Have you ever been reading the Bible when you felt like a particular passage must have been written just for you?  Sometimes I hear a sermon that has that same effect on me!  That preacher must know all about me because he is preaching just to me!  Roberta Flack (and later the Fugees) sang about this feeling: “[He was] Strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words, killing me softy with his song, killing me softly with his song, telling my whole life

with his words, killing me softly with his song.”  Often when this happens, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we are feeling.  Jesus said that the Spirit would repeat to us that which He hears from God, and this is one way this happens.

This must have happened to Jesus when He was a young boy growing up.  Some time in his youth, He had come across the words of Isaiah which foretold of the work of the Messiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  As He read that passage, it spoke to Him of His life’s work.

Now we find Jesus in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry.  A gathering in the synagogue was more like an informal Sabbath School Class than a formal worship service.  It was a common that one of the men would be asked to read a selection from the scripture and then to make comments on the passage, and since Jesus was beginning to get some notoriety by now, the person in charge handed Jesus the rolled up scroll containing the writings of the prophet Isaiah.  Jesus stood up as He found the passage that He felt had been written just for Him.  After reading the passage, Jesus sat back down and began his commentary: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  That was Jesus’ way of saying, “I will fulfill that with my life.”  In fulfilling this scripture, Jesus found fulfillment for His life.

Finding fulfillment in life is one of our major goals, isn’t it?  Abraham Maslow theorized that it is only after we have our basic needs met, needs of food, clothing, security, and shelter, do we begin looking at our higher needs in life – things like love and fulfillment.  Civilization gave human beings an easier time of finding their basic needs, and religion and philosophy came into existence when people had time to seek meaning and fulfillment.  Finding fulfillment has to do with discovering your unique talents and abilities and how God wants you to use these things.

Where do you find your fulfillment?  What is your mandate for living?  A life cannot find fulfillment outside of the will of God, and so the place to begin when you are seeking meaning is to ask God about His will for your life. Certainly it is God’s will for you to know Him as Father, Savior, and Holy Spirit.  Surely God wants us all to give ourselves to Christ and His cause.  Certainly God wants us to discover our gifts and talents and how they can be used in His work.  He wants us to read the Bible so that the Holy Spirit can speak to our hearts like He spoke to Jesus’ heart that day.  I am certain that God expects us to try to strengthen His church, making it stronger than we found it, and work to make the world a better place than we found it.  Like Jesus said, “I’ll fulfill these things,” and I hope you will say that, too.

In that passage from Isaiah that Jesus read and Luke quotes, we discover the things that Jesus found fulfilling, the things that were God’s will for His life.  First, He felt fulfilled when He was caring for the unloved, the poor, the captives and prisoners, the blind, the oppressed, and the lost.  At age 30, Jesus was already way ahead of most of us at that age.  Most of us at age 30 are concerned with career advances and beginning a family, as we should be.  By age 50, we begin to discover that some of our goals are pretty shallow and that what really matters is whether or not our lives have been helpful to another human being.  Have we assisted the less fortunate?

One of my pastor-friends was very concerned with getting to the top appointments in the South Carolina Conference.  After he almost died, he came to a new realization.  In one hundred years from now when we are looking back on our lives from that eternal shore, nobody is really going to care who got to the most prestigious appointment and who got to be a district superintendent or a bishop.  He said that he discovered that what will really matter then is whose life on earth was better and who is in heaven now because of something he did.  Did he ease someone’s suffering or help someone experience God’s grace?  That is what is going to be considered important then.  Since in heaven the last will be first and the first will be last, nothing else will matter.

I heard about a preacher who thought that his sermons were better than anybody else’s.  Fortunately he had a wife who kept his feet on solid ground.  One day he was going on and on about how wonderful his sermon had been that day:  “Wasn’t that a masterful message!  What eloquent elocution!” Then he added, “I wonder how many truly great preachers there are?”  His wife looked up from her sewing and answered, “One less than you think.”  Nobody remembers sermons!  But they do remember whether or not you were there for them in times of crisis and death.  Nobody remembers what you thought of to say to them when you dropped by to comfort a mourning friend; but they will always remember that you came.

Jesus knew this already by age 30.  He knew earthly successes didn’t endure but spiritual successes do.  Spiritual successes last into eternity.  So Jesus turned away from seeking earthly fame and fortune and turned his sights on the needy and the castaways of society, especially those who felt they had no place in the community of faith after their mistakes. To them he gave true riches, and He gave them hope.  He proclaimed God’s love and mercy to those who were captives of sin and sickness and to those oppressed by life, to those lacking sight and insight, and to those who just felt lost.  Jesus fulfilled that scripture and was filled with meaning when He cared for the unloved.

Jesus was fulfilled by discovering God’s will for His life.  He was fulfilled by doing God’s will of caring for people.  Thirdly, Jesus is fulfilled today in the Church – His body on earth – when we are carrying on His work in our world today.  The work of the church and the charitable organizations we inspire is what keeps reminding our world that people who are weak, sick, and defeated are nevertheless important.  Who would care for the poor, the blind, those in prisons, the uneducated, and the lost if not us?  Primitive societies simply got rid of the weak ones in their midst.  They abandoned the weak, leaving them to die.  Left to their own devices, societies in today’s world would be just as harsh on the weak.  Someone has said that how we treat the least among us is the one and only truly reliable assessment of the genuine humanity of our society.  The Church is here to be the world’s conscience, to remind people that a poor person is as valuable in God’s eyes as anyone on the Fortune 500 list.

It is a sad thing but a wonderful testimony that among the dead in Haiti were missionaries from America, representatives from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and even young people who were on short-term mission trips to help the people of Haiti.  And we are going back!  UMCOR will begin sending repair teams to Haiti this Spring.  What we rebuild may be hit by another earthquake or hurricane, but we are still going back because Jesus and His church will always be near those who are suffering and hurting.  If you have been searching and you are thinking that you will never find Jesus, just go where He can be found!  He hangs out with His children who are in pain! The Spirit of the Lord is upon the Church, because he has anointed the Church to preach good news to the poor. He has sent us to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

It is interesting that this story in Luke ends with the people becoming infuriated by Jesus’ words.  They drove him out of town.  Some vigilantes had it mind to cast Him over a cliff, but they were stopped, perhaps by the power of Jesus’ courage, and He walked right through the crowd and continued on His way.  It was His work with sinners that got Jesus in trouble with the saints in the Temple.  Jesus ate with sinners.  He declared sinners to be forgiven by God.  The religious leaders of His day came to a place where they hated Jesus and all that He stood for.  That is why they plotted to have Jesus crucified.

Our work in the world isn’t always well-received either, and anyone who is serious about following Jesus had better learn this early.  The very people and institutions that ought to encourage us will be the ones who fight us the hardest.  I’ve seen young men ridiculed by their parents when they answered God’s call to preach instead of pursuing the family business or the preferred career.  And if we really had great success in reaching out to Greer’s poor and forgotten folks, if a great revival broke out in Greer and our pews became filled by some folks who have never used Right Guard or Secret deodorant, some of us here wouldn’t be very happy either.

John Wesley had a passion for the poor.  When they wouldn’t come to church, he went to them.  At coal mines and in open fields, Wesley proclaimed the love of God, and midweek meetings of Methodist Societies broke out all over England.  Called on the carpet by his denomination’s hierarchy for preaching outside the boundaries of his assigned parish, Wesley replied, “The world is my parish.”  But the people Wesley filled up churches with were not always welcome.

A young Methodist pastor named William Booth went out to the lost in London, to those who were considered the dregs of society.  He also was accused of wandering outside the confines of his parish and spending too much time with the poor, bringing those folks back with him to his church.  His Annual Conference tried to reel him in at their conference of 1861 in Liverpool, but Booth’s wife Catherine shouted “Never!”  William and Catherine Booth continued preaching to outcasts, founding the Salvation Army which carries on their passion to this day.

Finding fulfillment in all about finding God’s will for your life and fulfilling that.  It is about being a part of the Body of Christ in ministry to the world.  But don’t except that you will always receive pats on the back when you are doing God’s will!  Sometimes you will be given a cross.  May we find fulfillment as we fulfill God’s will for our lives!  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt

One thing that hasn’t changed very much since New Testament days is the place of weddings in our lives.  Weddings are charged with emotions of every kind!  You ask any pastor and they will tell you that funeral services are a lot more easily managed than weddings.  One pastor I know says that he has been much more successful with funerals than he has with weddings; at least the people he buried stayed that way!  With weddings there are so many things that can go wrong!  The wedding gown or the men’s tuxedos might not fit right.  Will the singers arrive on time and will they be in good voice?  Will the preacher remember to show up?  And what about the food?  Will the caterer have enough food and drinks for the reception?  It is no wonder that most parents would gladly give their sons and daughters thousands of dollars if they would just elope!  But still, weddings are important because they call together friends and family so that a new couple may be created and then presented to the community.

The Gospel of John tells us that it was in this setting – a wedding – that another kind of presentation happened.  It was Jesus’ debutante moment, the first time He displayed His power as God’s Son.  I know you well know the story of the wedding at Cana of Galilee and how Jesus turned water into wine.  But there are a few things about this familiar story that you may have not noticed before.

For example, you may not have noticed that Jesus had a deep respect for the rights of others.  He was careful to observe boundaries and not interfere in matters that were not His business.  When told that the wedding reception had run out of wine, He responded to His mother, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?  What concern is that to you and to me?”  Jesus knew His boundaries.  On another occasion when a man asked Jesus to make his brother divide inheritance between them, Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Sometimes you and I take on burdens we have no business taking on.  It is someone else’s worry and we need to let it be.

And you may not have noticed that this was not the occasion that Jesus had been planning for his “coming out” moment.  We are used to seeing how candidates for public office are very careful in choosing the time for their public announcement.  The place, the time, and the manner of such announcements can often determine the success of such a venture.  In First Century Judah, with Romans occupying the streets, with the sons of old King Herod still ruling, the way one called attention to himself could be a matter of life and death!  This wasn’t the moment He had chosen to reveal Himself to the people and so He hesitate for a few moments.  That is why He told His mother, “My time has not yet come.”

Someone has said that Mary appears to be putting herself in the unaccustomed role of a stage mother, attempting to manage her son’s career!  She does seem to be prodding Him to do something about the fact that the wine had run out.  Even though we really don’t know much about the hidden years of Jesus’ childhood, this one thing we do know:  Mary had learned that her son was wise and resourceful and could be trusted to help out in times of crisis.  Have you learned that about Jesus?  He is wise and resourceful, one who can be trusted in your times of crisis.

So, perhaps wanting to seize the moment, Mary pushed Jesus to act.  Perhaps this is true, and perhaps that is why Jesus’ response to His mother seems so harsh and disrespectful, so much so that preachers spend a lot of time trying to prove that Jesus didn’t mean it the way it sounded.  “Dear woman, why do you involve me?  My time has not yet come.”   The NRSV doesn’t soften it much: “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?”  It sounds pretty harsh to me!   Perhaps Jesus’ sharp response showed just how heavily His ministry was weighing on Him in the beginning.  He was thinking about it a lot right then – how He would begin and continue His work of redemption.  What if this wasn’t the right time to act?  Perhaps Jesus hoped for a more carefully chosen moment to present Himself to His people.  He dare not stumble onto the public stage.

But the really remarkable thing is that in spite of this upsetting of His carefully made plans, Jesus changed His plans and His mind and allowed this to be the moment of His first miraculous sign which revealed His glory to His Disciples.  Rev. Jack Good, a retired United Church of Christ pastor, says, “The story fails to mention one of its most surprising but covert features: the ease with which Jesus surrendered His preplanned strategy and embraced a new possibility.  He surely preferred whatever had been plan A; but He moved smoothly into plan B – the opportunity presented by unexpected circumstances.”

Jesus was always one who seemed to know how to “roll with the punches.”  He thought “fast on His feet.”  When an opportunity for teaching presented itself, Jesus would abandon other plans and take advantage of the opportunity.  He once sat down at a well, just waiting for someone to help Him get a cup of water to drink, and along came a troubled woman whom He led back to God.  Another time, a simple question, “Jesus, who is my neighbor” led Jesus to tell one of His most memorable stories.  Every time His opponents set a trap for Him, Jesus found a way to ensnare them in their own arguments.  Would that you and I would learn how to take advantage of the opportunities that come our way to help others and lead them to God!  May God  give us wisdom that we may give good responses to the hard questions we face.  And maybe the next time our well-made plans run into a brick wall, perhaps we will do as Jesus did and consider how that unexpected development might be used by God to accomplish God’s goals.

So, Jesus knew His boundaries and He was able to adapt Himself when an unexpected door for ministry opened before Him.  A third theme in this story you may have missed is that of transformation or change.  Look carefully at what Jesus did.  There were six water jars there that were used for washing hands.  Washing hands, people!  These were ancient lavatories!  I’d hate to try to calculate the number of micro-organisms per square inch that were present in those old, dirty water jars.  These would never be considered as suitable vessels to hold drinking water, much less wine!  But they were available, and so Jesus put them to good use.  That would become the pattern for everything Jesus did.  The fishermen James, John, Peter, and Andrew were not trained theologians or priests, but they were willing and available, and so Jesus transformed them and used them.  Matthew Levi was a cheating tax collector who worked for the Romans, but he was available when Jesus called him and changed him.  Mary Magdalene was sick or insane, one who was said to be possessed by seven demons, but she was available for discipleship.  Saul of Tarsus was the greatest enemy of the early Church but Jesus changed him into the greatest advocate and missionary the Church has ever known!  Jesus has always taken the very ordinary, the unclean, the outcasts and transformed them by His power into vessels for God’s Spirit to dwell in, and He still does this today.  So you dare not think of yourself as unfit for duty in the Lord’s army!  And you dare not think of anyone else as being unfit.  If you are available, Jesus will transform you and use you.

The theme of change continues as Jesus told the servants to put some fresh water into the water jars and then take some to the head caterer.  Somewhere along the way, the water had been transformed into wine.  Ordinary water had been changed into wine, excellent wine, wine so wonderful that it should have been served much earlier in the week!

As in every miracle that Jesus has ever performed, only a few actually are aware that a miracle has taken place.  Jesus knew, as did Mary and the Disciples. The faithful lowly servants who obeyed Jesus when He asked them to put water in the jars and then take some to the master of ceremonies, they knew.  But the head caterer had no idea where this new wine came from.  Only a few witnessed this miracle, but to them Jesus had revealed His glory.  They, too, were transformed.

Jesus respected boundaries.  He changed His plans and made this crisis the opportunity for His self-revelation.  Jesus transformed dirty vessels and ordinary water into things God could use.  Fourthly, you may not have noticed that Jesus enjoyed being where people were living their lives and having a good time.  He liked being at the lakeside with simple, ordinary fishermen.  He liked being in gardens.  And here He is at a party.  He was full of joy, happiness, and peace, and He gave those away everywhere He went!  Again quoting Rev. Good, “The work of Jesus began in a life-affirming setting.  The sign of His ministry would be wine, a symbol of human conviviality and gladness.”  So, expect to feel the presence of God with you when you are where life is happening and where people are celebrating.

Some folks find it a bit surprising that Jesus was at a party.  They expect to find Him in the Temple courts, teaching.  Preaching His sermon on the mount isn’t surprising.  Healing the sick, forgiving sinners – that’s where they expect to find Jesus.  But at a wedding party?  On a boat ride with His buddies?  At a leisurely dinner at Mary and Martha’s home?  Surely Jesus wouldn’t be found at those places!  Some folks would have been happier with Jesus if He had been more like John the Baptizer, separated from creature comforts, stern and austere.  But Jesus really enjoyed being with people.  He really enjoyed life.

One of the signs of the coming Kingdom of God was supposed to be abundance: abundant joy, abundant love, abundant justice, abundant mercy and peace.  Jesus created wine in great abundance – about 150 gallons of abundance.  In this miracle, Jesus was showing that the Kingdom had come, and this abundance proved it.  God, the maker of all life, wanted to share life with us, giving us the abundant life.

Jesus knew His boundaries; He didn’t go sticking His nose in other folks business.  He was adaptable, and His love produced transformations.  Jesus enjoyed life.  Those things are the wedding epiphanies of Jesus. Amen.

Arthur H. Holt

A Church of God preacher told me the story of how a revival broke out by accident in his church one Sunday night, and no, it wasn’t due to a Mississippi squirrel.  On this particular Sunday night, the pastor was baptizing a rather hefty man.  Like many churches, the baptismal pool was in the middle of the chancel area, right in front of a beautiful, electrically illuminated stained-glass window, and since the man being baptized was super-sized, his entrance into the pool raised the water level by several inches, bringing the water in contact with the power cord lighting the stained-glass window.  As the water touched the cord, a mild shock ran through the preacher and the other man.  They jumped up in the air from the shock, causing the water level to drop by several inches, and then as they came back down from their jump, the water level was pushed back up, causing the water to again make contact with the electrical cord, causing them to receive another mild shock, causing them to jump up again.  This cycle of shock, jump, fall, and shock repeated itself for a few minutes until a fuse blew, but by then the congregation had seen the behavior of the two men in the pool and had decided that God was at work in that baptismal pool!  People began shouting, people began singing, people began praying.  Sins were confessed, and that revival produced lasting results in people’s lives, but it was Duke Power and not God’s power that was at work in their midst!

Baptism is one of two sacraments that are observed by Protestant Churches.  Our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brethren observe seven sacraments; Protestants have only two – baptism and communion – because these were actually observed by Jesus Himself.  When it comes to baptism, you have your choice of methods, depending on which church you join.  You can be dunked, dipped, poured, or sprinkled.  I’ve done a few dunkings myself – or immersing, as it is more properly called.  This Sunday in the Epiphany Season is annually observed as the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, and it gives us an annual reason to celebrate this meaningful sacrament.

Many ancient cultures observed a rite of cleansing in their religions.  It is generally agreed by historians that ancient Judaism used a baptism on converts to that religion.  Proselytes were baptized while the Law of Moses was read; therefore, it was far more than just a ritual cleansing from sin.  It was also an initiation ritual, welcoming the convert into the community of faith.  John the Baptizer picked up on this rite for converts and extended it to members of the Hebrew community, urging them to purify their lives, prepare for the coming Kingdom of God, and the coming of the Holy Spirit which would be given to them by God’s Messiah.  In the Gospel of John, we are told that John’s reason for baptizing was to discover who the Messiah was and proclaim that to Israel.  Therefore, Jesus was marked as the Messiah by His baptism.  When He was baptized, it was a moment of Epiphany to Jesus.  If He had not been fully aware of it before now, the voice from heaven which said “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” would have confirmed to Jesus that which He had come to believe – that He was God’s chosen servant, the Messiah.

Baptism today still has all of these historical meanings for us.  It is a cleansing.  It is an initiation into the community of faith, the rite of belonging.  It marks us as Christian disciples.  It urges us to live pure lives, following the example of Christ, to live our lives as citizens of God’s Kingdom.  Baptism is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is given to us too, a gift that empowers us to live the Christian faith.  In baptism, God calls out from heaven to us, telling us that we are God’s sons and daughters and that He loves us and is pleased with us.

In observing the sacrament of baptism, there is a fine line we must walk to avoid heretical teaching, and the same is true with communion.  The sacraments call us to walk on a narrow ridge between two valleys of error.  On one side is the valley of magic and ritual, and there are those there who believe that the act of baptism somehow magically conveys salvation to us and that the communion elements actually become the literal flesh and blood of Jesus.  People who live in that valley believe that you cannot be saved without these rituals because they actually convey salvation to us.  They teach that one cannot be saved without being baptized in a particular way because that is how God must do things!  It is somewhat comforting to believe that if I observe a certain baptismal ritual administered in a certain way, then I am magically saved, but that isn’t correct.

That is an interesting story from Acts 8 that we read today as our Epistle Lesson, and to really understand it, we must look at it in context with other similar stories in Acts because it is speaking to this very point.  In this story, Peter and John are sent by the Apostles to follow up on the work of Philip and check on the condition of the converts won by Philip.  Peter and John find that the new converts were baptized, not in the Trinitarian formula (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) but only in Jesus’ name.  They seem to be missing something, but Peter and John don’t have them re-baptized.  Instead they lay hands on them so that they may receive the Holy Spirit.  Simon the Magician was so impressed with this that he offered money to Peter for the power to lay hands on people and pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit, and he received a very harsh rebuke from Peter.  The Holy Spirit is not subject to the control of a human being, nor does He respond automatically to a particular ritual or to a bribe!

A few chapters later we read about the household of Cornelius and how the Holy Spirit came upon them while they were hearing a sermon, not while hands were being laid upon them, not while they were being baptized.  The Spirit comes when God decides to send Him, and that was Peter’s defense when he was asked to explain why he had baptized a bunch of Gentiles: “Who was I to think that I could oppose God?”  Cornelius was baptized after he had already received the Holy Spirit, not before.

And then in Acts 19, Paul found some disciples in Ephesus who had received John’s baptism – presumably by immersion – and yet Paul made them be re-baptized, this time in Jesus’ name, and this time so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  The point that Acts seems to be making is that you can forget particular formulas or rituals that you think might make God take some action because we don’t control God!  Neither is God one who must follow a particular pattern.  He works in people’s lives in different ways as He sees fit.  Like Jesus said, God’s Spirit is a bit unpredictable!  Like wind, He blows where He wills. Salvation doesn’t depend upon any particular ritual, and neither circumcision nor baptism has ever saved anybody.

On the other side of the ridge, down in that other valley of heresy, are those who make the error of believing that there is nothing really substantiative in these rituals.  They are just symbols and nothing more.  We baptize because we always have, but nothing really happens when we do.  Bread and wine just make me think.  They make me remember Jesus’ death on the cross, but that is all they do.  That valley is so cold and absent of meaning that I can’t live down there either.

Up here on the ridge of faith that rises above those two valleys of heresy, we can see that God is somehow involved in these sacraments and that is what makes them special.  God is an active player in baptism and communion so that when we come to these sacraments with anticipating faith, God imparts a gift of His love to our souls.  Christ really is present among us when we receive communion.  Just as He broke the bread and poured the wine and gave it to His Disciples in that upper room, so is Jesus with us, giving us His body and blood when we commune.  He is present with us in the communion elements, and He is present with us in our fellow Christians.  And when we are baptized, God is present with us, uniquely conveying to us the gift of salvation that He has won for us through Christ’s victory on the cross.  There are numerous other ways He conveys His gift of salvation to us – the Bible, prayer, and I trust through preaching!  If not, then I am just wasting your time!  But it is a special, unique way that God acts in baptism.  The rite itself doesn’t magically save us, but the saving work of God in Christ that it uniquely conveys to us does save those who believe in Christ.  John Wesley called the sacraments “means of grace,” paths over which grace may travel into our lives.

So, up here on the ridge of faith we see the errors we must avoid.  Baptism isn’t an empty meaningless, cold ritual, and it isn’t a magical potion that gives us salvation.  Communion isn’t an empty symbol of remembrance nor is it a magical presence of Christ in the elements.  As we walk along the ridge, we see other heresies on either side of us.  We see that good works don’t save us but that faith that does not produce any good works isn’t real faith, and that can’t save us either.  But faith in Christ that produces a change within us, causing us to produce the fruits of changed lives, that is real saving faith!

In the United Methodist Church – as well as in Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic Churches – we practice infant baptism because the Church has always baptized infant children of Christian believers.  It was never seriously questioned until about 1500 A.D.  In Luke 2 we read how Jesus was taken to the Temple when He was eight days old to receive the Hebrew rite of initiation – circumcision.  Since the early church came out of Judaism but then gave up the rite of circumcision when Gentiles began joining the church, there is some evidence that baptism of infants was allowed to replace the Hebrew rite of circumcision in the early Church, and Paul’s teachings may well have been the catalyst that brought about this change.  We believe that God is here with us when we worship Him, that He is here when we baptize someone of any age, that God says to the person being baptized, “You are my child and I love you,” and that God sends His Spirit to that person to help build and mold their Christian character.  The water reminds us that we have been cleansed from all our sin by the blood of the Lamb and that we have been immersed into a pool of Christian believers who will help us grow in faith.  Let us remember and celebrate every baptism as a sacrament of belonging – belonging to God and belonging to the Body of Christ, His church.  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt

As long as there is a Clemson-Carolina rivalry, there are going to be Clemson-Carolina jokes!  I heard that there is no ice in the cafeteria at Clemson now because the one student who knew the formula has graduated.  When our son John decided to go to USC, a die-hard Clemson fan said, “I’m sorry to hear that, John.  I was hoping that you had decided to get an education.”  Someone told me that a student transferred from Carolina to Clemson and the average SAT score at both schools went up.  I guess you know that they have a planetarium at USC.  The man in charge of the planetarium stayed awake all night wondering where the sun went and then it dawned on him.

The Season of Epiphany in the Church is the time when we celebrate the times when it began to dawn on people that Jesus was God’s Son.  It dawned on the Wise Men that a new king of Israel had been born.  It dawned upon Anna and Simeon in the Temple, and when Simeon saw Jesus he said, “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.  My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all people.”  It dawned upon the elders in the Temple with whom Jesus talked when He was a twelve-year-old.  And when Jesus became an adult and began calling followers, they came out of curiosity at first but they stayed with Jesus because it dawned upon them that this Jesus of Nazareth was very different from every other person they had met.  Ultimately it dawned upon them that Jesus was their Savior and Lord!  Even the people’s favorite preacher John the Baptizer had an epiphany and said, “Behold the lamb of God.”

A subject of much study and debate is exactly when it dawned upon Jesus Himself that He was God’s Son with the mission on earth to be our Savior.  You can find many articles in books regarding the “Messianic consciousness of Jesus.”  Think about this for a minute: When Jesus was born, He was just like every other infant.  His knowledge was as limited as every other infant.  Paul said in Philippians 2 that Jesus emptied Himself when He came to earth, taking upon Himself  the nature of a servant.  Therefore, Jesus had to learn to walk, talk, read, and obey.  Still He was the divine Son of God on earth.  So, just when did it dawn upon Jesus that He was God’s Messiah?  Even Jesus had to have an epiphany!

After the first Easter, the Disciples went into all the world to tell the story of Jesus.  As people heard the Word about Jesus, each one of them had their own little epiphanies!  It dawned on them how badly they needed salvation, and it dawned on them that Jesus was their Savior.  Every time in history when someone came to embrace Christ as their Savior, it was as if the story of Jesus suddenly became alive and real to them.  How else would we express what we often call “being born again” if it isn’t an epiphany, an awareness that Jesus is our personal Savior?

Our founder John Wesley is a good example of how a person can awaken to something that had been right before his eyes all his life. Wesley grew up in a model Christian home, one of many sons of a preacher and a mother of great faith.  He himself studied for the ministry, becoming an Anglican priest and missionary.  And yet Wesley was plagued with doubts about himself and God.  He realized that he really didn’t have that kind of heartfelt faith that you just can’t have without knowing that you have it – and that is how he expressed it.  His problem was that he thought he had to be worthy of salvation.  Then one day as he heard a 200-year-old sermon which had been written by Martin Luther as a preface to the Book of Romans, it dawned upon Wesley that God could give him salvation as a gift, not as a reward, and he said that his heart became strangely warmed.  The truth of the Gospel that Wesley had long known, preached, and even believed finally dawned upon him in its fullness.  He led many others into a warmed-heart relationship with God, including us Methodists today.

I well remember the times in my life when a spiritual truth dawned upon me.  There was that time as an elementary school-aged child when I was going through my nighttime ritual of saying my prayers.  I was bad about lying down to silently say my prayers, and so I would drift in and out of sleep while praying.  Somewhere along the prayer line, between praying for my best friend and a bicycle that I wanted, it dawned upon me that there actually was Someone up there hearing what I was praying.  It dawned on me that this was far more than just taking an inventory of people and things that were important to me.  There really was a divine Being in heaven and also all around me who heard everything I said and knew every thought I had.  It absolutely scared me to pieces!  I dove under the covers like I had seen a ghost.  I was like the little boy who prayed, “God, if you really are in here like my Mama says, please don’t move!  You’ll scare me to death!”  I tell you the truth: after that night, prayer was never the same for me.  I’ve always had the awareness that Somebody up there was listening!

Then there was the time as an eighteen-year-old freshman at Wofford when, after a time of hard questioning and doubting, it dawned on me just what God had done for me in Christ.  Soon after this, it dawned on me and upon many others that knew me that I just had to give myself to full-time Christian service as a pastor.  There wasn’t a blinding light in the sky or bells and whistles!  I just woke up one day and I knew it!  I knew God was real and that Christ really had died for me and then been raised from the dead and I knew that I had to get busy telling that story.  So I have to ask you wise men and wise women who have come here today, “Has the truth of the Good News really dawned upon you?  Have you had a personal epiphany?”

As I think about all these people who had the truth dawn upon them, it occurs to me that they all had something in common, whether they were the Wise Men or John Wesley.  It seems that one thing is absolutely necessary for one to experience an epiphany of who Christ is.  That one necessary thing is to be either in the presence of Jesus or with the Lord’s people.  The Magi, Simeon and Anna, John the Baptizer, and the Disciples were all with Jesus when it dawned on them who Jesus is.  Martin Luther was being nurtured by the church and by Holy Scripture when he had his awakening.  John Wesley was attending a prayer meeting at Aldersgate Street, in the presence of people who had deep faith in Christ, hearing a sermon about Jesus when his heart was strangely warmed.  And I was taken to church as a baby, as a child, and as a teenager where I experienced my epiphany along with other children and youth.  I would never say that one cannot possibly come to faith in Christ while at the beach or on a golf course, but you are more likely to catch a fish at a river than you are in a desert!  You are more likely to catch faith if you hang out with those who already have faith, and there are plenty of strong believers to be found in a church! Do you want the truth of the Gospel to dawn upon you?  Then make friends with someone who has already had a personal epiphany who now believes that Jesus is the Messiah!

Then perhaps there is one more thing that is essential in coming to faith in Christ.  You’ve got to be willing to persevere – to stick with it as you search for truth.  The Wise Men traveled long and hard – perhaps for two years – in search of the Christ child.  I am sure that they often felt like giving up.  Martin Luther’s faith came after much searching and study and opposition from his opponents.  John Wesley went to college, to Savannah as a missionary, and back to England while he was searching for faith.  Tempted to give up, he was encouraged to keep looking by people like Peter Bohler.  Wesley wrote, “I asked Bohler, whether he thought I should leave [preaching] or not. He answered, ‘By no means.’ I asked, ‘But what can I preach?’ He said, ‘Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.’” Wesley persevered until his heart was strangely warmed.  I believe that if you will place yourself in places where faith may be found and if you keep searching, you will find faith.  It will dawn upon you, too.  There is an epiphany out there with your name on it, waiting for you to find it.

So this Epiphany Season we celebrate that Jesus came to earth as a baby who had to grow “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  He had to come to the place where He knew who He was and what He must do.  And we celebrate that we, like the Wise Men, the Disciples, and millions of others, can also awaken to the fact that Jesus is God’s Messiah and our Lord!  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt