My Jesus has grown hasn’t he? Two weeks ago we were celebrating his birth with great ceremony and fanfare, with voices lifted high in song and praise! Over 1200 people came to worship on Christmas Eve - two beautiful candlelight services - and my personal favorite - the ever chaotic, slightly noisy, energetic and ebullient - which Websters defines as zealously enthusiastic - 5:30 service, otherwise known as the mitten tree service or mitten madness. 500 people, most of them children, gathered to praise the newborn king.

   This past Friday was Epiphany - the day on which the three wise men, having followed the star, discovered the Christ child - and when they did they were overwhelmed with joy and they knelt down and paid the child homage and offered him the gifts they had brought. And having been warned in a dream not to return to King Herod, the story goes, they left for their own country by another road - and word of this new born king began to spread.

   And now here is Jesus - an adult. Presenting himself for his baptism. Mark doesn’t tell us a thing about his childhood – doesn’t even say a word about Jesus being born - he begins with this: The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way – he’s describing John the Baptist - and after telling us how the crowds lined up to be baptized... he moves onto Jesus baptism because for Mark this is what’s important - this day, this moment, this time - it all hinges on this, his baptism, it, all those things God has been promising the people are about to come to fruition - it all begins now:

   When Jesus waded into the water that day and allowed his cousin John the Baptist to dip him in the river, when the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and God said, You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.

   It was as if God said. It is time.

   Everything the people had hoped for, dreamed of, wanted and even a few things they hadn’t counted on was beginning.

   Martin Copenhaver puts it this way: from the moment the Spirit perched on Jesus' shoulder, the age of hope had already begun to make room for the age of fulfillment. Already the past was stepping aside so that the promised future could be ushered in.

   New life for you and me - a life of purpose – it’s right around the corner. Peace in our lives, in our world, it’s there in the distance but getting closer. The joy we’ve been searching for. Here it comes.

   Justice for all people, for all nations. We’re about to get started. Love and forgiveness, grace and mercy, like you’ve never known – it’s all here. A new era is beginning. The kingdom of God is approaching. It is time.

   For Mark, for us, Jesus baptism is big, it is huge, it is monumental! It is life changing and earth shattering.

   And the funny thing is, at the moment it happens, there in the river Jordan, no one seems to notice.

   There’s no record of the crowds being awed, of people breaking out in applause as we do here when someone here is baptized, no one whistling their approval, no attaboys, no record of anyone saying or doing anything. Only John the Baptist has a clue, because he’s a prophet and he predicted this would happen. For all we know after Jesus was baptized every one went on their merry way, Jesus to help usher in this new age, and the crowds back to their homes.

   Which is kind of funny. Because you’d think that if there was a miracle going on, if God was doing something this big, this ginormous, as a friend of mine would say, that God would want people around to see it, would take notice, would at least make a passing comment on the way home - like, did you see something happen when that one guy got baptized? I thought I saw a bird or something come out of the sky. You didn’t? Well, then I didn’t either, forget I said anything. But that didn’t happen. Only God and Jesus and John the Baptist knew what was happening. The crowds didn’t notice.

   Now I read two things into this: because that’s what I do, I read into things – it’s kind of a hobby of mine. Why just the other night, I whipped up a special dinner of everything leftover in the fridge - a kind of shepherds pie if you will, and when my husband walked into the kitchen and looked at what I was cooking and said: is that the meat loaf from Tuesday? And is that the stuffing from Christmas? I read into his comments that he wouldn’t be eating my special Shepherd’s Pie that evening, in fact, if we wanted to avoid food poisoning, no one else would be either, like I said, I’m very good at reading into things.

So the first thing I read into this passage is this:

   Perhaps the crowds were oblivious, they weren’t paying attention, they were so focused on their own business, on what they were doing, being cleansed of their sins, that they didn’t see what was happening right in front of them. The dove descending, God speaking, they just didn’t see it, didn't hear it. But I don’t believe that completely. I think if God wanted them to see and hear this extraordinary event, they would have.

Which brings me to the second thing:

   Maybe we don’t have to know everything that God is doing, or be aware of every miracle that is going on, maybe there are times we just have to let things unfold around us and watch, maybe God wants to surprise us now and then.

   Take Christmas Eve - the 5:30 service, which I absolutely love. I had worked hard to come up with a little message - 3 minutes tops to capture the kids attention - maybe even give them something to think about - I had gotten Frankie Cone and Ali Roschewski to act out the story and had enlisted about 15 other kids, four years and up to be angels and shepherds and kings and of course Mary and Joseph. I had it all figured out, we had a time table, a schedule, places roped off, all the actors were supposed to arrive at church at 4:30 where we would assemble and do one more run through.

   Had it all planned out, thought out, was busy getting things set up here when at 4:30 - and some of you heard about this - Kevin LeConte, who was setting up luminaries came inside and said there’s a woman who wants to see the minister.

   I looked at my watch and said, I don’t know what to do. I have 15 angels and shepherds and kings arriving in ten minutes. I don’t know what to tell you. And he said, she’s looking for a place to stay? and all I imagined myself going out there and saying to the woman, I’m sorry, I don’t have time to take you to the motel - I have to put on a play about the baby Jesus and how there was no room for him at the inn?. So I went outside and she told me who she was and a little bit of her story and how she was looking for a place to stay. I told her about our emergency services program - which would be able to put her up for a night or two at the Econo Lodge in town - and she was very grateful. And as we were talking, people were starting to arrive for the service, so I ran to the office and on my way there I said to God, O.k., this is a little stressful, I need your help here so this will turn out o.k.

   I called the Econo Lodge and told them what was going on - we have a deal worked out with them - they take the people in who are passing by which is very, very kind of them, and then I got my car, drove over to the front of the church where the woman was waiting and off we went to the hotel. And after she got situated I drove back here, by now I was really stressed, I walked in and the church was almost full - down front the angels were getting their wings and halos arranged, there was no time to rehearse, we were just going to have to go with it.

   At 5:30 the church was completely packed, people were standing on the sides in the back, the noise level had reached the point where we truly could not hear each other - which meant it was time to begin.

   We each read scripture, Rich prayed, then it was time for the message, time for the story - and with only one rehearsal under our belt, we began. And Frankie and Ali were amazing, and the angels and shepherds and Mary and Joseph were precious. The whole thing brought tears to my eyes, it always does, and it was short, which is always a nice touch.

   And at the end of the service one of the deacons came up to me and said she was going to the hotel where the woman was staying and was going to bring her food. And I knew she’d be taken care of, which she was. And though I was doubtful at first, it all worked out - the service, the story, the woman who found room at the inn.

   So maybe we don’t have to know everything that God is doing, sometimes we just have to let God be God, to trust a little and watch things as they unfold . God loves to surprise us.

   And that brings me to the third thing I read into this passage - did I say there were two? I meant three. The third thing is this: and perhaps this is the most important.

   When it looks like God is not around, when it looks like nothing is happening, and we’d bet our last nickel that we are on our own and going to hell in a hand basket, we’d be wrong. Even when we’re sure nothing is happening, absolutely positive nothing is going on, ...it is. God is.

   Jesus' baptism is the perfect example. While the crowds went about their business, God was quietly and purposefully at work. No one knew what it was, knew that God was anointing Jesus, claiming him as his own, getting him started in his ministry, ushering in a new age. And yet, there it was.

   And maybe that’s the secret - to know that most of what God does isn’t done with a lot of fan fare and fireworks. Most of it is done, quietly, gently and purposefully - whether we know it or not.

   I think back to a small church I used to visit when we lived in Virginia - it was a Methodist church - one of four that the pastor would visit and lead worship with on a Sunday morning. It was on top of a mountain and there weren’t but 12 members. When it was time to sing, someone would go over to the piano, play a note and we would all start singing. The church had no programs - no Sunday School - no church fairs - just the occasional supper after church - there was no organized outreach to the community - they just took care of each other and whoever else was in need. And they worshipped - they gathered every Sunday all twelve of them - and worshipped God.

   Now some might look at that church and think it was dying, there were no new members coming in, they hardly any money. Some might look at that church and others like it - and there are hundreds like it - many here in Maine - and think God isn’t doing anything. But the people there knew otherwise. That new age that Jesus ushered in - where peace and hope and joy and love abounds - they were a part of it - it was happening in their church and it was happening to them.. Even when it looked to the world and occasionally felt like to them that nothing was happening, deep down they knew it was.

   Because that’s how God is, that’s how God works.
This is important to remember because sometimes with everything going on - continuing war in Iraq, violence in other places, tragedies like Katrina, the recent tragedy in the coalmines of West Virginia, sometimes we forget or get overwhelmed or get depressed and think we’re all alone and God has left us - which of course is not true.

   Sometimes we just need to be reminded and we need to remind each other to trust - to hang in there - during those times when it seems like nothing is happening - that God is quietly, gently, working his purposes out.

   Even when you think nothing is happening...it is.

   When Jesus waded into the water that day and was baptized, when the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, when God said, You are my Son, my beloved, with you I am well pleased, it was the beginning of a new age.

   It is time, God said, for my peace and justice to be known, for my hope and joy to be experienced, it is time for grace and mercy and forgiveness and new life to be poured down upon all, it is time to let go of the past and embrace the future.

   It is still time for all these things. God is not finished.

   As this New Year unfolds, may we be so blessed to see God all around us and be a part of the things God is doing, but if for some reason we’re not, and can’t see it, and we’re not sure what’s happening, if anything at all, may we trust that God is with us and at work.

   Amen.