[RCL] Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17 The Epiphany Season is a time in the church year when we focus on many epiphanies, shinings forth of the glory of Christ, among them his manifestation to Gentiles as an infant, the time at Cana when he supplied wine for a wedding, and his mountaintop…

Having a baptism today gives us something to celebrate. Whether the person to be baptized is a child or an adult, a baptism done on this day is more than special, it is triumphant. In a world that celebrates life achievements mostly for celebrities, the church rejoices at the baptism of a person into the…

“Covenant” is an interesting word. Mind you Episcopalians hear so much about the “Baptismal Covenant” nowadays that it is in danger of becoming one of those pious slogans often used and seldom contemplated. When The Book of Common Prayer was revised in the 1970s, some of the leading thinkers in our church were developing a…

This is my Son, the Beloved. (Matthew 3:17) It may come as a surprise to you that today is the first of five Sundays after the Epiphany, yet in many Episcopal churches the feast of the Epiphany itself is hardly celebrated at all. In fact, Epiphany is perhaps the only great festival day of the…

Last week we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. In these Sundays following the Epiphany you will hear a series of stories and teachings that carry out the theme of God made manifest to us in Christ. Each year on the first Sunday after the Epiphany we…

John Milton, who once marvelously celebrated the birth of Jesus in his “Ode to the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” later attempted a sequel upon the Passion. After writing a few stanzas he ceased in despair and later published the fragment he did write with an appended note: “This subject the author finding to be above…

“And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This is…