What Time Is It?

Mark 1:14-20

What time is it?

And what are we to do?

These are two questions that organize our lives.

I set an alarm at my bedside in order to wake myself at a certain time.

And I know by the alarm and by the time what I am called to do.

When 12 noon hits, I invariably feel that I should start thinking about lunch.

The Hobbits in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings were very sensitive to meal times.

They had a meal between breakfast and lunch called “elevensies.”

I have a new class schedule which has given me times and told me what to do and where at those times.

And I keep a calendar that tells me what to do at various times.

This Is My Beloved

Genesis 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

This passage has become one of the most important ones for me.

A couple of summers ago, Rachelle was reading a book by the Dutch Catholic priest Henri Nouwen.

And one of the things she shared with me from the book was that Nouwen suggested that the words Jesus hears in his baptism are words directed not only at Jesus but by extension to everyone of God’s children

That following Christ, we also receive those words

And Nouwen suggests that we listen to them often and regularly.

I have come to think the same thing and this passage has come to have new meaning for me.

I am a child of God and quite apart from anything I have done or have not done,

God remains constant in God’s love.

And so we hear the voice from heaven saying to Jesus in the Jordan river,

“You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you”

or another version, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

We might make this more general and all encompassing.

“You are my child, my beloved one, I’m so happy you’re alive.”

Arise, Shine

Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

How does God show up in our world?

How does God become known to human beings?

How did you first learn about God?

How did you first experience God?

These are questions that Epiphany invites us to spend time with.

We read about the wise men coming from the East,

Following their reading of the night sky

And they find themselves in a political thriller.

Where do we find God showing up in our story?

In the midst of a corrupt politics and deceitful manipulative interpersonal tactics.

At Epiphany we proclaim the God who is not hidden from the world God created.

We proclaim a revealed God, a God who shows up in human history

And becomes the embodied blessing of God in the person of Jesus Christ

who reveals God’s love for all of humanity.