When people give for the work of the kingdom of God, they often think in grand terms. And yet, the greatest mission that the Church of the Redeemer has is what happens on a day-to-day basis at Palm and Ringling. That is our mission and if it weren’t for what goes on here every day, we wouldn’t be able to have mission work in Africa, in China, and the Dominican Republic. We wouldn’t be giving to Resurrection House or to Caritas. When a dollar is given to Redeemer and it is used for something like paying a utility bill to keep on the lights — that’s essential stewardship, and it’s what enables Redeemer to accomplish vital mission work in our own community and all over the world. Take Your Place in Stewardship today.

Celebrated baritone singer Jason Stearns will bring the talent and the magic of the Metropolitan Opera to Sarasota at the Church of the Redeemer on Sunday, February 12 at 5 p.m. The concert will feature Stearns performing many of the same arias he has previously performed at the Met and around the world.

Stearns has recently been selected by Maestro Zubin Mehta, one of the world’s most renowned conductors, to play the primary baritone role (Alverich) in an upcoming production of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung.

In a Baltimore Sun newspaper performance review, acclaimed soprano Evelyn Lear remarked, “Jason has it all, the superb voice, expressive feeling, versatility and charm beyond any other baritone singing today. No one can touch him.”

Some of the works and roles Stearns has performed with the Met include Barnaba in La Gioconda; Scarpia in Tosca; the title role in Der fliegende Holländer and Stankar in Stiffelio. He has also appeared as Monterone in Rigoletto and covered Donner in Das Rheingold, both at the Met.

“Sarasota music lovers are in for a rare treat when they come to hear Jason,” said Ann Stephenson-Moe, Redeemer’s Choirmaster. “He’ll bring the talent and the magic of the Metropolitan Opera to Sarasota.”

Ticket prices are $25 adults; student tickets $15. Click on the PayPal button below to purchase, or visit or call the Parish Office 941.955.4263. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the day of the event, subject to availability.

Ticket Type

Adult $25.00 USD Student $15.00 USD

The Presbyterians decided the problem was predestined and that they shouldn’t interfere with the squirrels, so of course the problem didn’t getter any better for them. The Methodists decided the squirrels were a part of nature and should be returned to the woods. But the squirrels came back.

The Episcopalians had the most creative solution. They said, “Let’s baptize them. That way we’ll only have to deal with them on Christmas and Easter!”

That’s kind of a cynical view of what happens at baptism, don’t you think? Our hope, of course, is that those who are baptized today will be fully immersed in their life in Christ, which begins today with their baptism.

Baptism is important in the life of a Christian. In fact, it’s what makes a Christian a Christian. Before you’re baptized, you’re not a Christian; after you’re baptized, you’re a Christian. Francis Hall, in The Church and the Sacramental System, in speaking of baptismal regeneration, says this: “Regeneration has often been confused with conversion. Conversion is a change of disposition and aim, and is moral; whereas regeneration is a change in level of being and capacity by the involution of a supernatural vital principle, flowing from the Body of Christ. Described by physical analogies it is a biological change. For this reason, it can be, and frequently is, accomplished once for all by the Spirit in unconscious infants, before they are able to make any moral response…It means that they come to the task of working out their salvation as having the vital capacity and status as members of Christ’s Body and children of God by adoption and grace.”

In the midst of pretty technical language, did you hear what he said? Baptism is a biological change. Through baptism we are grafted onto the Body of Christ, made children of God by adoption and grace. That change in being takes place through baptism by water and the Spirit.

In the first reading from Genesis we heard how God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was covered with water and the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the water. Later on, the other parts of creation were able to take place once the water was moved so that dry land could appear. Thus, water in the very beginning was a symbol of chaos. Still later on, when God decided to destroy his creation, he used water. The flood was a return to the uncreated chaos.

Obviously, we need water to live. It’s basic to life. Yet it has a tremendous power to destroy as well. When John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah, he did so with baptism by water for repentance of sins. This time, water was used to destroy the effects of sin. The destruction is a good destruction. That is part of what happens to us in our baptism into thje Body of Christ. We are given the forgiveness of sins. Water thus becomes a powerful tool for good. There’s a sermon in that somewhere, too. God can use even those forces that have the power to destroy for good.

In the second reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard that when those who had been baptized by John were baptized later on by Paul in the name of the Lord Jesus, they received the Holy Spirit. That is another aspect of what happens to all who are baptized. We receive the Holy Spirit, God present with us through his Spirit, to give us strength, and to guide us into all truth.

Finally, in the Gospel, we see Jesus presenting himself to John for baptism for the repentance of sins. The question many have asked ever since is, “If Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be baptized?” Jesus’ baptism is a sign that his ministry is to and for all humankind. He came to this earth to take the sin of all people upon himself, ultimately to die as a sacrifice for that sin. Jesus’ baptism is a foreshadowing of his death on a cross. His going down into the water symbolizes his death and burial, and his coming up out of the water symbolizes his resurrection from the dead. St. Paul tells us that we are likewise baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Our baptism symbolizes our death to sin and our rising to new life in Christ.

Yes, we are made Christian through our baptism, but our life continues to be a process of conversion into the people God created us to be. That means a daily dying to self that Christ may live in us. While I am a Christian, I still have far to go in that process of conversion into a person who is totally Christ-centered. That is the goal for each of us as Christians—to be totally Christ-centered. That’s why I continue to receive the Sacrament as often as possible. That’s why I continue to pray daily and to read the Holy Scriptures. That’s why I give of my time, talent, and treasure for the spread of the Kingdom of God. And yet, as that conversion takes place, it is not me, but the Spirit of God working in me, enabling that conversion to take place. And so, whatever little progress I make toward that goal, I cannot take credit for it, for it is God himself, through his grace, working through me.

For those who are to be baptized, we pray that they won’t be like those pesky squirrels baptized in the Episcopal Church so they’ll only come to church on Christmas and Easter (Of course, we know squirrels can’t be baptized anyway!). We pray that this will truly be the beginning of a life of conversion into the holy people of God.

The horse is literally airborne – charging ahead at full speed, legs outstretched. The general has his sword out pointing skyward toward the enemy, but he is looking back over his left shoulder at a soldier who seems to be a bit confused as to just what direction he will be moving; ahead or to the rear!

This painting commemorates the events of the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19 1864, when the Union army in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was surprised by a sudden, unexpected and violent morning attack by a Confederate army under the command of General Jubal Early.

The Union forces were caught for the most part surprised and unprepared; defenses were overrun and soldiers began running for the rear. It seemed that this army would again suffer defeat at the hands of the confederates. But…..

About 12 miles away, the short, feisty Union general Phil Sheridan was near Winchester, returning from a meeting in Washington, DC. Upon hearing the sounds of battle he began giving orders leapt upon his horse and galloped to the sound of the guns.

Arriving suddenly on the battlefield he roused his routed and defeated army, turned them around and attacked. His powerful and sudden presence on the battlefield completely changed the situation, and he led his troop to not only win the battle but so defeated Early’s army that they were never again an effective fighting force.

Sheridan’s sudden, unexpected, almost magical appearance on the field immediately changed the situation, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

This captures the meaning of the word Epiphany: The sudden unexpected appearance of someone or something that completely changes the situation.

This is why we celebrate a feast known as Epiphany because Jesus appeared suddenly and unexpectedly in a realm of spiritual warfare and he changed everything ensuring victory to all who would follow him.

At different times and in different places in the Christian church this feast focused on different elements or evidences of Christ’s Epiphany. There has been an emphasis on Jesus’ birth, his baptism, his transfiguration,

but ultimately it has come to rest on the revelation to the Gentiles as the culmination – or better – the beginning of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that all nations and all people will come to know the God that revealed himself through his work, in and through the Jewish people, to the entire world.

Isaiah proclaims: “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Words which intimate that Israel will be the locus of a revelation, a light, which will dispel the thick darkness of sin and oppression and to this light nations and kings from outside Israel will come.

Paul’s talks about the mystery of Christ; that which has not been revealed in the past has now been revealed by the spirit, that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gentiles – non Jews – have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers in the promise.

The light has indeed come, the Messiah has been born, the word had become flesh and dwelt among us. The

Epiphany of the lord has been realized. But how do we respond?

Like the soldier depicted in the painting, trying to decide -does he continue to run or does he turn around and follow his general – how will we respond to the sudden appearance of Jesus in our midst? Do we follow our base instincts and run our own way? Or, do we turn and follow him?

The Gospel illustrates this very choice: Two very different responses to the birth, the Epiphany of the Son of God.

First there is Herod’s response. Herod was troubled. All Jerusalem was troubled. We later discover that when Herod finally discovered where this king of the Jews was born, he sent out soldiers to kill this child, and since they didn’t know exactly who he was they killed all the male babies two years old and under.

Herod wanted no part of this Epiphany, he was king of the Jews; more significantly he was king of himself, and he would have no rivals to his thrones so he would attempt to eradicate this claimant to what he claimed as his.

On the other hand there are the three Magi. Three men from another culture and another land: Gentiles. As students of the stars they followed a stellar sign that indicated to them a unique birth, the birth of the king of the Jews.

They sought after the truth of this revelation. They followed this star for a good bit of time over a good bit of distance until it led them to a fenced-in cave in which a baby lay in a manger and they worshipped him, presenting him with their treasures: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts whose meaning were certainly more significant than their value: Gold, that which is most worthy of a king; frankincense, an incense used in the temple to worship God, worthy of God, worthy of a priest, and myrrh, a fragrance used to embalm; a gift worthy of a sacrifice. In their simple act of worship these three gentiles reveal the very nature and mission of this newborn king, this Epiphany, king, priest, and sacrifice.

The Epiphany has happened. There are two ways to respond to that reality.

We are here today in the lineage of those three wise men, gentiles who have responded to the Epiphany of

the Son of God, the king of the Jews, by turning to follow him by coming before him to offer him our treasures not as a one-time event, but by hopefully living a life of continual worship and acknowledgment of he who is our king, our priest, and the sacrifice gaining our forgiveness and life.

But let us also remember the others, those who choose to run or, like the soldier in the painting, are undecided. May we remember to pray for them to pray for their turning around for their coming to worship the King.

May we pray that our lives, lived in the reality of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ in us, with the brightness of his light shining in us, may be like that star that led the Magi, leading others to turn around, to follow their general, to come to Bethlehem, to know the glory of the Lord.