Homily / Sermon for the Baptism of the Lord

Someone is coming who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals (Luke 3:16)

Taking down the decorations is always something of an anti-climax, isn?t it? Although people will say they should come down on 12th Night - no one seems to know whether that means the 5th or 6th of January, and now that we keep the feast of the Epiphany on the first Sunday in the new year that doesn?t seem very relevant anyway. Most people seem to want to take their decorations down even before new year - and probably, let?s be practical, before they go back to work.
And it?s a Job. A necessary and important Job. But a Job nonetheless. A task to be performed, but done just because it has to be done. No Joy and anticipation here.
After all - it?s all over now. That?s the end of this joyful time. Now we return to work. We are not ?laughing through the snow? now - but rather trudging through it - ?In the bleak midwinter?.
But there could not be a greater contrast in our moods with today?s Gospel and the celebration today. Perhaps it is too convenient for us to think that once the child is born and safe in his Mother?s arms that it is all over. But now - it is just begun!
Christmas and Epiphany is not an ending, but a beginning: ?one is coming who is greater than I am? John the Baptist says. Soon we remember his first miracles, the call of his disciples, the beginning of his preaching. We see what was present and worshipped in the crib unfold into a life lived for all of us - its teaching, its mystery, its sacrifice.
And there is one of the decorations which can stay with us a little longer, because it is no decoration, but a holy icon. The crib will stay for a few weeks. In the old English tradition, the crib would stay right until Candelmass, 2nd February, and no bad thing - after all the Kings have only just arrived - why should we pack them away so soon.
The crib, if you like, is the acorn of the faith - or perhaps a more biblical image is to call it the mustard seed. From something tiny and almost secret a great tree will emerge. Someone, something very great is about to emerge, the story has just begun ...