Baptism of Christ 2008 sermon
Christmas now seems a long time ago – much has happened, normality has been resumed with Neighbours back on television, and decorations have been taken down and packed away for another year. The news this week has often referred to the fact that this is the most depressing time of year – the time when winter gloom really sets in, the euphoria of Christmas has ended and people have to get back to living real life. We’re told also that for many divorce lawyers, this is their busiest time of the year, with couples trying to get through Christmas, either for the sake of other people, or in the hope that some Christmas magic will save their relationship.
Christmas is a wonderful interlude in our lives, but now it is very much time to get on with life, and this is once again the sense of our readings on this day that we commemorate the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist of course preached a message of repentance, and practised baptism as a way of symbolically cleansing those who accepted his message, but Jesus, without sin, did not need to be baptised at all, but he did so to identify himself with us all and also to mark the start of his ministry.
In identifying himself so closely with all of humanity, Jesus was letting us know that he was setting himself up as an example for us to follow of how to live, and in his baptism, as he took on his ministry, he was confirming to us all, that in baptism, whether as a child or an adult, we are being born into a ministry.
Of course baptism is much wider, it includes the adoption into a new family, but that ministry part is one that is often forgotten. With Jesus as our example we are all called into a ministry of service. As children of God, our baptism has commissioned us to continue the work of Jesus today.
So what might that work be ? Every one of us has some sort of calling, every one of us is loved by and useful to God, whether we always recognise it or not. Whether young or old, God wants us to play a part in his creation. He wants us to offer his love to everyone. This may be, as we have thought about quite a bit in recent weeks, in ordained ministry, but for many it will be in our day to day lives – how we treat one another, how we treat people around us, those we know and those we don’t.
The world today is filled with chaos. We live in a time of great financial instability; we live in a time of unrest in many parts of the world, not least of course, in the land of Jesus himself. We have turmoil at times in the Church with all kinds of arguments about different things, usually very petty, but hugely distracting from concentrating on the work of Jesus, and of course many people have chaos in their own lives, for a variety of reasons.
In the Bible turmoil and chaos is sometimes portrayed in terms of water – we think of the great flood, or Jesus calming the storm out on the waters, and in the psalm today (29), we have a message that God is still in control – his voice we are told, is upon the waters; his voice is mighty in operation, his voice is a glorious voice.
And that is our hope and our belief – that whatever chaos and misery surround us, or whatever turmoil there is in the world, God is there. In the Old Testament reading we hear of a world full of chaos, a formless void, and darkness and wind all around, and a voice said ‘Let there be light’ and God entered the chaos and brought peace. God entered the world again in the form of Jesus and he came into a world filled with turmoil and chaos, he saw the pain, he felt the needs of real people, and he offered them peace….
Today perhaps that is our greatest opportunity for ministry – to bring hope into a troubled world, and into lives filled with worry and pain. We do that, not by being incredibly clever, not by having the right words to say all of the time, or some training which will miraculously transform us into marvellous pastoral visitors, but by offering ourselves, by listening, by showing we care, and by encouraging people to trust that, whatever pain they face, they are not alone – God is with them, and we are with them…
I have no doubt that the support of God is more than enough for anyone, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need the support of people as well. There’s that wonderful story about the little girl lying in bed one night crying for her mother because she was scared in the dark, so she called her mother, who shouted up that she didn’t need to worry because God was with her, and the little girl replied, ‘I know God is with me, but I need someone with skin on as well…’
All of us need to support each other – one of the joys of baptism is being part of that family that I mentioned earlier – a family that must support each other in good times and in bad…
As Jesus came out of the water after his baptism, his life took a new direction. As his followers, we also emerge from the waters of baptism as new people, who with God’s help are willing to counter the chaos of our world. On this day we don’t look back to Christmas, but we look forward to the task ahead, trusting that some day it may be said by that voice from heaven, as it was of Jesus, “You are my beloved son (or daughter !), with you I am well pleased.’
The light of the world is here – Jesus came amongst us and remains with us constantly. With the Holy Spirit we are equipped to go about doing his work… I heard a comment from someone saying something like, ‘When did we think it was a good idea for the Church to be quiet ?’ In other words when did we think it was a good idea to stop shouting out a message of hope and peace, to stop showing really practical but extravagant displays of love for one another…
Too often it seems we have become embroiled in a situation where we don’t know what we should do. There’s a story about a woman who was walking along the street one night and came upon a man parked outside her apartment building walking around under the streetlight and gazing intently at the ground. She asked what he was doing and he replied that he was looking for his car keys which he’d dropped.
She offered to help and started looking as well. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you sure you dropped them over here?” “No, I dropped them near my car which is over the other side of the road”, he replied. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her sarcasm. “Well, because we’d never find them over there. There’s no light over there!”
There is only one place to find the true light of the world and that is in Jesus – and there is only way to serve him, and that is by offering ourselves to live as he lived – full of compassion, offering hope and peace, forgiveness and encouragement, working for peace and justice, and showing love in everything we do and say. AMEN
Christmas is a wonderful interlude in our lives, but now it is very much time to get on with life, and this is once again the sense of our readings on this day that we commemorate the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist of course preached a message of repentance, and practised baptism as a way of symbolically cleansing those who accepted his message, but Jesus, without sin, did not need to be baptised at all, but he did so to identify himself with us all and also to mark the start of his ministry.
In identifying himself so closely with all of humanity, Jesus was letting us know that he was setting himself up as an example for us to follow of how to live, and in his baptism, as he took on his ministry, he was confirming to us all, that in baptism, whether as a child or an adult, we are being born into a ministry.
Of course baptism is much wider, it includes the adoption into a new family, but that ministry part is one that is often forgotten. With Jesus as our example we are all called into a ministry of service. As children of God, our baptism has commissioned us to continue the work of Jesus today.
So what might that work be ? Every one of us has some sort of calling, every one of us is loved by and useful to God, whether we always recognise it or not. Whether young or old, God wants us to play a part in his creation. He wants us to offer his love to everyone. This may be, as we have thought about quite a bit in recent weeks, in ordained ministry, but for many it will be in our day to day lives – how we treat one another, how we treat people around us, those we know and those we don’t.
The world today is filled with chaos. We live in a time of great financial instability; we live in a time of unrest in many parts of the world, not least of course, in the land of Jesus himself. We have turmoil at times in the Church with all kinds of arguments about different things, usually very petty, but hugely distracting from concentrating on the work of Jesus, and of course many people have chaos in their own lives, for a variety of reasons.
In the Bible turmoil and chaos is sometimes portrayed in terms of water – we think of the great flood, or Jesus calming the storm out on the waters, and in the psalm today (29), we have a message that God is still in control – his voice we are told, is upon the waters; his voice is mighty in operation, his voice is a glorious voice.
And that is our hope and our belief – that whatever chaos and misery surround us, or whatever turmoil there is in the world, God is there. In the Old Testament reading we hear of a world full of chaos, a formless void, and darkness and wind all around, and a voice said ‘Let there be light’ and God entered the chaos and brought peace. God entered the world again in the form of Jesus and he came into a world filled with turmoil and chaos, he saw the pain, he felt the needs of real people, and he offered them peace….
Today perhaps that is our greatest opportunity for ministry – to bring hope into a troubled world, and into lives filled with worry and pain. We do that, not by being incredibly clever, not by having the right words to say all of the time, or some training which will miraculously transform us into marvellous pastoral visitors, but by offering ourselves, by listening, by showing we care, and by encouraging people to trust that, whatever pain they face, they are not alone – God is with them, and we are with them…
I have no doubt that the support of God is more than enough for anyone, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need the support of people as well. There’s that wonderful story about the little girl lying in bed one night crying for her mother because she was scared in the dark, so she called her mother, who shouted up that she didn’t need to worry because God was with her, and the little girl replied, ‘I know God is with me, but I need someone with skin on as well…’
All of us need to support each other – one of the joys of baptism is being part of that family that I mentioned earlier – a family that must support each other in good times and in bad…
As Jesus came out of the water after his baptism, his life took a new direction. As his followers, we also emerge from the waters of baptism as new people, who with God’s help are willing to counter the chaos of our world. On this day we don’t look back to Christmas, but we look forward to the task ahead, trusting that some day it may be said by that voice from heaven, as it was of Jesus, “You are my beloved son (or daughter !), with you I am well pleased.’
The light of the world is here – Jesus came amongst us and remains with us constantly. With the Holy Spirit we are equipped to go about doing his work… I heard a comment from someone saying something like, ‘When did we think it was a good idea for the Church to be quiet ?’ In other words when did we think it was a good idea to stop shouting out a message of hope and peace, to stop showing really practical but extravagant displays of love for one another…
Too often it seems we have become embroiled in a situation where we don’t know what we should do. There’s a story about a woman who was walking along the street one night and came upon a man parked outside her apartment building walking around under the streetlight and gazing intently at the ground. She asked what he was doing and he replied that he was looking for his car keys which he’d dropped.
She offered to help and started looking as well. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you sure you dropped them over here?” “No, I dropped them near my car which is over the other side of the road”, he replied. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her sarcasm. “Well, because we’d never find them over there. There’s no light over there!”
There is only one place to find the true light of the world and that is in Jesus – and there is only way to serve him, and that is by offering ourselves to live as he lived – full of compassion, offering hope and peace, forgiveness and encouragement, working for peace and justice, and showing love in everything we do and say. AMEN
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