BLESSED ASSURANCE

Marty Albershardt

January 11, 2009

Genesis 1: 1-5 and Mark 1: 4-11

Did you make any New Year's Resolutions for 2009? Have you kept them or have you gone back to old ways? We speak of these Resolutions as if we have to be in control of something ourselves, but in our liturgical year now there's an inward letting go, simply to realize what God is doing.

There's a name for the kind of realizing and remembering we do at this time of the year, now and during the next seven weeks of Epiphany. Epiphany means "to realize" or make known. And it is the time of receiving the light, as Jesus Christ comes into our lives and becomes known. 

We had a baptism this morning. Many of at Bradley Hills look back and remember fondly our former pastor, Rev. Susan Andrews' enthusiasm over baptism. Why did our she lavish and splash so much water upon us? What were all those handfuls from the font and flinging of water from a tree branch about? She wanted to make our baptisms, known to us and realized!

What can that blessing upon us, and our remembrance of it, have to do with our future together here at Bradley Hills?   There are 800 baptisms logged in the Bradley Hills' roll book, which is an amazing witness to our past. But Baptism is really about our future. I hope we will collectively be in the spirit of "epiphany," realizing our identities as Christians, that the Holy Spirit will weave its way among us like fresh air, and the water of Baptism like fresh water. Because baptism is about once again remembering our relationship to Jesus, our relationship to community, our promises for the future... and, or course, God's grace.

Please join me in the Prayer for Illumination:

"O, God... in the currents of our hears

and the upheavals of the world today,

let us be still and receive your word for us.

Let there be new birthings of your mighty Spirit. Amen.[1]

The NT Scripture is from Mark 1: 4-11.

This is 'Baptism of the Lord' Sunday. Only two of the gospels record Jesus' birth, but all four of the gospels remember his baptism. Mark is the shortest gospel, it's crisp and to the point, like a reporter, just the facts. First John the Baptist is that voice crying out in the wilderness - we've been hearing this all through Advent, this announcement, and now here is the start of we've been waiting for, of Jesus' baptism, which begins his ministry, to fulfill God's plan. We might wonder why Jesus needs to be baptized, after all, he does not have any sin. We remember what happens in the story of Jesus' life, and so we know that this story takes us to the cross, and to Jesus' death and to his resurrection and new life. We are reminded of this in his Baptism as he takes on our human sin. Jesus identifies with us, and he is identified as God's Son, the one beginning his ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit. This powerful moment shows us the powerful love God has for us. Jesus unites with us, and shows us how to respond to God. He redeems us and "reveals the form and purpose of the redeemed life."[2]

All four gospels emphasize the difference between John's baptism and the baptism of Jesus. John's baptism was for those who repented and it served to purify and initiate them as believers , and prepare them to receive this one who was to come. Mark shows us that Jesus' baptism was different. God sent the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, in the form of a dove. God spoke. So we have the Trinity, the three in One, all identified as being present in that one moment. Imagine that moment at the Jordan River. John had leaned Jesus back, immersing him in the river, and then brought him back up. Have you ever been under water and then come quickly back up to the surface? You feel the air, the water over your face, you gasp, and everything looks bright. Mark helps us imagine Jesus coming up to see the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. The heavens split open. That Greek word is schizo, the same word Mark also uses in one other place in his gospel, at The Transfiguration. God literally severs the old, creating a passageway for new transformation to be born. The voice comes from heaven and it says: "You are my Son the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (Mark 1: 9-11) Early listeners knew this was from Psalm 2, a song of anointing, as of a king, who would bring them deliverance and new hope. And those who witnessed this moment saw its brightness, its blessedness, its assurance.    We can also know God's presence bursting through. All of that is here for us, as disciples of Christ, today!   

We heard similar words of God's creation in Genesis this morning, with the heavens and the water, with God's Spirit sweeping over the water. This Spirit of God is ruakh, the wind or breath of creation. And God spoke: "Let there be light"; and there was light." Who is the light of the world we've been getting ready for? Jesus' baptism is a new creation that would change everything, as Jesus is sealed with God's Spirit and he shows us the promises and blessing of baptism for us.     

When do you feel blessed? Do you allow yourself to feel blessed?

I remember as a child, being at the dining room table after we'd finished eating our big early Sunday afternoon meal. One of my favorite things to do was to get up, while everyone was talking afterwards, and go over to my Father's chair - he was a Presbyterian pastor - and ask him to "baptize" me. I'd stand there and with his large hands he'd run them over my pixie cut and say: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" with the same loving intonation he used in church. We were all smiles, he giving and me receiving this blessing, and the rest of the family watching.

When a baby or an adult is brought to the font, for the sacrament of baptism, we are fascinated and mesmerized. Of course we all don't literally remember our baptism if we were babes in arms - and perhaps that's the critical point for us. Someone else has to tell us about this one - time, permanent event; and we must, in turn, witness to each other. We remind each other of this invisible thing in the visible community. I love the translation of our scripture passage in The Message - John says of Jesus' baptism: "His baptism - a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit - will change you from the inside out." (Mark 1: 8)

Walter Bruggemann, author and theologian, speaks of a "dialogical" God - a God who calls people to be in relationship with God and with each other. He says: "The point is to listen to the unarticulated narrative... the deepest, deepest yearning I have in my life [he says] is to have someone honor my narrative. Every one wants their narrative honored." [3]

Do you remember way back on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when we lit the 1st candle of Advent; the scripture was from Isaiah 64: 1-9: "Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come back!" Rev. Jon Smoot, our interim minister, preached about how we yearn deeply for God to come and "tear the fabric of reality," he said, as we groan and grasp for the light. Jon blessed us. He said: "God breaks through every day."[4] What I think he meant was that if we remember, and live out our baptismal identity, we can sense and realize God breaking through! THIS day, and every day, can be a new beginning! It doesn't have to be a New Year's resolution; just an ordinary day's realization. God does something new; prison doors swing open, light shines on denial, God breaks through a person's shyness and they share the good news of Jesus Christ with a friend. 

Our PCUSA Directory of Worship says this about our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, who worship together, like we are here today, and then are sent out into the world: It says: "The Spirit of God quickens people to an awareness of God's grace and claim upon their lives.  The Spirit moves them to respond by naming and calling upon God, by remembering and proclaiming God's acts of self-revelation in word and deed, and by committing their lives of God's reign in the world.[5]   This is what we are called to as we "remember our baptism!"

Today, we hear the promises again, and we hear the water sloshed, and sometimes, like this morning, we put our own hands in that water, as you are invited to remember your own baptism. Martin Luther did this each morning - as he washed his face. Splashing the water, he said aloud: "I am baptized." What he was really saying was: "Lord, I know I have sinned, but I know you forgive me, through your grace, because I am baptized." You, too can be assured of being named, claimed, and continually blessed, being the Beloved of God. Know WHOSE you are!  

Henri Nouwen speaks of his relationship with God like this: “I hear at my center words that say: ‘I have called you by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours. You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child. I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step. Wherever you go I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch. I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger, and drink that will quench all your thirst. I will not hide my face from you. You know me as your own as I know you as my own. You belong to me. I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover, and your spouse … yes, even your child … wherever you are I will be. Nothing will ever separate us. We are one.’” [6]

You are the beloved daughters and sons of God!

Baptism is a promise.... that God makes to us, and we make to God. Listen for that voice breaking through to us, transforming us, assuring us. 

The grace that flows in the water of baptism breaks through for us,

yet again today, and every day!       AMEN.