“The Epiphany of Hope”

Text: Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon:

This is the week of Epiphany. Epiphany is about celebrating the light that is Jesus the
Christ. But it is also a celebration of the community that gathers to see and follow that
light.

In fact, our first Sunday of the new year is all about paying attention. Being aware of
what is under your nose seems like a "duh" kind of message, and yet it is an appropriate
one for the beginning of a new year.

While it is easy for us to seek the light of Christ in our own personal lives, but it is just as
important that we celebrate in community. We need to be reminded that this is a walk we
take together. Making disciples is about making relationships, working on relationships,
broadening relationships, relying on relationships, and deepening relationships.

I believe that an aspect of the hope that we encounter through the light of Christ is shared
through our community; through our friendships and through the bonds that we create.

This is an opportunity to begin to see the implication of the Christ presence among us.
The Christ child, who grew “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor,”
says Luke’s Gospel (Lk. 2:52), becomes the light by which we walk each day and the
way we find one another. We gather to the light; as a result, we grow closer to one
another.

We all need light in our darkness. We all need hope in the times that we feel hopeless. We
have all been through circumstances where we feel lost or hopeless. I pray this is the
week where we are reminded of the hope that we find in faith. I pray this is the time
where we encounter the light of Christ and the our loving community will be at our sides
during these darker times.

Its good news is time-bound and timeless and timely. For every time and every place and
every person, the good news is that “the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over
you.” And that brings light into our thick darkness.

There is hope for a dark world because the Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has
risen upon the world. He is the one who will bring the wandering captives home and the
benighted Gentiles to the true God.

In this new year we will experience new opportunities to build our faith. We will find
new opportunities to heal broken relationships. We will find new opportunities for
growth.

The hope that we find will be life-changing, which allows us to share that hope through
loving words, acts of love and care and compassion. In our hope we can help others
experience the same hope through our care for our friends and family.

Conclusion: Let us be people who seeks hope and offers hope.