Occupy the Earthquake!

A Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2026

32 years ago I was a newly ordained priest serving in a parish in Los Angeles. It was January 17, 1994 at 4:31 am when the world literally shook. The 6.7 Northridge Earthquake, which struck that morning, was what some called a “sandbox” earthquake. That is, I woke up feeling like I was being tossed about like sand in a box, my bed, my room, the rectory, the entire town of Burbank was being rudely shaken awake!

When it was all over 57 people were killed and nearly 9,000 people suffered injuries. It’s quite terrifying when the firm ground beneath your feet reveals itself as suddenly untrustworthy. The trauma of that morning was one thing. What felt worse was, as you lived day by day afterwards, and were just beginning to feel like you could trust that the ground was once again firm, you would get hit by an aftershock. You would have, what I call, the “truck crash” aftershocks where there is a sudden jolt as if a truck just slammed into your house. Or you would have the rolling aftershock when suddenly the firm ground you stood on felt like water, like waves undulating under your feet. It was confusing. You feel yourself standing on solid ground but at the same time that solid ground moves like water. You feel like you are standing or walking on water!

Baptism, itself, is an Earthquake! Our baptisms were meant to rudely shaken us awake. We, each one of us, has been baptized into the Earthquake and this life as a disciple of Jesus Christ is meant to be a life where we learn how to occupy, with increasing confidence and courage, the earthquake into which we have been baptized. And the Earthquake is real. Real people die. Real people get injured. Real damage is done. And amid that very real threat, we are called to occupy what can feel like very treacherous ground.

Our mission as baptized Christians is simply this: Learn to occupy, that is stand in, that place in-between the bruising and the breaking; the smoldering and the quenching and choose daily to bandage the bruised rather than break them; choose to set afire the smoldering rather than quench them. It is shaking, constantly undulating, ground we stand on. And it is disorienting and destabilizing. And in that disorientation and destabilization we may react and reach for the security of whatever lie is currently being lied to us. Or we instead, as I said in my Christmas homily, can learn to “keep our feet” and respond with healing, hope, and justice.

And here’s the thing: At our baptism a fundamental, indisputable truth was revealed, WE (you and I) are Beloved of God. It is US (you and I) with whom God is well-pleased. It is God who upholds us. It is God who has chosen us. It is God who grasps us by the hand. It is God who has formed us and set us where we are amid the earthquake! So, we can have courage and confidence that we can keep our feet and occupy that ground no matter how destabilizing and disorienting the intensity of the jolting, the undulating or the shaking may be.

Peter occupied that dangerous space in-between Gentile and Jew and dared to proclaim: “God shows no partiality!” He occupied the space of the earthquake, kept his feet and chose to bandage the bruises rather than break the bruised.

John the Baptist occupied that dangerous space between his own need for Christ and Christ’s need for him to fulfill the mission for which he was sent. He also occupied the space of the earthquake, kept his feet and chose to set afire the smoldering rather than quench the nascent flames.

We are baptized in order to learn how to occupy the earthquake, how to keep our feet, and how to make real choices that move the world toward healing, hope and justice. So, with that in mind, what would you say is the current earthquake jolting, shaking, or undulating under your own feet right now? How are you being lead to respond?

We must remember God’s voice is OVER the waters. God is enthroned ABOVE the flood. There is a reason that Jesus’ walking on water is recorded in all 4 gospel texts. By it he reminds us of who God is and what we are called to do as disciples. It is that for which we were baptized. When Jesus came up out of the waters of the Jordan we are told the heavens opened, a voice was heard, and an irrefutable truth was proclaimed: You are my Beloved. In You I am well-pleased! Every time we come up out of the waters and learn to stand on treacherous ground, the heavens open anew and that same truth is made real once again!

When we live from that truth, we can occupy the earthquake no matter how strongly the jolt, the undulation or the shaking registers on the Richter Scale of our own lives! And then we can fulfill the mission for which we were sent: to stand in-between the bruising and the breaking, in-between the smoldering and the quenching and choose healing, choose hope, choose justice!