by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
—Mark 4:1-11 (NRSV)
Today we’ve moved quite a lot further in the story about Jesus. His childhood is behind him. He is ready to step into his public ministry. And so he comes to the Jordan River to be baptized. Jesus does not hesitate to join the crowd at the river who are responding to John’s call to turn their lives around and seek relationship with God in the framework of Covenant and Law. Now Jesus has no need to turn his life around like them and like us. But in his baptism by John, the author of the Gospel shows us Jesus doing what God through Jesus always does: stands by us and stands with us, stands for us in our great need of God’s grace.
If we were able to be in the church together today we would likely be having a baptism to two. Like the baptism of Jesus, baptisms today are community events for all to celebrate. We participate by revisiting those promises made for us or by us. Through baptism, we are forgiven, loved, and free to become more fully who God has created us to be: living community showing what happens when divine love is at work in the world.
It’s a little like to story of the two guys traveling in Spain. It’s Sunday morning and they’d like to experience a worship service in one of the magnificent churches or cathedrals they’ve toured during the week. So they join a service – and quickly realize it’s in Spanish – and they don’t understand Spanish. Well, they think. No problem. They pick a guy in the front row and decide they’ll be safe if they just follow that guy’s lead – stand when he stands, sit when he sits. They’ll blend in and all will be well.
The congregation sits down following a hymn. The priest is speaking when they notice their guy stands up. So they do too. Everyone in the cathedral turns, looks at them and bursts out laughing. Embarrassed and confused they make their way out a side door. A little later, they’re having breakfast at a café and who should walk in but the priest who greets them in English. The kind priest asks them “do you know why everyone was laughing? We were having a baptism today and I asked the father of the child to stand up.”
As Christians we are called to stand up together and to live a different kind of life, a life set apart from the world around us and yet somehow also very much in its midst.: a life forever changed and forever changing things that are death-dealing into life-giving.
This what is asked of us in the Baptismal Covenant:
Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
So our job is to live baptismally. And, living baptismally - what is that all about?
It’s about knowing that we have been forever changed by the acknowledgment of God’s working in our life. And each of those promises can only be kept living in loving community with each other. Each promise requires being connected to God and to all of God’s creation and each other. Living into these promises fully is God’s dream for us.
I can’t spend time with you today without referring back to what we have experienced and the scenes we witnessed in our nation’s capital last Wednesday. Like you I found them startling and disturbing. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I kept hoping that I was not actually watching breaking news but a movie channel. The things we saw unfolding right in front of us were more like B-movie fiction. But it was news and actually happening. It felt like we lived a whole year in a day.
Wednesday was Epiphany the day when we as a church recognize the arrival of the wise men at the manger, a time that men of great wisdom and devotion to the sacred finally see the prince of peace born under a star. But that’s not what we saw. We saw escalating violence that degraded what Americans hold sacred. Despair, anger, incredulity, every emotion was so close to the surface. So much was wrong about that day. We are and will live in its wake for a while.
And yet, nothing I saw on television was a disturbing as what I read on social media. Over and over again, I saw angry people telling their “friends” who hold a different point of view that they no longer wanted to be in relationship with them. The lingo is “unfriending” and it means they demand an abrupt and complete cut-off of all communication. It’s always amazed me how free people feel to express extreme ideas electronically that I’m certain they would never say to someone’s face. But electronically on a global platform they do. In the last year it’s gotten worse. On Wednesday it was painful.
Ending relationships is the great breaking of our baptismal vows. I can’t think of anything that God wants less for us than this breaking apart. We can have discussions about right and wrong, what is true and what is not. All those are valuable things. But we can only have them if we stay connected. What is important today is that we stay in relationship with one another. We cannot be close to God unless we are close to each other.
Here’s a hard truth – and I’m going to step outside the gospel reading for today and quote from Luke’s gospel. Jesus says:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
We are asked to be in relationship with others especially when they are not like us, with people we don’t agree with, with those who don’t seem like our kind of people. But they are. Because all of us are created by God out of God’s love and concern. We all know this is hard. Very hard. God knows this is hard. That’s why the response to each of the questions in the Baptismal Covenant is the same --“I will, with God's help.”
I hope you’ve seen another image on social media. It’s not from Wednesday afternoon, it’s from very early Thursday morning. After the business of Congress was done, Congressman Andy Kim saw the garbage left behind by the mob. He grabbed a bag and joined those who were picking up the trash in the great hall of the capitol building. “When you see something you love, you want to fix it.” I don’t know anything else about Congressman Kim beyond this story. But that sure looks like living baptismally to me.
It’s going to get better. It’s going to be fine. We just have to stay together. By living into our baptismal vows we join Jesus and John and all those who come to the river. God sees us, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased. Amen.