(prayer)
The song of the angels is stilled.
The star in the sky is gone.
The kings and shepherds
have found their way home.
The Work of Christmas is begun.
(“I Am the Light of the World” -
#87VU)
In the calender of the church year, the Christmas season ended on
Friday. Each year, the twelve days of
Christmas run from December 25th though to January 5th.
Yesterday (January 6th) was the day of epiphany. Epiphany is when the church remembers the Matthew-sourced
story of travelling astrologers (aka: wise men, magi) bearing gifts who came to
visit young Jesus.
Today is the first Sunday in the church Season After Epiphany. For the next five weeks (before we enter the
Season of Lent), the common themes that will dominate this Epiphany Season are
the first actions of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. In fact, for our gospel readings, we will be
in the first chapter of Mark for four of the first five Sundays (including
today); the exception will next week, but it is still an early ministry story:
from John, chapter one.
//
An image often associated with this time of year is that of a brightening light. This is reinforced by the fact that we (in
the northern hemisphere at least) are on the summer side of the winter solstice
- with each day getting a little bit longer.
//
//
Genesis 1 creation… as each day dawns, the complexity and
interdependence of the world is expanded.
And it begins (as we heard this morning) with the introduction of light
into the primordial dark. Day One of
Genesis is the creation of perspective
(light and darkness interacting); allowing for depth to be observed. Adding light to darkness opens up greater
possibilities for discovery. If there is
only light or only darkness, the result is the same… nothing new can be
observed.
//
The Season of Epiphany might begin with magi observing literal
starlight, but beyond-the-literal it is about enlightenment.
//
And so, sit back and enjoy some time (over the next month) discovering
what we can learn from
●
Jesus inviting the spiritually curious to
“follow”; and
●
Jesus speaking and acting with surprising
authority.
//
//
//
Our enlightenment begins - today - at the Jordan river with John, the
son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
If the passage from Mark sounded a bit familiar this morning, you might
be remembering that some of the same verses were read during the December 10th
service less than a month ago. Four
weeks back (as we were anticipating Christmas), the focus was on John preparing
the way for Jesus.
Today, we read a little further and heard about Jesus coming to receive
the baptism that John offered.
Advance Notice: we will revisit
Jesus and John at the Jorden one more time in the near future (at the end of
the season of epiphany: February 11th).
Should be a different sermon, though.
//
//
Jesus’ baptism is described in three of the four biblical gospels:
Matthew, Mark, Luke. The Fourth Gospel wrote that John was
a baptizer, who witnessed the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus “like a dove”,
but the text never mentions a baptism of Jesus.
According to what Biblical scholars call the two-source hypothesis of
gospel authorship, Mark is believed to be the first of the New Testament
gospels to be written. As such, what we
heard today is (quite likely) the oldest written account of Jesus baptism.
Again, this two-source theory assumes that Matthew and Luke had copies
of Mark’s version when they penned their own texts.
As far as Jesus’ baptism goes, both of these later authors changed a
word here and there and added an extra detail or two compared to Mark, but all three share the same significant
insight… in the wake of his baptism, Jesus had a tangible, spiritual, mystical,
‘thin place’ encounter:
●
the Spirit of God descended from heaven and touched Jesus; and
●
a heavenly
voice spoke (with pride) that Jesus was the belov-ed Son of God.
The three gospel writers seem to differ on how much (if any) of this was
noticable to others at the river, but clearly the whole encounter had a direct
impact on Jesus. Mark (and Luke)
describe[s] the voice speaking directly to Jesus “YOU are my son, the beloved; with YOU
I am well pleased.”
Our biblical gospels tell us, that - in the wake of his baptism - Jesus
was inspired and encouraged to proclaim (along with John the Baptist) that “the time is at
hand; the Kingdom of God is near;
believe in this good news”.
//
Even though (as Luke insists) Jesus was about thirty years old at the
time (not a young man by 1st century peasant standards), this began a new path
on the journey of his life.
It was a new day… with fresh possibilities and opportunities on the
horizon.
Each dawn (that broke from that point on) shed new light into the
world... wherever Jesus went - with whomever he encountered, hearts and minds
were opened to God’s compassion.
With each evening, each morning, the Spirit was being made known… and it
was good!
//
//
//
It is a nice coincidence that (this year), we are hearing the story of
Jesus’ baptism on the first Sunday of a New Year. The theme of newness is all around us when we
add a new number to the calendar.
//
//
When John of Judah began calling people down to the river for a baptism
of repentance and re-commitment to God, he was drawing on a long and strong
history of ritual washing within the Hebrew religious culture.
The codes of ritual evolved to help people approach formal worship with
a fresh heart, mind and soul. The hebrew
theology was that making time for worship was to feel special… distinct from
the other activities of life.
Read through Leviticus (if you dare) and you will discover the language
of cleanliness. I think that it is overly
simplistic to equate “unclean" with profane
or unworthy.
The truth is... that the ancient priests developed the prescriptions of
rituals as disciplines of focusing one’s soul and body on the specialness of
worship.
The truth is - most of the time, uncleanliness had nothing to do with a
lack of faith or sinfulness.
Living an ordinary life would regularly result in everyone achieving
some level of ritual uncleanliness (coming into contact with certain animals;
preparing a body for burial; having a baby; experiencing normal, natural,
regular body functions…).
And so, one would go through the efforts of special offerings, prayers,
or ritual washings as disciplines of preparation for participation in formal
worship.
//
I mention this to point out that John’s baptism was not really a new
thing. He was simply adding a new twist
on a familiar activity.
//
Within the modern Christian church, baptism is a ritual with a complex
array of meanings. Different sects of
Christianity process very different beliefs about baptism, although pretty much
all of us accept that its roots are in ancient Hebrew cleanliness rituals and
that (for John) it was a act of re-focussing one’s life on God. John explicitly proclaimed that the baptism
was a symbol of God’s forgiveness.
//
New Testament authors began to compare the act of going in and out of
the water during baptism as a metaphor for participating in the dying and
rising of Jesus - the death and resurrection of Christ. This is an extrapolation of something Mark
wrote in his gospel: to be a disciple, one will
take up their cross and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34).
//
Perhaps the earliest interpretation of baptism is that it is a rite of initiation into the community of
Jesus’ followers. It is the ritual of
membership.
We still use that language today.
Some modern churches define their membership rolls by those who have
been baptized. But almost universally,
baptism is a response to a conscious decision to let faith into the life of the
one being baptized.
Churches (like ours) that welcome people of all ages to be baptised have
developed a secondary ritual of confirmation
for those who were baptised as children who want to make their own profession
of faith. Advance Notice: I’ll be offering
Confirmation Classes on Sunday afternoons in March.
//
//
From the earliest days of the christian church, Baptism has been
enmeshed with Belonging.
//
The Book of Acts uses the language of baptism to describe increasing
numbers of people believing in Jesus as the Messiah:
Those who welcomed [Peter’s] message were
baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. (Acts 2:41);
Baptism
was a response to hearing the good news:
[Phillip] proclaimed to [the man from Ethiopian]
the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some
water; and the [man] said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from
being baptized?’ (Acts 8:35-36)
//
//
Regardless of how baptism is defined in various denominational bylaws
and dogmas, there is a broader sense that we are talking about inviting, welcoming, belonging.
//
//
It is human nature to long to
belong… to be connected with others around common needs and purpose.
//
At a memorial service here in the church yesterday, I reminded that
congregation that God's creation seems to be based
on relationships. We see this in the
physics of the universe: from quantum level attractions to how distant galaxies
influence each other's journey through the void.
At the level of the human heart and mind, our lives are
enriched by the interactions we have with those around us. Each person longs to be enriched in this way…
and so we choose:
●
to establish friendships,
●
to nurture family bonds,
●
to feed our emotional need to have
a place and a purpose in this life.
//
//
In the light of this new year, we have the opportunity to explore what
it can mean to identify as a Follower of
Jesus (a Christian)... in 2018.
What might it mean for me to belong to the collection of jesus-followers
in the world today, in my community, in my life?
//
//
For me, I start with the nature of God’s relationship with
humanity. The overarching theme of the
creation story in the first chapter in Genesis is that God speaks goodness into
life.
As I said, I think it is an oversimplification of the cleanliness
rituals to presume that God views us as sinful and unclean creations. I believe that Genesis 1:31 is still true - God saw everything that he had made, and
indeed, it was very good.
I believe (as the Apostle Paul did) that there is nothing that is able to seperate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:39)
I believe that the same voice that called Jesus “beloved”, loves us…
even (especially) when we fall short of our best potential.
//
//
Being a follower of jesus is not
an exercise in perfection.
We are not loved for our good deeds.
We are not loved for our pure thoughts.
We are loved because God is well pleased with the universe and we are
part of it.
This is what theologians call grace.
God’s love is not dependent on us.
It is a divine gift to the world.
//
Being a follower of Jesus is an invitation to show this grace-filled
compassion to the World we share. There
are simply too many people who feel left out.
We can be the local sparks of the wider light of God.
//
//
As we accept our belonging, we can become increasingly aware of the
warmth in the love of God.
And then share the light.
//
//
Let us
pray:
God of
Love, help us to rejoice in the new life to which you call us. Amen.
***offering***
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