Sunday after Theophany 2015 Fr Michael Margitich

Glory be to Jesus Christ. Many years ago, when

I was stationed at an Air Force base in the deep

south, I was befriended by a very likable Baptist

minister. Whose church was located just adjacent

to the main gate of the base. He was well liked

by his parishioners. And the deacons often complimented

him on his pulpit skills. But they were somehow

disappointed. And one thing about this preacher.

Sunday after Sunday, he would preach on the same

text. Water and baptism. And this went on for

months. So the board of deacons got together

with the pastor and came up with a... Would the

pastor accept a biblical passage which he could

preach on if it were given to him by the deacons?

He says, of course I would. So the following

Sunday, they selected a passage from the first.

book of the Bible, Genesis, which read, in the

beginning, God created the heaven and earth.

Well, the pastor looked at the passage, read

it three times, looked at the congregation, and

looked at the board of deacons and said, Brothers,

If I remember my geography correctly, the earth

is one -fourth land and three -fourths water.

And so enthusiastically he preached on the theme

of water and baptism. Now he wasn't... entirely.

Because the elements of water and time are timeless.

And these particular themes run from the Old

and New Testament. The theme of water and of

light which we heard a great deal about in the

last two wonderful festivals that we celebrated,

Nativity and Theophany, we heard these references

more than once. So with this in mind, I too,

like the pastor, want to speak on the theme of

water and light. But I want to start with a quotation

which we heard during the reading, the epistle

reading at the blessing of the water on the day

of epiphany. And I quote, I do not want you to

be ignorant that all our fathers And here he's

referring to the Old Testament. All our fathers

were under the cloud. And you remember from your

biblical reading. The cloud led them through

the wilderness. Both during the day and during

the night. And all of them passed through the

midst of the sea. They drank of the rock. which

accompanied them through the action of the Holy

Spirit. And Paul said, the rock was Christ. No

serious reader of the Bible can overlook the

theme of water and light that played in the history

of our salvation. Because water is more than

a symbol. It is an indispensable fact and element

and substance of life. It is still an instrument

of both life and death. And the symbolism of

baptism makes this very clear. Now from the earliest

days of the church, Christmas and Epiphany were

referred to as the Feast of Light and the Feast

of Water. And at the expense of being repetitious,

let it be said that the hymnology of the services

express, emphasize and clearly indicate that

there is the grace of purification involved and

the grace of illumination. To disconnect these

things From the scriptural teachings. From both

the Old and New Testament. Which many. Have done.

Lose the spiritual quality. And significance.

Of that which God himself. Was involved in. And

throughout the Old Testament. Now there are many

references. To these two elements. More than

I could discuss in the time given. And I take

these references both from the Old Testament.

And from the readings which were done on the

day of Epiphany. On the day in which Christ was

baptized. There are. Stories and references of

how God himself. Interacted and determined. And

delivered the Hebrew people. From destruction.

From various calamities and from their tragedies.

The very first is in the time of Noah. God used

water. To drown sin. And when the Israelites

stood. Helplessly before the Red Sea. And the

armies of Pharaoh. In hot pursuit. What happened?

Again God. Through Moses. parted the waters and

the people were saved. Twice during their wandering

in the desert, they were confronted with death

because of the lack of water. In Exodus 15, God

instructed Moses to throw a particular branch

of wood Into the polluted waters. And the polluted

waters. Became clear. And drinkable. And this.

Symbol. Is brought out in the very surface. Of

the baptism of water. When the celebrant. Places.

And dips the cross. Three times into the water.

And another instance in which God revealed himself

and the power he gave Moses was when again they

came to a land where there was no water and they

were dying. And they began to murmur against

God. And God instructed Moses to do this. With

the rod that was given to him. He hit a rock.

And from that rock. Poured out and gushed water.

And St. Paul in that 10th chapter of Corinthians.

Tells us that the rock was Christ. So in biblical

imagery. Water represents life and salvation.

And remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus, unless

you're baptized with water in the spirit, you

cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. And

we read and we have heard a number of times that

when Jesus walked, into the waters of Jordan.

The water would again become what it was destined

to be from the very beginning of the world. The

means of communicating with God. Presence in

this world are his gifts through the material

creation and that's why we could speak of holy

oil and holy icons and we could speak a blessing

of homes we could speak of the healing of sick

sanctifying of the cosmos So there's so much

more associated with these two magnificent festivals

of light, water, darkness, healing that reveal

the continual involvement of God in past history

but continues in our time. And so on this day.

When the Holy Trinity was revealed. A voice of

heaven said. This is my beloved son and the dove.

The spirit in the form of a dove descended on

Christ. The process of renewing nature and cosmos.

The true spiritual ecology began. And to him.

Who has done this for us and for our salvation.

Be glory, honor and worship. Amen.