Epiphany 1A

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…