Sermon – January 11, 2026

Rev. Judith Perry

Just a word about the mosaic. It is in Ravenna, Italy, just south of Venice and a much older city. It was the last capital of the Western Roman Empire. The mosaic is in an Arian Baptistry built at the end of the 5th century. One can just walk into the circular building and look up and see this. Some background: the Ostrogoths conquered the Western Roman Empire. Here in northern Italy they were quite peaceable and were heretical Christians. They were Arians, that it they believed that Jesus, the Son, was subordinate to the Father. A king, Theodoric the Great, had this baptistry built. Take a look at Jesus, no beard. Actually, the real Jesus probably did not have a beard either, and here he is naked, and why not?

It is a perfect little building.

I am going to start with a word in defence of pigeons.

Some think that these were our earliest domesticated animals, these birds. Of course they were set loose ages ago, but they never forgot their bond to us people.

So, they hang around, hoping that your heart will soften and throw them some crumbs. They really like Cheerios.

These pigeons who cohabit with us in this city are technically named, called, Rock Doves.

Our apartment towers are to them, cliffs with caves, and their people live in the caves.

These people sometimes throw some food to them, even though the management sends around directives not to feed the pigeons.

The pigeons can’t read, but they do know how to sit on a window ledge and watch their people inside with their beady dinosaur eyes.

They hope that their persistent presence will soften their people’s stiffened hearts, and another meal will be forthcoming.

I have an unwanted bag of brown rice that I cook up for them. I am a pushover.

A scripture about Jesus’ baptism is always the reading on the Sunday after Epiphany, for the same reason the story of the magi was read last week. 

They present God coming into the world, as the sole and only God.

 

This was so important to those first Christians as it amplified their understanding of God as being the almighty, and the falsity of the multitude of gods celebrated in their Greek and Roman society.

It is very important to our Orthodox Brethren. The church in Purcell’s Cove, Saint Valdimir of Kiev, follows the old calendar, so they will read this passage in a couple of weeks.

It is the day that they bless the waters. They usually go to the Dingle. They bless the Atlantic Ocean and throw in a wooden cross.

Then some of the younger men jump into the water and race to the cross.

Really, we are too tame. Maybe next year.

Now to the reading from Matthew, and all the art through the ages, showing this descending pigeon, usually white, whereas it does not say what colour is the pigeon.

Really, there is no pigeon at all. The bird is non-existent. There is no bird. The Holy Spirit is not a pigeon.

The passage reads: And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God's Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from the heavens said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Or:  As he came up from the water, he saw the sky suddenly opening up and the Spirit of God coming down like a diving bird and taking hold of him. And a voice filled the air, saying, “You are my Son, my love. You fill me with pride.”

The Spirit of God comes suddenly, with a change in the light, and fills one with a deep knowledge of the presence and love of God.

The experience is like a bird coming down, but it is not a pigeon or a starling, but a profound unexpected experience of the holy presence of God.

And I am putting it in the present tense firstly because the gospels are eternally present, but more importantly this experience has repeated itself among the faithful throughout the ages.

It is a description of how ordinary people suddenly experience the presence of the holy in their lives. It is not unusual. Most folks hold the experience in their hearts. It is seldom shared.

The words that fill them are for them alone. This message of Divine Love is seldom shared. And some of you know this.

The story of Jesus’ baptism is the prototype for those who follow him as baptised Christians, this epiphany of Divine Love can break into us at any time and in every place.

I can’t say anything more than that, for spiritual experiences defy explanations. The experience of the holy is beyond words. God is with us still, and still occasionally we feel God’s powerful, loving presence.

Then let us all pray: Creator God, our soul’s delight,
Your voice thunders over the waters,
liberating the future from the past.
In the Spirit’s power and the waters of rebirth,
Jesus was declared Your blessed and beloved Son;
may we recall our baptism,
and be disciples of the Anointed One. Amen.