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January 26, 2026 Epiphanytide Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul the Apostle “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
January 23, 1976 was a very good Friday in my life. Fifty years ago last Friday to the very day of the week, I sat in the office of Malone College (now University) baseball Coach Robert Starcher at a pivotal moment in my young life. “Coach” listened, counseled, and prayed with me as I poured out my fears, emotional pain, uncertainties, and deep spiritual distress. By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit helped me to pray, “Jesus, be my Lord”. That very day I experienced the truths expressed in Romans 5:1-9 (a Scripture portion “Coach” encouraged me to read) as one who had been “...weak…a sinner…an enemy…” and now was “justified by faith…and given peace with God.”
For two decades I had been raised in the Church and taught from the Scriptures. I had believed that Jesus gave his life for the world but had no sense of assurance that his love and grace extended to me personally. That day, I realized that I, like the Lost Son in Luke 15, was welcomed safely home by my Father. As John Wesley said, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
For the past fifty years from that marked and assured moment in my life, Jesus has kept me in the way of abundant and eternal life. He truly and faithfully has “forgiven all my iniquity and healed all my diseases”. (Psalm 103:1-5)
One of the first verses of the Old Testament that I memorized as a new disciple was Malachi 1:11. Two years later, I was on a short term mission to Latin America. Seven years later, I was beginning a decade of foreign missions in the Far East. Only recently have I realized that I was an “Epiphany Babe in Christ” and his enabling favor led me all the way. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I pray for you that we may never cease to marvel at his saving love and mercy, and that, by his enabling favor, we may “run this race with endurance” to the very end.
As we journey through these final three weeks of Epiphany culminating in World Mission Sunday (February 8th) and the Transfiguration (February 15th), we will celebrate the light of Christ shining in the darkness to the ends of the earth. May Christ renew our sense of holy wonder and earnest gratitude that he has redeemed us. May he rekindle in our hearts a burden for the lost and a joy of being faithful witnesses to his saving love to our near neighbors and to the nations. And by his grace, may he empower our lives to “make his name great among the nations.”
Please pray with me:
Almighty God, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Your servant for Jesus’ sake, +MarkBishop Mark
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