“Another Epiphany”
Preached Sunday, January 9, 2022
We've moved into a new season of the church year, The Season After Epiphany - or the season of Epiphany. Epiphany, which takes place after the 12 Days of Christmas on January 6th - and this year we moved it up to celebrate together on the 2nd - well, Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season. Pretty obvious when you walked into the sanctuary this morning and maybe did a double take - everything suddenly seems so bare without the Advent wreath and candles and garlands and Christmas tree... And it is time to take them down, to make room for a new season, the Season of Epiphany.
In Greek Epiphany means "the light shines forth" or, put more simply, "the light shines." This language may make us think of Christmas. "A light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it." We think of Christ being the light of the world, born on Christmas Day. We may also think of the star that the magi saw at its rising and followed to the place where Jesus was. As we sing every Epiphany: “O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light."
This, of course, is the Scripture we read, the story we remember and celebrate on the day of epiphany, on January 6th or its corresponding Sunday. And this is now - the season AFTER epiphany. I think an apt name for it would be “The Season of Epiphanies.” Plural.
We shared the Greek translation of epiphany and the English definition, how we commonly use the word is related, and, excuse the pun, also shines more light on how we can view this new season we’re in.
Epiphany in English is: “a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way”
This is related, of course, to the Greek, of something coming to light, being illumined - or, as cartoonists have so accurately depicted it, a light bulb turning on over your head.
Of course for our discussion/Sermon today, I like to think of this lightbulb as more than just an idea. These aren't everyday light bulbs that are ideas about an invention or problem solving or what to cook for dinner. These epiphanies, these light bulbs are almost like dazzlingly bright lights - STARS - over our heads and in our hearts - truly an epiphany, moments where new light is shone into our lives and our hearts.
When I think of these kind of epiphanies I think about:
realizing that you are in love,
discerning a vocation that is life-giving,
maybe a moment in therapy or a heart to heart where suddenly everything clicks into place,
a diagnosis after months or years of testing,
Coming to know Jesus.
What are those epiphany moments you have had in your life? How have they changed you? Once a light that bright, a light as bright as a star, shines in our lives, our heads, our hearts, it’s life changing. We can’t go back after knowing what we know, after seeing that light illuminate the darkness.
And so, let’s talk about how the epiphanies of this season illuminate and change our lives.
The first one is the one we’ve already mentioned. And we won’t spend much time on it cause we talked about it last week! It’s the Feast of Epiphany. A star rising. Magi following it, looking for the King of the Jews. Finding Jesus and Mary, not at Herod’s palace, but in a humble home. And going home by another way.
This Epiphany is about who Jesus is: The King of the Jews. But not where you’d expect to find the king. And not who you’d expect to be worshipping him. In this small vignette of the Christmas and Epiphany story, we know that Jesus is not who we’d expect - a Jesus who will call all people from East and West to him. A Jesus who will clash with the earthly powers of this world. A Jesus who is the fulfillment of the prophets and a light to the world.
And of course this epiphany of who Jesus is changes us, it makes us examine our lives in the light of who Jesus is, what powers we listen to, who we welcome in, and what path we’re on - what star or light we are following.
That’s the first Epiphany.
Allow me to skip ahead to the third and final major epiphany of the season - Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany, before Lent begins. The theme of light continues on this day when Jesus goes up to the mountaintop with some of his disciples and a dazzling light shines around him, he is transfigured, transformed, dazzlingly bright - the light of a star shining forth from him, Moses and Elijah appearing at his side.
Again, an epiphany about who Jesus is, divine, the light in the world, in the same line of Moses and Elijah but greater than them. And it’s an epiphany of who Jesus is that changes us: we who have seen the Divinity of Jesus, who have seen this great light, who have been to the mountain top: how does this change the way we live when we come back down the mountain?
Now, I’ll leave that there and if you come to church on February 27th, Transfiguration Sunday, I promise there will be more on that story.
And now, let’s finally get to today, to the Gospel lesson we shared together. Today is known as Baptism of the Lord Sunday. And we get another epiphany about who Jesus is and what it means for us.
“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved with you I am well pleased.”
Not the light of a star, not the light of a divine transfiguration - but the light of the heavens opening, shining down from the sky and the Spirit descending like a dove. Light shining forth - an illumination - Jesus is God’s son. Jesus is loved by God. God is pleased with Jesus.
And now this - this is the epiphany for us: in our baptism, we are one with Christ. In our baptism, we are adopted as children of God, heirs alongside Christ. God’s voice to Jesus is God’s voice to us:
You are my child.
You are my beloved.
With you I am well pleased.
Wow. Epiphany. Light bulb moment. Bright as the brightest star, bright as a divine transfiguration, bright as the heavens opening above you:
YOU are a child of God.
God loves YOU.
God is pleased with YOU - pleased with you simply for being YOU, for following and loving God. For being who God created you to be. For being God’s child - simple as that. A love not earned or achieved. A love not merited or sought after or asked for - just loved simply for being you.
As the prophet Isaiah says today “The God who created you, the God who formed you in your mother’s womb - that God has redeemed you.” “I have called you by name and you are mine.
Whether you’re passing through waters or fire - whatever you’re going through in life - I will BE there with you. Cause I love you. “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
Sometimes I caution people with assuming the Scripture is talking directly to them, right? Like, what’s the context? Who is the audience? What’s going on under the surface? But this is one point where I throw that out of the window because I know and believe the promises God makes to us in baptism:
You are my child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.
You are precious in my sight and honored and I love you.
The biggest epiphany of our lives is when the knowledge of God’s love for us reaches not just our heads but our hearts - that is a light that illuminates all our darkness. That changes us. That makes us seek after more light, never able to go back to when we lived in the darkness where we did not know of God’s love.
I pray today that you will all remember and recall when you had that epiphany. When you learned that God loves YOU. Yes, YOU. That the light it brought to you would be restored, rekindled, and shine forth from you.
And I pray today that if you have not yet experienced this dazzlingly bright epiphany of knowing God loves you, I pray that you would be overcome with God’s love and know it in your head, heart, and soul.
Today we will do a congregational reaffirmation of baptism where we recall the promises we make to God and recall God’s love for us, shown through the waters of baptism. In past years while we’ve done this, I have invited each of you up to come and dip your finger in the water and remember your baptism. And while this is meaningful, I thought, everyone’s hands? In the same bowl of water? Covid protocols? Eehhh. So I asked some colleagues and they said, “well, you know, the traditional way is for the pastor to get a branch from a fir tree, dip it in the blessed water, and walk around the congregation, water dripping and leaping from it’s branches and reminding people of their baptism. And that’s what we’ll do today while we listen to special music after the reaffirmation.
But I asked: why a fir tree? Why is that traditional?
It is evergreen, never fading or waning, like God’s love for us through all seasons of our lives.
So today remember your baptism and share in the bright light of the epiphany that you are loved by God.
Amen.
And so, let’s talk about how the epiphanies of this season illuminate and change our lives.
The first one is the one we’ve already mentioned. And we won’t spend much time on it cause we talked about it last week! It’s the Feast of Epiphany. A star rising. Magi following it, looking for the King of the Jews. Finding Jesus and Mary, not at Herod’s palace, but in a humble home. And going home by another way.
This Epiphany is about who Jesus is: The King of the Jews. But not where you’d expect to find the king. And not who you’d expect to be worshipping him. In this small vignette of the Christmas and Epiphany story, we know that Jesus is not who we’d expect - a Jesus who will call all people from East and West to him. A Jesus who will clash with the earthly powers of this world. A Jesus who is the fulfillment of the prophets and a light to the world.
And of course this epiphany of who Jesus is changes us, it makes us examine our lives in the light of who Jesus is, what powers we listen to, who we welcome in, and what path we’re on - what star or light we are following.
That’s the first Epiphany.
Allow me to skip ahead to the third and final major epiphany of the season - Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany, before Lent begins. The theme of light continues on this day when Jesus goes up to the mountaintop with some of his disciples and a dazzling light shines around him, he is transfigured, transformed, dazzlingly bright - the light of a star shining forth from him, Moses and Elijah appearing at his side.
Again, an epiphany about who Jesus is, divine, the light in the world, in the same line of Moses and Elijah but greater than them. And it’s an epiphany of who Jesus is that changes us: we who have seen the Divinity of Jesus, who have seen this great light, who have been to the mountain top: how does this change the way we live when we come back down the mountain?
Now, I’ll leave that there and if you come to church on February 27th, Transfiguration Sunday, I promise there will be more on that story.
And now, let’s finally get to today, to the Gospel lesson we shared together. Today is known as Baptism of the Lord Sunday. And we get another epiphany about who Jesus is and what it means for us.
“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved with you I am well pleased.”
Not the light of a star, not the light of a divine transfiguration - but the light of the heavens opening, shining down from the sky and the Spirit descending like a dove. Light shining forth - an illumination - Jesus is God’s son. Jesus is loved by God. God is pleased with Jesus.
And now this - this is the epiphany for us: in our baptism, we are one with Christ. In our baptism, we are adopted as children of God, heirs alongside Christ. God’s voice to Jesus is God’s voice to us:
You are my child.
You are my beloved.
With you I am well pleased.
Wow. Epiphany. Light bulb moment. Bright as the brightest star, bright as a divine transfiguration, bright as the heavens opening above you:
YOU are a child of God.
God loves YOU.
God is pleased with YOU - pleased with you simply for being YOU, for following and loving God. For being who God created you to be. For being God’s child - simple as that. A love not earned or achieved. A love not merited or sought after or asked for - just loved simply for being you.
As the prophet Isaiah says today “The God who created you, the God who formed you in your mother’s womb - that God has redeemed you.” “I have called you by name and you are mine.
Whether you’re passing through waters or fire - whatever you’re going through in life - I will BE there with you. Cause I love you. “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
Sometimes I caution people with assuming the Scripture is talking directly to them, right? Like, what’s the context? Who is the audience? What’s going on under the surface? But this is one point where I throw that out of the window because I know and believe the promises God makes to us in baptism:
You are my child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.
You are precious in my sight and honored and I love you.
The biggest epiphany of our lives is when the knowledge of God’s love for us reaches not just our heads but our hearts - that is a light that illuminates all our darkness. That changes us. That makes us seek after more light, never able to go back to when we lived in the darkness where we did not know of God’s love.
I pray today that you will all remember and recall when you had that epiphany. When you learned that God loves YOU. Yes, YOU. That the light it brought to you would be restored, rekindled, and shine forth from you.
And I pray today that if you have not yet experienced this dazzlingly bright epiphany of knowing God loves you, I pray that you would be overcome with God’s love and know it in your head, heart, and soul.
Today we will do a congregational reaffirmation of baptism where we recall the promises we make to God and recall God’s love for us, shown through the waters of baptism. In past years while we’ve done this, I have invited each of you up to come and dip your finger in the water and remember your baptism. And while this is meaningful, I thought, everyone’s hands? In the same bowl of water? Covid protocols? Eehhh. So I asked some colleagues and they said, “well, you know, the traditional way is for the pastor to get a branch from a fir tree, dip it in the blessed water, and walk around the congregation, water dripping and leaping from it’s branches and reminding people of their baptism. And that’s what we’ll do today while we listen to special music after the reaffirmation.
But I asked: why a fir tree? Why is that traditional?
It is evergreen, never fading or waning, like God’s love for us through all seasons of our lives.
So today remember your baptism and share in the bright light of the epiphany that you are loved by God.
Amen.
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