the same love and charged with the same calling to live out and manifest our identity as children of God living into the coming fullness of God's Kingdom.

So what does that mean for you and me? I'm going to share a little bit of Nancy's and my Christmas experience to illustrate this. Our daughter-in-law Chantelle, who attends the 4:00 PM service Sunday Minor, is indigenous. She's from the Shenzhen First Nation in Northwestern BC, so all four of her children are grandchildren. Are indigenous status and they have status cards. Tragically, Chantelle had to fly to Prince Rupert six days before Christmas to be with her sister, who was dying. Then, two days after New Years, our son David flew out to join her for the funeral.

So Nancy and I became pseudo parents for three days. On Wednesday afternoon, we took our grandchildren to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Indigenous persons receive complimentary admission into that museum because of their identity. Now, as our grandchildren mature, they can choose to live out their calling as indigenous persons. Or they can choose to ignore it. That calling doesn't only have benefits, it also has responsibilities of stewardship of the land, of living by the seven sacred teachings. They those children have done nothing to earn their status as indigenous persons. It was gifted to them by their mother and with it comes the gift and the responsibility to live their lives as the creator made them to be.

We all, including them, have been given a new identity in Christ as children of God. We can choose to ignore that identity or superficially acknowledge it on occasion, or we can seriously embrace Our Calling and become truly living in vibrant sons and daughters of God, manifesting the true nature of God. And with his never ending love for. All of us. And for all of creation and helping others to discover and manifest their true God-given identity.

So we don't just celebrate Jesus epiphany. Tonight we celebrate and give thanks for God's epiphany in and through each one of us. Thanks be to God. Amen.