Baptism: A Matter Of Life And Death
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Sometimes faith is only welcome in certain circles, and even if it is welcome, it may only be allowed to a certain degree. Consider the American political scene, for example. We want a leader who knows the right faith words and rhetoric, yet do we want a leader who is passionate about his or her faith? Faith can come this far and no farther. As we remember the Baptism of Our Lord, we must ask ourselves: What does the act of baptism say to this notion of a limited faith? Scott Suskovic will provide the main article, with Stephen McCutchan writing a response. Illustrations, a liturgy, and a children's sermon are provided.
Baptism: A Matter of Life and Death
Scott Suskovic
THE WORLD
You would have to be living in a cave somewhere high in the mountains to avoid the onslaught of information surrounding the presidential race, which by now must be, what, in its third year? With every poll, quote, or speech by the candidates, the pundits have more fuel to fan their eager flame. With the Hawkeye Caucus and New Hampshire Primary just completed, the newspapers and airwaves have even more to consider. Where again is that cave of yours? May I join you?
I have been fascinated this year watching the role that faith has played in the race. Obama has had to convince us he is not a Muslim with Hussein as his middle name. Pastor Huckabee has to convince us that he will not mandate Sunday school. Mitt Romney has to defend his Mormonism as Christian. As an American public, we are fickle about the faith of our leader. We want some faith foundation upon which this candidate will stand in making difficult decisions. Yet, we do not want to become a theocracy where our leader believes too fervently. We want to see enough faith so that he or she can rightly take the oath of office with one hand on the Bible and say, "God bless America" at the end of the State of the Union Address. Not too much. Not too little. We have become a country of Goldilocks, trying to find that lukewarm middle ground that is, "just right."
Counter this with the act of baptism. Paul describes it as a death in Romans 6. Christians around the world often become estranged from their families and society if they dare take the bold step of baptism. Christianity is not for wimps. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that when Christ calls a person to follow him, it is a call to come and die. Baptism is not a symbolic act. Baptism is not a christening. Baptism is not an empty ritual. Baptism is a bold act by which we stand publicly to claim the promises of God, declare whose we are, and commit to walking daily wet in God's grace.
There is nothing Goldilocks about baptism.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The baptism of Jesus marked the beginning of his public ministry, a ministry that began with offending people from the very beginning when John demanded that each one had to be baptized. Baptism at the time was a ceremonial washing done to Gentiles who would like to become "God-fearers." They were unclean and thus needed to ritual bathe in order to be considered for membership.
The offense came when John said that they all needed to be baptized, even those Pharisees who could trace their ancestors all the way back to Benjamin. "How dare you suggest that I am not a member of the club? Do you know who my great, great, great, grandfather is?"
I remember one time doing a wedding for a lapse member of the congregation whose family was a charter member. When I asked her, "What do you believe?" she indignantly said that she was confirmed in this church.
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
"My mother is on the Council of this church."
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
"My father put the steeple on this church."
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
You can see where this conversation was going. Faith is not inherited. Faith cannot be handed down like a pedigree. There comes a time in which one steps forward to claim a faith as his or her own apart from pastors, parents, or ancestors. For some, this is a matter of life and death.
When I led a church in Japan for a year, I met several Japanese people who experienced this life-changing event of baptism. There was nothing lukewarm about it. Often, when a Japanese person decided to become baptized, they did so at great cost. Parents would sometimes disown their own child. In some cases, they would even have a funeral for him or her. Do we consider the same cost when we experience a baptism today? Let's ask the question another way. Do you even know your baptismal date?
Sadly enough, we have become a country of Goldilocks who like their candidates lukewarm on faith and who approach baptism the same way.
"I would like to schedule a christening for my daughter." (It's not a naming rite!)
"We have to reschedule the baptism because the gown isn't ready yet."
"Try not to use too much water -- the gown is silk."
When Paul talked about baptism, it was a matter of life and death.
Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may life a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
-- Romans 6:3-5
I come from a tradition where most of our baptisms are infants. However, once I had a person from a different tradition join our church who was accustomed to adult baptism. When it came time for their children to be baptized, they wanted full immersion.
Together we went over to the nearest lake and waded together into the cold water. When it came time for the immersion, I placed my hand over the twelve-year-old girl's face and dipped her backward into the water. For the split second she was underwater, I wondered what this looked like. That is, if a person had just come up over the hill, looked down at the lake and saw a grown man holding a twelve-year-old girl under water, what would that look like? I decided it looked exactly like what it was -- a death; dying with Jesus, putting to death the old self in order to resurrect the new person in Christ.
AN ILLUSTRATION
There can be no doubt that baptism is a matter of life and death. It comes with a great cost. Yet, it comes as a marvelous gift of grace. I once heard a story about a pastor who received a phone call from a person who, at first, only identified herself as a nonmember but her question was quick and to the point, "We were looking for a Lutheran christening. How much do you charge?"
The pastor didn't miss a beat and responded, "That all depends. How much does the baby weigh."
"At birth or now?"
"Now."
"About 15 pounds."
"How old is he?"
"Two months."
"And when would you like this done?"
"The 23rd?"
The pastor paused for a moment, and did the calculations under his breath, "Let's see. Fifteen times 23... carry the one. About 60 days old..." The mother waited for him to add up the final bill.
Finally, the pastor said, "Whew. You're not going to like. It is pretty expensive. In fact, I'm sure you are not going to be able to afford it."
"Well, how much is it?"
"It's priceless." She paused, "Oh, I was christened Catholic and was hoping to be redone with him." She was obviously disappointed.
"But for you," continued the pastor, "it's free. Someone else has paid the bill. Come on in and we'll talk about it. I'll introduce you to the one who paid the price."
How can there be anything lukewarm about that?
ANOTHER VIEW
Is God Really Impartial in This Political Season
Stephen McCutchan
What is the Christian witness in this most political season? Do we believe that God is really a liberal Democrat or an evangelical Republican? When Peter said in Acts 10:34, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality..." do his words apply to this partisan season when people are asked to choose their candidates. Most of the candidates this season make regular reference to their faith. Mitt Romney felt compelled to make a special speech explaining his Mormon faith. Mike Huckabee's faith statements in the past has pleased part of the evangelical wing but raised uneasy questions among others. Can a politician be devoted to his faith but govern in a manner that is respectful of the pluralism of our country?
Would Christians really want politicians who claim to be devout in their faith but that it was a private faith that had no bearing on how they would govern? At the same time, we have seen the destructive results of religious fanaticism that sees those who oppose them as enemies of God. Martin Luther is alleged to have said, "Better to be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian." How do we sort out the balance we want between devotion and openness to people who believe differently than we do? As Christians, we also have to ask ourselves what role our own faith plays in our decision to vote for one candidate or another.
The Acts 10:34-43 passage offered by our lectionary offers us some interesting reflections on how we are to view God's relationship to the pluralism of this world. What if it is really true, as Peter stated, that God shows no partiality and that anyone who fears (has reverence for) God and does what is right is acceptable to God? Can it be true that you do not have to belong to the proper race, nationality, or religion to be acceptable to God?
In Acts, Peter spoke of this new understanding having begun "after the baptism that John announced." This would suggest that Jesus' baptism was truly the baptism that rocked the world. It shattered the exclusive assumptions that are present in most world religions. It is both a radical departure and in continuity with the Jewish understanding of the covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:1-7), which they understand to be the basic covenant that God requires of all humanity.
To fear God and do what is right is to have a reverent care for all of life and to recognize that every living human is a reflection of the image of God. This basic covenant was embodied in the life of Jesus who was anointed by God "with the Holy Spirit and with power (and) went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil...." In this way, Jesus' baptism shattered the power of religion to offer or deny salvation. The grace of God transcended the narrowness of all religion. It is certainly a caution against Christians then turning it around and adopting a form of exclusive faith of their own. What then is the role of Christianity in such a world? In the same way that Jesus gave up power over others and became their servant, so Christians are invited to become servants of all humanity and seek to release in all individuals the image of God within them. "He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that (Christ) is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead." And that judgment is based on (all) humans demonstrating a "love of God and neighbor." In one sense, it is quite simple, but also it is frighteningly radical.
The church historically has never been very good at using power and judgment. Whether we think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, or more recent examples of Christianity trying to impose its belief system on the larger community, we seem to imitate the world more than demonstrate the faith of Christ in our behavior.
Yet Jesus, beginning with his baptism, offered us another way. This is illustrated in Matthew's description of Jesus' baptism. From a worldly perspective, the one who offers the baptism is usually seen to be in a more powerful position than the one who is being baptized. John recognizes this when he resists the invitation to baptize Jesus. Besides, this is a baptism of repentance. Of what does Jesus need to repent?
Jesus responds: "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). Rather than separate himself from humanity in their sinfulness, Jesus chooses to join them in their struggle with sin. In other places, Jesus will speak of this as a ministry of servanthood. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25b-28). It is an invitation to the church to try servanthood and grace.
To return to our political debates, is this not to suggest that Christians should not be afraid to look for at least a "wise Turk"? Or to paraphrase Jesus, "Politicians should be judged by their fruits" and their fruits should demonstrate a compassion for their neighbor, regardless of their religion, gender, economic status, and so on. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus makes clear that nations are judged by how they respond to the needs of the most vulnerable among them. If one cares about the security of one's nation, it would be wise to choose a candidate that demonstrates that they will lead the nation in caring for the neediest among us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor martyred by the Nazis during World War II, said of our baptism:
Every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, means both death and life. The call of Christ, his baptism, sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan, 1969, p. 99
* * *
Mark Allan Powell, in his book Loving Jesus, says that three things happened at the baptism of Jesus:
1. The heavens were torn apart. In the Bible, "the heavens" are usually depicted as the place where God lives. The heavens are often said to open, for example, when God sends rain to the earth (Genesis 7:11). But this is the only time, ever, that they are said to have been torn. That, in itself, is very interesting.
2. The Spirit descended upon Jesus. John the Baptist had said that the coming Messiah would baptize people with the Holy Spirit rather than with water (Mark 1:7-8). If Jesus is to do this, he must first be baptized with the Holy Spirit himself.
3. God speaks from heaven and calls Jesus "Son." Thus, from the beginning, Jesus is to be identified as the Son of God (see also Mark 1:1).
-- Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus, p. 91
* * *
The place where Jesus was baptized, there in the southern part of the Jordan River, was the site of many other important happenings. It was in the area where:
The twelve tribes, at last, entered the Promised Land
John the Baptist began his work
Jesus did his early ministry
Jesus later did his closing ministry
To the east, on Mount Nebo, Moses gained a glimpse of the Promised Land
Nearby the heavenly chariots carried Elijah home.
-- Halley's Bible Handbook, 1965, p. 424
* * *
The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated "in the year of our Lord 1787." Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith....
Thomas Jefferson said that his bill for religious liberty in Virginia was "meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindu, and infidel of every denomination." When George Washington was inaugurated in New York in April 1789, Gershom Seixas, the hazan of Shearith Israel, was listed among the city's clergymen (there were fourteen in New York at the time) -- a sign of acceptance and respect. The next year, Washington wrote the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, saying, "happily the government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Andrew Jackson resisted bids in the 1820s to form a "Christian party in politics." Abraham Lincoln buried a proposed "Christian amendment" to the Constitution to declare the nation's fealty to Jesus. Theodore Roosevelt defended William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, from religious attacks by supporters of William Jennings Bryan.
The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation -- that all men are created equal -- in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country's tapestry, not the whole tapestry.
-- Newsweek's religion editor Jon Meacham, "A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation," New York Times, October 7, 2007
***
At the time of the last presidential election, church historian and Christian Century commentator Martin Marty cited a linguistic analysis that had just been completed of presidential inaugural addresses through the years. The researchers, who analyzed all 54 inaugural addresses from 1789 to 2000 using key words, noticed a trend. Whereas the earlier addresses focused on "civic education" -- helping listeners understand current issues and the operations of the constitution -- from the early twentieth century onward, inaugural addresses included these "three marks.... 1) immodesty about limitless America; 2) American universalism; and 3) 'paeans to America.' "
Marty comments: "What the authors' counting and listening turn up amounts to something that prophets in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would have summarized in a simple term: idolatry of the nation. Read the addresses and see what we have heard for so long; it has lost the power to shock. As a result, the possibilities for civic education, moral clarification, and refinement of intention are forgotten."
Quoting the authors of the study as they comment on inaugural addresses since FDR, Marty goes on: "God is still invoked, but America's real faith is faith in America: not in the government, not in the Constitution, not strictly speaking, in the people (though this comes closer), but in America as Idea. The American way is God's way [which offers] a glimpse of perfection."
"Since Wilson," the authors go on, "America is the secular proxy for the Kingdom of God... America is that land where the finite merges with the infinite."
Marty concludes: "One would believe, or like to believe, that there is some hunger for return to the earlier style of inaugural addresses. There must be some market for moral and civic education and not worship of nation and, hence, of self. Serious question: could a candidate be elected who doesn't address the public this way?"
-- Martin E. Marty, in the Sightings e-newsletter, 7/26/04. The original article Marty cites is: Michael E. Bailey and Kristin Lindholm, "Tocqueville and the Rhetoric of Civil Religion in the Presidential Inaugural Addresses" from the Christian Scholar's Review, XXXII:3, Spring 2003
***
The first step for a change leader is to free up resources that are committed to maintaining things that no longer contribute to performance and no longer produce results. Maintaining yesterday is always difficult and extremely time-consuming. Maintaining yesterday always commits the institution's scarcest and most valuable resources -- and above all, its ablest people -- to nonresults. Yet doing anything differently -- let alone innovating -- always creates unexpected difficulties. It demands leadership by people of high and proven ability. And if those people are committed to maintaining yesterday, they are simply not available to create tomorrow.
-- Management consultant Peter F. Drucker, "Change Leaders," INC. magazine, June 1999, p. 66
* * *
"To get the flavour [of Matthew 13:13-17], imagine we are going to a huge concert hall, packed to the doors with eager and excited music lovers. We all have our programmes in hand, waiting for the thunderous music to begin. We know what it ought to sound like. This will be music for a battle, for a victory, thunder and lightning and explosions of wonderful noise.
The concert manager comes on stage and declares in ringing tones that the famous musician has arrived. He gets us all on our feet, to welcome with an ovation the man who is going to fulfil all our expectations.
"As we stand there eagerly, a small figure comes on the stage. He doesn't look at all like what we expected. He is carrying, not a conductor's baton, to bring the orchestra to life, but a small flute. As we watch, shocked into silence, he plays, gently and softly, a tune quite different to what we had imagined. But, as we listen, we start to hear familiar themes played in a new way. The music is haunting and fragile, winging its way into our imaginations and hopes and transforming them. And, as it reaches its close, as though at a signal, the orchestra responds with a new version of the music we had been expecting all along.
"Now list to John as the concert manager, whipping us into excitement at the soloist who is going to appear. 'He's coming! He's more powerful than me! He will give you God's wind and God's fire, not just water! He'll sort you out -- he'll clear out the mess -- he'll clean up God's farm so that only the good wheat is left!' We are on our feet, expecting a great leader, perhaps the living God himself, sweeping into the hall with a great explosion, a blaze of light and colour, transforming everything in a single blow.
"And instead we get Jesus. The Jesus we have only met so far, in Matthew's gospel, as a baby with a price on his head. A Jesus who comes and stands humbly before John, asking for baptism, sharing the penitential mood of the rest of Judaea, Jerusalem, and Galilee. A Jesus who seems to be identifying himself, not with a God who sweeps all before him in judgment, but with the people who are themselves facing that judgment and needing to repent."
-- N. T. Wright "Matthew for Everyone"
* * *
"That Jesus submitted to John's baptism has caused theological consternation because it seems to imply that Jesus is subordinate to John or in some way in need of repentance. Matthew's handling of this ticklish issue is significant. His description of John's baptism differs from that in Mark 1:4 in four ways: a) In Matthew, John's baptism is not a baptism of repentance but a call to repentance, "Repent!" The imperative comes first... b) Matthew does not mention the forgiveness of sins in connection with John's baptism. For Matthew, that is accomplished only by the death of Jesus (26:28).
The reason for John's call to repentance is the nearness of the kingdom of God... c) Matthew alone includes John's protest of unworthiness... The implication is that the baptism of the Spirit is not yet... [Jesus] undergoes John's baptism because he is faithful to Israel. d) Jesus sets aside the question of whether he or John has the greater role to focus on a more important question, How must John and Jesus fulfill all righteousness?"
-- David E. Garland, "Reading Matthew"
* * *
"Beyond the particular historical circumstances, however, the text stands as a reminder and warning to all who would seek to magnify themselves while proclaiming the gospel. A glance at the church advertisements in a typical Saturday newspaper will often disclose large photographs of preachers, line sketches of lovely church buildings, lofty comments about the excellences of choirs, and exaggerated claims about friendly congregations. One can make a good case for any or all of these ad strategies, but they run perilously close to lifting up the messengers over the message. John the Baptist forms the model for all subsequent witnesses to Christ when he confesses in humility, 'I need to be baptised by you and not the other way around.' "
-- Thomas G. Long, "Matthew"
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call to Worship
Leader: The voice of God speaks in chaos
and echoes over the waters of creation:
People: calling us to be servants
to a broken world.
Leader: The voice of God sings over
the living waters of grace:
People: rejoicing in our name:
"My Beloved, My Chosen."
Leader: The voice of God stirs the waters
of baptismal joy:
People: proclaiming us to be instruments
of hope and grace.
Prayer of the Day
Beloved's Parent:
your delight fills our souls
causing us to skip like children
on a warm Spring day.
Your voice
shakes all creation
and shatters our complacency;
and we cry, "Glory!"
Servant of Justice:
you come revealing God's will
and modeling obedience for us;
you come, living out compassionate justice,
not by might or threat,
but with
a gentle touch,
a whisper of hope,
a light leading us home.
And we cry, "Glory!"
Spirit of Peace:
through baptism,
we are able to go about
doing good for others;
setting free those bound
by the oppression of others;
witnessing to your power
in our fragile lives.
And we cry, "Glory!"
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our voices as one in prayer,
as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father....
Call to Reconciliation
To a cruel world, we are servants of God's
justice; to a broken world, we are bearers
of God's healing; to an uncertain world, we
proclaim God's presence. Yet we know how
we have failed in our calling and so, come to
the One who forgives us, even as we confess
our sins, saying together,
Unison Prayer of Confessions
We like baptisms, God of Spirit and water, but
confess we are not sure what the sacrament means.
We live in a world that breaks people as reeds
are bruised by nature. Our society snuffs out the
hopes and dreams of the poor, as if they were but
wicks on candles. We choose sides between people,
nations, and races, while you play no favorites among
your beloved.
Forgive us, Grace Bearer. Anoint us with your
Spirit, that we may be restored people, bringing hope
to others; anoint us with your mercy, that we may
offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us; anoint
us with your Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,
so we can testify to the joy and peace he brings to all.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: This is the good news: God calls us by name and
restores us to right living. God walks with us in
every circumstance, holding our hands, that we
might be strengthened in faith and obedience.
People: God sends us forth: as light to a world shadowed
by grief; as losers of the bonds of hopelessness;
as witnesses to God's love for all people.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Starting lineup
Object: wear a jersey from a local athletic team
Matthew 3:13-17
Good morning, boys and girls. What am I wearing this morning? (let them answer) I'm wearing part of a uniform of the (name the team). Have any of you gone to a game where the (name the team) has played? (let them answer) I think one of the most exciting parts of a game is right before it starts. That's when all the players are introduced. Someone announces the player's name and number. That player then runs out on the court of playing field. Everyone cheers. Do you like that part of the game? (let them answer) Some people call that pre-game "hype." That's a funny term, isn't it?
Our Bible story this morning sounds like the events that take place before a game begins. In the Bible story guess what player is introduced and guess who is the announcer. Jesus is introduced. God is the announcer. Jesus is walking by the river. He asks to be baptized by John the Baptist. When John baptizes Jesus, listen to what the Bible says and imagine that its like a pre-game activity: "And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
That is how God introduced Jesus as his son to the world. So, the next time you go to a game and hear all the players introduced, remember this story. Remember how God's son was introduced to the world. Suddenly the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 13, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Baptism: A Matter of Life and Death
Scott Suskovic
THE WORLD
You would have to be living in a cave somewhere high in the mountains to avoid the onslaught of information surrounding the presidential race, which by now must be, what, in its third year? With every poll, quote, or speech by the candidates, the pundits have more fuel to fan their eager flame. With the Hawkeye Caucus and New Hampshire Primary just completed, the newspapers and airwaves have even more to consider. Where again is that cave of yours? May I join you?
I have been fascinated this year watching the role that faith has played in the race. Obama has had to convince us he is not a Muslim with Hussein as his middle name. Pastor Huckabee has to convince us that he will not mandate Sunday school. Mitt Romney has to defend his Mormonism as Christian. As an American public, we are fickle about the faith of our leader. We want some faith foundation upon which this candidate will stand in making difficult decisions. Yet, we do not want to become a theocracy where our leader believes too fervently. We want to see enough faith so that he or she can rightly take the oath of office with one hand on the Bible and say, "God bless America" at the end of the State of the Union Address. Not too much. Not too little. We have become a country of Goldilocks, trying to find that lukewarm middle ground that is, "just right."
Counter this with the act of baptism. Paul describes it as a death in Romans 6. Christians around the world often become estranged from their families and society if they dare take the bold step of baptism. Christianity is not for wimps. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that when Christ calls a person to follow him, it is a call to come and die. Baptism is not a symbolic act. Baptism is not a christening. Baptism is not an empty ritual. Baptism is a bold act by which we stand publicly to claim the promises of God, declare whose we are, and commit to walking daily wet in God's grace.
There is nothing Goldilocks about baptism.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The baptism of Jesus marked the beginning of his public ministry, a ministry that began with offending people from the very beginning when John demanded that each one had to be baptized. Baptism at the time was a ceremonial washing done to Gentiles who would like to become "God-fearers." They were unclean and thus needed to ritual bathe in order to be considered for membership.
The offense came when John said that they all needed to be baptized, even those Pharisees who could trace their ancestors all the way back to Benjamin. "How dare you suggest that I am not a member of the club? Do you know who my great, great, great, grandfather is?"
I remember one time doing a wedding for a lapse member of the congregation whose family was a charter member. When I asked her, "What do you believe?" she indignantly said that she was confirmed in this church.
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
"My mother is on the Council of this church."
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
"My father put the steeple on this church."
"I know that, but what do you believe?"
You can see where this conversation was going. Faith is not inherited. Faith cannot be handed down like a pedigree. There comes a time in which one steps forward to claim a faith as his or her own apart from pastors, parents, or ancestors. For some, this is a matter of life and death.
When I led a church in Japan for a year, I met several Japanese people who experienced this life-changing event of baptism. There was nothing lukewarm about it. Often, when a Japanese person decided to become baptized, they did so at great cost. Parents would sometimes disown their own child. In some cases, they would even have a funeral for him or her. Do we consider the same cost when we experience a baptism today? Let's ask the question another way. Do you even know your baptismal date?
Sadly enough, we have become a country of Goldilocks who like their candidates lukewarm on faith and who approach baptism the same way.
"I would like to schedule a christening for my daughter." (It's not a naming rite!)
"We have to reschedule the baptism because the gown isn't ready yet."
"Try not to use too much water -- the gown is silk."
When Paul talked about baptism, it was a matter of life and death.
Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may life a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
-- Romans 6:3-5
I come from a tradition where most of our baptisms are infants. However, once I had a person from a different tradition join our church who was accustomed to adult baptism. When it came time for their children to be baptized, they wanted full immersion.
Together we went over to the nearest lake and waded together into the cold water. When it came time for the immersion, I placed my hand over the twelve-year-old girl's face and dipped her backward into the water. For the split second she was underwater, I wondered what this looked like. That is, if a person had just come up over the hill, looked down at the lake and saw a grown man holding a twelve-year-old girl under water, what would that look like? I decided it looked exactly like what it was -- a death; dying with Jesus, putting to death the old self in order to resurrect the new person in Christ.
AN ILLUSTRATION
There can be no doubt that baptism is a matter of life and death. It comes with a great cost. Yet, it comes as a marvelous gift of grace. I once heard a story about a pastor who received a phone call from a person who, at first, only identified herself as a nonmember but her question was quick and to the point, "We were looking for a Lutheran christening. How much do you charge?"
The pastor didn't miss a beat and responded, "That all depends. How much does the baby weigh."
"At birth or now?"
"Now."
"About 15 pounds."
"How old is he?"
"Two months."
"And when would you like this done?"
"The 23rd?"
The pastor paused for a moment, and did the calculations under his breath, "Let's see. Fifteen times 23... carry the one. About 60 days old..." The mother waited for him to add up the final bill.
Finally, the pastor said, "Whew. You're not going to like. It is pretty expensive. In fact, I'm sure you are not going to be able to afford it."
"Well, how much is it?"
"It's priceless." She paused, "Oh, I was christened Catholic and was hoping to be redone with him." She was obviously disappointed.
"But for you," continued the pastor, "it's free. Someone else has paid the bill. Come on in and we'll talk about it. I'll introduce you to the one who paid the price."
How can there be anything lukewarm about that?
ANOTHER VIEW
Is God Really Impartial in This Political Season
Stephen McCutchan
What is the Christian witness in this most political season? Do we believe that God is really a liberal Democrat or an evangelical Republican? When Peter said in Acts 10:34, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality..." do his words apply to this partisan season when people are asked to choose their candidates. Most of the candidates this season make regular reference to their faith. Mitt Romney felt compelled to make a special speech explaining his Mormon faith. Mike Huckabee's faith statements in the past has pleased part of the evangelical wing but raised uneasy questions among others. Can a politician be devoted to his faith but govern in a manner that is respectful of the pluralism of our country?
Would Christians really want politicians who claim to be devout in their faith but that it was a private faith that had no bearing on how they would govern? At the same time, we have seen the destructive results of religious fanaticism that sees those who oppose them as enemies of God. Martin Luther is alleged to have said, "Better to be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian." How do we sort out the balance we want between devotion and openness to people who believe differently than we do? As Christians, we also have to ask ourselves what role our own faith plays in our decision to vote for one candidate or another.
The Acts 10:34-43 passage offered by our lectionary offers us some interesting reflections on how we are to view God's relationship to the pluralism of this world. What if it is really true, as Peter stated, that God shows no partiality and that anyone who fears (has reverence for) God and does what is right is acceptable to God? Can it be true that you do not have to belong to the proper race, nationality, or religion to be acceptable to God?
In Acts, Peter spoke of this new understanding having begun "after the baptism that John announced." This would suggest that Jesus' baptism was truly the baptism that rocked the world. It shattered the exclusive assumptions that are present in most world religions. It is both a radical departure and in continuity with the Jewish understanding of the covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:1-7), which they understand to be the basic covenant that God requires of all humanity.
To fear God and do what is right is to have a reverent care for all of life and to recognize that every living human is a reflection of the image of God. This basic covenant was embodied in the life of Jesus who was anointed by God "with the Holy Spirit and with power (and) went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil...." In this way, Jesus' baptism shattered the power of religion to offer or deny salvation. The grace of God transcended the narrowness of all religion. It is certainly a caution against Christians then turning it around and adopting a form of exclusive faith of their own. What then is the role of Christianity in such a world? In the same way that Jesus gave up power over others and became their servant, so Christians are invited to become servants of all humanity and seek to release in all individuals the image of God within them. "He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that (Christ) is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead." And that judgment is based on (all) humans demonstrating a "love of God and neighbor." In one sense, it is quite simple, but also it is frighteningly radical.
The church historically has never been very good at using power and judgment. Whether we think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, or more recent examples of Christianity trying to impose its belief system on the larger community, we seem to imitate the world more than demonstrate the faith of Christ in our behavior.
Yet Jesus, beginning with his baptism, offered us another way. This is illustrated in Matthew's description of Jesus' baptism. From a worldly perspective, the one who offers the baptism is usually seen to be in a more powerful position than the one who is being baptized. John recognizes this when he resists the invitation to baptize Jesus. Besides, this is a baptism of repentance. Of what does Jesus need to repent?
Jesus responds: "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). Rather than separate himself from humanity in their sinfulness, Jesus chooses to join them in their struggle with sin. In other places, Jesus will speak of this as a ministry of servanthood. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25b-28). It is an invitation to the church to try servanthood and grace.
To return to our political debates, is this not to suggest that Christians should not be afraid to look for at least a "wise Turk"? Or to paraphrase Jesus, "Politicians should be judged by their fruits" and their fruits should demonstrate a compassion for their neighbor, regardless of their religion, gender, economic status, and so on. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus makes clear that nations are judged by how they respond to the needs of the most vulnerable among them. If one cares about the security of one's nation, it would be wise to choose a candidate that demonstrates that they will lead the nation in caring for the neediest among us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor martyred by the Nazis during World War II, said of our baptism:
Every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, means both death and life. The call of Christ, his baptism, sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan, 1969, p. 99
* * *
Mark Allan Powell, in his book Loving Jesus, says that three things happened at the baptism of Jesus:
1. The heavens were torn apart. In the Bible, "the heavens" are usually depicted as the place where God lives. The heavens are often said to open, for example, when God sends rain to the earth (Genesis 7:11). But this is the only time, ever, that they are said to have been torn. That, in itself, is very interesting.
2. The Spirit descended upon Jesus. John the Baptist had said that the coming Messiah would baptize people with the Holy Spirit rather than with water (Mark 1:7-8). If Jesus is to do this, he must first be baptized with the Holy Spirit himself.
3. God speaks from heaven and calls Jesus "Son." Thus, from the beginning, Jesus is to be identified as the Son of God (see also Mark 1:1).
-- Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus, p. 91
* * *
The place where Jesus was baptized, there in the southern part of the Jordan River, was the site of many other important happenings. It was in the area where:
The twelve tribes, at last, entered the Promised Land
John the Baptist began his work
Jesus did his early ministry
Jesus later did his closing ministry
To the east, on Mount Nebo, Moses gained a glimpse of the Promised Land
Nearby the heavenly chariots carried Elijah home.
-- Halley's Bible Handbook, 1965, p. 424
* * *
The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated "in the year of our Lord 1787." Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith....
Thomas Jefferson said that his bill for religious liberty in Virginia was "meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindu, and infidel of every denomination." When George Washington was inaugurated in New York in April 1789, Gershom Seixas, the hazan of Shearith Israel, was listed among the city's clergymen (there were fourteen in New York at the time) -- a sign of acceptance and respect. The next year, Washington wrote the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, saying, "happily the government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Andrew Jackson resisted bids in the 1820s to form a "Christian party in politics." Abraham Lincoln buried a proposed "Christian amendment" to the Constitution to declare the nation's fealty to Jesus. Theodore Roosevelt defended William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, from religious attacks by supporters of William Jennings Bryan.
The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation -- that all men are created equal -- in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country's tapestry, not the whole tapestry.
-- Newsweek's religion editor Jon Meacham, "A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation," New York Times, October 7, 2007
***
At the time of the last presidential election, church historian and Christian Century commentator Martin Marty cited a linguistic analysis that had just been completed of presidential inaugural addresses through the years. The researchers, who analyzed all 54 inaugural addresses from 1789 to 2000 using key words, noticed a trend. Whereas the earlier addresses focused on "civic education" -- helping listeners understand current issues and the operations of the constitution -- from the early twentieth century onward, inaugural addresses included these "three marks.... 1) immodesty about limitless America; 2) American universalism; and 3) 'paeans to America.' "
Marty comments: "What the authors' counting and listening turn up amounts to something that prophets in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would have summarized in a simple term: idolatry of the nation. Read the addresses and see what we have heard for so long; it has lost the power to shock. As a result, the possibilities for civic education, moral clarification, and refinement of intention are forgotten."
Quoting the authors of the study as they comment on inaugural addresses since FDR, Marty goes on: "God is still invoked, but America's real faith is faith in America: not in the government, not in the Constitution, not strictly speaking, in the people (though this comes closer), but in America as Idea. The American way is God's way [which offers] a glimpse of perfection."
"Since Wilson," the authors go on, "America is the secular proxy for the Kingdom of God... America is that land where the finite merges with the infinite."
Marty concludes: "One would believe, or like to believe, that there is some hunger for return to the earlier style of inaugural addresses. There must be some market for moral and civic education and not worship of nation and, hence, of self. Serious question: could a candidate be elected who doesn't address the public this way?"
-- Martin E. Marty, in the Sightings e-newsletter, 7/26/04. The original article Marty cites is: Michael E. Bailey and Kristin Lindholm, "Tocqueville and the Rhetoric of Civil Religion in the Presidential Inaugural Addresses" from the Christian Scholar's Review, XXXII:3, Spring 2003
***
The first step for a change leader is to free up resources that are committed to maintaining things that no longer contribute to performance and no longer produce results. Maintaining yesterday is always difficult and extremely time-consuming. Maintaining yesterday always commits the institution's scarcest and most valuable resources -- and above all, its ablest people -- to nonresults. Yet doing anything differently -- let alone innovating -- always creates unexpected difficulties. It demands leadership by people of high and proven ability. And if those people are committed to maintaining yesterday, they are simply not available to create tomorrow.
-- Management consultant Peter F. Drucker, "Change Leaders," INC. magazine, June 1999, p. 66
* * *
"To get the flavour [of Matthew 13:13-17], imagine we are going to a huge concert hall, packed to the doors with eager and excited music lovers. We all have our programmes in hand, waiting for the thunderous music to begin. We know what it ought to sound like. This will be music for a battle, for a victory, thunder and lightning and explosions of wonderful noise.
The concert manager comes on stage and declares in ringing tones that the famous musician has arrived. He gets us all on our feet, to welcome with an ovation the man who is going to fulfil all our expectations.
"As we stand there eagerly, a small figure comes on the stage. He doesn't look at all like what we expected. He is carrying, not a conductor's baton, to bring the orchestra to life, but a small flute. As we watch, shocked into silence, he plays, gently and softly, a tune quite different to what we had imagined. But, as we listen, we start to hear familiar themes played in a new way. The music is haunting and fragile, winging its way into our imaginations and hopes and transforming them. And, as it reaches its close, as though at a signal, the orchestra responds with a new version of the music we had been expecting all along.
"Now list to John as the concert manager, whipping us into excitement at the soloist who is going to appear. 'He's coming! He's more powerful than me! He will give you God's wind and God's fire, not just water! He'll sort you out -- he'll clear out the mess -- he'll clean up God's farm so that only the good wheat is left!' We are on our feet, expecting a great leader, perhaps the living God himself, sweeping into the hall with a great explosion, a blaze of light and colour, transforming everything in a single blow.
"And instead we get Jesus. The Jesus we have only met so far, in Matthew's gospel, as a baby with a price on his head. A Jesus who comes and stands humbly before John, asking for baptism, sharing the penitential mood of the rest of Judaea, Jerusalem, and Galilee. A Jesus who seems to be identifying himself, not with a God who sweeps all before him in judgment, but with the people who are themselves facing that judgment and needing to repent."
-- N. T. Wright "Matthew for Everyone"
* * *
"That Jesus submitted to John's baptism has caused theological consternation because it seems to imply that Jesus is subordinate to John or in some way in need of repentance. Matthew's handling of this ticklish issue is significant. His description of John's baptism differs from that in Mark 1:4 in four ways: a) In Matthew, John's baptism is not a baptism of repentance but a call to repentance, "Repent!" The imperative comes first... b) Matthew does not mention the forgiveness of sins in connection with John's baptism. For Matthew, that is accomplished only by the death of Jesus (26:28).
The reason for John's call to repentance is the nearness of the kingdom of God... c) Matthew alone includes John's protest of unworthiness... The implication is that the baptism of the Spirit is not yet... [Jesus] undergoes John's baptism because he is faithful to Israel. d) Jesus sets aside the question of whether he or John has the greater role to focus on a more important question, How must John and Jesus fulfill all righteousness?"
-- David E. Garland, "Reading Matthew"
* * *
"Beyond the particular historical circumstances, however, the text stands as a reminder and warning to all who would seek to magnify themselves while proclaiming the gospel. A glance at the church advertisements in a typical Saturday newspaper will often disclose large photographs of preachers, line sketches of lovely church buildings, lofty comments about the excellences of choirs, and exaggerated claims about friendly congregations. One can make a good case for any or all of these ad strategies, but they run perilously close to lifting up the messengers over the message. John the Baptist forms the model for all subsequent witnesses to Christ when he confesses in humility, 'I need to be baptised by you and not the other way around.' "
-- Thomas G. Long, "Matthew"
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call to Worship
Leader: The voice of God speaks in chaos
and echoes over the waters of creation:
People: calling us to be servants
to a broken world.
Leader: The voice of God sings over
the living waters of grace:
People: rejoicing in our name:
"My Beloved, My Chosen."
Leader: The voice of God stirs the waters
of baptismal joy:
People: proclaiming us to be instruments
of hope and grace.
Prayer of the Day
Beloved's Parent:
your delight fills our souls
causing us to skip like children
on a warm Spring day.
Your voice
shakes all creation
and shatters our complacency;
and we cry, "Glory!"
Servant of Justice:
you come revealing God's will
and modeling obedience for us;
you come, living out compassionate justice,
not by might or threat,
but with
a gentle touch,
a whisper of hope,
a light leading us home.
And we cry, "Glory!"
Spirit of Peace:
through baptism,
we are able to go about
doing good for others;
setting free those bound
by the oppression of others;
witnessing to your power
in our fragile lives.
And we cry, "Glory!"
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our voices as one in prayer,
as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father....
Call to Reconciliation
To a cruel world, we are servants of God's
justice; to a broken world, we are bearers
of God's healing; to an uncertain world, we
proclaim God's presence. Yet we know how
we have failed in our calling and so, come to
the One who forgives us, even as we confess
our sins, saying together,
Unison Prayer of Confessions
We like baptisms, God of Spirit and water, but
confess we are not sure what the sacrament means.
We live in a world that breaks people as reeds
are bruised by nature. Our society snuffs out the
hopes and dreams of the poor, as if they were but
wicks on candles. We choose sides between people,
nations, and races, while you play no favorites among
your beloved.
Forgive us, Grace Bearer. Anoint us with your
Spirit, that we may be restored people, bringing hope
to others; anoint us with your mercy, that we may
offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us; anoint
us with your Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,
so we can testify to the joy and peace he brings to all.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: This is the good news: God calls us by name and
restores us to right living. God walks with us in
every circumstance, holding our hands, that we
might be strengthened in faith and obedience.
People: God sends us forth: as light to a world shadowed
by grief; as losers of the bonds of hopelessness;
as witnesses to God's love for all people.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Starting lineup
Object: wear a jersey from a local athletic team
Matthew 3:13-17
Good morning, boys and girls. What am I wearing this morning? (let them answer) I'm wearing part of a uniform of the (name the team). Have any of you gone to a game where the (name the team) has played? (let them answer) I think one of the most exciting parts of a game is right before it starts. That's when all the players are introduced. Someone announces the player's name and number. That player then runs out on the court of playing field. Everyone cheers. Do you like that part of the game? (let them answer) Some people call that pre-game "hype." That's a funny term, isn't it?
Our Bible story this morning sounds like the events that take place before a game begins. In the Bible story guess what player is introduced and guess who is the announcer. Jesus is introduced. God is the announcer. Jesus is walking by the river. He asks to be baptized by John the Baptist. When John baptizes Jesus, listen to what the Bible says and imagine that its like a pre-game activity: "And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
That is how God introduced Jesus as his son to the world. So, the next time you go to a game and hear all the players introduced, remember this story. Remember how God's son was introduced to the world. Suddenly the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 13, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
