Baptism of Our Lord
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Many of us have shared with one another how this Christmas, we heard the message of God’s love born among us in a much more intense way than in years prior. 2020 was a challenging year in so many ways. We had to deal with racial tensions, political divisions, economic set-backs, and a virus that shut down life as we knew it, including our churches, schools, and family gatherings. Added that is the worry caused by the violence at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Having struggled all year long, the gospel of God shining light into the darkness had a very new meaning for us. It was life-giving in ways we had not felt it before.
The same is true with today’s scriptures about baptism. Every year at the end of the Christmas season, we ponder the story of Jesus’ baptism. The baby in the cradle is now fully grown, and God announces him to the whole world as his beloved son. With that divine approval, Jesus will now set out to begin his ministry.
In this time of COVID and unrest, aspects of Jesus’ baptism have gained new meaning and importance. In turn, our own baptism received new meaning and importance.
Let me highlight a few of these aspects.
One of them is the urgency Mark expresses in his telling of the gospel story. John the Baptists appears in the wilderness, urging people to repent, now, immediately, because someone more powerful than he is coming to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Get yourself ready, now!
In the very next verse, that someone shows up. Jesus is here, and he is being baptized.
Immediately upon emerging from the water, the heavens are torn apart, the Spirit descends upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven proclaims Jesus to be God’s beloved son.
Immediately afterwards, the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for a period of fasting and wrestling with the devil.
“Immediately” is Mark’s favorite word. Things happen quickly. There is urgency here. God is acting. Jesus is being launched. The Holy Spirit is driving events froward.
I can relate to this sense of urgency. I have struggled with restlessness for weeks now. I constantly feel like I need to do something. People are hurting, people are lonely, people are hungry, people miss church. What can I do? How can I, or how can we as a congregation, minister to God’s people? The urgency I feel is especially in regard to connections within our community of faith. How can we stay in touch? How can we keep people from drifting away? How can we connect with each other and with God, and keep our congregation alive?
That’s where the second aspect of baptism comes in: Creativity. The Holy Spirit that descends like a dove upon Jesus at his baptism, the Holy Spirit given to each one of us in our baptism, is the same spirit that created the world we know. God’s spirit brought order into chaos and shaped the universe for good.
With great creative power, God separates light from darkness, day from night. In the rest of the creation story, God separates the land from the sea and then populates both with living things of all shapes and sizes. Finally, God creates humans to take care of creation, to support one another, and to worship God.
Creativity in the midst of chaos: That surely rings a bell for me. When COVID first descended upon us, chaos descended right along with it. What are we going to do? How are we going to worship? What about Bible studies? Catechism? Youth group? Vacation Bible School? Mother-Daughter-Banquet? Offering? Communion? We lost a staff member. We lost our renter and with it 10% of our income. It was chaos alright.
The Holy Spirit helped us with amazing creativity. We learned so many new skills, discovered many new ways of doing things. A year ago, I had not heard of Zoom. Now I have had up to four Zoom meetings a day. Staff, council, Bible study groups all meet on that platform now, and it works.
We learned to do worship online, first from our living room, then from the sanctuary, then in the parking lot, then via life stream – again and again we tapped into the creative powers of the Holy Spirit and adjusted and improved and invited our brothers and sisters into worship.
I am awed by the creative ideas that emerged within our congregation. Here are just a few: Rally Day on the church’s front lawn with each family on its own picnic blanket; Trunk-or-Treat at Halloween; Pastor-Chats after worship; a drive-in Christmas Market; a video greeting from our members to our members; a food drive via a plastic tote by the church doors that collected 600 pounds of food for our local food pantry, initiated by a girl scout. Let us celebrate and give thanks for the creative Spirit of God helping us deal with the chaos.
There is still plenty of chaos with us, of course. Having to cancel Christmas parking lot services at the last moment was a reminder of the fact that challenges will keep popping up, throwing us for a loop and demanding creative responses. The pandemic keeps shifting. Schools go in and out of classrooms. Politicians go back and forth on economic solutions. And chaos definitely reigned in DC this week. It’s still a mess.
That’s where another aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work is good news: In creation, the Holy Spirit hovered over the chaos. In his baptism, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and will hover over him through all the ups and downs of his ministry.
I love this image of the Holy Spirit hovering over our messes. The other time this word “hovering” is used in the Bible gives us an idea of what God is doing here through the Holy Spirit. This is what we read in Deuteronomy 32:10-11:
[God] sustained him in a desert land,
in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its pinions,
The Lord alone guided him.
Like a tender mother, the Holy Spirit hovers, broods, flutters over the chaos at creation, seeking to create spaces of safety and respite. The Holy Spirit hovers over us in all the chaos we are experiencing, working hard to provide safe spaces where we can feel grounded, where we can catch a breath, where can feel God’s nearness and love.
One way God has done that for me is through the people of this congregation. Two examples stand out. One is the wonderful, dedicated, faithful group of staff and volunteers who have kept our congregational life going through their hard work. The other is the Christmas greeting video I mentioned before. Whenever I felt overwhelmed by the chaos and afraid of the future, I sat down and watched that again. All those smiling people reminded me that I am not in this alone. You all are with me, and the Holy Spirit is with me, and together we can move forward with hope.
Another aspect I want to highlight is the overall atmosphere of the event of Jesus’ baptism. I have always pictured it as a serene moment along the gentle Jordan River: The sun is shining, the water splashes, the people are in prayerful adoration.
The words Mark uses, however, hint at more energy. I already mentioned the urgency in his story telling. On top of that, we read about the heavens being torn apart, ripped open, rent asunder. There is powerful action at work.
The voice from heaven doesn’t just “come”, as our translation has it, but cries out, the same as the voice of the prophet in the desert cries out, and demonic spirits cry out when Jesus casts them out, and Jesus himself cries out at the cross. This is loud and forceful.
This whole baptismal scene is an event filled with the energy and power of God. And that is good news. Jesus is launched here into his life of ministry. The experience of God’s power and energy will travel with him and sustain him. The same power and energy of God is with us, as well. Ever since we were baptized, God has accompanied us on our life’s journey and sustained us with his loving power and uplifting energy.
This power and energy is a gift from God through the Holy Spirit. Here I come to the last aspect I want to point to: The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and God proclaims Jesus beloved before Jesus has done any ministry at all. He has yet to preach his first sermon or heal his first leper or call his first disciple.
Likewise, God has called us beloved children before we did anything. Being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit is not something we have to earn; it is given to us as a gift. God calls us beloved totally independent from what we accomplish in this world.
That is such good news! No matter how we manage this chaos, we are God’s beloved. No matter how grumpy we might get, how overwhelmed or anxious we might feel, how powerless we seem, God calls us beloved. You and I are God’s beloved. Thanks be to God.
These are the aspects of baptism I highlighted in today’s sermon: the urgency of Jesus’ coming, the creativity of God, the hovering care of the Holy Spirit, the energy and power of God, and our status as beloved children of God. All this (and more, but I am running out of time) is bestowed on us when we are baptized. Wow! No wonder we make a big deal out of baptism.
Yes, please make a big deal out of baptism. Remember your baptismal anniversaries. Light your baptismal candles. Bless each other on your special day. This year, like few I can remember, has the fact that I am a baptized child of God made such a difference.
We don’t know what the next year will bring. But we do know this: We are beloved baptized children of God, and with God’s love, energy, power, urgency, creativity, and tender care, we will prevail in hope and in faith. Amen.nd tender care, we will prevail in hope and in faith. Amen.