The big reveal

Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the Epiphany of Our Lord + Sunday, January 4, 2026

The big reveal. It’s about the hype. It’s about the spectacle. Some young parents stage elaborately choreographed events. Synchronized in real-time on social media. To announce the gender of their expected baby.

One woman did a big reveal on Instagram. She showed her audience the result of her pregnancy test herself before she looked at it herself. When she finally saw the word “pregnant, there was a string of supposedly happy f-bombs before she called in her boyfriend to share the news with him.

Epiphany is God’s Big Reveal. Epiphany means manifestation. Revelation. When something important dawns on us, we call it an epiphany, an aha moment.

Sometimes Christmas pageants hope to have their own Big Reveal—perhaps with live animals. However, there are stories of donkeys biting the hands of children. And this year as a camel was being brought down the aisle at a Christmas Eve service in Texas, the camel kicked a woman in the face and knocked her out.

Since the angels appeared to lowly shepherds when Christ was born, a pastor at a large Lutheran church in Iowa wondered to whom the angels would appear today. His answer: Harley riders. Sometimes these motorcyclists are perceived as outsiders—dirty, noisy, reckless, anti-woke. And then in the sermon came the Big Reveal: three motorcycles came down three aisles, revving their engines and releasing not incense, but exhaust fumes! This is a true story!

The Epiphany Big Reveal is not the angels, the star, the shepherds, even the Magi—though we love all these flourishes. The Big Reveal is not revealed to a tyrant, authoritarian ruler, Herod.  The Christ is revealed not to a tyrant, authoritarian ruler. But to the Gentiles, to the nations, to all people of the earth. The Magi represent foreigners, outsiders, and strangers. The message of grace is for all people. The Big Reveal is about the identity of this promised One. This Messiah. This Christ. This one who is God among us. This who one shares our joys and sorrows. As one hymn puts it, God in flesh made manifest.

One author notes that the Big Reveals on social media aren’t really about what’s being revealed. They are trying to create a hype—spectacle—proving that real stuff is happening. And we know that everything these days is about getting our attention. Power and influence are used to create spectacle. No wonder the news can seem like a circus with clowns.

Earlier this year I read The Siren’s Call by anchor and political commentator Chris Hayes. Hayes portends that attention is power. Look at how our country is being governed. But this “attention economy” trickles down to all of us.

Yet here we gather around another kind of story—sacred story. The Big Reveal. Here today. Here now. Not with the crowds of an NFL game or a blockbuster movie. Not with the hype of a scandalous headline or breaking news.

Rather, the story of a God who meets us in our vulnerability and need. A God not revealed in spectacle but in the simple gifts of everyday life. Epiphanies in nature. In families and friends. In the poor and needy. In our very bodies. In our very human feelings that present themselves each day.

In fact, the Big Reveal is often hidden. That’s what Martin Luther reminds us. God hidden where we might miss it. God revealed in the wood of the crib. And the wood of the cross. God revealed in water, bread, and wine. Birth and death. Love and sorrow. Death and resurrection.

As we anticipate the events of 2026, we know there will be hype and spectacle. Rather than running after things that are fleeting, we join the Magi in following a mysterious star. Not knowing where it will take us. Not knowing what we will need to let go of. Not knowing what adversities and adventures await us.

A new year. A new opportunity to make worship and community a priority. Here you are offered priceless treasures. A life-changing story of truth, peace, and justice. The power of singing together. Homage and reverence offered to a God within, yet beyond.

To what end? That we might learn, day by day, to open our eyes to the Big Reveal—the surprising epiphanies of grace in each day.