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Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, 

and your faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,

your justice like the great deep; 

you save both man and beast, O Lord.

How priceless is your love, O God! 

your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

They feast upon the abundance of your house; 

you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the well of life, 

and in your light we see light.

Continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, 

and your favor to those who are true of heart. (Psalm 36:5-10)

Epiphany is the season that manifests the divinity of Jesus. This season is filled with powerful Gospels that bring us closer to God. The season starts with the recent birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi who follow the light in the sky on the day of the Epiphany. The Baptism of our Lord was observed last Sunday. We baptized three young men and celebrated the diaconal ministry of Deacon Claire Mis. Jesus was baptized and as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22).

The gospels for next three Sundays of the Epiphany season describe the wedding at Cana, the reading of Isaiah in the temple by Jesus, and the opposition to Jesus in Nazareth. The next group of Gospels will describe the calling of the fishermen and the beatitudes. On the last Sunday of Epiphany we will experience the transfiguration. Jesus' identity as the Son of God will be dramatically revealed in the Transfiguration gospel. 

The prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming of the Kingdom of God in today’s lesson. He says that you will no longer be forsaken and you will no longer be desolate. You will be blessed and loved by God. So God sent his only Son so that everyone would know that God rejoices over them and brings about righteousness and justice so that we all will know that we are loved and blessed by God. When we affirm that Jesus is God’s son, our mission becomes spreading God’s love to the world. That mission is blessed by God and we are loved as Christ’s own. I ask each member of our congregation to listen to the word of God this Epiphany season as we prepare a new mission statement for our annual meeting on February 2nd. 

This weekend we celebrate a modern day prophet. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that he had a dream. God’s righteousness and justice were needed to change the way people were treating each other. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’" He said that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. The evidence is massive that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God does have a dream that we can live together and respect the dignity of each other.

In Christ’s light of love,

Fr. Duncan