Readings for the First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday January 10, 2021.
God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out heat; only love can do that.” These words have kept coming back to me this week: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
We are in the season after Epiphany, known as Epiphanytide, when we celebrate the three great Illuminations within the Christian Scriptures: the star of Bethlehem, which led the magi to the Christ child; the first miracle of Jesus when “water saw its creator and blushed” and Jesus kept the party going with more wine; and finally, the illumination we celebrate today: the Baptism of our Lord when the divine voice (which breaks the cedars of Lebanon) illuminated the belovedness of Christ, saying, “You are my child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Epiphanies reveal and shine light upon truths that are already there; and these divine words at Christ’s Baptism illuminate the truth of Christ’s belovedness, just as our baptism more fully revealed the truth of our belovedness in God’s eyes, a truth that was already there. And these divine words, which served as the foundation for Christ’s ministry, have been central and foundational for my own vocation as well, as a baptized Christian and as an Episcopal priest.
Tomorrow will be the seventh anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, a church I love deeply. I was ordained in the Diocese of Los Angeles and I remember being told the day before my ordination that I needed to memorize a blessing because right after the ordination service, I should expect several people to approach me, asking for a blessing. I went to bed the night before my ordination, trying to come up with and memorize a blessing. What first came to mind was the great Jewish priestly blessing from the Book of Numbers (6:22-27): “May the Lord bless you and keep you; may he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may he turn his countenance upon you and give you his peace.” I had already memorized that so I felt good to go, but still open to whatever else the Holy Spirit might want me to include in a blessing. And that night, the night before my ordination, I had a profound dream that I hope to share with you sometime. For now, I’ll just say that David Letterman made a cameo appearance in my dream, but it was holy nonetheless; and I woke up with the following words to include in my priestly blessing: “May you find joy, courage, and hope in knowing that God delights in you and is proud to call you his own.” You are my Child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.
These words of blessing shine a light on the truth that is already there: the truth of our belovedness in God’s eyes. The truth that God delights in us and is proud of us. And that is the light that we bask in during Epiphanytide and that is the light that we celebrate every Sunday here at Christ Church Eureka. That is at the heart of who we are: we are people who bask in the light of God’s love, in the light that reveals God’s love for us, which has always been there. And that is the light that can drive out the darkness. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
On Wednesday the Feast of the Epiphany, we all had a disturbing realization of the sickness and the rot that has infested our country when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The anger and violence we witnessed made the country tremble; and many are tempted to respond to the anger with more anger. Some may be tempted to respond to the darkness with more darkness, to curse those whom we believe are responsible for the chaos. And I know many of us just want to cry.
There are people who want me to stand at this sacred pulpit and curse the president and his enablers; and there are people who want me to stand here and not say a word about what happened on Wednesday, lest I sound too political. Those are both dead ends.
The great guru of nonviolent resistance Mahatma Gandhi said that when it comes to fighting against injustice, 20% of the work involves peacefully protesting and speaking out against oppression and violence, calling a spade a spade. But 80% of the work involves constructing the new reality, building up the beloved community, advancing the kin-dom of God here among us now.
Of course, we condemn the mob violence we witnessed on Wednesday and all those who incited it because Christ himself was the deadly victim of such mob violence. But we don’t let other peoples’ monstrous behavior turn us into monsters because darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Many of us here were in the middle of a worship meeting when we heard the news on Wednesday. We were planning for today’s service as well as services for Lent and Holy Week, trying to plan and create beautiful worship experiences for all of us while maintaining health and safety in the midst of rising COVID cases in the county. After hearing the news, we prayed together for our nation and for all those who were in harm’s way. It became clear to me right away that the best response to the growing darkness is to keep doing what we’re doing here at Christ Church Eureka; to keep shining our light and to keep building up this community of love because 80% of the work of fighting against injustice and violence is to build up the new reality, to invest our time and energy in that which we know is good and wholesome and life-giving.
If we want to combat and counteract the sin and sickness of this world, let us invest in healthy communities like this. I’m not talking so much about investing financially. I’m talking about investing time and energy and prayer and love and compassion in this community now, during one of the most challenging seasons of our 150 years. Let’s invest our time and energy in this community of love and light because darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
You can invest in this community by running for vestry or running to serve as a delegate for diocesan convention. You can serve as a lector or join the virtual choir or participate in the Centering Prayer group we’ll be launching soon. Ask God how you can serve the church at this time and how you can contribute to this community of light and how you can help us glorify God and serve others. And with your help and your patience and your wisdom, the light and love of this community can help out drive out the darkness and the hate in this world because the work we do here has reverberations that echo throughout this county, this country, this world, and this universe. And the light and love of this community will help others (and ourselves) see the truth that is already there: that we are God’s beloved children in whom God is well pleased, and that God delights in us and is proud to call us his own. May we find joy and courage and peace and hope in knowing that. And may the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with us and remain with us forever. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 