Sunday after Theophany 2022

receive a measure of a gift. There are in the

church priests, prophets, healers, teachers,

and so forth. It's a partial list only he gives.

He doesn't give the whole list. And the purpose

of those gifts, partially, is for us to build

up the church. For me, to help equip you to use

those gifts. Obviously, you know, not as an altar

server or lighting candles or whatever. That's

what we do in here, and it's blessed and good.

But to be the light of Christ, to use the gift

of the Holy Spirit that you have, which turns

out to be many gifts in your daily work outside

these doors. But this is a small congregation

today. And so I'll make a little, let's say confession.

Since there's not so many of you. You know that

at the second coming, any sin that we have not

confessed is going to be pretty obvious to the

rest of the universe. So when we do confess,

we should be very clear and complete. Because

St. Paul says if we confess our sins now, we

won't be judged. I believe that very, very strongly.

But about what I'm going to say, this is not

part of my sermon, so if I can tack on a few

extra minutes at the beginning. What I want to

say is, here we are again, as one parishioner

emailed me. The title of the email was, etc.,

etc., etc. Well, here we go again, Father. And

I'm not, she has some immune issues. I'm not

comfortable coming right now. Please forgive

me for that. I want to come very badly. I want

you to come bless my house, by the way, and so

on and so forth. And I'm thinking, yeah, here

we go again. And the church is not full. It was

full last week. My confession is, I feel incredibly

ill -equipped to equip you. To build up the body

of Christ. My only consolation is everybody else

is pretty poorly equipped to do their job from

the highest levels of government, medicine, all

the way down to us. It's a very difficult situation

we are in, brothers and sisters. But if we are

one body, as St. Paul says, and that's not just

a metaphor. then we are united to one another.

And whatever we can do, our prayers for one another,

staying in contact with one another, serving

one another, helping, we build up the body of

Christ. We strengthen each other. We need that

very much. I need it. My job isn't to do everything

here. My job is to equip you to do things here

and out there. I'm your priest. Here in this

building and in your homes and wherever you see

me. But you're the priests, the prophets, the

kings. Because you've been anointed. You've been

washed. You've been crowned for those outside

these doors. So let's support one another in

these difficult times. We have issues that are

facing the church. Let's not get distracted with

masks and other things that are peripheral. So

that's my confession. You've heard this term,

post -feast. Frequently in the church, you read

it in my bulletins, my announcements. Now is

the time of the post -feast of theophany. The

afterfeast, the afterglow, if you could call

it that, as one clergyman said. Theophany is

always January 6th. Often, therefore, it's movable.

It's in the middle of the week. Well, you're

back at work, mostly. After whatever Christmas

break you had, you're back at school. So the

church says this feast is so very, very important

and profound. More so than Christmas, on the

level of importance in the life of the church,

theophany is way up here. It's kind of interesting

that it's on the same level, because it's the

chronological sequence. But we want, the church

says it's so important that we're going to extend

the feast. We're going to have a post -feast,

an afterglow. We're going to keep going. The

story keeps going. It wants to include... everyone

in what it means that Jesus was baptized. What

it means that the Holy Spirit descended on him

and the Holy Spirit comes to us. What it means

that the Father's voice was heard proclaiming,

this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Hear him. It's extended so we could rejoice in

the fact that the waters, the creation itself

is sanctified. That sinners, and not just sinners,

but those of us who are lost, who are wounded,

who are broken, who are unsure, who are anxious,

can behold the Savior who comes and appears and

is revealed to us as one of the Holy Trinity

at the Jordan River. and he comes not just to

take us over the Jordan as Joshua did, not just

to take us through the Red Sea, miraculous as

both of those things as Moses did, but to take

us through death into life itself, to live forever

as citizens of the kingdom of God. So the feast

is extended, and here we are. On this Sunday,

the church is saying, dear children, faithful

children, let's also then ponder. What happened

after the baptism by John of Jesus in the Jordan?

What happened after the temptation? There's a

sermon there. I'm not going to give it to you

now. Our school principal, John Galuli, has a

whole class on that. When he gives that class,

you'll sit in to hear what he has to say. Jesus

completely confused Satan. who simply could not

understand what was happening there, that Jesus

is the divine son of the Father, both God and

man. Why would that occur? And Jesus hears that

John has been arrested. And of course we know

how that story ends, since we mark that solemn

day every August 29th with a strict fast and

a divine liturgy. So Jesus wisely then leaves

Judea, that region around Jerusalem, and heads

north into pagan lands, non -Jewish areas, to

Galilee. And the prophet saw this. Isaiah saw

it centuries before. He says, the land of Zebulon,

the land of Naphtali, toward the sea across the

Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people sitting

in darkness saw great light. For those sitting

in the land and shadow of death, light sprang

to them. Jesus went, he sought people. It wasn't

a one -off thing. What he did then, he does now.

Seeks people who are sitting in darkness to bring

them the light. All of us are called to be light

bearers. You know that. But did you know that

we are also called to carry that light and share

it with others? Yes. In his Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus states very clearly that the disciples

are not simply to be basking in the light, but

they become light themselves. Chapter 5, verse

14, you are the light of the world. In that same

chapter, let your light so shine before men that

they may see your good works and glorify your

Father who is in heaven. Light bearers, brothers

and sisters, that's what we are to be. Not bad

news bearers. Not criticizers. Not downers, either

at home or in public. But light bearers. And

we will struggle to achieve that because it is

a struggle. It won't come naturally to us in

our fallen state. And this is what I want to

talk about briefly. The land of darkness wasn't

just there in Galilee where Jesus came. The shadow

of death. Jesus gave the shortest sermon he ever

gave right then. The most powerful sermon he

ever gave. The one that we could quote and ponder.

over and over again. From that time, says St.

Matthew, Jesus began to preach and say, repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What is

this kingdom? It's Jesus. He's there. What is

this darkness and shadow of death? What's the

condition of the people then, now, that he's

going to be with? What was our condition? Before

we answer those questions at baptism, do you

unite yourself to Christ? I unite myself to Christ.

Have you united yourself to Christ? I have united

myself to Christ. I'm not going to ponder with

you the nature of sin and darkness and what it

means to be wounded. I think we know that. St.

Theophilus says this about sin. Sin is the likeness

and silhouette of death. Very descriptive. The

likeness and silhouette of death, which is scriptural,

because sin, the wages of which are death. Jesus

also gives the medicine and the cure for that

darkness. Repent! The kingdom is here. Not some

far off place, not a future reality, but now

Christ is in our midst over and over again. Lo,

I am with you even to the end of the age. For

a person to repent, it isn't that you just say,

I'm sorry. That's not what repentance is. It

might involve that, but that's not the core.

The word repent literally means I change my mind,

I change my direction, I change my understanding,

I change my orientation. That's interesting,

isn't it? Which way do we have the catechumens

face? After they face the West and spit on the

devil, they reorient themselves. The word means

east, towards Christ. The day spring from on

high as we just sang at Christmas. Repentance

is our way of life. Why do I say that? What's

the proof? What's the good of it? Why did Christ

tell us to do it and keep doing it, not just

a one -time thing? St. Simeon the New Theologian

wrote this, he says, the careful fulfillment

of the commandments, which we start to keep when

we repent, teaches a person what? His own weaknesses.

And the focus goes off the other person's sins.

Brothers and sisters, believe me when I tell

you this. This is some advice. Don't watch the

news in the morning. And don't watch the news

before you go to bed. That's just advertisement

of everybody else's sins. Pray. Pray again. If

it's important enough, you'll hear about it.

When we start to repent, we keep the commandments

and we start to see ourselves, says Saint Simeon.

He goes on, exactly as soon as one who believes

in Christ begins to fulfill the all holy commandments

of the gospel or also to perform the works of

a renewed nature, one's fallen nature, one's

sinfulness and potential too. is instantly and

continually revealed to him, which has been hidden

from sight until then. And then we enter into

a battle, a sustained battle. But God is with

us, so we are not defeated and we are not frustrated,

even though we are contrite. Where does all this

lead? Our intern, Joseph, gave me a stack of

books that he translated the other day. Talks

by St. Nectarius. And I saw this and I thought,

I have to share this because this is where repentance

leads. This is where banishment of darkness leads.

This is what the Christian faith is all about.

And we're hearing it now at the beginning of

the year, after Christ's baptism, after Christmas,

to encourage us in a very dark time. Christianity,

says Saint Nectarios, his icon is right over

there by Gabriel, is not intended merely to transmit

religious and moral truths, rules, but also to

awaken a new religious and moral life within

us. Thus Christianity is a religious moral institution

with the established goal of the formation of

the heart and the illumination of the noose.

And so its true followers are not those who only

receive its teaching, but those who also arrange

their life and their ways, Christianity is called

the way in Acts, in accordance with the principles

and teaching. Not everyone who says to me, Lord,

Lord, said Jesus, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but he who does the will of my Father. Christianity

does not intend to form man into a philosopher,

but into an image and likeness of God. And this

indeed he becomes. So long as man dedicates his

heart to be a holy tabernacle, wherein the Lord

dwells, abides, and tarries, in which he, Jesus,

makes a dwelling place for himself. Can I hear

an amen to that?