Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 11 Jan., 2015, Epiphany 1,
The Baptism of Our Lord
Year
B RCL:
Genesis 1:1-5;
Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11
In
the beginning...God said...and it was good.
Water,
beginnings, God's spirit & God's approval flow through &
connect our scriptures today.
Genesis
says “In the beginning...a wind from God [also
translated God's Spirit]
swept over the...waters.”1
In the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, the waters of baptism
flow over him & God's Spirit descends like a dove. In the
beginning as Christianity spreads, the waters of Baptism flow over
the believers in Ephesus, as
Acts tells us,
& God's Holy Spirit fills them so that they can serve God more
effectively, just as Apollos has learned to do in the previous
chapter (Acts
18:24-28).
The
information about Apollos & in today's lesson show us that our
work of sharing the Good News of Jesus & supporting each other as
we grow in knowledge & God's grace continues the work that begins
in the beginning of Christianity.
Beginnings
are important. We speak of “a good beginning” & “that
didn't get off to a good start.” Saying this, we reflect the
understanding in the Genesis account of beginnings. The book we call
Genesis (as
the Jewish Study Bible tells us2)
is the Greek name for the Hebrew book known by its first word,
bereishitבְּרֵאשִׁית
3,
that
means “In the beginning.” The people in the world of Genesis
consider beginnings very important, reflecting both the origin &
purpose of what has begun.4
The
beginning in Ephesus gives a deeper walk with Jesus for the
Christians Paul encounters & who gain a new beginning of life as
God's people. Our lived relationship with God & God's people
takes precedence over our abstract theology & intellectualism,5
as we change & grow & encounter new beginnings.
Today
we encounter the waters of baptism & God's spirit in our reading
from Acts & in our Gospel. Mark tells us that Jesus stands in
solidarity with the people of Isreal6
who are re-dedicating their lives to God. This Gospel also tells us
of Jesus' unique status7
when God's Spirit descends like a dove. God says clearly to Jesus:
“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This
is a lived relationship with God.
How
does that feel when someone says something like that to you? “Great
job!” “I admire how you handled that.” “You are special to
me.” I usually see a positive reaction in the lived relationship
when a person hears such words.
As
we leave Christmas behind & enter Epiphany, we focus on God's
reaching out to us Gentiles. We enter the world of beginnings in the
new year. One Christian tradition to mark the beginning Epiphany
brings is to chalk one's home.8
So
we will ask God to bless this chalk for you to take home as
you may like
to mark a special beginning, a deeper relationship with God & a
fuller relationship with your Beloved Brothers & Sisters in
Christ, with whom you shine the Light of Christ with
whom you shine
the Light of Christ.
As
we do this, remember Philippians 1:9 that many of us pray daily at
1:09 p.m.
We pray “that our love may overflow more & more with knowledge
& full insight to help us determine what is best.”
The
Blessing of Chalk9
Chalk
is from the earth God created in the beginning. The
short service at home is to ask God’s blessing on one's home &
on all who
live, work with & visit the home. In this way, we invite Jesus to
be a “guest” in our home, a listener to each conversation, a
guide for troubled times, & a blessing in times of thanksgiving,
a light to guide us.
Chalking
the door or the door stoop literally marks our beginning. It reminds
us that the Israelites marked their doors with the blood of the lamb
so that the angel of death would pass over them. It reminds us that
Deuteronomy 6:9 says we are to write God's words on our hearts, teach
them diligently to our children, talk of them at home & write
them on our door posts & gates.
For
2015, take the blessed chalk mark over your front door or on the
front stoop: 20 (the first numbers for this year) + C + M + B + 15
(the last numbers for this year] saying:
“The
three Wise Men, C – Caspar, M – Melchior, & B – Balthazar
followed the star of God’s Son who became human 2 thousand &15
years ago” Then make the sign of the cross & say: “May Jesus
the Christ bless our home & remain with us throughout this new
year. Amen.”
C
M B above the door also stands for Christus
Mansionem Benedicat,
Latin for “May Christ Bless this House.
God
is love, & those who abide in love abide in God, & God abides
in them. Jesus Christ, God’s incarnation, is present in the love &
care we manifest to each other in our daily lives together. Let us
pray: Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it
may be helpful to your people. Grant that through the invocation of
your most Holy Name all those who with it write the names of your
saints, Caspar, Melchior, & Balthazar, may receive health of body
& protection of soul for all who dwell in the homes where this
chalk is used, we make this prayer through Jesus the Christ., the
Light of the world Amen.
Bibliography
Barclay,
William. The
Acts of the Apostlesk.
Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press. 1962.
Barclay,
William. The
Gospel of Mark.
Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Harper’s Bible
Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised
Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2012/01/blessing-of-epiphany-chalk.html
Accessed: 10 Jan. 2015.
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Bereshit/bereshit.html.
Accessed: 10 Jan. 2015.
Jewish Study Bible:
Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
Peters,
The Rev. Bosco. “Epiphany
chalk house blessing”.
http://liturgy.co.nz/epiphany-chalk-house-blessing-2.
Posted 29 Dec. 2010 by Bosco
Peters.
Updated
for 2015. Includes
parts from A
New Zealand Prayer Book
page 762. Accessed: 1 Jan. 2015.
1
Note: Examples include Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
P. 12. Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. P. 1. The
New American Bible for Catholics.
P. 8.
3
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Bereshit/bereshit.html.
Accessed: 10 Jan. 2015.
7
Ibid.
8
From Peters,
The Rev. Bosco. “Epiphany
chalk house blessing”.
http://liturgy.co.nz/epiphany-chalk-house-blessing-2.
Posted 12/29/10 by Bosco
Peters.
Updated
for 2015. Includes
parts from A
New Zealand Prayer Book
page 762. Accessed: 1/1/15. And from
http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2012/01/blessing-of-epiphany-chalk.html
Accessed: 1/10/15.
9
Ibid.
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