Epiphany - Awesome Light

Purpose: To convey the awesomeness of the enfleshment of God in  creation and the Christ. ​

​Charlie and I visited Yosemite National Park on a warm summer day with  puffy white clouds dotting a deep blue sky. I really hadn’t planned on  going to Yosemite on this trip to California and was sort of ho hum about  going. Come along with me on that trip through the wonder of this  national park. Our first stop is to view the giant redwoods in the Mariposa  Grove. When I was in fifth grade I remember looking in my geography  book at images of the giant redwood trees and saying to myself, some day  I will get to see those trees and touch them and stand insignificantly  beside them. And here we are. We spend the better part of the morning  gazing up at these mighty trees that have stood since the time Jesus  walked in the Galilee region. It kind of make time shrink away. We then  jump in the car and drive for about an hour and a half toward Glacier Point.  The road winds through dense forests of evergreens that are dark and cool  and a deep, deep emerald green. Through the trees we see bits and  pieces of the blue sky and clouds in contrast to the green of the trees and  the shades of brown that color the trunks and branched of the trees.  Everything feels cool and soothing like a cool breeze on a warm summer  day. Whatever tension we may have carried with us has washed away as  we drive to Glacier Point.

Steve Houghton

We arrive at a parking lot still in the cool of the forest and still surrounded  by deep greens, browns, blue and dots of white that have been a part of  our day for the last several hours and we walk a path marked by signs  directing us to Glacier Point. Just ahead we suddenly see the trailhead opening out to a view of the sky and to our right the top of Half Dome.  You might have seen images of Half Dome. It is a huge granite mountain  that looks like God took a knife and cut it in half down its center from top  to bottom. It is gray as you would expect to see a mountain of granite.  Think about the granite you have seen on the side of a building or on a  counter top and them envision an entire mountain made of that material  with shadows cast by the formations of the rock. There are charcoal grays  and light grays and dark grays nearing black. As we continue, the light  brightens as we leave the forest and enter the opening of the Glacier Point  lookout. The greens and browns that have surrounded us have fallen  away and we see the full brightness of this summer day. Our view is filled  with the shades of gray of the granite mountains and of Half Dome in  particular. The grays are blanketed in large swaths of evergreen forests  that look like great green carpets from our view a thousand feet above the  Yosemite Valley floor. We have to blink at the brightness of the light as it  floods our eyes and, as we look toward Half Dome, we see dark  thunderheads rising up behind it. Lightning arcs between the bald top of  the mountain and the dark brooding sky. We see sheets of rain falling on  Half Dame and then torrents of water steaming off of the rock as the rain  washes the scene.  

When that vista met my eyes I drew in a breath and held it and my eyes  teared up. For a moment I could not breathe. I almost felt like I was  floating as I gazed at the beauty God had created. I could feel God  surrounding me. I had no thoughts just awe. When a thought finally  worked its way into my consciousness it was that surely there has to be a  God that has created this. 

Epiphany is defined as “a moment of sudden revelation or insight”. While  not all of us have had the chance to go to Glacier Point we have, most of  us, had an experience of suddenly coming upon a view that has taken our breath away. I remember this one so clearly because it resonated so  deeply inside me. The colors in the Fall, a waterfall in the woods, a raging  stream in the Spring, a snowfall that coats all the bare branches, a  magnificent sunset, all of these can evoke the kind of feeling I had at  Glacier Point.
 
When I hear or read the passage from Isaiah that we just heard I get that feeling. The awe that accompanies the coming of our Lord to us. Theologians call it the enfleshment of God among us. The glory we hear in Isaiah and the psalm is like the presence of God in our world in places like Glacier Point. It takes our breath away and we are compelled to come and see and bring gifts. Our psalm today, Psalm 72, paints a picture of this glorious King’s son who cares for the poor and crushes the oppressor and yet is as gentle as rain upon the field. And the son brings peace and abundance forever. He is recognized by the powers in this world and they honor him. Most impressive though is that he delivers the poor and has pity on the lowly and preserves the needy; those who can offer him the least. All they can offer is themselves and their love and yet it is they who the King’s son preserves. Come and see this wondrous sight.

Come and see. You might remember that as Jesus was calling his  disciples the call was to come and see. Paul, in the epistle reading today,  is calling the gentiles of Ephesus to come and see “the mystery of Christ”  “the boundless riches of Christ” and to carry that vision to “the rulers and  authorities” This is Good News. And it is good news for the gentiles  because it illuminates their inclusion in the promise that they too are heirs  with the Hebrew people and members of same body in Christ Jesus. It  should illuminate for us that all of creation is bathed in this light of Christ  which we all can come and see. 

One other place I find awe and wonder is in the eyepiece of my telescope.  I would like you to think about those wise guys from the east who  obviously kept an eye on the night sky. Imagine their surprise and delight  in finding a new star in the heavens that seemed to portend a royal birth. I  could say a lot about Herod and his wicked conniving to try to find and  destroy the infant king. I think that speaks for itself and I think we  sometimes don’t pay enough attention to awesomeness of God’s  enfleshment in that tiny baby.  

Any baby is awesome and the birth of a baby is double awesome. I have  had the joyful honor of attending the birth of my three children and one of  my grandchildren. It never gets old. It evokes feelings of tearful joy and  breathless wonder. Now consider, for these three wise men from the east  this was a trip of great time and distance to visit and honor a king whose  coming called forth the heavens to produce a star. No minor tribute that.  They arrive at a tiny wayside village and an out of the way cattle stall to  find a poor family with a beautiful new born son being honored by the  peasants from the surrounding community. They must have rechecked  their calculations several times before they concluded that yes indeed this  is the king whose star they have been following. And there, in that simple  child was the glory of the universe. How could that not take your breath  away. What a grand revelation! 

Revelation. Wise men from the east. Shepherds from the fields. A poor  family. The King’s son preserving the needy. All are the heirs of God. All  these are revelations from our readings today. A revelation was given to me one cold winter evening at an outdoor service in Northampton. A  friend who has lived in the streets gave witness, a very difficult witness, to  how God entered her life, and then after she spoke she disappeared. I  wanted to share the peace with her so I searched high and low but could  not find her until the very end of the peace. “You couldn’t find me could 
you?” she asked. No I admitted I couldn’t. She told me how her witness  had brought back memories that terrified her and she sought comfort “in  the back row along the wall where the people who live under the bridge  stand.” “They have nothing,” she said, “all they have to give is themselves  and their love and they give that freely.” I think we have a Christmas carol  that speaks to that, it’s called In The Bleak Midwinter. Pay special  attention to the last verse the next time you hear it. 

God is present. God is in the world today. God is present in all that I saw  on Glacier Point. God is present in every sunset. God is present in every  waterfall. God is present in every child. We are surrounded by God every  minute of every day. God is in every person we encounter, no matter who  they may be. Epiphany should bring to mind the wonder of God’s presence in the world and the awe that attends that presence. Where will  you see God today?  Amen.