Bruton Parish Episcopal Church The Second Sunday after the Epiphany The Rev’d Mignon L. “Sarah” Brockenbrough Sunday,Chitty January Chitty Bang18, 2015 Bang, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory James and the Giant Peach , who authored , and , among other works, wrote, "Above all watch with glittering eyes the whole world around1 you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places." In the last few weeks, we have witnessed the incarnation, the arrival of the magi, and the baptism of our Lord. Now, on the Second Sunday After the Epiphany, we join Jesus in Galilee, where he finds Philip. Philip, in turn, finds Nathanael. And just as we are swept into the power of being found and the revelation of Christ and how it changes everything in an instant, Nathaniel asks whether good can come out of Nazareth. His question is surely founded in his previous experience and his judgment of his existing reality. But Jesus’ answer promises sights greater than any Nathanael has witnessed. 2 These are the wonders John’s gospel invites us to “come and see.” It is a tricky invitation, because it sounds like it begins and ends with sensory input. It sounds clean and safely distant. But that way of seeing – even though it is valuable and often beautiful and frequently provides us with information that leads to deeper understanding – even though it is all those things, sight that is limited to processing information based on the ways we have limited possibility can lead us to a conclusion that seems completely reasonable, and still just misses the mark. The morning after I was ordained to the deaconate, I dressed for church, in a black skirt and clergy shirt. I walked onto the porch of the house where we were staying to find my best friend and his four-year old son, Rawls. Rawls is being raised – very actively – in the Catholic Church, so he is familiar with priests in clerical collars. But, he still frowned at me, put down the toy truck he was holding and said, “where are you going?” His father chimed in, “she is going to work. Where do you think she works?” Rawls crossed his arms and looked at me and thought for a moment. And then, like he understood something and a little like he had caught me, he looked up and said, “Are you BATGIRL?” If we only use our eyes, we may not get it exactly right the first time. Whether our response is skeptical, like Nathanael’s (nothing good comes out of this situation or those people), or simply bound by the limits of experience, like Rawl’s (priests always look a certain way), if we use only the answers we already have, we may miss the epiphanies that teach us about God3 in Christ and also about ourselves. John’s invitation to “come and see” call us beyond the five senses we are used to using to get our information. But it is still deeply experiential. It depends on a

Matilda . 1 Dahl, Roald, Theand Holy Quentin Bible: Blake. Containing the. New Old York,and New NY: TestamentsViking Kestrel, with 1988. the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Print Books: New Revised Standard Version 2 "John1:46." . New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print. 3 John1:46 kind of knowing that we only 4get through relationship. It is an invitation to a new way of understanding reality. And, because God comes to us in the stranger, discovering how we know and understand God as we deal with others gives us insight into who we are, who we are called to be, and what we believe. Philip and Nathanael remind us of two things here, and they are both extremely important: first, we each have to have this encounter with the holy for ourselves; Philip invited Nathanael to have his own experience. The second important reminder is that we are each called to join God’s most beloved; I think it is easy to fall into the belief that work and worth are set aside for a few, but Philip and Nathanael were simply known by the Lord. We are each called to a specific, individual encounter with God is an opportunity to embrace a new perspective and to change our paths to something more true, so that as we walk, we become more of who we really are. This discernment will be handy just around the corner, in Lent, as we decide what to release and what to restore. And, then, beyond Lent, that awareness will be important as we work to live lives in which it is easy to answer how the practical reality of our lives answers God’s call to us – individually and collectively. The question is, how we will be known and how will God know us? Now that we know that God is not only content to be with us but has become one of us, now that we have witnessed kings presenting the gifts of their lives and labors to that holiness, and now that we have seen the movement of the spirit not only Christ’s baptism but, last week, the beginning of a life in Christ right here, in our church family – what will we learn about ourselves as Christ is revealed to us? And then, what will we do with our epiphanies? What will we give of ourselves for neighbors and for God to experience? In these weeks after the Epiphany, may you see the revelation5 of Christ all around you. May you each witness it with “glittering eyes” , may you find this revelation in the most unlikely places, and may6 you share it with everyone you meet The– saying Rev. in Mignon word and L. Brockenbrough deed, “come and see.” Bruton Parish Episcopal Church January, 18, 2015 John1:43-51

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4 Jacobson, Rolf, Karoline Lewis,. and Matt Skinner. "Re: #397 - Second Sunday after Epiphany." Audio blog comment. . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2015 5 Dahl 6 John146