Frontpage, January 1, 2017

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.  

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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. 

More about Epiphany

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The Setting for Sunday, Jan 8

We have just celebrated the birth of Christ and will experience his death and resurrection on April 17. 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.

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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 ?

Read more about baptism…

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Lectionary Epiphany 1, Jan 8 – The Baptism of our Lord

I.Theme –  The Promise of Christ and the revelation of the Trinity 

 "Epiphany"

This is the Sunday for the Baptism of the Lord. It takes us back first to Isaiah.

Isaiahs foreshadows the role Jesus will play. Isaiah promises justice and places the eventual Jesus in God’s sphere. “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight, I have bestowed my spirit upon him.”  Like God he is to be “light to the nations” and to look after the downtrodden (bring out the prisoners from the dungeon) and those that suffer handicaps (eyes that are blind). There are new things to be declared.a 

The Psalm speaks on the role of God noting God’s supremacy, glory,strength and even with a powerful voice that ultimately gives peace to the people. The power of God is particularly evident in nature (waters, trees, the wilderness) . The Psalmist, speaking of God’s covenant with David to be fulfilled in the messianic promise (Psalm 29), is told that he will be named as God’s “first born – highest among the kings of the earth.”

With Isaiah, this story shares the theme of God’s concern for all humankind being impartial, and not limited to the Jews.

The New Testament readings bring Jesus to this mix. Peter is visiting Cornelius in the Epistle, an officer of the occupying Roman army and already a believer in God. Peter breaks Jewish law by visiting a Gentile. The story in Acts 10:34-43 tells of the missionary zeal of the early church in bringing this Good News of the Messiah, the King of Kings and servant King – not only to the household of Israel but to the Gentile world as well. The conversion of Cornelius marks an important turning point in which the Holy Spirit has broken through with a clear new direction, and Peter preaches to this Gentile convert of how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” 

With the Gospel, it shares the theme of Baptism. “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. The reading is a capsule summary of Jesus meanings.  

Jesus baptism by John is to "fulfill all righteousness"  Jesus baptism in Matthew shows his continuity with God’s will seen in the Old Testament: the coming of the “Spirit of God” (v. 16), an Old Testament term, shows he is the Messiah; the words spoken by the heavenly “voice” (v. 17) are much like Isaiah 42:1: Jesus is the agent of God who will suffer for others – not the kind of Messiah people expected.  

Christ’s baptism in the Jordan was “theophany,” a manifestation of God to the world, because it was the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry. It was also a “theophany” in that the world was granted a revelation of the Holy Trinity. All three Persons were made manifest together: the Father testified from on high to the divine Sonship of Jesus; the Son received His Father’s testimony; and the Spirit was seen in the form of a dove, descending from the Father and resting upon the Son. 

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm – Psalm 29
Epistle –Acts 10:34-43
Gospel – Matthew 3:13-17 

Read on…

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A Blessing for the New Year!

From Pastor Dawn Hutchings

"The art of blessing is often neglected. The birth of a New Year calls forth the desire in us to bestow a blessing upon those we love. Several years ago, John O"Donohue, one of my favorite Irish poet’s created a New Year’s blessing for his mother entitled Beannacht-for Josie. It is a blessing of superior quality. And so, on this New Year’s Eve, may you all receive this beannacht with my added blessing for a peace-filled New Year in which the God in whom all of creation is held, might find full expression in your miraculous life!"
 

Beannacht – A New Year Blessing
John O’Donohue   

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.  

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight. 

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.  

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

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