January 9, 2005; The First Sunday after the Epiphany Readings: Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17; Psalm 89:20-29.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith A Moment of Knowledge John is confused because Jesus comes to him for baptism. "I need to be baptized by you." John says. Those who were coming to John for baptism were coming to follow him to be his disciples. I need to be your disciple, John is saying, not the other way around. Jesus replies that now, in this moment, this is the way to "fulfill all righteousness." To fulfill all righteousness is to do the will of God. It is told to us by the gospel writer as a moment of epiphany—a moment when God was manifest in the world. The will of God was done and God was known. The heavens opened. A voice from heaven came with words of confirmation: "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Such is the description of a dramatic moment of Epiphany—a moment of knowing, of being touched by God. The feast of the Epiphany is always celebrated on January 6th. The reading for the day is that of the wise men being led by the star to the baby Jesus. So when you hear about THE Epiphany—it is referring to the Jan. 6th and story of the wise men. But of course there are many epiphanies. There are many manifestations of God that alert us to God’s presence and the nature of God. God touches us through a person or a story; we are moved, our awareness is heightened in the middle of an ordinary day and it doesn’t seem so ordinary anymore. The blessing for Epiphany, and this first Sunday after the Epiphany is found in your bulletin. The blessing captures the meaning that past epiphanies still hold for us. The star, the baptism, the wedding feast at Cana—these moments of Epiphany tell us something about God—something about the life of faith—something about what we should expect as children of God—as friends and followers of Jesus. In all three situations, God’s actions were not entirely clear at first. As the people move through the events of their lives—clarity comes in its own good time. We should expect to be uncertain. Maybe that is one way we know that we are being led and not simply following our own plan. That icon of the star holds a message for us. As the blessing states, we pray that God will lead us to find the Lord in our pilgrimage. We, like the wise men, are on a pilgrimage of discovery. Even as they became sure about the star, they had much more to learn about the way of God. We find Christ many times in life and come to know him in new ways as we are led. The scene of the baptism speaks to us of God’s power to enter our lives. We pray in the blessing that God will pour out the Holy Spirit on you who have come to the waters of new birth. When we are baptized and join the faith community, we are marked as Christ’s own forever. The moment of baptism is just the beginning of knowing God through Christ. The Spirit continues to guide us—sometimes feeling like the Spirit is being poured out upon us. Third part of the blessing refers to the miracle at Cana—the water turning into wine. In that moment of Epiphany, Jesus is reveled to the disciples as one to follow and trust. Their lives were going to be changed by him. And we pray that God’s power will also transform our lives and make glad our hearts. God is in the business of transformation. We can expect that even in the most difficult times God is seeking to transform our lives and make glad our hearts. In the last two weeks we have been following the tragedy of the tsunami victims and praying for all who have been hurt and devastated by the disaster. Day in and day out, maybe especially in the difficult times, God is seeking to transform lives. Death and suffering are never the will of God. I feel that I need to state that clearly because I have heard them some clergy in Winchester are saying that the tsunami was God’s will. It was not. In the midst of the worse situation, God is with us, crying with us and seeking to transform the pain into acts of compassion and love. We see that caring and love in the response to those in need. Disasters happen. It’s not God’s will. Indeed, we are getting at the heart of the Christian faith to say that God became man and died on the cross to know our suffering—to be able to enter our suffering and thereby transform it. Jesus rose from the dead and showed us that death is not the will of God. We pray today, in our blessing, that God will do what God has promised to do transform our lives and the lives of those who suffer. In such a prayer we are really acknowledging what God is already doing. Through the act of praying for it, we are seeking to deepen our awareness of God’s great love for us; such love is transforming. Through our prayers and worship of God, and through our acts of compassion toward those in need, we open ourselves to God—to knowing God, to experiencing an epiphany in our time and in our lives. These three Epiphanies referenced in our blessing, these moments of knowing are still with us. These moments of knowing are part of our story of faith because they point beyond the specifics of their time to the nature of God’s love that is timeless. They convey to us the nature of God’s reaching out to us—to touch us, to move us, to led us and to transform us. Amen. ***************************************** From The Book of Occasional Services, 1994, p. May Almighty God, who led the Wise Men by the shining of a star to find the Christ, the Light from Light, lead you also, in your pilgrimage, to find the Lord. Amen. May God, who sent the Holy Spirit to rest upon the Only- begotten at his baptism in the Jordan River, pour out that Spirit on you who have come to the waters of new birth. Amen. May God, by the power that turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, transform your lives and make glad your hearts. Amen. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever. Amen.