The First Sunday after the Epiphany; January 8, 2006 Readings: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 89:20-29; Acts 10:34-38; Mark 1:7-11   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Knowing the Chosen One The prophet Isaiah speaks of God's chosen one, in whom God delights. The Chosen One will bring forth justice; he will not grow faint. For God's spirit will be upon him. He will be a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. Through out the ages, people have experienced Jesus as the Chosen One, the Son of God, the Lord of All. I remember well, years ago when I was in an EFM group, Education for Ministry, one of our group who had been reading one of Marcus Borg's books (I think that it was Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time or Resurrection: Myth or Reality) said that he did not think that Jesus was different than other people-did not think that Jesus was divine, the Son of God. The priest in the group gently said that she had known so many who had experiences of Jesus-moments of Epiphany in which they had known Jesus in a way that was completely different from the way they could know anyone else. Moments of epiphany are important to our faith story-those that we hear about and those that we experience first hand. Jesus is our light. We have celebrated his birth and now we enter the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is a time to consider how we know Jesus to be our light. The Epiphanies of our faith are known to us: the wise men who followed the star experienced an epiphany, a manifestation of God. Today, the first Sunday after the Epiphany, presents us with another moment of knowing-another moment of knowing about Jesus. The baptism of Jesus showed that he was to be part of this new thing God was doing; the decent of the Holy Spirit showed that he was the Son of God-the Chosen One. By going to John for Baptism, Jesus aliened himself with all those who sought new life, fullness of life, which was symbolized by the baptism. Jesus was himself God's alignment-God's movement deep into the reality of life-your life, my life, and the lives of those who have gone before us. There has been confusion about what Jesus did. The baptism symbolized an entrance into a new life because the baptism brought with it the forgiveness of sins. Some have been confused by this because Jesus did not need to be forgiven-he was without sin. Our gospel seeks to remove the confusion by telling us of this moment of Epiphany: "And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased'." As Mark's gospel tells us, Jesus was identified as the Chosen One, the messiah, the Lord of all. Moments of Epiphany, moments of knowing, such as the Baptism of Jesus, are moments when God declares new things. What are the new things that God declares to you? In this season of Epiphany, we might look for occasions of connection with the Chosen One who seeks us. Sometimes it is not a new thing that happens but a new way of understanding a thing or relating to a thing, person or situation in life. Our Christian faith makes everything new when we are fully engaged with it. God's love for us, made manifest in Jesus, makes everything new even as we seek to engage the faith. We, this community of people, we are a manifestation of God's love. Here for all who seek to know God. Jesus was God's new way of relating and he changed everything. The baptism of Jesus that we remember to day, was part of his ministry that now invites us to baptism, and once baptized to live into the implications of our baptism. In our opening prayer, we asked God that we be able to keep the covenant we have made, and boldly confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. What can it mean for us to boldly confess Jesus as Lord and Savior? Or as St. Peter put it in Acts, that Jesus is Lord of all? Absolute certainly is not required or the ability to argue the finer points of theology. Our witness to Jesus happens every time we seek to share the light of Christ with others-every time we seek to grow in our knowledge and love of God. The baptismal covenant, which we will reaffirm today, contains our instructions for confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior. Listen carefully for God's word to you as we reaffirm out baptismal covenant. In this new year, 2006, how is God calling you to live into your faith? We do all that we do with God's help. There will be times when the star shines brightly for us and we have a sense of God that passes all understanding. There will be other times when it is simply the faithful act of showing up that will make all the difference. Jesus came to be with us in this world-in the reality of our lives-it is there in the struggles and the joys that moments of epiphany are to be found. Amen.