An
Outward Sign of Inward Grace
January 11/14 Matthew
3:13-17
On Sunday December 27th, at 11:45 in the
morning, as I stood in the front of Chalmers United Church, I dipped my hand in
the font, and placed water on Stella Mackenzie Hermiston’s forehead and said
the words, I baptize you in the name of the Father and in the name of the son
and in the Name of the Holy Spirit, and my granddaughter’s life was changed, this
beautiful three month old baby that I was holding in my arms became a part of
something so much bigger than she was in that moment– now she already has an
enormous family, lots of aunts and uncles, 6 grandparents, 9 great-grandparents
and cousins and three godparents so she is a well-loved little girl – what
happened though, was so much bigger than that – and she became a part of Chalmers’s
United Church family , which was where her father was baptized 27 years ago - but it was so much bigger than that – what
happened to Stella that day was that she had her place in the family of God
recognized and honoured and symbolically marked on her forehead with water and
oil and caring hands and she – Stella beloved child of God - was surrounded in love from her parents, her
family and her God. She was marked and
gathered into her family of God, claimed as one of God’s children.
Today in the church we celebrate the Baptism of
Jesus, this too a moment when Jesus was claimed as God’s child.
The next eight weeks are the weeks of the season of
Epiphany; Epiphany is all about discovery, understanding and the revealing of
something new. It is the season of new beginnings and second chances and new
understandings. It focuses on the early
stages of Jesus ministry where he calls his disciples and begins his teaching
ministry. I love this season, I love
returning to this time each year and being reminded yet again that call is
continuous, that God’s revelation on earth was not just a then and there
experience but is something that happen over and over and over again – it is a
here and now experience, and we begin this season of Epiphany, this season of revelation
with God proclaiming who Jesus is and how deeply connected to God he is. For with the passage we just read from
Matthew– we witness the spirit of God - descending like a dove and declaring –
this is my beloved – with whom I am well pleased. And Jesus is baptized.
As Jesus rises from this ancient river, he is the recipient of all the graces that water signifies, imbued with the layers of symbolism and story and blessing that these waters convey. Yet he is not only recipient of this; as the waters of baptism roll off him, Jesus is also sign: this drenched and dripping Messiah embodies and shows forth in fullness just how far God will go to provide for and restore God’s people.”[1]
Matthew tells us very little about this event –
Luke and Mark tell us much more but to Matthew, Jesus baptism is quick and to
the point:
Jesus comes;
John challenges ;
Jesus convinces;
John complies...
And then!
Then – wonder of wonders!
The Spirit of God descends
The voice of God is heard
This is my beloved child – I am pleased.
Jesus is baptized – God is pleases – Jesus is
claimed, and commissioned as God’s beloved son – and each and every time we
take water and wash one in the sacred words of baptism they too are claimed and
commissioned as God’s beloved children.
We are God’s beloved children.
“The
voice of God speaks into our beings at our baptism and then resonates
throughout our life time, calling us to listen and act. Who we are as
Christians is life a long journey of growing ever more aware of what God asks
of us. Our formation as Christians does not end at baptism. It does not end at
confirmation. These rituals of the church merely mark the beginning.”[2]
Baptism – is an outward sign of God’s grace, it is
a physical reminder in the water that God presence is in that moment, and not
only that - God is with us in all moments.
This outward presence that we experience and Jesus also experienced are what
we call sacraments. In our tradition we
only have two that we claim as outward signs of inward grace – baptism and
communion when we remember through bread and wine – Jesus as he sat with his
friends close to the end of his life, and shared the meal with them – so when
ever we do that and remember him – we are once again encountering this outward
sign of God’s grace – sacrament. The
word sacred means ‘connected with God’ and that is what we do when we share in
sacramental moments, we connect with God.
Yesterday thirty people gathered in the Lion’s Head
hall to participate in a workshop called Poised for Possibilities. We were thinking about the future of our
churches and we were led by a great facilitator who had us asking some really
important questions about who we are, and what God is calling us to be both
individually and as congregations as well.
What I appreciated about this was that we came to place of hope, where
we were not focused on the aging and shrinking congregation and the financial
struggles that we are facing, instead we were thinking about our spiritual
lives and how we are connected to God and how that nurtures us. She challenged us to find a spiritual
practice – a intentional time each and every day where we connect to God – it
does have to be elaborate or complicated in fact the example she used was
around the ritual of our morning coffee – where we would use the five or ten
minutes it takes to drink your coffee in the morning to think of God things –
to sit in silence, to listen for the voice of God, to ask the question about
what God wishes for our lives. The only
way that the church can be revitalized is for us to be connected to the reason
we gather, for us to remember who we are and whose we are and why we do this
crazy thing called church each week.
So
I invite you over the next two weeks – each morning when you are drinking your
coffee – take time – take time for God, and let go of the everyday prattle that
goes on in your head – you know the stuff – the shopping list making, the list
of daily tasks, the fantasies about what you would do if you won the lottery,
the worrying about your children – whatever it is that occupies your mind – try
to let it go and just be, in the moment while you drink your coffee – and open
yourself up to listen to what God has to say to you, and if for a moment you
might think that God does not have anything to say to you, think again – for
remember – you are God’s beloved child – you are God’s beloved child – and an
important part of God’s family.
Think of this as your daily baptismal rite, your
daily communion with God. – where your
cup of coffee or cup of tea or walk in nature or 10 minutes watching the birds
at the birdfeeder is your connection to God, your daily Sacrament. It is soul food, it is blessing, it is
grace. I want to hear about this, so I
will be asking how it is going, our conversations with God, and what are we
hearing, and what does God want us to do. Always remembering that we are God's beloved children - thanks be to God. Amen.
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