Epiphany 1
Isaiah 43:1-7 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17,21-22
As you look back over your life, do you notice some major turning points, forks in the road? Obviously, having a new rector is a turning point; a fork in the road for both the parish and the priest. What about your personal spiritual journey? Do you remember times when God opened up a whole new dimension in your life with God?
Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus…we are reminded that his baptism was a significant turning point; a fork in the road in his spiritual journey. For the first 30 years of his life, Jesus was known as the son of Joseph and Mary. He was an ordinary carpenter who assisted his Dad in the carpenter business. Yet, in the gospel we just heard, God transformed the direction of Jesus’ life both inwardly and outwardly at his baptism. After his baptism, God led Jesus to begin his public ministry of teaching and healing, dying and being raised up.
Let’s explore 3 dimensions of Jesus’ baptism that were significant for his life and ministry and see how these three dimensions can also be significant for each of us.
First, in baptism, Jesus was filled or anointed or baptized with God's Holy Spirit. As Americans, we are taught that the power and direction for our lives comes from our choices, our skill and experience, our knowledge, our will power, our personality. Jesus’ life changed dramatically at his baptism, because God sent the Holy Spirit to energize and guide his life.
Have you experienced the life-guiding power of God’s Spirit in your life? The Holy Spirit is a gift God gave you in your baptism; but perhaps you have not yet discovered what it means to be led by the Holy Spirit in your daily life?
There are moments, situations in which many Christians know that God's Spirit is guiding them, opening up surprise and opportunity, giving them wisdom and strength beyond their own …to accomplish difficult tasks and ministries. Let me be very personal…every day this week, I experienced God’s spirit guiding me in ways I could not have imagined.
Being guided by God’s Spirit is not simply a matter of feelings or emotions. God's Spirit works in us and guides us in ways we will never fully understand. St Paul says, “It is not I, but Christ working in me.” Some of the most significant moments of our lives are not things which we plan or choose or arrange, but come as sheer gifts of God’s Spirit working in and through us at deeper levels than we know.
Many Christians can point to an experience, perhaps a moment in the middle of a crisis, perhaps it developed gradually over a period of time…but however it happened…they very intentionally began to rely on Christ’s Spirit to guide and shape their daily lives and decisions.
Are you trying to be a follower of Jesus by your own efforts alone or do you invite and allow God’s Spirit to guide and direct your life every day? Do you know what it means to very intentionally let go and let God guide your life?
Living in the stream of God’s Spirit is often a matter of trial and error. It is a life of faith, not of certainty. We need the humility to confess that we are not always in touch with God's Spirit. We sometimes misinterpret our thoughts and emotions as if they were the guidance of God. We sometimes ignore and disobey the guidance of God’s Word and Spirit. Yet, often, God guides us and works through us in spite of our selves without our awareness of his guidance.
We who are baptized and called to be Christ’s followers can only fulfill our life mission as we are attentive and obedient to the guidance of God's Spirit.
This requires some effort on our part every day; i.e. most of us know that we have to recharge our cell phone batteries every day if we want our phone to work. If we want to live in connection with the Holy Spirit, we need to plug into the energy current of God’s Word and Spirit every day. Otherwise our spiritual batteries, our living connection with God goes dead.
God is there, waiting to connect with us…but we are not plugged in, not charged, we are dead to God. At the beginning of each day, do you intentionally ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, recognizing that, like Jesus, your most important task each day is to be attentive and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in each moment, each situation, each relationship?
There is a second dimension to the Baptism of Jesus. God’s voice from heaven said, "You are my Beloved Son. With you I am well pleased." These words from God gave Jesus his deep sense of identity. They provided the solid foundation for his life and ministry. He knew he was God's beloved child. He did not have to earn God's love or prove that he deserved God's love by doing all kinds of heroic things. Before he had done one miracle or preached one sermon, Jesus knew he was beloved by God.
In our baptism, God spoke the very same words about us for the whole universe to hear. “You are my beloved child. With you I am well pleased.” It is often difficult for us to truly accept that this is God’s attitude toward us. We are all very aware of our imperfections and failures. Yet, how life-changing it is for us to know, in the depths of our being: we are beloved by God. God reaches out to embrace each of us as his own beloved children.
When we know how much we are loved by God, we keep eagerly returning to God to be nourished and renewed in that love. We no longer hide from God. Instead, we are eager to make time to be in God’s loving presence. We know we are secure in God's love, not because of our goodness, but because of our baptism into the forgiving mercy of God. We are God’s children…God’s imperfect, stressed and sinful children…but still, God’s beloved children, bought with the price of Christ’s own blood. This is the well-spring from which our life and being flows. If only you and I could let this reality soak into the core of our being every day.
We who are grandparents know how we cherish our grandchildren, even when they are crying, miserable, disobedient, messy and throwing a temper tantrum. Perhaps that image can help us recognize how God cherishes us as his beloved even when we are rebellious, miserable and messy.
It is also crucial for us to remember that we are not God’s only beloved ones. We are part of the 80 million member world wide Anglican Communion, part of 2.1 billion followers of Jesus from all denominations around the world. There are baptized followers of Jesus in every race and nation who are also God’s beloved children.
There are Christians who have different convictions and perspectives than we have, Christians who rub us the wrong way, Christians who feel like our enemies…whom God also calls his beloved. Christ calls us to love all our neighbors, regardless of their race, nation or religion, as God’s beloved children. And we can’t possibly love the stranger or love our enemies…unless we first recognize and accept in the depths of our being that we …and they…are God’s beloved children.
The third dimension of Jesus’ baptism was his call to serve and help others. After receiving the Holy Spirit in baptism…and being rooted in his identity as God's beloved…Luke tells us that Jesus "went about doing good and healing, for God was with him." When you and I are filled with God's Spirit, and know our identity as God's beloved children, then the Spirit sends us out to represent Christ in our daily lives and relationships. God ordains all of us in baptism to be ministers, messengers of God's Good News, bringing compassion, healing and justice to others in need.
What is the Holy Spirit sending you out to be and do at this time in your life? I had a wonderful evening this past week with your vestry, listening to them tell stories about how God’s Holy Spirit has guided their lives during this time of transition at St. Mark’s. Are you aware of how God’s Spirit is guiding you at this time?
God not only gives a ministry or mission to each of us as persons, but the Christ’s Spirit also gives each congregation a mission. What are the next steps in mission that you sense Christ’s Spirit is calling you to take as a congregation? How is Christ inviting you to be life-giving participants in the mission Christ longs to fulfill in the East Longmeadow area… and through you to our neighbors around the world?
This morning as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, several members of this parish will Reaffirm their Baptism vows. All of us will be invited to renew our Baptism Covenant. By doing this we will all renew our identity a) as a community of God's beloved children, b) as people filled with and guided by God's Holy Spirit, c) as ministers of God, sent to serve and represent Christ in the midst of our daily lives.
Let’s close our eyes…be aware that Jesus is here…loving you…loving each of us calling us his beloved ones. Let the love of Jesus soak into you…whatever is going on in your life.
What is the fresh message you heard God’s Spirit speaking to you this morning? …listen to what Holy Spirit might want to say to you regarding your mission and your daily practice of opening yourself to the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
O come Holy Spirit…fill us with a fresh transfusion of your loving presence this morning, and every morning…so that we can fulfill the mission you give us each day, through Christ our Lord. Amen