Musical Prelude and Service.
Isaiah 43:1-7 & Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
There are some generalities around preparing sermons. Well, at least, that’s what I have come to believe. Like pretty much everything, there are nuances to all of this.
Is the sermon a narrative or is it more along the lines of an essay?
Is it broken roughly into three parts – Introduction, exposition and conclusion?
And finally, is it a sermon that challenges the listener or affirms and assures the listener?
Challenges the listener to alter their behaviour or their way of seeing the world? Or assures the congregation of something?
I think I find myself more often than not writing sermons that offer challenge. Hopefully not along the lines of convicting people of bad behaviour, but perhaps to take a closer or more clear-eyed view of the world in which they live, and challenges them to consider what they can bring to that world.
Along those lines, I do think messages of assurance or affirmation are truly important. Not necessarily along the lines of, you are doing great; there’s no need to change; the world outside these doors is the problem, we just need to keep everyone else away. No!
But I do believe, sometimes we do need to hear very clearly the words that God’s love for us is unending and unconditional. Because once again, we live in a world that can be extremely effective in muting that message or distracting us from that truth and leaving us despairing for the world and our future.
Today we hear the story of the Baptism of Jesus. In many liturgical circles, it is referred to as the Baptism of the Lord. It is a Sunday when frequently, (and I guess I will work with this tradition) clergy take time to discuss the significance of baptism.
Baptism is one of our sacraments. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches there are seven sacraments. In protestant traditions, such as ours we have two, communion and baptism. We arrived at that decision because these are the two actions scholars could agree upon that Jesus actually participated in. These are visible signs of God’s invisible grace.
So, we as a community participate in communion; which we will share a little later this morning, and baptism; during which we are witnesses to God’s powerful and beautiful grace in our lives.
But what does baptism mean? People see at as meaning a great many things. It is a sign of rebirth. Of cleansing, the washing away of sin.
It can mean all of this and so much more. It is absolutely symbolic, and as such we tend to attach meaning to it. I think that tells us a great deal about where we are in our world. And none of that is a bad thing.
John calls people to the Jordan River to be baptized as a part of a call to repentance or Metanoia. A start on their transformation into something new.
And Jesus chooses to participate in this.
Is Jesus baptised to be cleansed of his sin? Typically, the church has said no. Jesus was without sin. So why was he baptized?
For a very long time the church has baptised infants. Was it necessary to cleanse these infants who had so little life experience of their sin?
That is in part because one of the early messages attached to the sacrament of baptism is that only those who were baptized would be welcomed into heaven. In a world where infant mortality was so high, anxious parents didn’t want to waste too much time waiting for their beloved children to be baptized.
Hopefully we have progressed to the point we don’t see God as that exclusionary. A visible sing of God’s invisible grace.
It isn’t that God’s grace is hidden from us. I think it is more that we sometimes struggle to witness or to acknowledge the signs of God’s love that are always all around us.
Jesus joins a group of people who come to John to be baptized, signalling their commitment to walking a new path with God. Jesus in front of others participates in this ritual committing himself to that path. And God speaks to Jesus in that moment. You are my child. In you I am well pleased.
I see you. I see who you are, and it pleases me.
One could argue that this message is directly addressed to Jesus himself. God is pleased with Jesus; not necessarily the people who went before and after him into the Jordan.
Except. Except. In Isaiah, we read the prophet repeats God’s message. I have called you by name. You are mine. No matter where you go. No matter what you experience, what you endure. I am with you. Because you are precious in my sight and honoured. I love you.
So, I tend to see the encompassing message of scripture as one of God’s enduring and all-powerful love for all of us. The sacraments, be it communion or baptism is our way of acknowledging and participating in that love in a public and demonstrative way.
Whether it be through the bread and the cup, or the water of life connect us to God and to the whole of creation. We announce to one another and to God that we are God’s children; together.
When we as a congregation witness the ritual of baptism, we participate in that act and we stand as witnesses for the rest of the Christian church, the body of Christ that we are welcoming this person into our community. We have a responsibility to this child of God. We are ready to walk with them, care for them and support them on their journey.
So, as Jesus rises from the water and hears God tell him, he is seen. He is recognized he is pleasing to God, may we also be reassured, we are seen, we are recognized. We; all of us, are pleasing to God. And so too are our neighbours, our family, our friends. And may we walk through life with that awareness and that assurance.
May we be empowered to recognize and mind the people we encounter along our own journey.
Professor and scholar Karoline Lewis, one of the writers I came across in my studies this week made this observation. “It’s hard to pay attention to another when you have never had another pay attention to you.”
We yearn to be seen. We yearn to have the assurance our efforts, our struggles are recognized and appreciated. Be assured God sees you,
God loves you. God is well pleased by you.
And may we all find our way to reassure the people we meet that they are seen, they are appreciated.
They are loved.
Thanks be to God. Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield
Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number 2701258 and One License # A-731789
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