An Epiphany!
January 4, 2015Unity of the Spirit
January 18, 201511
Jan.
2015
Remembering Our Baptism
“Remembering Our Baptism”
Listen to the sermon here.
What are some of your new year’s resolutions? Getting a fresh start? Improve health, pay down debt, volunteer? Avoid some of those time-sucking electronic devices? Those were some of the most popular ones I read about this week.
Have you been keeping them or dropped them already? My track record is not great in keeping mine over the years I must admit.
Whatever your opinion of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO does manage to set New Year’s resolutions every year and stick to them. This year, like most years, he asks people, over Facebook, to send him examples of resolutions he should try for the New Year and he usually picks one and implements it.
One year he decided to learn Mandarin, while other years saw him become a vegetarian or wearing a tie every day and write a thank you note every day to someone who made the world better. Thus far Zuckerberg has received nearly 41000 suggestions for 2015 but to my knowledge hasn’t decided on a resolution yet.
The idea of New Year’s celebrations date back at least to ancient Babylon – some 4,000 years ago. However, the Babylonians, as well as many other ancient cultures, celebrated the New Year on the vernal equinox. It’s said Julius Caesar changed the date to Jan. 1 to honor the Roman god Janus, the God of beginnings and passages.
At mid night on New Year’s Eve many of us sang the tune Auld Lange Syne. “Auld lange syne” translates to mean “times gone by” in Scottish dialect and is a poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns put to music.
“Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished, and fully past and gone: Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold, that loving Breast of thine; That thou canst never once reflect
On Auld lang syne.”
The song begins by posing a question as to whether it is right that old times be forgotten, and is generally interpreted to reject that idea, and instead it is a call to remember long-standing friendships.
When we think spiritually about times gone by, things in the past, old spiritual experiences, the first spiritual activity in most of our lives is baptism. It’s the first thing that happens to us in faith. Presbyterians believe in infant baptism as a sign of entrance into the covenant community. It’s something we don’t do to ourselves, much as God comes to us in grace. So we begin this New Year, on baptism of the Lord Sunday, affirming that old acquaintances and experiences should not be forgotten, rather that we should remember our baptisms. We affirm that the flames of God’s love still burn bright. Even if our baptism was too long ago and we were too young to actually remember it, we start this New Year affirming that when we are baptized something spiritual happens. For we are all spiritual beings. And God cares for us through the spirit.
Let us pray. Gracious God. In the water of life you create us. In the water of tears we shed you comfort us. In the baptism of the Holy Spirit you inspire us to claim our membership in the body of Christ. In whose name we pray. Amen.
This season after epiphany and through Lent we are going to focus on the spirit.
It’s a time of connectionalism. How we connect with God and how we connect with each other. We are going to shift in worship, ours sermons style will shift a bit, there may be less of a focus on them and we’ll have a prayer focus in worship instead, all leading to Lenten discipline of connecting. Small groups and prayer and intentional spiritual life are part of our journey. But that spiritual journey begins for many with baptism. Baptism is our entrance into the spiritual life of the church. And remembering we are baptized into the spirit helps us honor that.
Baptism was important for Jesus. Baptism of Jesus is present in all four scriptures spirit is there is present
Matthew 3:13-17 John baptized Jesus. the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descended like a dove,
Mark 1:9-11 “Jesus was baptized by John. And the Spirit like a dove descending
John 1:29-33 “ John saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove on Jesus, and he said of Jesus that the Spirit was descending, and remaining on him, and baptizing with the Holy Ghost.”
Matthew 28:19, 20 and longer version of Mark 16, both Gospels end in part with the commission to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
And here in Luke again John Baptizes Jesus and the Holy Spirit descended on him and a and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”
Luke confirms this statement writing in Acts 2:38 that whoever is baptized receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is a rhythm of baptism and then the Holy Spirit being present.
Baptism of the Lord Sunday helps us remember that we are united. That we are spiritual beings with a spiritual focus. For just as the Holy Spirit was present at Jesus baptism, the Spirit is present at ours.
So as we seek to become more spiritual, be spirit led people, we must remember that in our baptism, like our Lord’s we are spirit filled.
We should seek to identify with Jesus as we begin and move through life from our baptism. Luke tells us a voice from heaven identified Jesus as the son of God. At some level this completes a cycle of Christmas. White as the color of Baptism of the Lord Sunday connects it with Christmas and Epiphany. Angelic voices from heaven and doves help the shepherds and us distinguish the baby in the manger as something more. The wise men follow the star to find the child. The one Israel had been searching for for centuries. As the son of God. Later in his ministry, Jesus would ask his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” That question is answered in part at his baptism. He is God’s son, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased.
The phrase “you are my son,” comes from Psalm 2 and the tradition of the messianic king. “In whom I am well pleased,” builds on the suffering servant motif in Isaiah 42 and 53. The term “beloved,” agapetos in Greek, is also used by Luke to describe Jesus’ transfiguration.[i] Thus the voice from Heaven at his baptism emphasizes Jesus’ holiness, strength and humility, all important qualities with which we should identify.
Baptism is not a saving sacrament. We don’t believe God requires baptism for eternal life, yet Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Jesus was telling his followers to identify themselves with God, with things of the spirit, with him. So we baptize infants and before people join the church. Baptism marks our belonging to God. We share our life with members of the community in the church.
The question for those here who have been baptized is, what does your baptism mean to you today? Our baptism comes alive through our choices. Are signs of our baptism visible in our way of living?
By the way you live, how do you show that your baptism has meaning to you? This period of connectional focus and in particular our spiritual focus of Lent, will be opportunities.
Each one of us has some way to show signs of our baptism. In how we volunteer, how we care, what we invest in, where we put our time, how we bounce back, who we identify with.
His baptism marked the start of Jesus’ ministry. The spirit descended upon Jesus and stayed with him throughout his life. From the time of his baptism, people began to find their new way of living by identifying with Jesus. Disciples who gave up selfish ambition or immoral conduct. Followers who were searching for meaning found it in Christ. Christians affirm that the spirit is with all who are baptized for us to draw upon when we seek forgiveness, meaning and hope.
Whether we recognize it at the moment of baptism or not until many years later, we are called to live a spiritual life in Christ. We remember that it is into Jesus that we are baptized. Our identity lies in him and for his sake we seek to bring his values and love into the world.
Jesus let the river of God’s love flow through him. And people responded by following him.
In a moment we are going to encourage you to remember and renew your baptismal covenant with the help of the community. Just as we baptize children in part because we believe God’s grace calls us before we are even able to respond, we will place the sign of the cross on each other’s foreheads as a sign of God’s lo
Our faith is renewed when we internalize and live out the life-giving promise that we are loved by God. Whenever we do something Christ-like in our lives, when we are the bigger women or man, take the high road, step down off our high –horse, sacrifice for someone else, share what we have and receive an honest word in love, shower others with mercy; and when we renew our covenant by claiming our inheritance of hope-filled grace and creation of strengthening spirit in proclaiming that we are spiritual people who identify with Jesus Christ, our souls know we are pleasing to God. That we are loved by God. And so by the spirit we are baptized in love again and again.
It was super cold this week wasn’t it? A friend sent me a thought he read about extreme weather and baptism: “In the remote deserts of Southwestern United States, temperatures soar above 120 degrees every summer. The earth cakes and cracks. To lift one’s face to the early afternoon sun is like standing too close to the open door of a hot oven. Yet, in spite of the terrible heat, even the most isolated desert areas are home for many people. The reason is simple: there is more to the blazing desert than meets the eye. Below the parched expanse of rock, cactus and sagebrush there are pools, streams and rivers. Residents dig wells, sometimes as shallow as six feet, and draw all the water they need. And as long as they have water, they can live — in even the most blistering of (weather) conditions.”[ii]
Even when we face the most blistering conditions, and life is rough and not what we’d like, and our tears are the only water which seems available, there is more to us than meets the eye. Deep down there is a sign of the holy. We are beloved children of God, marked as Christ’s own. Christ goes with us.
I don’t remember my own baptism. But I can recall the experience of being a parent at the baptisms of our children. Of holding them, letting them go as they were baptized, and then receiving them again. And I too received a gift of the spirit in those moments.
The Auld lange syne, the “times gone by,” in which we were baptized, are worth remembering. Renewing. And in them resolving to live out our faith in our every day lives.
In a world where so many of us are searching for meaning, the waters of baptism give us meaning, for our baptism means we belong to God. In a world searching for purpose, our baptism helps us know we can contribute to God’s plan. In a world that can feel lonely, our baptism reminds us that we do not stand alone. In a world that can be cold and dark and hurting, our baptism reminds us that we are beloved by God. In a world that can seek focused and busy and serious, baptism reminds us that at our core we are soulful, joyful, spiritual creations. In a world lacking in love, our baptism helps us remember that God’s river of love flows through us to the world.
Let us always remember that. Let us pray…..