The Epiphany of the Lord
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Life hands us many epiphanies or “wake‑up calls.” A few years ago, a young couple adopted a two-year-old child in a morass of red tape, complications, and court hearings. At the baby’s baptism, the priest suggested appending an “adoption blessing,” wherein the new relationship was expressed and affirmed. There is a place in that rite for the child to speak, and instead the priest said, “Can you give Daddy a kiss?” Standing in the midst of his church, the young adoptive father suddenly welled up with tears as he embraced the child. Afterward, he explained that through all the hassles and legal struggles he never until that moment in church understood that he was the parent of this child. The ritual claimed them for each other, gave expression to their relationship that the legal documents never could, and firmly cemented this child into the heart of a community as everyone erupted into heartfelt applause. This assembly witnessed in a powerful way what happens in every baptism: the mystery of adoption, the free flow of grace, the overwhelming sense of God’s presence at the heart of our life’s journey.
—Rev. James Field