Revd Dr Lance Stone, Minister, Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cambridge
NOTE: In this sermon I have tried something different, doing a brief meditation on each passage, taking the common theme of baptism and picking up on the common ingredient of ‘voice’.
I have interspersed after each meditation verses from the hymn ‘Enemy of Apathy’ by John Bell and Graeme Maule, (Common Ground no.32, Church Hymnary 4 no.593 and reproducible under the CCL licence scheme ) and a prayer. However this has required substituting v.2 of Enemy of Apathy with one I have written myself. Anyone is welcome to use this but an acknowledgment would be appreciated.
This Sunday finds us moving on from Christ’s birth and infancy to his baptism in the River Jordan, and in some parts of the ancient church this was a time of year when people entered into Jesus’ baptism by being baptised themselves. So this a good opportunity for us to consider baptism and what it might mean to us.
Mark’s account is characteristically brief and condensed, but the other readings are wonderful because they set Jesus’ baptism in a far wider context and make it part of a much bigger picture. Our Genesis passage allows us to connect Christ’s baptism right back to the very founding of creation, in that dramatic scene where God spoke the universe into being. Here Christ’s baptism is anticipated in the birthing of all things. And then the Acts passage jumps forward, relating Christ’s baptism to the emergence of the church, to the community of believers that came into being as a result of Christ’s ministry. Here Christ’s baptism is related not to the birthing of creation but to the birthing of the church. And the use of the word ‘birthing’ is deliberate, because the imagery of these passages is birth imagery, full or reference to water and to the emergence of something new. In Genesis it is creation that is being born, in Mark is its creation that is being re-born in Jesus, and in Acts it is creation being re-born in the Church. And such amazing imagery runs through these passages: water, wind, spirit and voice. I find it particularly interesting the way in which in each passage a voice or voices is heard. And so this morning I want to reflect on each passage in turn and consider in each case what is voiced: not only what is said, but what the voice in each passage might be saying about our baptism. Where might it point or direct us?
So to Genesis 1 and the voice that calls creation into being. God spoke and it was and not only does God call into being things that are not, but God declares that what has been created is good. That’s the verdict: ‘God saw that it was good!’ God finds pleasure in what God has made. And that means that we are to find pleasure in what God has made too. Think back to that scene: the chaotic, surging waters of the deep and the wind of God brooding over them and suddenly God speaks and chaos is tamed and harnessed and transformed into something that is ordered and beautiful. Here is a setting for God’s creatures that are yet to be made. Out of this formless, raging sea there has been created an arena of life. And we are to cherish and to delight in that ordered and wonderfully crafted world.
You see, in baptism our focus tends to be upwards. It tends to be on what God is doing as the Spirit descends to us from heaven. But baptism involves water and we are directed back to this opening chapter of Genesis, where God tamed the water and caused it to birth creation. And the water of baptism therefore focuses us here below on what God has made, reinforcing our solidarity with it and also reinforcing our responsibility for it. We are to delight in it, we are to cherish it, we are to care for it. Indeed there is a Jewish writer who has suggested that on the Day of Judgement there is only one question that will be put to us by God and that will be, ‘did you enjoy my creation?’ I like that. God created all things out of water for God’s own pleasure and joy and God wants us to share that joy. And to truly rejoice in creation means that we treat it with care and respect.
So that is the first thing that we learn about baptism, as the voice points us to creation, God’s handiwork.
………………………………………
Sing verse 1 of Enemy of Apathy, ‘She sits like a bird…’
Prayer:
O gracious God, from chaos and its the threat you created order and beauty and balance. But we would return your creation to chaos. We would raise once again the threat of destruction.
Teach us to walk lightly and respectfully on your earth.
Teach us to treasure what you have made and to honour its witness to you.
Bless scientists and give them wisdom in laying bare the wonderful workings of what you have made, as they think your thoughts after you.
And teach us to orchestrate the rhythms and harmonies of your creation into a hymn of praise to your glory.
Amen.
So we move on to our second passage: one again there is the water, the Spirit of God and the voice. And this time the voice speaks, and what does it say? This time God’s verdict on what God sees is not ‘good’ as in Genesis 1. This time it is much more. This time God speaks the language of love, the extravagant language of, ‘you are my beloved son, in you I take delight!’ What a great affirmation that is of God’s total love and commitment to Jesus! And it means that right here at the very beginning of his ministry Jesus knows exactly who he is. He has a clear sense of his own identity. Deep down he knows himself to be the beloved, the one in whom God takes delight. That means he is utterly secure in God’s love and that is absolutely crucial to what follows, for throughout his ministry Jesus will be assailed and assaulted on account of who he is. Whether it is the temptation in the wilderness, or the hounding of the religious establishment of his day, or whether it is when he stands before Pilate at his trial, Jesus is repeatedly attacked as to who he is and the claims that he makes for himself. How does he retain his self-confidence? How does he maintain his poise, his deep inner strength? How does he remain calm when he is assaulted by the storms he provokes? Surely because he is anchored securely in this love. He knows himself to be the beloved, the object of God’s deep delight. Here his identity is grounded and centred.
Now, let me tell you something. In Christian jargon we speak of someone being ‘in Christ’. We speak of union with Christ, of being one with him and in him in a profound mystical unity. Well, if that is so, let me tell you what it means. It means that everything that God says about Jesus, God says about us. It means that if Jesus is declared to be God’s son then we are sons and daughters of the living God too. And furthermore it means that if Jesus is the beloved in whom god delights, then so are we. So are you and so am I. To be ‘in Christ’ means to be loved and cherished by God just as Jesus is.
Now, we find that very hard to grasp. We find it so very hard to love ourselves and to believe that we are really and truly beloved. And so much of our crazy behaviour comes from this deep insecurity and our longing to be grasped and held in love. This is the root of so much pettiness and jealousy and conflict. And so much therapy is aimed at shoring up our sense of worth and self-acceptance. But at root the key lies not in therapy but in the mystery of divine love. That is where Christ’s baptism directs us, and that is where our baptism directs us. The very heart of the Gospel lies in the transferring of God’s words to Christ at his baptism to each and every one of us: ‘you are my beloved son, my beloved daughter. In you I delight!’
At his baptism Jesus stepped out of the waters of chaos and there he heard these words spoken to him. And he needed those words ringing in his heart as he faced the trails and stresses and strains of his ministry. I wonder what waters of chaos you will step into this coming year. What stresses and strains and fear await us in the months ahead? Where will we find strength and poise and equanimity? Where are we anchored? There is no other rock but those words that declare us to be grasped and held in the love and delight of God. For against that nothing can prevail.
……………………………….
Sing v. 2:
From out of the depths, He rises up to meet her,
She descending dove-like out of heaven torn,
A herald of love, the sky with joy proclaiming,
Voicing heaven’s verdict on a world reborn.
Words: Lance Stone
Prayer:
O God, hear us today as we pray for those who feel unloved, unwanted and rejected.
We think of the victims of broken families…
We think of those abused physically or mentally or spiritually…
We think of the depressed and the despairing and those troubled in mind..
We think of the unemployed and the homeless and all who lack security and stability in their lives.
We pray for a welcoming and hospitable society where worth and dignity are affirmed and guarded jealously.
And give to each of us the deep inner strength that comes from being embraced by your love.
Amen.
So to our final passage, Acts 19, where we find a Christian community, a church being birthed. But this community lacks something vital. Somehow or other these people know nothing of the Holy Spirit. They have submitted to John’s baptism but have not been empowered and transformed by the Spirit of God. So Peter baptises them in Jesus’ name and lays hands on them and the Spirit comes. And once again voice accompanies the water and the Spirit, only now it is not one voice that is heard but voices, for ‘they spoke with tongues of ecstasy and prophesied.’ Here the voice of God mingles with human voices as tongues are loosed by the Spirit in ecstatic utterance and prophecy. In other words, here baptism issues in worship: vibrant and inspired worship that is prompted and fired by the Spirit of God.
That, of course, is the third direction in which we are pointed by our baptism. Baptism carries us into worship. In other words, to be grasped and held by the fierce love of God in the way we’ve already considered, to be embraced by God like that, can only issue in praise and worship. That is the final end and purpose of our baptism: that we should be set free and liberated for worship. Indeed that is the final end and purpose of our life.
There is something wonderfully counter-cultural about worship. It goes against the grain of all that society hold dear. Worship produces nothing in terms of measurable output and so it is of no economic value whatsoever. One writer has described worship as ‘a right royal waste of time’! It is not competitive: there are no winners and losers in worship. No one is voted out! It does not make us more beautiful, or fit, or wealthy. It violates all the values of our contemporary age. And yet it is that for which we have been created and we are nowhere more human than here.
The voice that called creation into being in the beginning finds echo in the praise that is voiced by God’s people, and then God’s heart is glad. God hears and it is good and God delights in it.
Sing: verses 3 & 4 of ‘She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters…’
Prayer:
O gracious God, we pray for your Church. Above all, may it be a place where the ecstatic voice of praise is uttered and where your Word is voiced. Revive us, we pray, by your Holy Spirit. Baptise us in that Spirit so that we might emerge to new life.
At the start of this new year we pray for all who lead the church at international, national and local level. Inspire them with wisdom and discernment.
(prayers for churches’ own concerns might be added here…)
And remember all who struggle in their faith. Draw near and reveal yourself to all in need. For we pray in Jesus, name.
Amen.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great Idea. Thank you for it.