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The one word which comes to mind when I think of this time in history is: patience. That we have to wait some more for things to change and get better. But the word which weaves its way through the readings today is trust.

This Gospel passage is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with the disciples fishing and Jesus saying to them that he will make them fish for people. It is bad enough that we are compared to sheep in other passages and this one that we would fish for others or be like fish ourselves. But what does Jesus mean by this?

A prophet not without honour except in his own hometown. Richard Rohr has said that the definition of an expert is someone who has come from at least 300 miles away.

Jesus today reads from the prophet Isaiah, and that he is the one that the Spirit of the Lord is upon, and he is anointed to bring good news to the poor, release of the captives, sight to the blind and to free the oppressed.

Signs….signs….everywhere are signs….road signs, stop signs, yield signs, caution signs, business signs, storefront sandwich board signs, and, my favourite ones, church signs. Many are funny, some quirky, but they all convey a message.

There are two parts to the Gospel today and thus two parts to the sermon. In the first part John the Baptist says: “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

The traditional view of Epiphany is that it comes not only to the people of Israel, but to all in the world. And that makes sense for us today as well, but…. It struck me ask interesting that the Magi, and here called the wise men are the ones who come to find the Christ Child. Does this mean one has to be one of the wise men to do this? I don’t believe so.

Would anyone be here in church on Boxing Day if this wasn’t a Sunday? Yet this is the passage from the Gospel of Luke for today. That a young Jesus says: Why were you looking for me? Did you not know I must be in my father’s house?

I was thinking I could see Hollywood turning one of Jesus’ most popular parables into a tv Christmas movie of the week. The parable of the prodigal son, or as some choose to call it, the parable of the forgiving father.