Seasonal

Preparing for the Time after Epiphany (Year B)

The following seasonal introduction was first published in Sundays and Seasons 2024, Year B, copyright © 2023 Augsburg Fortress.

Preaching

Year B gives us the Gospel of Mark as our primary text. In the time after Epiphany, we see the usual bookends of Jesus’ baptism on one end and the transfiguration on the other. These two events mirror each other, the voice of God declaring that this Jesus is God’s beloved son. In the Gospel of Mark, this voice speaks to Jesus in secret at his baptism, with only Jesus (and the reader) hearing the voice from heaven. At the transfiguration, the voice speaks only to Peter, James, and John, after which Jesus instructs them to tell no one until after he has risen from the dead. The “messianic secret” is a primary theme in Mark’s gospel, a theme confusing to many readers and worshipers who wonder why Jesus would prevent demons and disciples alike from speaking such a world-altering truth. Is Jesus’ identity as the Son of God not central to the gospel message?

One way of looking at the messianic secret in Mark is through the lens of the LGBTQIA community’s metaphor of being “in the closet.” The Gospel of Mark is about God in the closet, about coming to terms with the real-world consequences of both knowing the truth about yourself and speaking the truth about yourself. For many LGBTQIA persons the world over, even in 2024, speaking this truth about yourself can get you killed. This is why Jesus resorts to the same tactics used by the LGBTQIA community to create a chosen family (Epiphany 2, calling Nathanael and Philip; Epiphany 3, calling Andrew, Simon, James, and John), to create safe places for authentic self-expression (Epiphany 4, coming to stay in the home of another family; Transfiguration, taking three disciples “up a high mountain apart, by themselves”), to build trust before sharing truth (only Peter [who has already guessed the truth], James, and John experience the transfiguration), and to choose the time and place of his “coming out” (preventing demons and the disciples from speaking the truth until it has been revealed in the resurrection). The church has done a terrible job of recognizing and proclaiming the belovedness of the LGBTQIA community. Centering their experience as a facet of the divine life and love of God is an opportunity for redemption and reparation.

A primary theme throughout this season is calling. God calls Samuel, Jonah, and a prophet to follow Moses. Jesus calls Nathanael, Philip, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Peter’s mother-in-law (in the Greek, it seems Peter’s mother-in-law gets up and performs a service like that of a deacon rather than that of a waitress). Beginning with remembering our own baptism as we commemorate Jesus’ baptism, we are promised that God is calling us too. In the passages from 1 Corinthians, we hear Paul’s exhortations to early believers to think of their bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, to set aside personal concerns in favor of the concerns of others, to exercise their freedoms with humility and in deference to weaker siblings, and to practice a radical empathy that forgoes individual “rights” in favor of solidarity with the plight of others. These exhortations can be taken as our baptismal calling to join the likes of the prophets and apostles in revealing God’s love to the world.

The appointed readings for a given Sunday can certainly be exegeted and preached episodically. But given the brevity of this time between Epiphany and Lent, and a unifying theme throughout, it may be helpful to take the time to outline your preaching for the whole season. Possible themes include discipleship, baptismal vocation, and hearing and heeding God’s call. You could highlight the messianic secret/closeted God theme and focus on the passages from 1 Corinthians to speak about the incarnation as both the revelation of God’s empathy for and solidarity with the human condition and our baptismal calling to practice such empathy and solidarity with our neighbors as the nature of discipleship. Ultimately, preaching in the time after Epiphany is about expounding upon the revelation of God in the person of Jesus and, through baptism, in our person too.

Assembly Song

The time after Epiphany begins and ends with the divine voice claiming and affirming Jesus as “Beloved.” At his baptism the skies part, the voice calls, and all of creation is welcomed into the wonder of God among us. At the transfiguration the drama increases on the mountaintop, and God’s voice speaks truth and offers identity to this Son, the Beloved. Through this time from the Baptism of Our Lord until the Transfiguration of Our Lord, we too are invited into a worship life marked with great drama, spiritual movement, and holy affirmation. The lectionary texts draw each member of the assembly into questions about our own identity as children of God. Even as we remember that in baptism we are “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever” (ELW, p. 231), Jesus’ own active ministry described in the first chapter of Mark and the instructions in 1 Corinthians that populate most of the second readings during this time both challenge us to reflect deeply on how our baptismal identity is truly lived out.

Music selection for this striking season can aim to echo the invitational verbs present throughout the gospel readings: repent, believe, follow, come, see. This can be achieved not only through hymn texts but also through musical leadership that intentionally encourages participation. Worship leaders can focus on invitation through embodied leadership of assembly song. Embodied leadership both in-person and through a livestream can help to empower the assembly’s singing through modeling, turn-taking, and supported risk-taking. One approach is leading music as call-and-response. Good options for call-and-response singing are “Come, let us eat” (ELW 491), which can be used as a communion song, and “Listen now for the gospel” (ACS 972), which works well as a gospel acclamation. “All who are thirsty” (ACS 981) can serve as an invitational call to worship that brings cantor and worshipers into relational singing. It also gathers worshipers to the font to remember their baptismal identity, a good pairing with the liturgical season.

This season’s dramatic scenes dare musicians to accompany the gathered assembly with music inspiring movement: the Spirit dances on the waters of creation, it rushes through the baptism of Jesus, and it calls each disciple to a life of healing and proclamation. Sung on Baptism of Our Lord, “Jesus, the Light of the World” (ACS 914) recalls the Christmas season while setting Charles Wesley’s hopeful text in a 6/8 feel that invites movement in breath and body. Melodic and textual drama is present in “Come, beloved of the Maker” (ELW 306), a text by the late Susan Palo Cherwien and set by her partner, David Cherwien. This hymn can truly carry the church throughout the entire season with the beckoning verbs in both the first and third stanzas and the revelation of Jesus as “Morningstar” and “bright image of the Maker.” The dramatic, rising, and modulating melody encourages the singer to be bold and brave in voice.

In response to prophetic calls to leave behind the destructive binary of good/light vs. dark/evil, it is good to sing texts that interpret these Sundays after Epiphany as a time of discipleship marked by Christ’s revelatory presence among us. All Creation Sings offers a section of hymnody in the topical index that aids the church in acknowledging God’s creative power most often found in darkness (ACS, p. 276). Susan Palo Cherwien’s text “Christ is the life” (ACS 927), while placed in the supplement’s Lent section, is also a fine choice for the time after Epiphany. It reveals who Christ is and the varied ways in which Christ’s power is enacted on the earth: “Christ is the death of all that is; a broad and beckoning tomb, who welcomes us from well-worn ways to darkness of the womb.” “O God, you search me” (ACS 1082) is another piece that honors the presence of God in both darkness and light and is a fine setting of Psalm 139, appointed for the second Sunday after Epiphany.

Worship Space

The texts during the time after Epiphany, which include Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration, the descending dove-Spirit at Jesus’ baptism, and the call of the disciples at the water’s edge (Epiphany 3), evoke images of water, movement, and change. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday (January 15) is observed during this time after Epiphany, used water imagery from Amos 5:24 in his passionate speeches calling for justice. On the Baptism of Our Lord (January 7), Psalm 29 proclaims, “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters” (v. 3) and “The Lord sits enthroned above the flood” (v. 10). How might this vital, earthy element of beauty and transformation be celebrated in your worship space during this season?

Watery images in various forms can live in your worship space for all six weeks of this season. Sheer fabrics or ribbons in various widths and shades of light blue could be layered around the base of your baptismal font or hung from the ceiling above it. If your font has a mechanism that allows the water to circulate, let the water flow for these Sundays. If your congregation uses projected images, find video or photographs of running streams or rivers to display (try using the search term “forest stream relaxing river”).

Although baptism is easily understood to involve water, transfiguration might also be represented by this element, which can take the form of liquid, solid, or vapor. Another way to bring the water that recalls baptism and transfiguration into the worship space is to install a temporary fountain (tabletop-size or larger), which could be rented from a party supply business. Or more simply, place sturdy, transparent glass or (safer) plastic bowls of water around your worship space (but be sure they cannot be accidentally tipped over or knocked off their supports). Refresh the water regularly. Children could be invited during the worship service to use cups to scoop water from one bowl to the next, representing the way water moves from one place to another. This would need to be set up in such a way that any spilled water would not create a slipping hazard.

The sound of water circulating in the font or being poured from bowl to bowl could accompany readings that similarly suggest or name movement: the movement of the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism (Baptism of Our Lord); the movement that occurs when followers answer the call to discipleship (Epiphany 2 and 3); and the movement/transfiguration that transforms not only Jesus but also us as beloved children of the same Creator (Transfiguration).

If your space allows, you might consider representing visually the world-turning nature of this Jesus—operating in unexpected and never-before-seen ways—by hanging a very long banner from the ceiling of your worship space that hovers over the center aisle (if you have one) or over the center of the assembly, approximately parallel to the floor. The banner could be blue (the color of still water) on one side and perhaps white (the color of rushing water) on the other, constructed from two long pieces of fabric. The banner could even be twisted to show both colors. How might this idea of water represented over our heads invite contemplation of the ubiquity of God’s presence and the surprising ways in which Jesus showed up in the world?

Seasonal Checklist

  • If Baptism of Our Lord (January 7) will be observed as a baptismal festival, publicize the festival and arrange for baptismal preparation with parents, sponsors, and candidates.
  • Order a sufficient annual quantity of Come to the Water, Little One: My Holy Baptism Board Book and Welcome, Child of God (both board books for infants and toddlers) and Living the Promises of Baptism: 101 Ideas for Parents (all Augsburg Fortress), and present them as baptismal gifts from the congregation to children and caregivers.
  • If a form of baptismal remembrance is used, evergreen branches for sprinkling may be desired.
  • On the festivals of Baptism of Our Lord and Transfiguration, consider using thanksgiving for baptism instead of confession and forgiveness during the gathering rite.
  • Increasingly, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed as a day of service in many locales. Plan to participate as a church in local observances or to organize your own.
  • If you are hosting a catechumenal process and have a group of inquirers, use Welcome to Baptism (ELW, pp. 232–233) prior to the beginning of Lent.
  • If the alleluia will be symbolically buried or bid farewell on the festival of the Transfiguration, make appropriate arrangements.

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From sundaysandseasons.com.

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