Our Sacred Duty

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – 1 EPIPHANY, YEAR B, THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

JANUARY 10, 2021

 

TEXT:                        Mark 1:4-11

 

 

            I recall the heated and portentous days of the early 1960s and the rise of the Civil Rights Struggle in my hometown of Meridian, Mississippi.  There were shootings, bombings and murders in our area. A book published many years later was accurately named “Attack on Terror.”

 

            I grew up a Methodist.  Our pastor, facing the heat of those days, chose to flee to Indiana.  My father, steadfast in his courage, could not bring himself to forgive him.  He saw it as an act of cowardice.

 

            Two-hundred-forty-five years ago, the patriot Thomas Paine published his small book, “The American Crisis.”  The opening words were, “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”

 

            Indeed.

 

            Something over 2,000 years ago, Jesus began his ministry after his baptism in the River Jordan – an occasion we commemorate today.  He, too, would face tumult, resistance, and ultimately, murder.  But he did not shrink from the task before him. And from his steadfastness, as Gospel according to John notes, “We have all received grace upon grace.”

 

            Nor should we avoid the task at hand.  Martin Luther King, the leader of that movement from which my pastor fled, said these words: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness and hate cannot drive out hate. Only the light can drive out darkness and only love can drive out hate.” That is the wisdom our presiding bishop, Michael Curry, has emphasized: “If it is not about love, it is not about God.”

 

            Over 3,000 years ago, scripture tells us that Moses spoke to the wandering Hebrew people.  His words have relevance to us today: “^30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

 

            So many of these words and examples are relevant to us today.