1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:00,640 Foreign. 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:09,040 Thank you for engaging with the homily. 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,480 By Pastor Chill Will from Chapel Hill. 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,520 I hope this message encourages you, challenges you and moves you 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,320 to go deeper in your faith and enrich how you love God and love 6 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,320 your neighbor in your day to day life. 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:25,880 Just a reminder. 8 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,240 Like the Scriptures and Gospels themselves, this homily was 9 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,220 written for a particular community in a particular, particular 10 00:00:32,220 --> 00:00:33,900 context, time in history. 11 00:00:34,540 --> 00:00:38,780 And yet, like our sacred texts, I hope that these words hold 12 00:00:38,860 --> 00:00:42,620 timeless truths about God's unconditional love and grace. 13 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:46,060 We hope these words speak to you in a meaningful way. 14 00:00:54,860 --> 00:00:57,420 Welcome to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Campus 15 00:00:57,420 --> 00:00:57,940 ministry. 16 00:00:57,940 --> 00:00:59,980 We're glad you're able to worship with us this morning. 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:05,200 Mine Pastor Will the Holy Gospel According to Matthew Then 18 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,640 Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:10,240 by him. 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,800 John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by 21 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,040 you and do you come to me? 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,240 But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for it is proper for us 23 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,680 in this way to fulfill all righteousness. 24 00:01:26,660 --> 00:01:27,780 And John consented. 25 00:01:28,580 --> 00:01:32,740 When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, 26 00:01:32,820 --> 00:01:37,740 suddenly the heavens were open to him and he saw God's spirit descending 27 00:01:37,740 --> 00:01:40,100 like a dove and alighting on him. 28 00:01:40,820 --> 00:01:48,140 And a voice from the heavens said, my son, the Beloved, with whom 29 00:01:48,140 --> 00:01:49,380 I am well pleased. 30 00:01:50,260 --> 00:01:54,900 The Gospel of the Lord in the name of the Father and the Son and 31 00:01:54,900 --> 00:01:55,820 of the Holy Spirit. 32 00:01:56,460 --> 00:01:57,100 Amen. 33 00:01:58,780 --> 00:01:59,740 He's back. 34 00:02:02,140 --> 00:02:05,100 And by he I mean John the Baptist. 35 00:02:05,980 --> 00:02:10,700 But this time he's back, not situated in the season of Advent 36 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:13,420 that was so 2025. 37 00:02:15,340 --> 00:02:19,020 He's not shouting in the wilderness, calling people snakes 38 00:02:19,020 --> 00:02:22,480 and for onlookers to prepare the way of the Lord. 39 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:29,720 Rather, today the spotlight shifts over to Jesus with John the 40 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,120 Baptist doing what he does best and how he got his title. 41 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,040 Baptizing, Baptizing Jesus. 42 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,880 And we get a voice from heaven revealing who Jesus is. 43 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:50,040 Happy Epiphany epiphany begins on January 6th with the story of 44 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,040 the Magi following a star. 45 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:58,280 The season of Epiphany and the Sundays after the epiphany leads 46 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,960 up to Ash Wednesday where we begin the season of Lent. 47 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:07,720 So over the next six weeks we are called to pay attention what 48 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,370 God is revealing to us in this Christian who was born for us. 49 00:03:13,810 --> 00:03:16,290 How does he posture himself in the world? 50 00:03:17,650 --> 00:03:18,610 What does he say? 51 00:03:19,810 --> 00:03:20,690 Does he teach? 52 00:03:21,730 --> 00:03:22,690 What does he do? 53 00:03:23,650 --> 00:03:24,850 Who does he hang with? 54 00:03:25,890 --> 00:03:26,770 Who does he call? 55 00:03:28,210 --> 00:03:32,810 This morning the light shines and guides and leads us to a body 56 00:03:32,810 --> 00:03:33,330 of water. 57 00:03:34,610 --> 00:03:37,250 Water, the basic necessity for life. 58 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:40,540 We can't Go but a few days without it. 59 00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:44,820 When scientists are looking for life out in space, on other planets 60 00:03:44,820 --> 00:03:49,860 and moons, they are looking for water, knowing that water holds 61 00:03:49,860 --> 00:03:52,300 the possibility of life. 62 00:03:53,660 --> 00:03:57,020 The Book of Genesis at the beginning of all things, God's spirit 63 00:03:57,260 --> 00:04:03,420 hovers over the water and life and purpose brought into being. 64 00:04:04,890 --> 00:04:09,530 So it makes sense that to begin this exploring of who Jesus 65 00:04:09,530 --> 00:04:13,930 is, that we start with water, with the spirit again. 66 00:04:14,090 --> 00:04:21,850 Hovering over water, a voice that says out loud, this is my son. 67 00:04:23,370 --> 00:04:28,170 A naming, a claiming and a promise. 68 00:04:30,020 --> 00:04:33,580 I'll confess that I've never heard the audible voice of God from 69 00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:34,020 heaven. 70 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:39,780 My friend Stephen and pastor colleague fears that he has. 71 00:04:40,660 --> 00:04:44,740 He shared with me that at one of the ELCA national youth gatherings, 72 00:04:45,140 --> 00:04:50,580 he heard God say to him out loud, stephen, go to seminary. 73 00:04:52,020 --> 00:04:56,060 He shared that it wasn't necessarily a big booming voice that 74 00:04:56,060 --> 00:04:59,670 everyone heard around him, was just a normal voice. 75 00:05:00,550 --> 00:05:04,710 STEPHEN GERTIS SEMINARY he looked around at the people around 76 00:05:04,790 --> 00:05:07,030 him and it was like, what did you just say? 77 00:05:07,990 --> 00:05:10,070 And they were like, we didn't say anything. 78 00:05:10,710 --> 00:05:11,510 You okay? 79 00:05:12,550 --> 00:05:13,470 Like, I don't know. 80 00:05:13,470 --> 00:05:14,790 And he was kind of freaked out. 81 00:05:15,990 --> 00:05:20,310 That wasn't my experience and why I went to seminary. 82 00:05:20,950 --> 00:05:25,230 But I can claim that I've experienced God communicating with 83 00:05:25,230 --> 00:05:29,250 me in different ways over the course of my journey of faith. 84 00:05:30,370 --> 00:05:34,570 For example, I was in college and I was going through some pretty 85 00:05:34,570 --> 00:05:39,170 hard times, hard medical problems and with lots of uncertainty. 86 00:05:39,890 --> 00:05:41,010 I was really scared. 87 00:05:41,889 --> 00:05:46,890 I was wondering how it would affect the rest of my life as I was 88 00:05:46,890 --> 00:05:50,450 trying to discern what kind of vocation I should go into. 89 00:05:51,580 --> 00:05:55,820 I went down to the beach near my parents house to pray and to think. 90 00:05:57,020 --> 00:06:01,660 I found myself on a dock in the Intercoastal Waterway in front 91 00:06:01,660 --> 00:06:02,780 of my parents house. 92 00:06:03,500 --> 00:06:09,180 The water that day in front of me was clear and calm and glassy. 93 00:06:10,540 --> 00:06:17,180 I prayed and out loud said, before God, lord, I'm scared and 94 00:06:17,180 --> 00:06:21,380 I'm not sure what's going to happen next or what I should do or 95 00:06:21,380 --> 00:06:22,220 shouldn't do. 96 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,280 And then as soon as those words left my mouth, a pretty big 97 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:35,760 boat drove by and its wake hit the dock and it started to rock back 98 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:36,560 and forth. 99 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,320 I was in no danger of falling in the water, but it was moving up 100 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,440 and down and back and forth pretty hard. 101 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,280 After the wake and the waves from that boat passed by, the dock 102 00:06:49,660 --> 00:06:55,940 calmed back down and the water returned back to its calm and glassy 103 00:06:55,940 --> 00:06:56,300 form. 104 00:06:57,820 --> 00:06:59,020 I sat for a moment. 105 00:07:00,460 --> 00:07:01,420 That was that experience. 106 00:07:03,100 --> 00:07:06,340 I thought about how I prayed that prayer out loud. 107 00:07:06,340 --> 00:07:12,700 And then I had an epiphany in that moment I heard God say to me, 108 00:07:13,900 --> 00:07:19,350 will, right now things are pretty rough, but it will calm down. 109 00:07:20,550 --> 00:07:22,070 This too shall pass. 110 00:07:23,350 --> 00:07:26,150 The waters will get calm again. 111 00:07:28,310 --> 00:07:31,870 Now, this experience didn't change any uncertainty or answer 112 00:07:31,870 --> 00:07:33,350 any big questions. 113 00:07:33,350 --> 00:07:39,110 But it did reveal to me, and I received a certain kind of newfound 114 00:07:39,110 --> 00:07:39,590 peace. 115 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,920 I was able to get up, go back to school and focus on my studies. 116 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,800 And looking back on that situation and experience, it was 117 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:51,200 true. 118 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:56,400 The rough waters subsided and God saw me. 119 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,280 As we've stated, God is a mystery. 120 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,680 St. Augustine is recorded to have said, if you understand God, 121 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:08,600 then God ceases to be God. 122 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:11,640 And yet we've also shared. 123 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:17,720 We believe in a personal God speaks to us who longs and desires 124 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,120 to be in relationship with us. 125 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:25,800 So much so that God became flesh and blood for us in the person 126 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:26,760 of Jesus Christ. 127 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,420 What we know of God or experience as God, God chooses to 128 00:08:33,420 --> 00:08:34,660 reveal to us. 129 00:08:35,780 --> 00:08:41,660 And God is still speaking as Christians, those who embrace and 130 00:08:41,660 --> 00:08:44,940 follow Jesus Christ while still believing and confessing that 131 00:08:44,940 --> 00:08:46,820 God is indeed a mystery. 132 00:08:47,300 --> 00:08:51,340 We place our faith in that God has chosen to reveal God's self to 133 00:08:51,340 --> 00:08:53,140 us in a number of ways. 134 00:08:54,340 --> 00:08:57,780 God reveals God's self to us in creation. 135 00:08:59,050 --> 00:09:03,290 We can see God's fingerprints all over the created universe and 136 00:09:03,290 --> 00:09:06,170 even in ourselves and in one another. 137 00:09:07,210 --> 00:09:11,890 We are a part of creation, and we are told that we are created in 138 00:09:11,890 --> 00:09:13,370 the image of God. 139 00:09:15,290 --> 00:09:19,610 I see God and the diverse ecosystems of creation. 140 00:09:20,410 --> 00:09:22,010 And I see God in you. 141 00:09:23,940 --> 00:09:26,900 God reveals God's self to us in the gift of community. 142 00:09:28,020 --> 00:09:29,140 The gift of community. 143 00:09:30,500 --> 00:09:33,660 In this gift of community, we not only come to understand that 144 00:09:33,660 --> 00:09:37,100 we do not travel in this journey of faith alone, but there 145 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:44,580 we are woven together in a web where we, what we do, affects one 146 00:09:44,580 --> 00:09:44,900 another. 147 00:09:45,940 --> 00:09:48,900 And in this gift of community, God shapes us. 148 00:09:49,770 --> 00:09:55,770 And to a people of God that God calls us to be, God reveals God's 149 00:09:55,770 --> 00:09:57,850 self to us in the words of Scripture. 150 00:09:58,810 --> 00:10:03,130 Through the words and stories found in the Bible, we hear divorce 151 00:10:03,370 --> 00:10:08,370 voices across generations who have experienced the divine and pass 152 00:10:08,370 --> 00:10:09,450 that on to us. 153 00:10:10,490 --> 00:10:14,170 In the Bible, we see who God is and God's actions in the world. 154 00:10:15,540 --> 00:10:18,420 We explore and study these words and stories. 155 00:10:18,420 --> 00:10:25,700 In the gift of community, God reveals God's self in the sacraments 156 00:10:25,940 --> 00:10:34,100 of holy communion, baptism, in earthy material of bread and wine 157 00:10:34,100 --> 00:10:34,820 and water. 158 00:10:35,620 --> 00:10:38,740 God gives us a means of grace that is tangible. 159 00:10:40,430 --> 00:10:44,030 And in these earthly elements, they are entangled with God's word 160 00:10:44,030 --> 00:10:48,750 and promise that God's grace, mercy and love will accompany us 161 00:10:49,230 --> 00:10:51,070 throughout the journey of faith. 162 00:10:52,670 --> 00:10:56,790 And ultimately, we believe God has revealed God's self to us in 163 00:10:56,790 --> 00:10:58,270 the person of Jesus, the Christ. 164 00:10:59,390 --> 00:11:04,030 In Christ, God's heart and true personality is revealed. 165 00:11:04,990 --> 00:11:09,230 We see who God is in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of 166 00:11:09,230 --> 00:11:11,380 Nazareth, who we call the Christ. 167 00:11:12,980 --> 00:11:17,500 Now I'll confess that each one of these means of communication and 168 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:21,340 self revealing could be a whole sermon all by itself, or a 169 00:11:21,340 --> 00:11:24,100 whole Sunday school series or a whole semester class. 170 00:11:25,300 --> 00:11:29,980 And yet my hope is that over the course of this season will not 171 00:11:29,980 --> 00:11:35,020 only be mindful of these means of communication, but also that you 172 00:11:35,020 --> 00:11:40,520 will pay close attention what God is revealing and saying to you, 173 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,480 to me, and to us as a community of faith. 174 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:52,240 In any healthy relationship there is a need for honesty and self 175 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:58,040 disclosure, that is trusting our true self with the other. 176 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:05,300 In Jesus's baptism we see God's full disclosure to us. 177 00:12:06,260 --> 00:12:11,300 This baptism reveals the triune nature of God, the divine 178 00:12:11,300 --> 00:12:17,340 voice of parenthood, the Christ the Son, the primordial wind 179 00:12:17,340 --> 00:12:20,340 and spirit of God still hovering. 180 00:12:22,420 --> 00:12:26,620 God is more and deeper than a more mysterious than two dudes in 181 00:12:26,620 --> 00:12:27,140 a bird. 182 00:12:28,430 --> 00:12:37,350 And yet within God's self, God is a community of mutual love, a 183 00:12:37,350 --> 00:12:42,190 love that we are entangled with, a love that we are called to 184 00:12:42,190 --> 00:12:42,990 be a part of. 185 00:12:44,350 --> 00:12:49,070 Divine love, song and dance that we are called to be in sync 186 00:12:49,070 --> 00:12:50,190 and in rhythm with. 187 00:12:51,950 --> 00:12:55,150 The Holy Trinity is the name of our community of faith. 188 00:12:56,570 --> 00:13:00,090 So we journey together on this journey of faith in a mutuality of 189 00:13:00,090 --> 00:13:00,410 love. 190 00:13:01,610 --> 00:13:06,370 And we grow with one another and what it means to love how Jesus 191 00:13:06,370 --> 00:13:06,890 loved. 192 00:13:08,570 --> 00:13:11,970 I love the baptism of our Lord Sunday because we see the triune 193 00:13:11,970 --> 00:13:13,210 God on full display. 194 00:13:13,290 --> 00:13:16,010 It's true, you never find the word Trinity in the Bible. 195 00:13:16,330 --> 00:13:19,810 That's a word that we constructed to help describe this 196 00:13:19,810 --> 00:13:20,330 mystery. 197 00:13:20,410 --> 00:13:25,860 But here in the baptism of Jesus, in this sacramental matter 198 00:13:26,020 --> 00:13:30,980 of water, we see the tri nature of God. 199 00:13:31,860 --> 00:13:38,260 We also see the full humanness of Jesus who teaches us how to be 200 00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:38,580 human. 201 00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:44,420 Jesus shows or reveals to us that he is in solidarity with us. 202 00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:50,690 He's in solidarity with us when the waters are calm or when 203 00:13:50,690 --> 00:13:51,690 they are rough. 204 00:13:52,650 --> 00:13:58,690 No matter what sees us three at Jesus's baptism, God spoke and 205 00:13:58,690 --> 00:14:00,090 God is still speaking. 206 00:14:01,210 --> 00:14:05,610 And God will continue to speak in our midst, whether it's at Lucas 207 00:14:05,610 --> 00:14:10,530 baptism, later on at 11 o', clock, or at this table of bread 208 00:14:10,530 --> 00:14:15,650 and wine, or as we journey together as brothers and sisters 209 00:14:15,650 --> 00:14:16,170 in Christ. 210 00:14:18,270 --> 00:14:24,030 God is still speaking in our midst, in creation, at the table, 211 00:14:24,910 --> 00:14:28,750 in the words of Scripture, within our community and in Christ. 212 00:14:30,190 --> 00:14:33,710 And so remembering our own baptisms and the divine love that 213 00:14:33,710 --> 00:14:34,990 will never leave our side. 214 00:14:36,110 --> 00:14:40,030 Let us open our ears and our hearts to hear what God has to say 215 00:14:41,710 --> 00:14:43,390 that we can lift our voice. 216 00:14:44,530 --> 00:14:49,130 Reveal to a hurting world God's grace and love will see us 217 00:14:49,130 --> 00:14:49,490 through. 218 00:14:50,770 --> 00:14:51,410 Amen. 219 00:14:58,130 --> 00:14:59,330 Thank you for listening. 220 00:14:59,729 --> 00:15:01,450 If there is anything that stood out. 221 00:15:01,450 --> 00:15:05,130 For you, or if you have a question or you just want to have 222 00:15:05,130 --> 00:15:09,330 a conversation, you are always free to reach out and contact us. 223 00:15:09,970 --> 00:15:14,210 And remember you are not alone and that you are loved with a love 224 00:15:14,370 --> 00:15:15,810 stronger than death.