2026.01.18 | Recognition and Inspiration
Recognition and Inspiration”
A sermon preached at Eden United Church of Christ
in Hayward, California,
on Sunday, January 18, 2026,
by the Rev. Ashley Wai’olu Moore.
Third Sunday of Epiphany
Scripture: John 1:29-37
Good morning, Beloved!
Today is the second Sunday after Epiphany. The season of Epiphany begins after the 12 days of Christmas and lasts through Candlemas. During Epiphany, we focus on the incarnation of God among us, the manifestation of God’s physical presence in this realm. In fact, Epiphaneia in New Testament Greek means manifestation. Our stories and songs during this time concern the revelation of God’s manifested presence to her people.
These well-known lyrics of Charles Wesley are a great example:
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark the herald, Angels sing
Glory to the newborn king.
In Pastor Brenda’s opening remarks last week, she cited Diana Butler Bass saying that “(Epiphany) beckons us to pay attention and participate in widening the circle of light in the world—to push back against all brittle injustice and brutality.” (1) It calls us to be inspired and inspire others, to ignite the light of Christ in ourselves and then to carry that light and illuminate the world.’
The three of us Pastors felt that these words - “Inspire, Ignite, Illuminate” - were just what people needed in these challenging times. And so, we decided that it would be our theme for this Epiphany season.
But we could not have known how crazy the first 15 days of 2026 would be. The rapid escalation of cruelty, intolerance and assault has been deeply troubling and heart breaking. Now, you know me and my opinion about our “dear leader” and stances on his pogroms. You can be sure that I have lot of thoughts about what has been taking place. But I don’t want to go down that road today – and I will share my reasons in a few moments. Most importantly, as I noted, your Pastors felt that it was important to lift up hope and focus on the light of God manifesting among us. But as Pastor Brenda noted last week, it has been a struggle to write sermons from this perspective while being inundated with the horrors of the daily news. I believe that is partly what they want.
Will you pray with me…
Perfect Light of revelation,
as you shone in the life of Jesus,
whose epiphany we celebrate,
so shine in us and through us,
that we may become beacons of truth and compassion,
enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy.
Amen.
In our Gospel reading today, we heard John the Baptist testify about how he knew that Jesus was the anointed one. He reported that God had previously told him what to watch for so that he would be able to recognize the anointed one when the time came.
Next, we are told about how John recognized Jesus coming towards him from a distance and proclaimed to all who were near “here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This is the one whom I told you would be coming. John recognized the manifest presence of God enfleshed in the person of Jesus and lifted him up to inspire those who had been waiting for just such a move of Yahweh.
Now, we know about the plight of the Jewish people in those times, that they had been suffering at the hands of Herod and the empire of Rome. We know that their need was great, that the corruption they experienced was substantial and the coming of the messiah was greatly anticipated.
How astonishing it must have been to hear John rejoicing, proclaiming that the time had come, that Yahweh’s anointed one had arrived. For the people who had been waiting and languishing, it must have been a little like the sun suddenly bursting through the clouds after a long, grey cold spell. To perceive that God was breaking into their sorrowful world would have ignited the fire of new hope. Indeed, two of John’s disciples were so inspired that they immediately picked up and followed after Jesus.
In our own times, we are also longing for God to break into our midst. We who have been earnestly awaiting God’s kingdom to fully manifest and God’s shalom to spread across the globe are grief stricken and dispirited over what we are seeing. We long for the goodness of God to be revealed to us in our national context, for justice and fairness and equity to break forth and calm these tumultuous waters.
In reflecting on all of this, I was reminded of an old Native American parable about a pair of wolves. In this story, a grandfather is talking to his grandchild and explaining that each of us encounters two wolves in our lives. One wolf is mean spirited, deceitful, greedy, vengeful, arrogant and self-serving. The other is loving, joyful, benevolent, humble, empathetic, and kind. He explains that we encounter these two wolves both in the world and inside ourselves, and they are always battling for dominance. After silently contemplating this for a few moments, the child asks, “which one will win?” The grandfather responds, “The one you feed. The one you feed is the one that grows.”
A few years back there was a popular book with a similar concept that lots of people I knew were talking about. It was called “The Secret”. Does anyone remember that book? Its focus was on the power of positive thinking. In part, it said that whatever we are thinking about, whatever we are putting our mental energy into or whatever holds our focus will grow, increase, magnify or manifest. What we focus on grows. The wolf we feed is the one that grows.
I know many progressive people who are sick to death of hearing about our felon in chief. He has managed to stay in the news almost daily since 2016. I can’t think of any other person in my lifetime who has managed to do that. We can’t seem to escape him. And sometimes we can’t turn away because we are shocked or exasperated by what we are witnessing. Even after he left office in disgrace in 2021, he was constantly in the news feeds.
A clear pattern has emerged – he will say something outrageous or shocking, people respond, talk about it, push back a little. So he doubles down and sends people back into their dialogue loops expressing their alarm while his pundits assure us it could never come to pass. And then it does. Eventually, he will try to act on whatever that thing was…and usually manifests it in some form. The more we are exposed to this, the more it has grown. He craves attention and the constant attention he receives seems to be working to his benefit. I never thought that I would witness someone convicted on 34 felony counts of fraud and found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming someone could hold office, much less be elect to the presidency of the United States a second time! It has been disastrous for our country and is only growing worse. The events of the last 18 days are heartbreaking.
I don’t want to feed this wolf any longer. I don’t want this wolf TO BE fed any longer. We are longing for God to break in and God is doing a new thing even in this moment, but it is difficult to perceive while we are inundated with the cacophony of overwhelming bad news. Tell me something good!
On Christmas Eve, Pastor Marvin proclaimed that “Good News is Louder Than Fear.” I want to see us start to live accordingly, to feed the wolf that bears light, propagates life and manifests God’s shalom. Let us be like John the Baptist calling out and lifting up that move of God in our midst. A few weeks earlier, Pastor Brenda talked about “Waging Peace.”
Let us praise the lightworkers and agents of mercy endeavoring to bring goodness and justice into being. Those providing hope, countering cruelty and waging peace. God is moving in the world. We just need to call attention to it, to focus on it so that hope will grow. Because even in our fear, we are called forward.
Where might we recognize and be inspired by God moving in these times? Here are a couple of recent examples I would point to:
On Friday, a routine delivery turned into a life-saving moment when a UPS driver and a group of quick-thinking neighbors sprang into action to rescue a 101-year-old woman from a house fire in Santa Ana, California.
About a week ago, the Canadian town of Gander tuned out and showed up to help stranded airline passengers during an ice storm last week, just like they did after 9/11.
After winning the lottery recently and becoming a multi-millionaire, an Ottawa woman is now making sure struggling families can afford groceries. She walked into a local grocery store and began quietly handing out gift cards to shoppers. By the end of the afternoon, she had given away more than $20,000 in grocery gift cards.
In Texas, a small business owner donated a new car to a group of Buddhist monks crossing America on foot after he learned that their vehicle, which carried all their supplies, was destroyed in a collision.
A Colorado man bought an apartment complex and began offering affordable apartments to local workers, setting rents far below local prices. More than 100 workers now live in the two buildings, which include 104 apartments.
A Surgeon for Atlanta saved the life of a poor teenage immigrant. Now the two are operating together for charity in Ethiopia (through the nonprofit Heart Attack Ethiopia.)
According to the United Nations this week, humanitarian aid has provided Gazans with enough food to fulfil minimum nutritional needs for the first time in two years.
There is progress tackling poverty. Eighty per cent of countries are expected to show a reduction in poverty during 2025, the World Bank said this week. If its forecast proves true, it would be the largest share of countries with falling poverty rates in a decade.
Yesterday, a global treaty to conserve the high seas came into effect, giving nations new powers to protect waters lying outside of national boundaries.
Of course, we have to lift up the ongoing No Kings events where millions of people turned out across the nation to peacefully protest this administration and joyfully proclaim their love for democracy.
Then we have the widespread outcry over the tactics of ICE agents and the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, MN. Many residents took to the streets to protest these actions and protect their neighbors. Gov. Tim Walz has now mobilized the National Guard to support local law enforcement and protect his citizens amid ongoing protests against ICE. They are staged to maintain peace and ensure the safety of demonstrators and the community.
Pope Leo XIV appears to be speaking out about the events of our time in an unprecedented manor. Nine days ago, he stated, “War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” highlighting concerns about the erosion of peace and the increasing reliance on military force in international relations. He named the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Venezuela, and others. He also raised the alarm over human rights saying, “Every migrant is a person,” and therefore has “inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation.” Not all migration is chosen. He explained that many flee “violence, persecution, conflict, and even the effects of climate change.”
Of course, when we talk about lightworkers doing God’s work in the world, we have to lift up the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a man, deeply grounded in his faith, who helped his community stand up to tyranny, violence, intimidation and hatred through non-violent political action. They showed a light on injustice, inspired people and brought about change for people of color. King emerged as the recognized leader of the civil rights movement and, as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, became the theological voice of their struggle. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, he introduced the tactic of non-violent demonstration. In doing so, he brought the spirit of Christ right into the heart of the conflict, exposing the cruel maleficence found in the south. King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
During his final Christmas sermon in 1967, he said “If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." This is the very perspective that 47 seeks to completely undermine.
Beloved, we are called to be Christ to one another, to love one another as Jesus loved us. The people living in Judea in the time of Jesus were suffering, crying out for God to break into their troubled reality and send a messiah. But they wanted a messiah who would accomplish a military victory over Herod, over Rome. Jesus taught them a different way. Like King, Jesus called out corruption, rancor and hypocrisy, but he taught about God’s goodness and demonstrated through his actions how to focus on and embody the love of God. He said that the world will know us by our love.
So in these troubling times, let us lift up one another and point out to one another those places where we see God’s goodness moving in the world. Let us both be the light and shine the light for one another. And always, always feed the good wolf.
Amen.
Diana Butler Bass, A Beautiful Year (New York: St. Martin’s, 2025), 74.