January 10, 2010
The First Sunday after The Epiphany (Year C)
The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17;
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Last week during the sermon time we had an excellent presentation by Carol Brady and Carolyn Platt on the J2A Program. It was unfortunate that the snow prevented so many people from being in church that day to hear it. However, their “sermon” will be on the Church web site shortly, if it is not already.
The foundational scripture for the J2A program was last Sunday’s gospel: the story of the twelve year old Jesus going with his parents to Jerusalem, and subsequently getting separated from them only to be found three days later talking with the elders in the temple. The exchange between this almost adolescent Jesus and his parents can be easily related to conversations our present day youth have with their parents: anxiety, anger, frustration, “you just don’t understand!” This is why the J2A has adopted this passage as its lead in. As the program goes on into its third and fourth years, as I understood it, the youth, individually, at some point will reach a self-defining moment, a moment of discovering who they are and finding Christ in themselves as well as in others. .
And this brings me to today’s gospel because, I think, if we consider first that young almost adolescent Jesus, then project forward across the intervening years, of which we know very little, to the day when he came to the region around the Jordan where John was baptizing, we can appreciate more fully what a defining moment that was for Jesus. Some might speculate that he received baptism from John because everyone else was doing it, that he was caught up in the excitement, and in addition, John, in spite of his reference to “one more powerful than I is coming,” seems not to be aware of the presence of Jesus as anyone special . . . but . . . then comes the unexpected, the Holy Spirit descending upon him, Jesus, in the form of a dove and the voice coming for heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Wow! Whatever he may have thought before that moment, Jesus knew then that from that time on he had a ministry, a mission, that he had a calling, that he had a vision, that he must follow.
I realize that I am inadvertently making a case for adult baptism, and there are proponents for that – there have been for centuries, and the very early church practiced that. In fact candidates for baptism, adults, would spend months in preparation for this day, this once a year time, when baptisms were administered in conjunction with the reading of this specific gospel. But times change! And infant baptism became the norm based, according to an early theologian, on a “universal human need for the grace of Christ.” It is an affirmation of belonging to a community, a Christian community – yes, a need to be as full member of that community. And the concern about whether its sacramental meaning is understood by the baptizee is by-passed to the later Rite of Confirmation. But this Sunday, the first Sunday after Epiphany, the day we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, is still a time that the Church suggests we have baptisms.
So today (at the later service) (shortly) we are to be witnesses of the baptism of Imogen Veronica Diesl, a child very much part of this congregation, this community, whether she is baptized or not – her parents and grandparents are well-known here! But I doubt that this moment is going to be as self-defining for her as his was for Jesus, but as she grows older, we trust that she will come to realize that, because of this day and this sacrament, she is part of a very special community, one that is broader than her own immediate family, broader even than Good Shepherd, a community with a commitment to service to those in need, to working for justice and peace, to respecting the dignity of all, a community that follows Jesus, confessing him as Lord and Saviour, that sees Jesus in every person, that prays, that forgives, that gives comfort and support to those who hurt, that, in summation of all the above, keeps his commandment to love one another as he loved us.
Recognized or not by her, this is the moment of new birth for Imogen, the moment that Isaiah describes in the beautiful, poetic passage we heard earlier, “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” This is the moment when Imogen is “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” It is a pretty significant moment, and should be for all of us, too, as we join with her, renewing our own baptismal covenant.
However, because of who and what we are, flawed human beings, and so often babies, it is not necessarily the moment that defines who and what we will become. If that were so, I think there would be no criminals, no murderers, no thieves, no embezzlers, no cheaters, no human rights violators, you name it, no wickedness, no poverty, in this world, at least not among those of us who are baptized. To paraphrase Julian of Norwich, “All things would be well” and we would look beyond our own weaknesses to making God’s possibilities our realities. But such is not the case, as we know full well! So, it is up to us to remember and to take that baptism, that foundation, with all its promise, with all its God given grace, to renew our vows, to learn and to teach, to struggle, to become the person, the people, that God wants us to be.
I wonder how many of us here today can say in the words of that well known hymn, “how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed?” Can you point to a specific time or place? Was it something someone said, in a sermon, perhaps? Or just an exclamation about the beauty of a sunset? Or was it something more awe-inspiring, the birth of your first child, or grandchild? Or the moment the doctor said, “The crisis has passed, he or she will be okay?” Or maybe it coincided with one of life’s expected plateaus or pleasures, a graduation, a marriage?
I was once asked by a very fundamentalist neighbor, “Have you been saved?” She was looking to hear about that defining moment when I might have said, “Ah-ha, I believe!” At the time I found it to be a very scary question, and since I had never really thought about it, I knew if I said, “No!” I’d be subjected to a long “lecture.” So I said, “Yes!” End of discussion! But then afterwards I did think about it and realized, yes, of course, that’s what baptism is all about. There’s no question about it, I have been saved! Through baptism we are in relationship with Jesus Christ in a new life of grace as we, or our sponsors at the time, confess him to be our Lord and Savior. As it was for Jesus so it truly is a defining moment for each and every one of us.
So as we think about and pray for Imogen and that new life in Christ that she is about to embark upon, let us think about and pray how we, each one of us, can live into our own baptisms, however long ago they were, what new things we can do to keep the covenant we have made, confessing Christ as Lord and Savior, and then may we open ourselves up a little more each day to the Holy Spirit, and in the days ahead follow, with Jesus beside us, wherever that Spirit may lead.
Amen.
Sonia F. G. Stevenson, M. Div.
Church of the Good Shepherd