[Note: technically difficulties resulted in the video starting midway through the sermon.]

"Awe Is the Antitode"
Matthew 17:1-9
Rev. Emily Labrecque, Westmoreland UCC
Feb. 15, 2026

Several weeks ago, we entered the season of Epiphany with the story of the Magi arriving at the place where Jesus was born. After their visit, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home by another way. We’re not told whether they understood why they were given this warning. Perhaps they didn’t. And yet, they trusted the message — they trusted this epiphany — and changed their course. Maybe it wasn’t until they arrived home and later heard that Herod had been plotting to kill baby Jesus that they finally understood why they had been led along a different road.

I don’t know about you but I’ve had these kinds of moments too. Not necessarily warnings from a dream but realizations after the fact. A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is an Episcopal priest. We were discussing the ways we experience God in any given moment. She talked about how she could feel the presence of God during a particular worship service, how she could feel the Spirit present in that place and time. I confessed to her, as I am to you now, that I often struggle to feel God in any particular moment, but rather that I find God in retrospect. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. But like the Magi, I can certainly look back on my life and say, ‘ah, yes, I can clearly see, now, how God was preparing me for the next thing.’

Today we conclude the season of Epiphany with the Transfiguration of Jesus — a moment of true clarity for the disciples. The transfiguration of Jesus served to confirm his role as the messiah to the humble disciples who had been asking questions all along. They knew they were drawn to him for a reason, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it until Jesus stood there, dazzling, accompanied by prophets of old. They then hear the voice from heaven, the same one present at Jesus’ baptism: “You are my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” This no doubt sets in motion a whole series of flashbacks for the disciples. If we were watching a movie, there’d be a montage of every moment they felt something but they couldn’t quite name it.

The text says the disciples were “overcome by fear.” Another way to translate that Greek word, is “awestruck.”They were awestruck! You know, fear can shrink us. Make us feel small. But Awe! Awe expands us. And what an incredibly heart-expanding moment they were witnessing. This moment illuminates for the disciples just exactly who Jesus is and as such, the realization that he was going to die at the hands of the empire. This moment of awe was preparing them for future despair. For they would need to remember this moment on the mountain when they stood before Jesus at the base of the cross.

This isn’t the only time this happens in our scriptures. Perhaps you recall the time Jacob set off for Haran and camped out one night, sleeping on a rock for a pillow. He had an elaborate dream involving a ladder and God speaking to him. When he awoke, hazy, wondering if that was real or imagined, like we so often do after dreams, he exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” And the text says, ‘he was afraid.” Again the use of the word “afraid” there can be translated as “awestruck.’

Another time this happens in our scriptures is in a post-resurrection moment found in the Gospel of Luke. On the road to Emmaus, two discouraged disciples meet the risen Jesus but don’t recognize him as he walks with them and explains how the Scriptures point to the Messiah’s suffering and glory. When they invite him to stay for a meal, their eyes are opened as he breaks bread, and they realize it is indeed Jesus. They say to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he was speaking about the scriptures?!”

Again, they had an inkling but did not know. Sometimes epiphanies come in an instant. Sometimes they take a while to settle in. Regardless of how they come to us, we are encouraged to hold onto them. In a world filled with so much that is awful, being awe-filled becomes the antidote to despair. Awe reminds us that there is something much bigger at work than the trending headlines. And while awe cannot not protect us from harm, it can buoy us in times of need.

ust this week in Bruce’s bible study on Philippians, we spent some time reflecting on the importance of gratitude. I shared how I have started the practice of naming things I’m grateful for or moments of joy before I fall asleep. The other night I had an epiphany while doing this.

A couple weeks ago the hot water pipe to my kitchen sink was frozen. When I left for work that day, I left the hot water valve open so that in case the water melted enough to come through, it would be able to do so. It was my first day of work and I was planning to get the kids from school at 4:45. However, the school called to say Ruthie wasn’t feeling well so I picked them up at 3:30 and we headed home. When we arrived home, we discovered that I had left the hot water valve open a little too much and the sink had overflowed onto the kitchen floor. I turned off the faucet, the kids ran around the house collecting towels, I rushed to the basement to make sure it wasn’t leaking through and we got it all taken care of. It was all fine.

However, it wasn’t until I was reflecting that evening on the gratitude I had that the water didn’t leak to the basement that I realized, I’m actually really grateful Ruthie didn’t feel well and I had to get her earlier because if we hadn’t gotten home until 5:15 (nearly two hours after we did), who knows what kind of mess we would have had to clean up. What felt like inconvenience became providence. What felt like disruption turned to grace.

t matters not to God whether we realize in the moment or take our time to discover what God would have us discover. What matters is that we take the time and space to reflect on the ordinary moments of our lives. For in doing so, we may discover some extraordinary moments of awe. In the midst of the awfulness that surrounds us, these moments of awe become our antidote. They won’t protect us from sorrow, but as we’ve seen through scripture, time and time again, they keep sorrow from having the final word. Because what happens on the mountain is real, even when we’re standing at the foot of the cross. So I invite you to reflect on the ordinary moments of your lives. Be awestruck. Bask in their glory. Then, let those moments of awe steady you. Let them expand you. Let them remind you of who you are and whose you are.

Amen.