Sermon - Epiphany

Living into who you Are

          During the Christmas Holiday, we took the girls to see the new Disney movie – Moana.  Now, I had no intention of going to see the movie and leave saying – hmmm, that just make a good sermon for Epiphany.  But, it does have some parallel themes within the story. 

          Moana is the young daughter of the Island chief, and it will be her role to become the next chief of her people.   From the time she is a young child, she and the other children have learned the myths and legends of her people.  One such legend is about a demigod, Maui, who has stolen the heart of the Goddess Te Fiti.  Ever since the heart was stolen, Islands throughout the region have experienced diminished fish and dying plants causing stress on the Island People.  Life, on Moana’s Island is wonderful, until one day.  One day the fisher men return home with no fish and the crops have some sort of disease.  There is a sudden awareness that something is wrong. 

          Moana must seek out the demigod Maui and convince him to return the heart to Te Fiti.  So, as her adventure begins, it begins with the night sky.  Maui can be found out at sea underneath his constellation of a fishing hook.  It is the star, or rather stars that will guide Moana on her way.  Does this sound like any story we know from the Bible?  A star, guiding people?  Last week, we talked about Epiphany as the celebration of God inviting all people of the world, into the covenant of God’s love, grace, and salvation, symbolicaly marked by the arrival of the three wise men who followed the star from distant lands to Christ Child. 

          So, off Moana goes, on her journey away from her homeland to seek the location of Maui so she can save her people.  When she arrives to the Island where Maui lives, she encounters the demigod with an announcement.  “Maui, shape shifter, demi God of the wind and sea, I am” but before she can finish She is corrected by Maui–“it’s actually Maui, shape shifter, demi God of the wind and sea, hero of men”.  Moana tries again and is interrupted once again, hero of men and women, hero of all people.  Finally, Moana can make her declaration:  "I am Moana of Motunui. You will board my boat and restore the heart to Te Fiti."  Throughout the movie, the viewer will find Moana struggling with her purpose and role in life, but she never waivers on her identity.  Over and over and over again she declares:  “I am Moana of Motunui, you will board my canoe, and restore the heart to Te Fiti.” 

          Is there power in names?  In identities?  In being able to declare who we are?  Well, yes of course there is.  When someone is married, at the end of the wedding, they are pronounced husband and wife and introduced no longer as single people but as Mr and Mrs.  This week, we have the inauguration, we put ritual around naming especially when it comes to naming people into positions of authority.  Would you go to see a physician if you knew they were not a doctor?  Names can give authority, and help us know who to trust. 

          Epiphany is more than the invitation of the world into God’s covenant, it also involves the naming of God in the world.  If all the world is invited to be a part of God’s community, they must know the name of God at work in the world.  Last week was actually the Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the Sunday in which we were supposed to recognize and celebrate John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the Jordon.  But, with the way the liturgical calendar fell, we would have missed the wise men altogether, so, I pushed the baptism of the Lord to today. 

In the season of Epiphany, God’s light in the world is named.  We are using the lighthouse as a symbol for God’s light shining into the world.  A light house serves no purpose if the light cannot be seen.  And so, in being able to see the light the light is given names.  

Jesus is named by John, in several ways, one of which is his quoting of the prophet Isaiah, to prepare the way of the Lord.  He then refers to Jesus as the one who is more powerful than I.  But then, as Jesus is baptized, and comes up from the water, a voice from heaven clearly defines for the people who this Jesus is.  suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved,^[d] with whom I am well pleased.”  Just as in the Advent and Christmas stories, the angels clearly name who Jesus is, now, as Jesus has reached adulthood and is to begin his earthly ministry, he is named once again.  He is not named as the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, or the Good shepherd, but This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. 

          One definition of Epiphany is:  a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essentialmeaning of 

something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace  occurrence or experience.

          I remember learning about this in my English literature class, a moment in the plot when the main character has an aha moment, when something clicks and it makes sense, the lightbulb turns on.  These aha moments happen as we encounter the divine in our lives.  It can happen in Bible Study or worship, it can happen while volunteering or serving others.  It can happen in a moment of possible coincidence but not seeing it as a coincidence but rather a Spirit led moment.  These are Epiphanies in our daily lives, sacred in breakings. 

          The baptism of Jesus was just that, a sacred in-breaking into the world as Jesus participates in the human act of repentance and spiritually cleansing himself.  There is an aha moment of John proclaiming that he is the one Isaiah speaks of, there is the aha moment of him humbling himself in allowing John to baptize him, and there is the aha moment of God naming him.  If people did not make the connection through John the Baptist, if people could care less about the prophet Isaiah because they did not grow up Jewish and had no connection to these prophecies, they got it because God names him.  Both Jews and Gentiles are once again given the opportunity to know who Jesus is, the Lord spoken of by Isaiah and the Son of God given also to the Gentiles.  The light of God shines through the words of the prophets, through the actions of one who prepares the way, and in the voice of God.

          How do you name God in your life?  God the Father, God the mother, God the source of light and love?  Jesus, son of David, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the son of God?  The prince of peace, the Good shepherd.  It goes on and on, there are so many names listed throughout scripture. 

          Moana needs the demigod Maui to save her people by returning the heart to Te Fiti.  She is able to name who Maui is and she is able to name who she is.  In the on-line study that I have been using, it shares that the season of Epiphany is about Whose we are and Who we are.  Who do we belong to:  the son of God, and who are we:  children of the covenant.   Would we be able to approach God with the confidence of naming God followed by a proclamation of who we are?  God, creator of the wind and sea, giver of all life, redeemer of all people.  I am Carie, I am X and Y – child of the covenant, holy and beloved.  My family, my neighbors, my community, my world needs your salvation.  Board our boat, as we seek to make things right.  God, healer of the world, giver of salvation: we are FPCS a church that seeks to partner with our community near and far to joyfully share the message and love of Jesus, be with us as we pray for one another and share our gifts and resources with the greater community.  Let us continue the journey of Epiphany with confidence, by claiming our own names within God’s family and by naming the ways in which we encounter God in the world around us.