Epiphany is a season of light, a time to reflect on how our hearts and lives can be a light to others. One thing about this light is that it's not meant for us to keep it to ourselves.  We aren’t meant to hide the light away and keep it a secret.  It is meant for all so that all might see the gifts of creation.

It seems to me that Jesus’ baptism is maybe more about the revelation of his true identity and his commissioning into God’s shared earthly ministry here on earth rather than on a need for repentance. As beings created in God’s image, Jesus is modeling for us what our new calling here on earth will be. That the repentance in our baptisms is maybe less about our personal need for forgiveness and maybe more about an acceptance of our calling into this shared work of love.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up.

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 

To spring up before all the nations.

To trust God is to recognize that Advent is about trusting in God’s promise of renewal and hope.  It is not the time of the ending of all

Isaiah reminds us that we are called to remember the past while embracing the future. This is embodied in Jesus. In this season of new beginnings let us reflect on our past while embracing all the hope and joy that the future has to offer as we walk hand in hand with Jesus and with each other.

If we think we are living in act five—the end times—and allowing fear to drive our beliefs and choices, then we are missing out on the joy, opportunity, and creative nature that is the church. Most of all, we are missing out on nurturing our relationship with the one who shapes us as the work of his hands: the Father in which we are the clay and he is the potter.

When we feed, give drink, visit, welcome, and cloth the stranger we do this to Jesus because we are all created in our beloved maker’s image and so are created with his light and life in us. While we all are a little bit goat and we all are a little bit sheep, I

That is the invitation we are always being offered by God. The invitation to live in this world from a position of hope instead of fear, from possibility instead of doubt.

The kingdom of heaven summons us to new life, active waiting in hope, and renewed vigor in faith. The best part of all of this is that Jesus is preparing a huge feast for us. A feast that we are all invited to. The real truth is that the door is always open for us at all times, day or night, but we must be prepared to enter that door when the time comes.  

Jesus reminds us through the beatitudes that this life is not an easy one but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a joyful one.  Blessed are we when we do not allow the distractions of the world to keep us from dying to false self and embracing our true self in joy and wonder; when we embrace the spirit of all the saints as a