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EPIPHANY
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark 1.4.
At Christmas we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and, by extension, in Epiphany-tide we celebrate our Lord’s baptism, his first miracle in Cana of Galilee and the visit of the Magi.
As I listened in church to the Gospel being read on Sunday, January 7th telling the story of our Lord’s baptism, as told by St Mark, two things sprang to mind.
The first is something that the author and missionary bishop Stephen Neill (1900-1984) wrote about the power of the Cross and how it offers us:
"... the possibility of believing in a God who loved us so much that he was prepared to come and live among us and to catch our disease and to die of it."
Those powerful words in turn made me mindful of something I read by another bishop, Anthony Bloom, (1914-2003) linking the Lord’s baptism to His passion and Cross. Bloom writes of Jesus coming to the Jordan, free of sin, yet desiring to be baptized. Why? Bloom relates that a Presbyterian minister told him once that he sees it in the following way:
“...the people came to John the Baptist soiled, polluted by sin in an act of repentance and of faith, of a return to God, washed their sins in the waters of Jordan; and these waters became heavy with human sin, became what the legend of so many nations call, the dead, the killing waters of sin. And Christ comes; and He, pure of stain, immerses Himself in these waters of death as one would immerse white wool into a dye, and comes out; comes out of these waters carrying upon Himself all the sin that has been washed in these waters.”
Bloom takes what the Presbyterian told him and does something remarkable with it, taking a page from the early Christian Fathers who saw in the story of Hercules killing the Centaur a penetrating intuitive sign of what happened in Christ. Hercules stands for the hero who saves and:
He kills with an arrow the Centaur, the creature which is both beast and man an image of what sin makes of us: beasts and men at the same time, because the image of God cannot be washed but it can be profaned; it cannot be destroyed but it can become monstrous as in the legend of the Centaur. And in his dying moment the Centaur sends to Hercules his tunic asking him to wear it in memory of his victory, traitorously. And when Hercules puts it on it clings to his body and burns him like fire. And he tears it away together with his flesh and his life.
In baptism, Christ immerses Himself in these waters of death; He comes out of them wearing on His body, in his humanity all the consequences of sin--- “as Hercules put on the tunic soaked with the blood of the beast-man”. And Christ will die of it because it is the only way He could free, not Himself, but all of us of our sin.
Epiphany shines a light on what Christ truly is: God’s love incarnate --- “vulnerable unto death and unto torment; helpless because . . . totally and freely given”. It also shines a light on our calling, as re-created in Him in our baptism --- born again ‘to fight under his banner against sin, the world and the devil’ (BCP 1662). What a noble, humble calling.
Douglas Dupree
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The Church has long drawn a connection between the story of the Magi following the light of the star to the Christ child to the prophecy proclaimed in Isaiah 60.1-3:
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
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One of the things about the internet is you can completely miss a story when first reported in the news yet stumble across it, maybe years later while looking for something else on the internet. So it was that I stumbled upon the story of Cardinal Konrad Krajewski who, back in 2019, was threatened by Italy’s deputy prime minister for a single act of kindness and deliberate abandon.
The cardinal, who distributes aid and alms on behalf of Pope Francis, made his way on May 11th, 2019, at 10 p.m. to a state-owned building in Rome where some 430 people—including more than 100 children—had set up house.
The people had occupied the building since 2013 but on May 6, 2019, the electric company cut the electricity in the building leaving the occupants without lights, hot water or working refrigerators.
Enter the cardinal. Krajewski lifted a manhole cover and climbed down under the building and reconnected the building to the power main. The next day the deputy prime minister told a rally that the occupants of the building owed the electric company 300,000 euros (about $337,000) and that he would send the bill to the cardinal.
“I’ll pay. No problem,” the cardinal told the newspaper. “And if one arrives, I’ll pay a fine as well”. Wow. His action gives a whole new meaning to the Nike mantra: ‘Just do it’.
Michael Stalcup, a Thai American missionary wrote a moving poem based on the incident titled ‘On a Cardinal Climbing Down a Manhole to Restore Power to 400 Homeless People’. I am not sure whether I would need permission to reprint it here so I encourage you to find it at the button below.
The whole movement of the poem downward puts one in mind of Philippians 2.6-8: ‘And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.’
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Meet Ed Perez, Founder of
Three Grains of Rice Missions
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Ed Perez of Jacksonville founded Three Grains of Rice Missions in 2016 to provide resources for housing, food, clothing, medical care and educational opportunities to people struggling with food and housing instability. Last year the VyStar Foundation donated their former credit union branch on Jacksonville’s Westside (3040 Edison Avenue) to Three Grains Mission. | |
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INTERVIEW
1. On the website, you tell us that you ‘believe in harvesting love’. The image of harvesting resonates with your own upbringing and life story. Your parents were landowners in Cuba who grew sugar cane and coffee and were blessed with rich harvests before the political climate changed and your family life was turned upside down. Next thing, you were arriving in Baltimore, Maryland in February 1963 with your family and only the clothes on your back. Tell us a little about your childhood and early years in America and the abiding impact that has had on your life and beliefs.
Ed: When I first arrived in the USA, my life was challenging. I simply could not sponge from my mind the images of death and violence that I experience during the revolution in Cuba. These experiences made me a very angry young man, trying to make sense of PTSD was simply beyond my ability to understand. Who do you talk to? What do you say? I, like many other young people today, saw no way out, but, to turn to gangs and violence.
2. How did a valued mentor and middle school coach make an important impact on your life and influence your career development?
Ed: I remember more than once crying and begging God to take my life. However, he had a different plan, and he brought two angels into my life. A coach that never gave up, he taught me that anger was simply misdirected energy. He showed me how to inject myself into sports. He saved my life. The second angel was an elderly lady who convinced this young boy to go to college – a boy who was attending a vocational school, poorly prepared with no financials means. She never gave up on me. God never gave up on me.
3. How were you led to found 3 Grains of Rice and how did you find a focus for it that makes it so unique and valuable to the community? What is the primary focus or gift of 3 Grains to the community?
Ed: The verticals for Three Grains (3G) are based on my experiences as a young boy – homelessness, women and children in distress. We believe that “we all” have responsibility for one another. Moreover, by providing volunteer opportunities, by emphasizing that the mission field is where we are “right here and now”, volunteerism becomes a “win- win” for the givers, those receiving and for our overall community. It is the key to spiritual maturity.
4. Share with us a recent project of 3 Grains of which you are particularly grateful and feel accomplished its mission?
Ed: Over the past seven years, we have upgraded 24 homes for single moms, built 7 apartments and repaired the Trinity Baptist Women’s Shelter and the Hogar Crea Recovery House. We currently distribute food to 400-500 families monthly. By providing a certification scholarships program for single moms in distress, we bring about generational impact today. Our team has shipped nearly $4M in medical supplies internationally.
5. What are the essential values that under-gird the work and mission of 3 Grains?
Ed: By providing local and international mission experiences, we help those volunteering to start the path to spiritual maturity. Once you experience it, you never stop serving.
6. How can we support 3 Grains of Rice?
Ed: In the mission field, we constantly face challenges, our fuel is the power of prayer and the impact fullness of the hearts of those that give of themselves. We welcome volunteers, food drives are always important and so is the collection of sports equipment such as soccer, baseball and volleyball. Come and join us. [Three Grains website for information on giving and helping: https://threegrainsofrice.org/needs/]
7. If you were invited to speak to a young people’s sports club or school assembly today what message would you want to share with them to encourage them and bolster their hope for their future?
Ed: Never give up, know without a question that you have a powerful God that loves you and will never forsake you. You have a purpose and a mission that you were born with – you will never be along in the path of life for our Mighty God will be with you. No experience is a wasted experience.
8. Anything else you would like to share with us?
Ed: I am living my dreams, I am living my purpose, I am living the mission that God placed in my heart.
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Bishop's Institute Book List 2024 | |
Selina Stone. Tarry Awhile: Wisdom from Black Spirituality for People of Faith: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2024: Foreword by Justin Welby. Paperback – December 21, 2023.
From Amazon promotion: “This book makes the wisdom of Black spiritualities and faith available for all people. It focuses on seven themes: darkness as a place of encounter with the divine; the unity of all things; movement, belonging and migration; the Spirit as one who moves in unexpected ways; quiet contemplation as essential to spiritual growth; healing in the community; and weeping that turns to joy.”
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Sarah Arthur. Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. Paperback – January 1, 2016. | |
Sister Wendy Beckett. The Art of Lent: A Painting a Day from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Paperback – February 15, 2022. | |
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Austen Ivereigh. First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis. Paperback – pre-order for release on February 13, 2024.
From Amazon promotion: “Structured around the core principles of St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises [a traditional Jesuit retreat], First Belong to God encapsulates the key aspects of the Francis pontificate:
- the essence of being “God-belonging” entities
- the way God’s mercy challenges our self-reliance
- the journey to building the Kingdom in the footsteps of Christ
- heeding the cry of the earth and the stranger
- striving for fraternity by championing synodality
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Ari Shavit. My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel. Paperback – February 3, 2015.
“A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York Times.
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Mary B. Sullivan. Living the Way of Love: A 40-Day Devotional. Paperback – January 30, 2019.
“Living the Way of Love offers forty brief reflections about the seven Jesus-centered practices identified by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in “The Way of Love” initiative.”
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Martin Thrall. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. Hardcover – October 3, 2023.
Not a Lenten devotional book but a story told of Palestinians living in the West Bank and of the personal tragedy of one man when his son was killed in an accident and of all the roadblocks he faces as he sets out on the wrong side of the barriers to find his son and his son’s fate.
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Muthuraj Swamy. Reconciliation: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2019 Paperback-December 2018.
This Christian writer was instrumental in the planning of the 2022 Lambeth Conference of Bishops. His book on reconciliation is structured to provide plenty of food for thought and prayer daily over the forty days of Lent.
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Rowan Williams. Passions of the Soul. Paperback – March 19, 2024.
“In Passions of the Soul, Rowan Williams opens up the great classics of Eastern Christian writing to show how it can help us to understand and cope with the ups and downs of modern life.”
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Jessica Hooten Wilson. The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints. Hardcover – March 29, 2022.
Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit.
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N.T. Wright. Lent for Everyone: Mark, Year B: A Daily Devotional. Paperback – January 20, 2012. | |
Gateway: Steps to Recovery | |
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Last year we had an interview in this Newsletter with Barbara Stevenson who is part of a volunteer ministry team of laity and clergy who hold a service monthly and offer pastoral support to residents of an addiction treatment center in Jacksonville in Riverside near the Church of the Good Shepherd.
In this interview, Rich Phelan, a communicant of Good Shepherd, gives us an update on the ministry to Gateway. If you would like to know more about Gateway, contact Rich at: rsphelan1@yahoo.com.
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From left to right: Leanne Boyle, the Rev. Teri Calinao , and Rich Phelan. | |
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1. Rich, It would be nice to have an update from you on how the ministry of clergy and laity in our Diocese to Gateway is working.
Rich: We are called to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. When we were coming out of Covid, we were looking for opportunities to restart our ministries. There were definite obstacles given the times. A good new beginning appeared to be where the Diocese had a history of bringing people together in worship at Gateway Community Services in Jacksonville. Good Shepherd had provided substantial support for Gateway's goals of strengthening community by taking action against drug and alcohol addiction. Our Priest, Fr. Brent Owens, gave his blessing for us to pursue this Ministry.
Despite feeling a calling to serve, I reluctantly admitted that I was concerned about letting my shortcomings become a stumbling block to doing the Lord's work to my friends. Fr. Allison DeFoor, whom I had not met previously, heard my concerns and told me that he served at Gateway previously and was eager to bring the church service back up and running. He gave me the contact information that I needed and pledged his resources and support as clergy.
Our first Church Service was in August of 2022. David Michal, who was my sponsor at my Confirmation, and Leanne Boyle, who was Confirmed with me, joined me from Good Shepherd. We met Barbara Stevenson from St. Mark's, Jacksonville. She guided us through the service. We were also strengthened by inspiring participation in Pastoral Care training through the Bishop's Institute and by the Lay Eucharistic Visitor training with Deacon Saundra Kidd of the Cathedral.
To continue reading, please click here.
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The Epiphany Season
Welcome to the season of Epiphany. I love the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church. Growing up as Presbyterian/Baptist, we only had Easter and Christmas, and they were really holidays and not seasons. However, the Episcopal Church has seven seasons it celebrates every year.
We start with the Advent, then comes Christmas (or the 12 days of Christmas), followed by Epiphany, then Lent, then Holy Week, quickly followed by Easter, and then, the season after Pentecost. Each is filled with their own traditions, feasts, colors, readings, and celebrations.
We wait in anticipation during the season of Advent and Christmas. We humbly and thoughtfully prepare and pray, during the season of Lent. We celebrate with joy Holy Week and the Easter season, renewing our faith that Jesus has risen and will come again. We move to the warmth of summer and into fall during the season after Pentecost (sometimes called ordinary time). However, we don't always know or understand the season of Epiphany. So, let's look at this least known of our seasons.
Often numbers in the Bible have a unique significance, other than counting. The season of Epiphany is the third season. The number 3 in the Bible represents divinity. The season of Epiphany will show us that Jesus of Nazareth is divine, that he is the Messiah, the Christ, the Holy One. Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “to be visible.” It also means to discover, or to see something new.
Epiphany is celebrated every January 6th. The length of the season varies according to the date of Easter. This year the season of Epiphany follows six weeks. Epiphany is the second oldest feast of the early church, with only Easter being older.
Originally, Epiphany celebrated four different events on the same Sunday. They included Jesus’s birth, his baptism, his first miracle, and the visit of the magi. Eventually, Jesus’s birth became Christmas, and over the centuries two of the other celebrations were also moved to different Sundays within the Epiphany season.
The gospel stories during these six weeks will show (make visible) the divinity of Jesus. The day of Epiphany always starts with the story of the wise men coming from the east, by following a star in search the of the Christ child. This gospel reminds us that many are searching for the light of Christ. Throughout the next six weeks our Sunday gospel readings will illuminate to all that Jesus is the Son of God. As Isaiah reminds us “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isaiah 60:6).
To continue reading, please click here.
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The Art of the Funeral Workshop:
St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville
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Saturday, March 2, 2024
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Taliaferro Hall, St John’s Cathedral, Jacksonville
Registration: $25 (includes lunch)
A workshop for clergy and laity jointly sponsored by the Bishop’s Institute for Ministry and Leadership and St John’s Episcopal Cathedral.
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Kate Moorehead Carroll, Dean of the Cathedral, on the scope of the workshop:
"Funerals are one of the greatest opportunities that we have to show the world who we are as a church. So many people come to funerals who might never otherwise enter our doors. But how can we plan funerals well? How do we balance gentle pastoring with liturgical intelligence? How can we craft a service that speaks of the life of a person while remaining faithful to our ancient liturgical practices? And how can we translate our liturgy to those who have never experienced it?
Join us for a workshop on Saturday, March 2 --- as we explore the art and wisdom that is needed to plan and execute a beautiful funeral in this post-modern age.
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Foundations Course 2024:
First Session Saturday, Jan. 20
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Starting January 20, 2024, the Bishop’s Institute will offer a Foundations Course to lay persons in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to enable and equip them to answer their call to Christian ministry first received at our Baptism.
This ten-month course will be of benefit to those who are currently engaged in lay ministry and leadership in their church or mission and also to those seeking to discern a call to new opportunities for ministry.
The course will meet one Saturday a month from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Jacksonville. Registration includes access to class materials, lunch during class sessions, and two books.
To learn more about the course and to register, please click here. There are also limited scholarships available. Please direct any questions to Douglas Dupree, Rector of the Bishop’s Institute: at ddupree@diocesefl.org.
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