God Reveals His Plan Of Salvation In Jesus (Epiphany 2 Year A)

I had a humbling epiphany moment early Sunday as I was hurriedly typing the Preface for Epiphany into the laptop I use in celebrating the Eucharist - the Readings for the season of Epiphany reveal who Jesus is and God’s plan of salvation. I added a phrase in the car, revised it in my head and as I taught: 

• ·     We are living in a culture that is unhappy, confused, lost and seeking meaning and new life. 
• ·     Readings describe three Epiphany moments when Gods plan of salvation was revealed
• ·     Isaiah prophecies’ in Babylon that God will raise up a servant who will give Israel new life 
• ·     John realizes that Jesus is the “lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world” and give us new life. (1.29) 
• ·     Paul describes the new life of  “grace given to you in Jesus Christ”. (1 Cor. 1.4) 

1. Isaiah learned how God would gave the Israelites new life 

Right Way Forward For Conservatives (political comment by Fr. John Gishler)

What conservatives should have learned from seizing defeat from the jaws of electoral victory in the 2019 election is that they had the wrong leader chosen through a defective selection process defending the wrong platform with the wrong marketing strategy. It was not just the leader’s fault so just putting a new face in place quickly is not the right way forward. The National Council has appointed a committee to oversee the selection process so let us hope they get it right this time. The basic flaw was too many candidates for proper scrutiny and a lack of clear criteria by which to judge candidates. Let me propose the following candidate ability and experience criteria, based on a wide review of media comment. In addition to already being a fluently bilingual established leader, candidates must have ability and experience in:

• ·      Defining and defending modern conservatism
• ·      Defining and defending a modern conservative social platform
• ·      Defining and defending a modern conservative fiscal platform

1. Defining and Defending Modern Conservatism