In the name of the God of all Creation, The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus, And the power of God known in the Spirit. Amen.

In our Gospel reading this morning we hear the witness of John the Baptist as he observed Jesus on the day after his baptism., “Behold, here is the Lamb of God,” John proclaims. John the Baptist points beyond himself to Jesus and tells his disciples that this is the one he has been talking about: the one who will take away sin; the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist does such a convincing job that the next day, when they see Jesus again, two of John’s disciples, including Andrew, leave John’s entourage to follow Jesus. But when Jesus notices them following him he turns and asks, “What are you looking for?”

In the name of the God of all Creation, The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus, And the power of God known in the Spirit. Amen.

I don’t know how many of you caught the news report about the 5 teenagers injured in an overturned SUV on Wildwood Drive earlier this week. It turns out that they, along with another young man only 14, had been burglarizing cars in a nearby neighborhood. When a sheriff’s car appeared they fled and then tried to make a u-turn and turned the vehicle over. All five teens were taken to the hospital but none of them were seriously injured.

One of the TV news crews assigned to the story interviewed a man whose car had been broken into. What he had to say was interesting: “I hope this is a wakeup call for those kids. I did some crazy things in my youth but I turned around and I think I’m doing pretty good today. If I can do it then I hope they can do it.” It was interesting to hear someone with some hope, compassion, and a belief in redemption.

In the name of the God of all creation, The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus, And the power of God known in the Spirit. Amen.

The Eve of the Feast of Epiphany. Today we measure time with atomic clocks. Using the vibrations of the electrons of an atom of cesium-133 scientists tells us that we have a clock so accurate that it is off by only one second every 22 million years. I really don’t know why they didn’t say 50 million years, or 100 million years ... do you really think there will be anyone around then to check on it?