The First Sunday after the Epiphany – Rev. Aimee Baxter

Over the holidays, our family went to see the animated film, Puss in Boots. It’s the story of the famous warrior, Puss in Boots, who has the startling realization that he has lost eight of his nine lives and only has one more to go.

So, he sets out on a quest to go find the legendary “last wish” so he can get his lives back and continue his life of danger and excitement. Along the journey he meets a stray dog that he names, Perrito, Spanish for little dog, as sort of an insult. Playing into all the stereotypes of cats and dogs, Perrito is super affectionate and kinda naïve, while Puss in Boots acts a bit superior to him. We see Puss and his other cat companion, Kitty Softpaws, frequently rolling their eyes at his behavior.

 

On their voyage to find the last wish, they meet various challenges. One in particular, caught my attention. The group comes upon a field of roses that are all tangled up together preventing passage. Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws resort to how they typically handle difficulty and immediately start attacking the roses. It only makes things worse.

 

Then, you see Perrito walk gently up to them, take a deep breath to smell them, and the roses stand tall, open up and create a way through for them.

 

Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws just look at each other with this knowing that everyone loves dogs, even the roses.

 

I couldn’t help but think of this movie scene in our Wednesday Healing Service this week. We were studying the passages surrounding the Epiphany and the question was asked of us, “What inspires awe in you?”

 

The question came from the meaning of Epiphany as a realization or perception of something bigger, or something that leaves us awe struck or filled with wonder.

 

We discussed that these moments of awe can be found in the most beautiful seasons of our lives, but also the hardest.

 

It can look like many things…

 

Toad stools lined up outside of trees…

 

The privilege of being at the deathbed of a loved one…

 

The sound of a child singing….

 

A football player collapsing on the field and the silence of a stadium of 1000’s of people…

 

Two birds playing together in a bird bath…

 

All of these are spaces and times where we stop and take in the beauty and pain, the essence and presence, of the Divine. 

 

Or like our Perrito, we stop and smell the roses, and stand in awe of how the path opens for us.

 

Today, we mark the Baptism of our Lord. A time when the humanity and divinity of Christ show forth and bring those who witness it, even John, a great sense of awe. What do you mean you need to be baptized by me?

 

The One, who is the Messiah, is coming to be baptized?

 

It’s quite a spectacular moment. Jesus comes up from the water, the heavens open, and he sees the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove.

 

Something awe-inspiring happens here and is made manifest. But more importantly, he is named as God’s son with whom God is well-pleased. He is marked as beloved.

 

It’s interesting to note that we don’t know if the crowd heard all these words or even experienced what Jesus did. I imagine they could detect something was new or different about him, but that’s not really the point.

 

The most important thing is that Jesus knew it, felt it and heard it all.

Father Richard Rohr talks about Jesus’ baptism this way.

In his baptism, Jesus was dipped in the unifying mystery of life and death and love. That’s where it all begins—even for him! The unique Son of God had to hear it with his own ears.

I am convinced that the reason people make great mistakes is because they have never heard what Jesus heard on the day of his baptism. They never heard another human voice, much less a voice from heaven, say to them, “You are a beloved son. You are a beloved daughter and in you I am well pleased.” If we’ve never had anyone believe in us, take delight in us, affirm us, call us beloved, we don’t have anywhere to begin. There’s nothing exciting and wonderful to start with, so we spend our whole lives trying to say those words to ourselves: “I’m okay, I’m wonderful, I’m great.” But we don’t really believe it. The word has to come from someone greater than us.

 

One of the greatest aspects to awe is that it helps us recognize the enormity of God’s love and presence. The moments that stop us in our tracks, that show us God in a new way, are the Word coming from someone greater than us.

 

Awe also has the power to make us keenly aware of our belovedness and the belovedness of God’s people and creation.

 

Here in a moment, we will renew our baptismal vows together. The words that were spoken either for us or by us when we were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and marked as Christ’s own forever.

May they once again inspire awe in you as the beloved of God so that you may extend that same message of hope for a world who so desperately needs to hear, “You are a beloved child of God and in you God is well-pleased.” Amen.