Sermon for The Baptism of Christ - Michael Hampel

At Epiphany, the revelation of the Christ Child to the world and, at his Baptism, the revelation of the adult Jesus to the world are each marked by a series of dramatic events: the arrival in the stable at Bethlehem of mysterious and powerful-looking strangers who have followed a star from the east and, thirty years or so later, the tearing apart of the heavens, the Spirit descending like a dove, and a voice from heaven.

This is theatre throwing the spotlight of revelation onto the central figure in the drama.

In each case, Christ is marked out for the human being and the God that he is but, after the Epiphany and before the Baptism, there is a lengthy period of obscurity and, after the Baptism and before the Crucifixion, there is much scepticism.

So, why do the stories about wise men and voices from heaven not pursue Jesus like a follow spot throughout his life and ministry? Why this gap of obscurity and this repeated theme of scepticism?

Well, because, even if the gospels did contain the gossip and side conversations of the time, we should hear little about these dramatic events because, in the one case, Mary ponders the visit of the wise men in her heart and, in the other instance, the desert community of John and his disciples have enough troubles of their own to be found trafficking news — however dramatic — in the streets and taverns of Nazareth and Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, it remains true to say that these revelations at Bethlehem and Jordan were crucial catalysts to what has brought us here to this cathedral church this morning as we commemorate the Baptism of Christ. On Monday, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the Church used the language of knowing God now by faith and, this morning, we ask God to keep us faithful to our calling as Christians. So that the theme common to these two commemorations — Epiphany and Baptism — is indeed faith. Faith is given to us by inspiration and inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

We might say, therefore, that it is the Holy Spirit who bridges the gaps of obscurity and scepticism which lie between and around these two great moments of revelation that have been our focus this week.

This is the Holy Spirit with which Jesus will baptise and which will distinguish Jesus’s baptising from that of John. This is the Holy Spirit which we ourselves are given at our own baptism. This is the Holy Spirit which the Old Testament prophets recognised as a symbolic moral and purging force to cleanse the shortcomings of the nations of the earth, thus making John’s proclamation of a baptism with the Holy Spirit by Jesus perfectly recognisable and reasonable to his own disciples.

And, at this time of the year, when our focus is so very much on the incarnation of God as a human being, it is perhaps inevitable that our thinking and praying should be largely sustained by our understanding of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. And yet the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, seems to me to be the crucial protagonist in our twenty-first century Epiphany.

While I believe very strongly in the power of story — and story, of course, powerfully characterises our Christmas observance — the business of revealing Christ to the world today will owe much of its success to the business of inspiration. And this may mean that a greater focus on the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts will be necessary at Epiphany-tide than we currently allow.

We understand that significant numbers of the adult population of this country attended church at some point in December. What experience did they have? Was it inspiring? The chances are that it was OK: the charm of candlelight, the story of the Nativity, and Christmas carols are a winning combination. But what if any of them came back the next week or the next? The picture then might be less inspiring for them because, just as we are rather nervous about the Holy Spirit who does the inspiring, so we are also rather nervous about ritual and symbolism in our worship – and the result can sometimes be uninspiring.

To be alive to God through our baptism is not merely a self-satisfying state of election because, if our life in Christ is to mean anything to a troubled twenty-first century world, it must look like something which catches the attention of the passer-by, captures their imagination, and captivates their heart.

Each act of worship is an Epiphany: a manifestation of Christ to the world. As such, each act of worship must be inspiring, doing the work of the Holy Spirit – catching, capturing, captivating.

Not being lukewarm. Come to the Epiphany Procession a week today. It will not be lukewarm.

When there is inspiring worship, there is a huge encouragement to the Christian community to treat all of the great festivals of the Christian year with the same seriousness with which it treats Christmas. If the Church is inspiring, we, and those who join us from time to time, will be inspired. If we are inspired, we are engaged with the Holy Spirit. If we are engaged with the Holy Spirit, we are faithful to our baptism. If we are faithful to our baptism, we are faithful to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.