Sermon: Epiphany Journeys

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Epiphany Journeys 17th January 2010

Reverend Dr Eleanor Sanderson

• Gospel: John 2:1-11

Many of you have asked about what I will be doing as we move up to Auckland this week and the season of Epiphany seemed a very appropriate time to take this opportunity to preach this morning and shed a little more light on what the next part of our journey as a family holds.

Epiphany is all about God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ becoming recognised in ever increasing circles around the initial gift of Christmas – God becoming human, one with us, in the person of Jesus Christ. The scripture readings given in Epiphany begin with the wise men (the three kings), then God’s declaration of fatherhood to Christ in Christ’s baptism, and now, today, the first of Jesus’ miracles in the wedding of Cana. In each of these scriptures different groups of people understand that God is communicating to the world through Jesus Christ in a unique way. As a result they take risks and decisions with their lives which reflect that they have both recognised God’s communication to them and that they are prepared to listen, follow and trust in Jesus Christ.

Each of these Epiphany readings shows different ways we recognise God and, more specifically, know that God is telling us that we are loved, so that we, in turn, might fall in love with God. This morning I’m going to highlight some of those ways and give some examples of that pattern of God’s self-revealing from my time here with you at the Cathedral.

First, the disciples that we hear about this morning – like them we may need to see something out of the ordinary, recognising Jesus through the miraculous. Perhaps it’s the answered prayers, the testimony of others, or recognising the constant miracle of life around us, that draws us closer to God in Christ. Yet Jesus’ miracles don’t simply communicate divine power and might, they communicate God’s compassion, provision and shalom (peace) coming to his people. In other words, God knows our needs and lovingly meets them. Let me share a personal example of this from our time here.

A while before we came to the Cathedral, Tim and I made some decisions that we believed God was asking us to make about following where he was calling us, but which made us very vulnerable. In my times of prayer with God, I repeatedly saw in my mind’s eye pictures of people coming to our house with big baskets of food. You may not all know this, but those baskets have been a strong theme in our time here with you. In arriving, moving house, having children, being in hospital, those baskets of food and gifts have been filled on your behalf and brought to our house many times.

I know that when you built this Cathedral there was controversy about the respective extravagance it required – but sometimes God asks us to extravagantly demonstrate his love (like giving the best wine to people who have already had a lot to drink!) In Christ, God is abundantly demonstrating our welcome into his household with extravagant gifts given in love. Our ministry of hospitality follows suit, because sometimes we just need that little bit extra to really recognise that God is telling us how much he loves us. I hope that I have communicated God’s love for you in the same way that we as a family have felt loved by you.

Secondly, Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist, last week’s reading. Here Christ is following in the footsteps of a long tradition of religious belonging and yet also adding something new. The ministry of John the Baptist follows the pattern of the Hebrew prophets in calling people back to God, yet as Jesus steps into this ministry himself he takes it in a whole different direction. I think of this mark of epiphany as one of knowing God through belonging within God’s community. In the context of our Cathedral, I think of our life of worship and specifically my role as chaplain to the choristers. Many people are drawn into the Cathedral because they recognise a particular tradition of worship and a ministry of music with which they wish to identify and belong. But just as not everyone who was drawn by the ministry of John necessarily went on to follow Jesus in his ministry, not all who come here and participate in our worship may choose to join us in our journey of following Christ. One of the highlights in my time here has been to baptise choristers and young people. It is in these moments when we know that through our life of worship, people not only recognise God present with his people, but that they, like Jesus in his baptism, hear God declaring that they are his beloved children with whom he is well pleased.

And finally, what of the wise men? Well that is the part of the epiphany journey that I feel God asking me to take at the moment. I want to speak creatively about the image of the wise men and what they represent, to me at least. These are people who are not versed in the Hebrew scriptures and prophecies and yet their own system of wisdom, their own way of making sense of the world, springs up this sign of something so exceptional that they want to travel to its source and bow down in worship. This is surely incredible. So early on in the life of Christ, what this communicates to us is that God is bringing to the world in the person of Jesus, something that the whole world will be able to recognise and accept. What is poignant to me about the story of the wise men, is that sometimes when you come at something from left field, so to speak, what is truthful or beautiful can stand out to you more strongly than for people who are already surrounded by it; the light of God shines brighter when you are not already surrounded by the presence of God.

This image is poignant for me because I have not grown up within the church and in many ways have approached the knowledge of God from non-traditional avenues (whilst my doctorate was fully concerned with God and God’s people it was awarded through a science faculty, not a theological faculty). But also like the wise men, you need to be in fellowship with those who have a long and deep knowledge of God to help you on your journey. In our education, we need the humility of recognising that God has been active in communicating to the world for a very long time and to make the effort to learn from those to whom God has been communicating. Yet we must also recognise that God speaks uniquely and powerfully to us as individuals, using the particular insights and experiences of our own relationships with God to draw others into the light of God’s company.

So those two things are being drawn together in my time at St John’s College. It is an opportunity to be and learn with people who have a long history of knowing about God and yet the post-doc is also my way of responding to the invitation that I feel God is calling me to understand and express of divine love. Specifically I’ll be exploring relational models of approaching the knowledge of God, particularly exploring maternal images of god in the context of our Three Tikanga Church. I’m doing this for two reasons: Every generation needs people to tell the story of god to future generations. The eternal truths of God need re-communicating through different images and wisdom as our world changes. The images and knowledge that we use to approach God shapes the way we organise ourselves as a church and it is that connection that I believe is compelling to address for the church in our era. Secondly, some metaphors have been stronger than others and I think that there is more to be understood about mother images of God, what does it mean to us, for example, to be part of a mother-church, a cathedral? The reality is that, as our Great Thanksgiving declares, when we were made in the image of God, male and female we were created, and we need wise women as well as wise men if we are to even begin to approach the manifold wisdom of the God who created and redeemed us.

So we are very sad to be leaving, but what is true for us today is also true for you; we need to hear God’s constant self-revelation in our lives and also be prepared to follow, like the wise men, like John the Baptist, like the disciples, where that call of Christ leads us. So may your epiphany journey not end with this short season in our church, but as all knowledge and learning is life-long, may the constant revelation of god to you and in you continue without ceasing. Amen.