Jan. 10, 2021 – First Sunday after the Epiphany, Baptism of Christ
“Baptism of Christ”- Zelenka
The Week Ahead…
Jan. 10 – First Sunday after the Epiphany
Jan. 10 – Morning Prayer 11:00am – Join here at 10:30am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID:Meeting ID: 874 0903 2653 Passcode: 699097
Jan. 10 – Compline 7:00pm – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 871 1089 1688
Passcode: 097146
Jan. 13 – Ecumenical Bible Study 10:00am – Join here Meeting ID: 837 2389 1841 Passcode: 067156
Jan. 17 – 11:00am Second Sunday after the Epiphany – Join here at 10:30am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID: 874 0903 2653
Passcode: 699097
Jan. 17 – Compline 7:00pm – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302 Passcode: 729195
Epiphany – Jan 6 until Lent begins Feb. 17, 2021
Adoration of the Magi – Bartholomäus Zeitblom (c. 1450 – c. 1519)
The English word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means “appearing” or “revealing.” Epiphany focuses on God’s self-revelation in Christ.
Epiphany celebrates the twelfth day of Christmas, the coming of the Magi to give homage to God’s Beloved Child.
The Epiphany celebration remembers the three miracles that manifest the divinity of Christ. The celebration originated in the Eastern Church in AD 361, beginning as a commemoration of the birth of Christ. Later, additional meanings were added – the visit of the three Magi, Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River with the voice from heaven that identifies Jesus as God’s son, and his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. These three events are central to the definition of Epiphany, and its meaning is drawn from these occurrences.
Read the Gospel of Mark during Epiphany
The Good Book Club is an invitation to all Episcopalians to join in reading the Gospel of Mark during Epiphany 2021. Mark is the Gospel in Year B which will be a part of us in 2021. Episcopalians will read a section every day through the Epiphany season. Most of the readings are 20 verses or less.
1. There is also a free ChurchNext course to go along with it –
3. The Bible Project on Mark, including videos
4. Binge Reading the Gospel of Mark
5. Link to the daily readings.
Mark opens with words from the prophet Isaiah: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,” and indeed the gospel itself serves as a messenger for the life and ministry of Jesus. Written around 65-75, Mark proclaims the good news that Jesus is the messiah and Son of God.
The Setting for Sunday, Jan 10
We have just celebrated the birth of Christ and will experience his death and resurrection on April 1. However, one key event we should put in the same category is Jesus’ baptism. This Sunday is one of the weeks set aside for baptisms since we remember the baptism of Jesus early in Epiphany. We usually include the section in the prayer book for the renewal of the Baptismal Covenant in the service. In the past we have also “sprinkled” people.
We have many of our baptism articles one page, the Baptism Page.
Baptism in the Episcopal Church
From the Episcopal Library “This is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body, the church. God establishes an indissoluble bond with each person in baptism. God adopts us, making us members of the church and inheritors of the Kingdom of God (BCP, pp. 298, 858). In baptism we are made sharers in the new life of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. Baptism is the foundation for all future church participation and ministry.”
From the Diocese of New York
We owe much to the Apostle Paul who, through his writings, left a record of how the early Christian community understood Baptism.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by Baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).
Baptism was, for the early Christian community, a sacramental action to convey that one was experiencing spiritual conversion and renewal–the end of one life and the beginning of another in Christ. By using the metaphorical language and imagery of death, burial, and resurrection, the early community ceremonially expressed, that in Baptism, we die to our destructive and distorted ways of being, relating, and acting, and that by the goodness and faithfulness of God, we are raised from death to a new life, guided by and filled with the Spirit of God. It was an outward and visible sign of the spiritual transformation God was doing in one’s life. It was a symbolic action performed to depict what was happening within the life of one on a spiritual journey towards communion with God, the people of God, and all God’s creation.
Although the metaphor of being raised from death to new life is the dominant image of Christian Baptism in the New Testament, no single image or metaphor can exhaust the rich meaning of one’s conversion and experience of spiritual renewal. Consequently, there developed other images and metaphors in Scripture that express how the early Chrisitan community spoke of their conversion of life and experience of renewal in the Holy Spirit. Among them are:
Spiritual Rebirth (John 3:3-10)
Spiritual Awakening (Romans 8:37-39)
Initiation into the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:12-13)
Transformation of the whole person (Romans 12:1-2)
Made a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17)
To turn from darkness to light (Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:11-14)
To be saved (Titus 3:3-7)
One 0f the questions in baptism is whether infants or children should be baptized automatically or there is a specific age ?
Epiphany 2, Year B Lectionary Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021
I.Theme – Discipleship and calling
"Calling Disciples" –He Qi (2001)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – 1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
Psalm – Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
Epistle –1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Gospel – John 1:43-51
Samuel – calling Samuel
Paul – call to honor their bodies.
John – calling Philip and Nathanael
From Bruce Epperly "Process and Faith"
"Today’s readings describe the many faces of revelation. God’s presence and activity is both intimate and global. The heavens declare the glory of God and God’s glory is also revealed through the chanting of toddlers, nocturnal whispers, beating hearts, and adult inspirations. God is as equally present in our cells as in our souls. Our universe is omni-centered, that is, all things exist as a result of God’s energy and inspiration coursing through them.
"There are no God-forsaken places or persons. This spiritual insight leads to interpersonal and ethical responses: we are challenged to experience, honor, and support God’s movements in all creation. While this may complicate our ethical decision-making, it opens us to a world of wonder and beauty. Despite our turning from God, God is always turning toward us. There is hope for transformation in the most dire situations and most despicable people.
"The call of Samuel reminds us that children as well as adults can be God’s messengers to the world. God is moving through boys and girls listening to a children’s sermon or having their diapers changed in the church nursery. Samuel is both an unlikely and likely candidate for divine inspiration. He is a child and hardly expected to hear the voice of God, and yet he does. Yet, from the beginning of his life, he was a child of promise – his mother dedicated him to God and her fidelity to her promise may have opened unexpected pathways of divine presence in his life.
"In the call and response, the care that others have for us – their vision of our possibilities – creates a field of resonance that enables God to be more present in their lives. In seeing and honoring God’s presence in our children – and that means all children! – we awaken energies of growth and inspiration within them and ourselves.
"The call of Samuel reminds us that divine inspiration requires a community to be fully understood. It takes time for Samuel to discover that this nocturnal voice – a dream, a whisper, an inner inclination – comes from God. After all, God’s voice comes in the context and through the many voices of our lives. It takes a process of discernment to discover which of the voices in our lives is most authentic to our vocation as God’s loving and beloved children. Samuel seeks the guidance of Eli.
"We all need mentors who, in non-possessive ways, call forth our ability to hear God’s voice and movements in our lives. Samuel’s call in not just personal or individual, it is contextual. Our calls, accordingly, draw us deeper into our own experiences and yet lure us toward care for the larger community. The journey of revelation is always both inward and outward, and needs a community of discernment to mature and find direction.
"Psalm 139: 1-18 places each life in a divine environment. We live and move and have our being in relationship to God. God’s care and character determine God’s presence, action, and awareness of us. God is not out to get us or use divine knowledge to punish us. God fully knows us and fully loves us. This inspires both wonder and gratitude. More than that, God’s love leads to creating us as awesome and wonder-full from the moment of conception. Questions of “when life begins” are foolish from the Psalmist’s perspective and should not enter the political conversations of right and left, nor Christian arguments for the legality or prohibition of abortion.
"The Psalmist is clear that God cares for the fetus, and that shouldn’t be a matter of controversy even for those who support abortion rights. We cannot devaluate fetal life to affirm the lives of women. Both are valuable and cherished by God. This makes life and death decisions more complicated – and involves weighing contrasting values – but in the complication we may discover broader community and individual answers that honor both women and unborn children. (For more on ethics in the context of divine omnipresence, see Bruce Epperly, Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed, Continuum and Emerging Process: Adventurous Theology for a Missional Church, Parson’s Porch.)
"Divine activity sustains all things. Divine knowledge embraces all things. Divine presence supports all things. I purposely added verses 7-12 to today’s readings to render a more holistic reading of the Psalm. It is a Psalm of wonder and gratitude, of insight and inspiration, that has profound implications for how we view ourselves and others. We are wonderfully made – we are beautiful – and so is every other God-loved child.
"Today’s readers need not get bogged down on the minutia of I Corinthians 12. The passage speaks of temple prostitution and spirituality and sexuality, but it is really about the affirmation and care of our bodies. There is no mind-body dualism here: when Paul speaks of the body as the temple of God, he is clear that the body is connected with the spirit – each shapes the other. The spirit is embodied and the body is inspired. Our bodies are temples, that is, shrines to divine wisdom and deserve both affirmation and care. Glorify God in your bodies implies that we are to treat our bodies as expressions of divinity – this applies to our diet, sexuality, and lifestyle.
"It also applies to our care for the bodies of others. Recent allegations of child sexual abuse in major university sports programs remind and challenge us to support the safety of every child. More than that, we are called as churches to honor all bodies and perceive and affirm the goodness of all creation. This involves feeding hungry bodies, restoring broken bodies, healing sick bodies, and affirming all bodies as beloved by God.
"There are no perfect bodies. Nor are a culture’s standards of beauty absolute. Rather, the church is called to be counter-cultural: to promote wellness, but also to see God’s wonder in every body. We are all awesomely made. We need to see and bring forth beauty where others see ugliness.
"The gospel story presents Jesus’ call to Philip and Nathaniel. While the details of Jesus’ call are sparse, the scripture points out that God calls people in everyday life. Adults can open the doors of perception, experience divinity, and come to God in child-like spirits. John’s gospel describes a community of call in which our experiences of call and vocational inspiration inspire us to invite others to be part of the Jesus’ movement. There is no compulsion here, just invitation. “Come and see.” For those who respond, the heavens open up, new horizons emerge, and our lives are forever transformed.
"The call of God goes forth – everywhere. The doctrines of omnipresence, omniscience, and omni-activity (omnipotence) are not stale era pieces, irrelevant to our lives, but invitations to adventure – to see God everywhere, to experience God in our daily lives, to honor embodiment, and welcome revelation whenever and wherever it occurs. We are to be discerning and ask questions of ourselves and others when we have had mystical experiences. In the questioning, t have time to read the reports.inspired by a sense of holiness in all moments and all creatures, we will discover God’s voice amid the voices, and God’s pathways amid the pathways we travel individually and as communities. "
Read more about the Lectionary…
Come and See!
The Gospel refrain from John is relevant this week. We have the annual meeting this Sunday. Some people may be tempted to skip this Sunday thinking they will hear "boring speeches." No, Come and See.
The reports will be posted online. They all won’t be reported on Sunday. We do look back into last year. Obviously, we can be proud of our steps in the Village Harvest and our concert participation. But we will gaze ahead into 2018 and see what God will be doing with us. What can we do in 2018 to make this a better world and to strengthen our own community ?
Lutheran seminary president David Lose writes the following this week about "Come and See":
"These words, this invitation, form the heart not simply of this opening scene but much of John’s Gospel. John’s story is structured around encounters with Jesus. Again and again, from these early disciples, to the Pharisee named Nicodemus, to the Samaritan women at the well, to the man born blind, to Peter and Pilate and eventually Thomas, characters throughout John’s Gospel are encountered by Jesus. John structures his story this way, I think, to offer us a variety of possibilities, both in terms of the kind of people to whom Jesus reaches out and the kinds of responses they offer…and we might offer as well. And so across the pages of John’s Gospel there are women and men, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, powerful and vulnerable, people of all shapes and sizes and varieties that Jesus meets. And to each one, in one way or another, he says the same thing: come and see. Come and see God do a new thing. Come and see as your future opens up in front of you. Come and see the grace of God made manifest and accessible and available to all."
This is the Sunday to invite someone to come to Church. Is St. Peter’s a "good fit" for them ? Come and see. As Lose writes "the number one reason people give for coming to a church for the first time is that someone invited them personally. Just as Philip said to Nathaniel, that is, someone said to them, “Come and see.” Which means that the future of the church depends greatly on ordinary, everyday Christians summoning the courage to invite someone to come and see what they have found in the community of the faithful that is their congregation." Go and Tell.
The Call of Prophecy – King and Samuel
by Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell 
For many church leaders, in the past and present, we have been called to speak out for God’s ways of righteousness and justice, and sometimes we have to speak out against the very institutions that have nurtured us in our call. We have had to overcome the voices of fear inside us or the voices of doubt outside of us that tell us we haven’t heard God’s call and we should go lie back down. It’s not an easy call to follow. As we honor and remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this month we remember King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, in which he writes to some of the very clergy who have supported him but have also tried to stop him, in an attempt to avoid conflict. Prophets are called to speak to conflict, to address it and not run from it, to speak and act out despite their fears and the fears of others. Dr. King certainly did this in his life and ministry. While one can argue for or against calling Dr. King a prophet, it is clear the Dr. King lived his life as many of our Biblical prophets did, speaking and acting out for God’s ways of justice and righteousness. I call him a prophet.
As we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this month, the Call of the Prophet Samuel is an appropriate reading for today. In reading Samuel’s story, we can find the story of all prophets who have been called to speak out for God’s ways of justice and righteousness. We find the story of many who have heard the call of God but have had that call questioned by others (in this story, Eli questions the call, but not God, and when Eli is certain it is God calling Samuel, he encourages Samuel to listen to God). God calls Samuel to do something that is not easy: to speak out against Eli’s own sons, that they can’t skate by doing whatever they want to by offering sacrifices afterwards, that they can’t get off because their father is a priest. Samuel has to stand up to the family of the very person who has taken him in and cared for him, the very person who has instructed him how to listen to God’s ways. It is not easy to follow the call of the prophet.
Make a Gift Today! 2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 4. Server Schedule January, 2021 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (January, 2021) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (Jan. 10, 2021 11:00am), and Sermon (Jan. 10, 2021) 10. Recent Services: Readings and Prayers, Advent 4, Dec. 20, 2020 Readings and Prayers, Christmas 1, Dec. 27, 2020 Readings and Prayers, Chrismas 2, Jan. 3 |
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Saints of the Week, – Jan. 10, 2021 – Jan. 17, 2021
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10
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William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645 |
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11
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12
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Aelred of Rievaulx, Abbot & Theologian, 1167 |
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13
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Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367 |
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14
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[Richard Meux Benson], Priest, and [Charles Gore], Bishop, 1915 and 1932 |
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15
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16
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17
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Antony, Abbot in Egypt, 356 |