Chaos Into Order
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For January 10, 2021:
Chaos Into Order
by Mary Austin
Genesis 1:1-5
As I made star words for my congregation this year, I found myself pondering opposite qualities as I printed out the words. “Speaking” was balanced by “listening.” “Setting free” needed a counterpoint in “steadiness,” and “ending” felt incomplete without a different star marked with “starting.” In the same way, the texts for this second Sunday of a longed-for New Year give us an interesting contrast, commending both order and disruption. Even as we hear John the Baptizer bring his holy chaos, we also hear God beginning the creation with order.
As the year gets going, we feel these opposite pulls. Some of us need more order. Covid has made our lives formless, without our usual routines. Others of us need to make room for God’s disruptive grace.
For those on the “more order” side of the spiritual equation, God speaks a word and chaos begins to yield. The divine word has the power to reshape what is, and God begins by sorting the formlessness into parts with names. Light. Darkness. Day. Night. In contrast to how we human beings usually label things, there’s no sense that either part of the creation is less worthy than the other part.
In the Scriptures
God’s creation balances light and dark, with no value judgment on either. Neither is better or worse. Each needs the other, as they exist as parts of the creation. The two together are the foundation for the rest of creation. We think of light as better than darkness, especially in these winter days when we crave light. We forget that dark is the place of rest, of birth, of the sprouting of the seed, and try to rush through the darkness to the light.
Scientists believe that we have given ourselves too much light for the health of people, birds and animals. They note “Less than 100 years ago, everyone could look up and see a spectacular starry night sky. Now, millions of children across the globe will never experience the Milky Way where they live. The increased and widespread use of artificial light at night is not only impairing our view of the universe, it is adversely affecting our environment, our safety, our energy consumption and our health.” We have lost the exquisite balance that the divine mind creates. Our creation lacks the evenness of God’s creation, and we have gotten ourselves into a place of disorder.
If we read the whole creation story, with all the following verses, we see the order continue. God creates, God sees and God pronounces. The rhythm of evening and morning come to be. The pattern has its own beauty as the storyteller spools out each day for us. God is not just creating the world and its assorted creatures; God is creating a sense of order.
In the News
In a reverse of the divine creation, our extended encounter with Covid has re-created the world for many, and not for the better. Disorder has come to reign over our Covid lives. We have lost our former balance of home and work, of being with people and savoring quiet, of financial stability and the gift of health. When asked how their lives have changed since March, people said things like: “I've tried to focus on boosting my self-confidence; I was ripped from college in March so I need to learn to be happy without seeing my friends all the time. I’m now employed as an independent contractor delivering groceries.” And, “I lost my job. Currently on unemployment. I am looking for temp or part-time positions but at the same time, secretly hoping I don't find anything because it is scary out there. I’m not very comfortable going out to restaurants, hotels and recreation spaces.”
Now we’re beginning to wonder which re-orderings of our lives will last. After nine months, with many more to go until life returns to a pre-pandemic state, what will our “new normal” be then? Some changes are small, and easily adjusted to. No magazines in waiting rooms. Fine, they were mostly outdated anyway. Cashless transactions. Continuing to wear masks in public. The use of telehealth, and plexiglass barriers in stores. But what about the bigger changes, to our relationships, our spirits and our futures? Professor Karestan Koenen, who teaches public health at Harvard, “views the effects of the pandemic as both acute and long-lasting, similar to those wrought by economic depression and war. Unlike shocking events that punctuated recent generations — the Kennedy assassination, or the Challenger disaster — the pandemic packs a more enduring punch, affecting nearly every aspect of life with its long duration and widespread personal impacts like the deaths of loved ones and losses of jobs and businesses. The times are particularly difficult for those growing into adulthood and finding their place in the world. “That ongoing uncertainty takes a big toll. That’s the basis of a traumatic stressor — unpredictability, uncontrollability — until it exceeds the ability of the organism to cope,” Koenen said. “It’s affecting every milestone: graduation, entering school, leaving school. For the older Gen-Zers: marriages, dating, jobs — in fact, there aren’t jobs. That’s a formative period in their lives when people are figuring out: What’s important to me? What do I want my life to look like compared to my parents’ life?” While it’s likely that the coming-of-age generation will bear long-term impacts, it’s less clear what those might be, Koenen said. Today’s young adults may think of health differently from earlier generations, as more of a common good than something intrinsically personal. If mask-wearing endures, they may not remember a time when not wearing one was acceptable. The pandemic’s traumas could lead to a rise in hopelessness. Physical distancing may accelerate existing trends to connect via social media rather than in person, which, though compensating somewhat for pandemic-induced isolation, may hold its own negative effects.”
When we human beings take on the work of sorting people out, we mismanage the process. We never end up with the graceful order that God achieves, and the pandemic has revealed the flaws in the way we divide people up. Vast inequalities remain in our world, as we move toward (we hope) the end of Covid. School closings have “widened inequalities among children too. “For a lot of people, school is a place where they get food and safety,” said Seema Mohapatra, who studies health equity at Indiana University. Many students with disabilities have struggled without individual attention from trained professionals. Children in 4.4 million households, especially in Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, lack access to personal computers. Overseeing remote learning is hard enough for parents with flexible, well-paying jobs; those who work hourly, low-wage jobs have been put in an even harder position. These disparities will have generational consequences, because early inequalities can “set kids up for a lifetime of success or catching up,” Mohapatra said.
Grief is also distributed unevenly. “Black, Latino, and Indigenous people are roughly three times more likely to be killed by Covid-19 than white people. People in these communities die not only at higher rates, but at younger ages: While just 10% of white Americans who have died of Covid-19 were younger than 65, 28% of Black Americans and 45% of Indigenous Americans were.”
In the Sermon
The sermon could explore the way we use light and darkness in our own lives. One level could be as metaphor — do we seek the darkness of rest and growth as much as the light of illumination? Or, the sermon could explore the collective harm of prizing one over the other. We have written in other places about the harm done to our Black neighbors when we talk about darkness as a negative, and light / white as a positive. As a colleague asks churches, “Have you ever seen a Christ candle in any color but white?”
Or the sermon could focus on balance. God builds balance into creation, and we are terrible at creating it for ourselves. We over-focus on some things and neglect others. We value some people over others, and some spiritual gifts over others. Our New Year’s resolutions are attempts to re-balance: saving and spending, eating and exercise, activity and rest. Where have we gotten ourselves out of equilibrium, as individuals? As a faith community? As a community? As a nation?
The sermon could also explore how we are re-creating our routines and our communities, as we look to the end of Covid. How will we re-order the world for more justice? Will we take this opportunity for a re-creation of our worlds, one that is more in line with the order and balance that God gives us? If we are made in the image of God, as part of this same work of creation, how can we create frameworks that mirror the equilibrium that God gives us?
God creates with love for all of the parts of creation, eventually pronouncing everything good. We easily lose that divine symmetry, falling into spiritual habits of choosing some parts over others. In this new year, God calls us back to the precious gift of order.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Getting In Line With Jesus
by Chris Keating
Mark 1:4-11
Someone once said that Jesus always appear to be in a hurry in Mark’s Gospel. Mark sweeps the reader into the action as the fast-paced Messiah in motion scoots quickly from place to place, guided by the author’s generous reliance on words like “now” and “immediately.”
Mark’s intention to keep Jesus on pace is shown in the account of his baptism. Mark gives a brief introduction to John the Baptist, but quickly pans his camera toward the background where Jesus is making his way to join the line of those coming for baptism. With a splash and a tearing of the heavens, Jesus is baptized.
But do not be sidetracked by Mark’s minimalist presentation, and do not mistake his enthusiastic urgency for the kingdom for half-baked theology. Each of these first verses of the gospel is saturated with a superabundance of questions, themes, and nuances. Slowed down, taken frame by frame, Mark’s presentation of Jesus’ baptism draws us near to the work and message of Jesus’ coming ministry.
Like a desert flower, John blooms quickly in the wilderness. His wilding appearance and unorthodox manners have proven to be an immediate success. He preaches a baptism of repentance. It seems to be a message for the moment, and suddenly scads of people were making a beeline to the Jordan.
But Mark is not interested in a superstar. Instead, he focuses tightly on John’s mission that is attracting a wide swath of the population. Mark is emphatic: people from “the whole Judean countryside” and “all the people of Jerusalem.” In contemporary terms, we’d say John was a sensation. He’s a hit, a social media influencer, a rising star whose message has piqued the interests of the crowds. Such populism always creates resentment from the elite, of course, and eventually his proclamation will cost John his head.
But for now, the crowds are forming. Everyone is getting in line.
Enthralled by the mixture of John’s message and persona, people wait their turn. Crowds were lining up for miles to be baptized by him. His bizarre costume just adds meat to the bones of his message. He speaks with urgency, preaches with fire, and sets the stage for the coming of the Messiah.
As people get in line, perhaps they begin to recall the stories of creation. The scene at the River Jordan recalls not only Israel’s exodus, but earlier stories of God’s troubling of the water. There are powerful similarities, and equally powerful differences. In Genesis, the Spirit broods over the water, while Mark tells us it descended on Jesus. God separates the heavens and earth in Genesis, while the Spirit rips open the heavens at John’s baptism in a manner suggesting earth and heaven are now joined.
God orders creation in Genesis, while Mark offers a glimpse of the un-ordered creation. The Gospel points us toward Jesus’ role in mending what has been broken. John the Baptist is the point of contact for the joining of Israel’s past, present and future. Getting in line behind him means confessing a yearning for the repairing of God’s once neatly sorted creation.
Even the throng of crowds coming toward John evokes creation themes. While Hollywood might have us imagine a decently and well-ordered line, it is more likely that this crowd was unruly and unkempt. Mark is emphatic: all the people from the whole countryside.
It may have resembled the messy queues to get the coronavirus vaccine. Last week saw the hopes of vaccinating upwards of 20 million people in December dwindle to 4.6 million. In Florida, seniors waiting for hours, sometimes lining up 19 hours in advance or setting up chairs in parking lots. The delivery of the vaccine has become mired in layers of bureaucracy and confusing delays. John’s chaotic delivery system might have seemed just as frustrating.
Or perhaps it looked like the line at Disneyworld for Space Mountain on a muggy Saturday, or lines for TSA screening at a busy airport. They spread out like fans at a baseball game, though perhaps a little less patient. The point is this is not an exclusive line for season ticketholders, nor is it a red-carpet lineup for a VIP reception. Remember: the whole countryside. All the people of Jerusalem.
This line of folks represents the re-sorting of the old creation, the first fruits of the harvest Jesus would soon begin to reap.
If he had been called John the Entrepreneur, he would have given his disciples merchandise to hawk and snacks to sell. If he had been called John the Presbyterian, there would have been velvet ropes and a round of examinations. John the Congregationalist would have allowed the whole thing to be remain somewhat autonomous.
But he is known as the baptizer. Like any baptism, identity figures prominently. John is called to this work of professing words of change. He bills himself as the opening act for one who will do even more amazing, astonishing acts. As they stand in line, the crowds hear his message. They ponder their own identity as they feel the push of his hand plunging them into the water. Water rushes into their noses as he raises them to a new identity. With river muck stuck between their toes, they form a new line to head back to their homes.
They discover that they, too, are among the ones with whom God is pleased.
The line is long, and among them stands Jesus. Mark omits the dialogue between John and Jesus and doesn’t offer us the familiar connections offered by Luke. Instead, Mark focuses on Jesus’ identity as one who stands with those gathering to be baptized. It is clear from Mark’s prose that Jesus is Emmanuel — God who stands in the line, who waits with the confused and hurting. And in case there is any debate, the voice of God thunders across the waters, “My beloved Son, with whom I am pleased.”
Jesus is named as one who stands in the long line of the whole people of God. Questions of why he would be baptized and the whether or not Jesus was confessing sin are not covered by the narrative. Instead, we see the heavens and the Spirit, and we hear a voice declaring Jesus’ identity.
And just like that, Jesus’ work begins. Or as Mark says, “immediately.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Whoever Said it, It’s True (Organization)
Charlton Ogburn Jr. participated in the Burma Campaign in World War II, and wrote a piece about his experiences titled “Merrill’s Marauders: The Truth about an Incredible Adventure” that was published in the January 1957 issue of Harper’s Magazine. In the article, he wrote:
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization. During our reorganizations, several commanding officers were tried out on us, which added to the discontinuity.
In 1959 Ogburn expanded the Harper’s article into the memoir, The Marauders that included a rewritten version of the passage:
As a result, I suppose, of high-level changes of mind about how we were to be used, we went through several reorganizations. Perhaps because Americans as a nation have a gift for organizing, we tend to meet any new situation by reorganization, and a wonderful method it is for creating the illusion of progress at a mere cost of confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.
In 1966 the Chicago Tribune used the quote and mistakenly attributed it to the Roman satirist, Gaius Petronius Arbiter, who has received credit for it ever since.
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Sorting and Classifying Good Communication (Organization)
Preachers and other professional speakers or writers have usually been required to study the five classical “Cannons of Rhetoric,” which are attributed to the Roman philosopher, Cicero, as the basis for all good writing and speaking. They are:
1. Invention
Invention is the art of finding the appropriate arguments in any rhetorical situation. Cicero defined invention as the "discovery of valid or seemingly valid arguments to render one's cause probable." Before Cicero, Aristotle demonstrated that invention must take into consideration the needs, interests, and background of the audience.
2. Organization
Also referred to as arrangement, this has to do with the parts of speech but, more importantly, the structure of a text. Though the classicists generally agreed to six parts of a speech, today we tend to require only three — a beginning, a middle, and an ending.
3. Style
Style is the way in which something is spoken, written, or performed. Narrowly interpreted, style refers to word choice, sentence structures, and figures of speech.
4. Delivery
In speech, delivery refers to the management of voice and gestures and was considered by Cicero to be the most important cannon. In written discourse today, delivery means the format and conventions of written communication.
5. Memory (Latin, memoria)
Today, memory is often considered the “dead cannon” as manuscripts and teleprompters have made it less necessary but, for Cicero, it included all the methods and devices that could be used to aid and improve the memory.
Though originally intended as aids to the composition and delivery of formal speeches, the canons are adaptable to many communicative situations, both in speech and in writing.
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10 Reasons Why Organization is Important (Organization)
In an article written for ListDose.com in 2014, Surbhi Jalan offers ten reasons why good organization is important. Here are his top five:
5. Less Stressful and Chaotic Life
Mess and chaos is a major source of stress. Home is basically a safe harbor from the busy and stressful life and it safeguards from the demands of life. A messy, poorly decorated or unsystematic living space causes additional stress that you might not be aware of. Living in a space classified by order, tranquility, and a physical display of your tastes, on the other hand, can soothe you and help release stress.
4. Saves Money and Resources
In an unorganized place, you tend to forget things that you already possess and later when you happen to see the same item in store, you buy one, since you don’t remember that you already have one.
3. Easy Accessibility
It is easier to locate things in an organized place than in a clutter. By organizing, you know the exact place where things are kept and you need not spend hours finding them.
2. Clarity of Goals
By keeping your desk organized, you can keep track of all the to-do lists, bills, documents and paperwork. Unlike, in a cluttered space, there is no clarity of goal as to what to achieve and how to achieve.
1. Less Space Needed
The empty space that is created with organizing makes the house or the working area look bigger. Arranging things and putting them into order automatically creates space.
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Why be Organized? (A Story for Children) (Organization)
One day, a living dinosaur was found and taken to a zoo where only scientists had access to it. However, they held a competition to allow one child, who would demonstrate the greatest passion for dinosaurs, to see it.
Two children who loved dinosaurs reached the final competition. The judges told them to go home and bring back everything dinosaur-related they had in their houses.
The first boy quickly filled the trunk each of them was given. But the second boy, who was very tidy and organized, fit everything carefully in the trunk.
At the final, the second boy won because he had managed to get more things in his trunk, and off he went to see the dinosaur.
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Why it’s Important for Children to Learn Classifying & Sorting? (Organization)
Experts in education tell us that one of the most important introductions to mathematics that we can give to our children is the experience of sorting and classifying.
Classifying and sorting can be done with any objects with both similar and different characteristics by sorting them according to their characteristics, such as class, kind, or size. Generally, classifying and sorting involves three steps: 1) children decide which characteristic to sort by, 2) children physically sort the objects, and 3) children are be able to provide and describe their rational for their classifications.
Why is classifying and sorting important in the early years?
Contemporary educational theory perspectives hold that children are innately capable and learning leads development as opposed to development ruling the learning. As a result, children should be exposed to mathematics and provided with rich, open-ended numeracy experiences from a young age to support their development, rather than waiting until they are deemed developmentally ready. Classifying and sorting like all mathematics experiences, are most effective when incorporated authentically into children's everyday life. It is important for children to see mathematics in the real world to understand its place and uses.
More specifically, early mathematical concepts such as classifying, sorting, comparing and the problem solving that is involved to do these are the foundation for later, more complex mathematical thinking. Classifying and sorting is important for developing numerical concepts and the ability to group numbers and sets, important for completing complex sums in the upper primary years. By classifying and sorting, logical thinking is applied to everyday objects, which is important for later mathematics as well as all decision making.
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Less Sears, More Roebuck (Organization)
Richard Sears was a young railroad agent in Redwood, Minnesota, when he discovered he could order watches from the manufacturer, then reship them to agents down the line who sold them to local people. Seeing the potential in this type of sales, Sears teamed up with his friend, Alvah Roebuck, to start a mail-order business.
By 1894, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was a huge success with a 300-page catalog, but orders rolled in so fast that Sears couldn’t handle them all. Often, when he fell too far behind, he would simply burn the incoming order forms. It didn’t take long for Richard Sears to realize that his skills as a salesman needed to be matched by some organizational skills as well.
In 1895, Alvah Roebuck became bored with the business and asked Sears to buy him out, which he did. Now in need of a partner with some organizational skills, Sears sought out Julius Rosenwald, a men’s clothing manufacturer whose products he had been buying to sell in the catalogue, and made him a vice president and then a partner in Sears, Roebuck and Company.
From the moment he joined the company, Rosenwald brought a rational management philosophy to Richard Sears' well-tuned sales instincts. From 1895 to 1907, annual sales skyrocketed from $750,000 to $50 million. In 1908, Rosenwald was named president and C.E.O. when Richard Sears resigned due to failing health. Rosenwald continued to serve as president until 1924, when he became chairman of the board, a position he held until his death in 1932.
(Richard Sears died in 1915 at the age of 50. Cause of death was listed only as “failing health.” Alvah Roebuck turned his interests to small companies that he owned but then lost in the crash of 1929. He returned to Chicago where he became the national spokesman for Sears, Roebuck Co. and, later, the company’s historian. He died in 1948, happy and content, at the age of 84.)
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From team member Tom Willadsen:
Water, water everywhere!
Today’s lessons all mention water, which makes perfect sense on the day we observe Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Let’s take a deeper dive into each text.
Genesis 1:1-5
This is a very, very familiar passage — all the more familiar because many of your members decided to start the New Year by reading the Bible start to finish. Every one of them got through today’s reading from Genesis. Note that when God began to create there was water, and a “wind from God” (NRSV) swept over the water. I’ve heard that phrase rendered “a God-awful wind.” There’s power in wind/spirit and water. Later in Genesis you’ll read — and some of your members will get this far — that God destroyed Creation with water. Water is a symbol of chaos and destruction, especially in the Hebrew scriptures. Think of the hurricanes that battered Central America last fall. Is there any doubt that water can destroy?
* * *
Psalm 29
Verse 3 reads “The voice of the Lord is over the waters/the God of glory thunders/the Lord is mighty over the waters.” (NRSV) Well, we already knew that because it’s a rephrase of the Genesis reading. See how power is manifested in God’s voice over the waters. “The Voice” is described with destruction power. The Lord’s voice also creates; everything that was created in Genesis 1 came into being because God spoke. That’s power to build up and tear down, as Jeremiah learned when the Lord called him. (Jeremiah 1:10)
* * *
Acts 19:1-7
Looks like a couple people didn’t get the memo. Paul encounters some believers (could one call them Christians at this point?) who had only been baptized into John’s baptism of repentance. They’d never even heard about Jesus. Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. After Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. Clearly, Paul had not read Matthew 28, nor heard the baptismal formula, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” These words are among the oldest creedal statements in Christianity. Certainly, the words used at baptism are as universal as any in Christian practice. Has your congregation wrestled with changing these words, say to something like “Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer?” How was that received? Did anyone even notice?
* * *
Mark 1:4-11
Jesus’ baptism
In Mark’s gospel Jesus appears as an adult and his first act is to be baptized into John’s baptism of repentance. There is no conversation between John and Jesus, as in Matthew’s gospel.
Among the synoptic gospels, Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism is most focused on Jesus. It is Jesus who saw the heavens torn apart, and Spirit descend into him and the voice from heaven addressed him, “You are my Son, the Beloved….” There is no mention of whether others who were present heard and saw these things. In Matthew’s gospel it is, presumably, the crowd who is addressed by the voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved….”
* * *
Mark 1:10
What exactly happened to the sky?
The Greek word that the NRSV renders as “torn apart” is σχιζομένους. (The English word schizophrenia comes from the same root.) It is more violent, more dramatic than the Greek terms used in Matthew and Luke to describe what happened to the sky at Jesus’ baptism. Two other places in the gospels where violent splitting of things is recorded are in Matthew 27:51, where both the curtain in the Temple and the rocks are split.
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WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
People: We worship God in holy splendor.
Leader: God sits enthroned over the flood.
People: God sits enthroned as sovereign forever.
Leader: May God give strength to the people!
People: May God bless the people with peace!
OR
Leader: God comes among us and calls us beloved.
People: We are in awe of the gracious love of our God.
Leader: God’s Spirit is poured out on us in abundance.
People: We rejoice in the bounty of God’s gift to us.
Leader: God’s Spirit is offered to all of God’s children.
People: We will invite others to receive God’s grace.
Hymns and Songs:
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens
UMH: 150
H82: 580
PH: 268
NCH: 556
CH: 651
LBW: 463
ELW: 771
W&P: 644
Many and Great, O God
UMH: 148
H82: 385
PH: 271
NCH: 3
CH: 58
ELW: 837
W&P: 26
This Is My Father’s World
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELW: 824
W&P: 21
AMEC: 47
Lift High the Cross (v2)
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
When Jesus Came to Jordan
UMH: 252
PH: 72
ELW: 305
W&P: 241
Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters
UMH: 605
AAHH: 674
CH: 365
This Is the Spirit’s Entry Now
UMH: 608
LBW: 195
ELW: 448
Our Parent, by Whose Name
UMH: 447
LBW: 357
ELW: 640
O Come and Dwell in Me
UMH: 388
Come, Be Baptized
CCB: 41
We Are One in Christ Jesus (Somos uno en Cristo)
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is our gracious, loving Parent:
Grant us the grace to be open to your Spirit
as you call us your own, beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We bless you, O God, because you are our gracious and loving Parent. You created us and placed us in a world of order and delight. We ask for your grace to accept our place as your children, gifted with your Spirit, so that we can embrace all your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to divide and rank people based on our perceptions instead of God’s vision.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your children, part of your holy family and yet we constantly look for divisions and ways to separate us one from another. We want to rank people by our standards with the result that we end up in the top tiers. We gladly accept your grace for ourselves but we don’t trust you to hand it out in ways acceptable to us. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we might truly embrace others as our siblings and your children. Amen.
Leader: God is a loving parent who is pleased when we grow in love, grace, and wisdom. Receive God’s gracious love and share it with others as liberally as God shares it with us.
Prayers of the People
Blessed are you, O God, because you created a wonderful world and called it good. You created us and called us your beloved children.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your children, part of your holy family and yet we constantly look for divisions and ways to separate us one from another. We want to rank people by our standards with the result that we end up in the top tiers. We gladly accept your grace for ourselves but we don’t trust you to hand it out in ways acceptable to us. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we might truly embrace others as our siblings and your children.
We give you thanks for the wonderful creation which supplies all our earthly needs and delights our senses. We thank you for our place in your creation and in your loving family. We thank you for those who have taught us that we are your beloved children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and, especially, for those who feel excluded from your love. We pray for those who have been pushed away and told they were not worthy of your love. We pray for those whose life circumstances are so hard that they find it difficult to think of you as a loving parent.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about sorting things. You can even do a simple sorting game with them. Have some objects and sort by color or by size. It is helpful to sort things sometimes. But we need to be careful about sorting people. We need to remember that we are all God’s children...More to come soon...
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CHILDREN'S SERMON
Baptism Seal
by Katy Stenta
Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11
Need: Envelopes, Baptismal fount or a bowl of soapy water, paper towel, Papers that say “love” or paper hearts (1 for each child or just an example one for the leader).
We are going to tell the story of Creation, and how God proclaimed it good.
Today we are going to talk about us as being a part of God’s creation.
First God created the heavens and the earth
Then God created the Light and the Dark,
Then the sky from the globe.
And then God created the dry land and the oceans, And God saw it was Good!
Then God said let the earth grow all kinds of things! And fruits and flowers and trees grew and God saw it was good.
Then God created the birds and animals.
And finally God created humankind in God’s image
And God saw everything God had created, and indeed it was very good.
Eventually, God saw that everything God made needed help. So God sent God’s only son Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ was about to start his teaching, he went to be baptized by John the Baptist.
And God opened the skies and said, “This is my son, I am well pleased.” And it was good.
When a baby is born, that baby is a part of the family even before the baby has a name. The name is a way to seal that they are a part of the family. That is how baptism works in God’s family. We already are proclaimed good and belong to God, but the baptism seals it.
Jesus was already the son of God, but the baptism made it so. It’s like sealing an envelope after you put something inside it. It stays okay without the seal, but the seal helps it to be more real.
Here I have envelopes and the word Love. Put your paper in the envelope. We will seal it with this water, like baptism.
(Use the water to seal the envelopes, if you have enough hand one to each child by name after it is sealed.)
Hold your envelope as we pray.
God, thank you for creating us and calling us good. Help us to be sealed in your love and remind us that nothing can separate us from your love. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 10, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 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 or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Chaos Into Order by Mary Austin — With vaccines there’s light at the end of the Covid tunnel. Jeremiah foretold what joy the exiles would feel when they finally returned to Judah. It was far off, but it was hope.
- Second Thoughts: Getting In Line With Jesus by Chris Keating — As people line up to be baptized, they discover their identity as the beloved of God.
- Sermon illustrations by Dean Feldmeyer and Tom Willadsen.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: Baptism Seal by Katy Stenta — How God proclaimed the Creation good.
Chaos Into Orderby Mary Austin
Genesis 1:1-5
As I made star words for my congregation this year, I found myself pondering opposite qualities as I printed out the words. “Speaking” was balanced by “listening.” “Setting free” needed a counterpoint in “steadiness,” and “ending” felt incomplete without a different star marked with “starting.” In the same way, the texts for this second Sunday of a longed-for New Year give us an interesting contrast, commending both order and disruption. Even as we hear John the Baptizer bring his holy chaos, we also hear God beginning the creation with order.
As the year gets going, we feel these opposite pulls. Some of us need more order. Covid has made our lives formless, without our usual routines. Others of us need to make room for God’s disruptive grace.
For those on the “more order” side of the spiritual equation, God speaks a word and chaos begins to yield. The divine word has the power to reshape what is, and God begins by sorting the formlessness into parts with names. Light. Darkness. Day. Night. In contrast to how we human beings usually label things, there’s no sense that either part of the creation is less worthy than the other part.
In the Scriptures
God’s creation balances light and dark, with no value judgment on either. Neither is better or worse. Each needs the other, as they exist as parts of the creation. The two together are the foundation for the rest of creation. We think of light as better than darkness, especially in these winter days when we crave light. We forget that dark is the place of rest, of birth, of the sprouting of the seed, and try to rush through the darkness to the light.
Scientists believe that we have given ourselves too much light for the health of people, birds and animals. They note “Less than 100 years ago, everyone could look up and see a spectacular starry night sky. Now, millions of children across the globe will never experience the Milky Way where they live. The increased and widespread use of artificial light at night is not only impairing our view of the universe, it is adversely affecting our environment, our safety, our energy consumption and our health.” We have lost the exquisite balance that the divine mind creates. Our creation lacks the evenness of God’s creation, and we have gotten ourselves into a place of disorder.
If we read the whole creation story, with all the following verses, we see the order continue. God creates, God sees and God pronounces. The rhythm of evening and morning come to be. The pattern has its own beauty as the storyteller spools out each day for us. God is not just creating the world and its assorted creatures; God is creating a sense of order.
In the News
In a reverse of the divine creation, our extended encounter with Covid has re-created the world for many, and not for the better. Disorder has come to reign over our Covid lives. We have lost our former balance of home and work, of being with people and savoring quiet, of financial stability and the gift of health. When asked how their lives have changed since March, people said things like: “I've tried to focus on boosting my self-confidence; I was ripped from college in March so I need to learn to be happy without seeing my friends all the time. I’m now employed as an independent contractor delivering groceries.” And, “I lost my job. Currently on unemployment. I am looking for temp or part-time positions but at the same time, secretly hoping I don't find anything because it is scary out there. I’m not very comfortable going out to restaurants, hotels and recreation spaces.”
Now we’re beginning to wonder which re-orderings of our lives will last. After nine months, with many more to go until life returns to a pre-pandemic state, what will our “new normal” be then? Some changes are small, and easily adjusted to. No magazines in waiting rooms. Fine, they were mostly outdated anyway. Cashless transactions. Continuing to wear masks in public. The use of telehealth, and plexiglass barriers in stores. But what about the bigger changes, to our relationships, our spirits and our futures? Professor Karestan Koenen, who teaches public health at Harvard, “views the effects of the pandemic as both acute and long-lasting, similar to those wrought by economic depression and war. Unlike shocking events that punctuated recent generations — the Kennedy assassination, or the Challenger disaster — the pandemic packs a more enduring punch, affecting nearly every aspect of life with its long duration and widespread personal impacts like the deaths of loved ones and losses of jobs and businesses. The times are particularly difficult for those growing into adulthood and finding their place in the world. “That ongoing uncertainty takes a big toll. That’s the basis of a traumatic stressor — unpredictability, uncontrollability — until it exceeds the ability of the organism to cope,” Koenen said. “It’s affecting every milestone: graduation, entering school, leaving school. For the older Gen-Zers: marriages, dating, jobs — in fact, there aren’t jobs. That’s a formative period in their lives when people are figuring out: What’s important to me? What do I want my life to look like compared to my parents’ life?” While it’s likely that the coming-of-age generation will bear long-term impacts, it’s less clear what those might be, Koenen said. Today’s young adults may think of health differently from earlier generations, as more of a common good than something intrinsically personal. If mask-wearing endures, they may not remember a time when not wearing one was acceptable. The pandemic’s traumas could lead to a rise in hopelessness. Physical distancing may accelerate existing trends to connect via social media rather than in person, which, though compensating somewhat for pandemic-induced isolation, may hold its own negative effects.”
When we human beings take on the work of sorting people out, we mismanage the process. We never end up with the graceful order that God achieves, and the pandemic has revealed the flaws in the way we divide people up. Vast inequalities remain in our world, as we move toward (we hope) the end of Covid. School closings have “widened inequalities among children too. “For a lot of people, school is a place where they get food and safety,” said Seema Mohapatra, who studies health equity at Indiana University. Many students with disabilities have struggled without individual attention from trained professionals. Children in 4.4 million households, especially in Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, lack access to personal computers. Overseeing remote learning is hard enough for parents with flexible, well-paying jobs; those who work hourly, low-wage jobs have been put in an even harder position. These disparities will have generational consequences, because early inequalities can “set kids up for a lifetime of success or catching up,” Mohapatra said.
Grief is also distributed unevenly. “Black, Latino, and Indigenous people are roughly three times more likely to be killed by Covid-19 than white people. People in these communities die not only at higher rates, but at younger ages: While just 10% of white Americans who have died of Covid-19 were younger than 65, 28% of Black Americans and 45% of Indigenous Americans were.”
In the Sermon
The sermon could explore the way we use light and darkness in our own lives. One level could be as metaphor — do we seek the darkness of rest and growth as much as the light of illumination? Or, the sermon could explore the collective harm of prizing one over the other. We have written in other places about the harm done to our Black neighbors when we talk about darkness as a negative, and light / white as a positive. As a colleague asks churches, “Have you ever seen a Christ candle in any color but white?”
Or the sermon could focus on balance. God builds balance into creation, and we are terrible at creating it for ourselves. We over-focus on some things and neglect others. We value some people over others, and some spiritual gifts over others. Our New Year’s resolutions are attempts to re-balance: saving and spending, eating and exercise, activity and rest. Where have we gotten ourselves out of equilibrium, as individuals? As a faith community? As a community? As a nation?
The sermon could also explore how we are re-creating our routines and our communities, as we look to the end of Covid. How will we re-order the world for more justice? Will we take this opportunity for a re-creation of our worlds, one that is more in line with the order and balance that God gives us? If we are made in the image of God, as part of this same work of creation, how can we create frameworks that mirror the equilibrium that God gives us?
God creates with love for all of the parts of creation, eventually pronouncing everything good. We easily lose that divine symmetry, falling into spiritual habits of choosing some parts over others. In this new year, God calls us back to the precious gift of order.
SECOND THOUGHTSGetting In Line With Jesus
by Chris Keating
Mark 1:4-11
Someone once said that Jesus always appear to be in a hurry in Mark’s Gospel. Mark sweeps the reader into the action as the fast-paced Messiah in motion scoots quickly from place to place, guided by the author’s generous reliance on words like “now” and “immediately.”
Mark’s intention to keep Jesus on pace is shown in the account of his baptism. Mark gives a brief introduction to John the Baptist, but quickly pans his camera toward the background where Jesus is making his way to join the line of those coming for baptism. With a splash and a tearing of the heavens, Jesus is baptized.
But do not be sidetracked by Mark’s minimalist presentation, and do not mistake his enthusiastic urgency for the kingdom for half-baked theology. Each of these first verses of the gospel is saturated with a superabundance of questions, themes, and nuances. Slowed down, taken frame by frame, Mark’s presentation of Jesus’ baptism draws us near to the work and message of Jesus’ coming ministry.
Like a desert flower, John blooms quickly in the wilderness. His wilding appearance and unorthodox manners have proven to be an immediate success. He preaches a baptism of repentance. It seems to be a message for the moment, and suddenly scads of people were making a beeline to the Jordan.
But Mark is not interested in a superstar. Instead, he focuses tightly on John’s mission that is attracting a wide swath of the population. Mark is emphatic: people from “the whole Judean countryside” and “all the people of Jerusalem.” In contemporary terms, we’d say John was a sensation. He’s a hit, a social media influencer, a rising star whose message has piqued the interests of the crowds. Such populism always creates resentment from the elite, of course, and eventually his proclamation will cost John his head.
But for now, the crowds are forming. Everyone is getting in line.
Enthralled by the mixture of John’s message and persona, people wait their turn. Crowds were lining up for miles to be baptized by him. His bizarre costume just adds meat to the bones of his message. He speaks with urgency, preaches with fire, and sets the stage for the coming of the Messiah.
As people get in line, perhaps they begin to recall the stories of creation. The scene at the River Jordan recalls not only Israel’s exodus, but earlier stories of God’s troubling of the water. There are powerful similarities, and equally powerful differences. In Genesis, the Spirit broods over the water, while Mark tells us it descended on Jesus. God separates the heavens and earth in Genesis, while the Spirit rips open the heavens at John’s baptism in a manner suggesting earth and heaven are now joined.
God orders creation in Genesis, while Mark offers a glimpse of the un-ordered creation. The Gospel points us toward Jesus’ role in mending what has been broken. John the Baptist is the point of contact for the joining of Israel’s past, present and future. Getting in line behind him means confessing a yearning for the repairing of God’s once neatly sorted creation.
Even the throng of crowds coming toward John evokes creation themes. While Hollywood might have us imagine a decently and well-ordered line, it is more likely that this crowd was unruly and unkempt. Mark is emphatic: all the people from the whole countryside.
It may have resembled the messy queues to get the coronavirus vaccine. Last week saw the hopes of vaccinating upwards of 20 million people in December dwindle to 4.6 million. In Florida, seniors waiting for hours, sometimes lining up 19 hours in advance or setting up chairs in parking lots. The delivery of the vaccine has become mired in layers of bureaucracy and confusing delays. John’s chaotic delivery system might have seemed just as frustrating.
Or perhaps it looked like the line at Disneyworld for Space Mountain on a muggy Saturday, or lines for TSA screening at a busy airport. They spread out like fans at a baseball game, though perhaps a little less patient. The point is this is not an exclusive line for season ticketholders, nor is it a red-carpet lineup for a VIP reception. Remember: the whole countryside. All the people of Jerusalem.
This line of folks represents the re-sorting of the old creation, the first fruits of the harvest Jesus would soon begin to reap.
If he had been called John the Entrepreneur, he would have given his disciples merchandise to hawk and snacks to sell. If he had been called John the Presbyterian, there would have been velvet ropes and a round of examinations. John the Congregationalist would have allowed the whole thing to be remain somewhat autonomous.
But he is known as the baptizer. Like any baptism, identity figures prominently. John is called to this work of professing words of change. He bills himself as the opening act for one who will do even more amazing, astonishing acts. As they stand in line, the crowds hear his message. They ponder their own identity as they feel the push of his hand plunging them into the water. Water rushes into their noses as he raises them to a new identity. With river muck stuck between their toes, they form a new line to head back to their homes.
They discover that they, too, are among the ones with whom God is pleased.
The line is long, and among them stands Jesus. Mark omits the dialogue between John and Jesus and doesn’t offer us the familiar connections offered by Luke. Instead, Mark focuses on Jesus’ identity as one who stands with those gathering to be baptized. It is clear from Mark’s prose that Jesus is Emmanuel — God who stands in the line, who waits with the confused and hurting. And in case there is any debate, the voice of God thunders across the waters, “My beloved Son, with whom I am pleased.”
Jesus is named as one who stands in the long line of the whole people of God. Questions of why he would be baptized and the whether or not Jesus was confessing sin are not covered by the narrative. Instead, we see the heavens and the Spirit, and we hear a voice declaring Jesus’ identity.
And just like that, Jesus’ work begins. Or as Mark says, “immediately.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:Whoever Said it, It’s True (Organization)
Charlton Ogburn Jr. participated in the Burma Campaign in World War II, and wrote a piece about his experiences titled “Merrill’s Marauders: The Truth about an Incredible Adventure” that was published in the January 1957 issue of Harper’s Magazine. In the article, he wrote:
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization. During our reorganizations, several commanding officers were tried out on us, which added to the discontinuity.
In 1959 Ogburn expanded the Harper’s article into the memoir, The Marauders that included a rewritten version of the passage:
As a result, I suppose, of high-level changes of mind about how we were to be used, we went through several reorganizations. Perhaps because Americans as a nation have a gift for organizing, we tend to meet any new situation by reorganization, and a wonderful method it is for creating the illusion of progress at a mere cost of confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.
In 1966 the Chicago Tribune used the quote and mistakenly attributed it to the Roman satirist, Gaius Petronius Arbiter, who has received credit for it ever since.
* * *
Sorting and Classifying Good Communication (Organization)
Preachers and other professional speakers or writers have usually been required to study the five classical “Cannons of Rhetoric,” which are attributed to the Roman philosopher, Cicero, as the basis for all good writing and speaking. They are:
1. Invention
Invention is the art of finding the appropriate arguments in any rhetorical situation. Cicero defined invention as the "discovery of valid or seemingly valid arguments to render one's cause probable." Before Cicero, Aristotle demonstrated that invention must take into consideration the needs, interests, and background of the audience.
2. Organization
Also referred to as arrangement, this has to do with the parts of speech but, more importantly, the structure of a text. Though the classicists generally agreed to six parts of a speech, today we tend to require only three — a beginning, a middle, and an ending.
3. Style
Style is the way in which something is spoken, written, or performed. Narrowly interpreted, style refers to word choice, sentence structures, and figures of speech.
4. Delivery
In speech, delivery refers to the management of voice and gestures and was considered by Cicero to be the most important cannon. In written discourse today, delivery means the format and conventions of written communication.
5. Memory (Latin, memoria)
Today, memory is often considered the “dead cannon” as manuscripts and teleprompters have made it less necessary but, for Cicero, it included all the methods and devices that could be used to aid and improve the memory.
Though originally intended as aids to the composition and delivery of formal speeches, the canons are adaptable to many communicative situations, both in speech and in writing.
* * *
10 Reasons Why Organization is Important (Organization)
In an article written for ListDose.com in 2014, Surbhi Jalan offers ten reasons why good organization is important. Here are his top five:
5. Less Stressful and Chaotic Life
Mess and chaos is a major source of stress. Home is basically a safe harbor from the busy and stressful life and it safeguards from the demands of life. A messy, poorly decorated or unsystematic living space causes additional stress that you might not be aware of. Living in a space classified by order, tranquility, and a physical display of your tastes, on the other hand, can soothe you and help release stress.
4. Saves Money and Resources
In an unorganized place, you tend to forget things that you already possess and later when you happen to see the same item in store, you buy one, since you don’t remember that you already have one.
3. Easy Accessibility
It is easier to locate things in an organized place than in a clutter. By organizing, you know the exact place where things are kept and you need not spend hours finding them.
2. Clarity of Goals
By keeping your desk organized, you can keep track of all the to-do lists, bills, documents and paperwork. Unlike, in a cluttered space, there is no clarity of goal as to what to achieve and how to achieve.
1. Less Space Needed
The empty space that is created with organizing makes the house or the working area look bigger. Arranging things and putting them into order automatically creates space.
* * *
Why be Organized? (A Story for Children) (Organization)
One day, a living dinosaur was found and taken to a zoo where only scientists had access to it. However, they held a competition to allow one child, who would demonstrate the greatest passion for dinosaurs, to see it.
Two children who loved dinosaurs reached the final competition. The judges told them to go home and bring back everything dinosaur-related they had in their houses.
The first boy quickly filled the trunk each of them was given. But the second boy, who was very tidy and organized, fit everything carefully in the trunk.
At the final, the second boy won because he had managed to get more things in his trunk, and off he went to see the dinosaur.
* * *
Why it’s Important for Children to Learn Classifying & Sorting? (Organization)
Experts in education tell us that one of the most important introductions to mathematics that we can give to our children is the experience of sorting and classifying.
Classifying and sorting can be done with any objects with both similar and different characteristics by sorting them according to their characteristics, such as class, kind, or size. Generally, classifying and sorting involves three steps: 1) children decide which characteristic to sort by, 2) children physically sort the objects, and 3) children are be able to provide and describe their rational for their classifications.
Why is classifying and sorting important in the early years?
Contemporary educational theory perspectives hold that children are innately capable and learning leads development as opposed to development ruling the learning. As a result, children should be exposed to mathematics and provided with rich, open-ended numeracy experiences from a young age to support their development, rather than waiting until they are deemed developmentally ready. Classifying and sorting like all mathematics experiences, are most effective when incorporated authentically into children's everyday life. It is important for children to see mathematics in the real world to understand its place and uses.
More specifically, early mathematical concepts such as classifying, sorting, comparing and the problem solving that is involved to do these are the foundation for later, more complex mathematical thinking. Classifying and sorting is important for developing numerical concepts and the ability to group numbers and sets, important for completing complex sums in the upper primary years. By classifying and sorting, logical thinking is applied to everyday objects, which is important for later mathematics as well as all decision making.
* * *
Less Sears, More Roebuck (Organization)
Richard Sears was a young railroad agent in Redwood, Minnesota, when he discovered he could order watches from the manufacturer, then reship them to agents down the line who sold them to local people. Seeing the potential in this type of sales, Sears teamed up with his friend, Alvah Roebuck, to start a mail-order business.
By 1894, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was a huge success with a 300-page catalog, but orders rolled in so fast that Sears couldn’t handle them all. Often, when he fell too far behind, he would simply burn the incoming order forms. It didn’t take long for Richard Sears to realize that his skills as a salesman needed to be matched by some organizational skills as well.
In 1895, Alvah Roebuck became bored with the business and asked Sears to buy him out, which he did. Now in need of a partner with some organizational skills, Sears sought out Julius Rosenwald, a men’s clothing manufacturer whose products he had been buying to sell in the catalogue, and made him a vice president and then a partner in Sears, Roebuck and Company.
From the moment he joined the company, Rosenwald brought a rational management philosophy to Richard Sears' well-tuned sales instincts. From 1895 to 1907, annual sales skyrocketed from $750,000 to $50 million. In 1908, Rosenwald was named president and C.E.O. when Richard Sears resigned due to failing health. Rosenwald continued to serve as president until 1924, when he became chairman of the board, a position he held until his death in 1932.
(Richard Sears died in 1915 at the age of 50. Cause of death was listed only as “failing health.” Alvah Roebuck turned his interests to small companies that he owned but then lost in the crash of 1929. He returned to Chicago where he became the national spokesman for Sears, Roebuck Co. and, later, the company’s historian. He died in 1948, happy and content, at the age of 84.)
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:Water, water everywhere!
Today’s lessons all mention water, which makes perfect sense on the day we observe Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Let’s take a deeper dive into each text.
Genesis 1:1-5
This is a very, very familiar passage — all the more familiar because many of your members decided to start the New Year by reading the Bible start to finish. Every one of them got through today’s reading from Genesis. Note that when God began to create there was water, and a “wind from God” (NRSV) swept over the water. I’ve heard that phrase rendered “a God-awful wind.” There’s power in wind/spirit and water. Later in Genesis you’ll read — and some of your members will get this far — that God destroyed Creation with water. Water is a symbol of chaos and destruction, especially in the Hebrew scriptures. Think of the hurricanes that battered Central America last fall. Is there any doubt that water can destroy?
* * *
Psalm 29
Verse 3 reads “The voice of the Lord is over the waters/the God of glory thunders/the Lord is mighty over the waters.” (NRSV) Well, we already knew that because it’s a rephrase of the Genesis reading. See how power is manifested in God’s voice over the waters. “The Voice” is described with destruction power. The Lord’s voice also creates; everything that was created in Genesis 1 came into being because God spoke. That’s power to build up and tear down, as Jeremiah learned when the Lord called him. (Jeremiah 1:10)
* * *
Acts 19:1-7
Looks like a couple people didn’t get the memo. Paul encounters some believers (could one call them Christians at this point?) who had only been baptized into John’s baptism of repentance. They’d never even heard about Jesus. Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. After Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. Clearly, Paul had not read Matthew 28, nor heard the baptismal formula, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” These words are among the oldest creedal statements in Christianity. Certainly, the words used at baptism are as universal as any in Christian practice. Has your congregation wrestled with changing these words, say to something like “Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer?” How was that received? Did anyone even notice?
* * *
Mark 1:4-11
Jesus’ baptism
In Mark’s gospel Jesus appears as an adult and his first act is to be baptized into John’s baptism of repentance. There is no conversation between John and Jesus, as in Matthew’s gospel.
Among the synoptic gospels, Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism is most focused on Jesus. It is Jesus who saw the heavens torn apart, and Spirit descend into him and the voice from heaven addressed him, “You are my Son, the Beloved….” There is no mention of whether others who were present heard and saw these things. In Matthew’s gospel it is, presumably, the crowd who is addressed by the voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved….”
* * *
Mark 1:10
What exactly happened to the sky?
The Greek word that the NRSV renders as “torn apart” is σχιζομένους. (The English word schizophrenia comes from the same root.) It is more violent, more dramatic than the Greek terms used in Matthew and Luke to describe what happened to the sky at Jesus’ baptism. Two other places in the gospels where violent splitting of things is recorded are in Matthew 27:51, where both the curtain in the Temple and the rocks are split.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
People: We worship God in holy splendor.
Leader: God sits enthroned over the flood.
People: God sits enthroned as sovereign forever.
Leader: May God give strength to the people!
People: May God bless the people with peace!
OR
Leader: God comes among us and calls us beloved.
People: We are in awe of the gracious love of our God.
Leader: God’s Spirit is poured out on us in abundance.
People: We rejoice in the bounty of God’s gift to us.
Leader: God’s Spirit is offered to all of God’s children.
People: We will invite others to receive God’s grace.
Hymns and Songs:
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens
UMH: 150
H82: 580
PH: 268
NCH: 556
CH: 651
LBW: 463
ELW: 771
W&P: 644
Many and Great, O God
UMH: 148
H82: 385
PH: 271
NCH: 3
CH: 58
ELW: 837
W&P: 26
This Is My Father’s World
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELW: 824
W&P: 21
AMEC: 47
Lift High the Cross (v2)
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
When Jesus Came to Jordan
UMH: 252
PH: 72
ELW: 305
W&P: 241
Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters
UMH: 605
AAHH: 674
CH: 365
This Is the Spirit’s Entry Now
UMH: 608
LBW: 195
ELW: 448
Our Parent, by Whose Name
UMH: 447
LBW: 357
ELW: 640
O Come and Dwell in Me
UMH: 388
Come, Be Baptized
CCB: 41
We Are One in Christ Jesus (Somos uno en Cristo)
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is our gracious, loving Parent:
Grant us the grace to be open to your Spirit
as you call us your own, beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We bless you, O God, because you are our gracious and loving Parent. You created us and placed us in a world of order and delight. We ask for your grace to accept our place as your children, gifted with your Spirit, so that we can embrace all your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to divide and rank people based on our perceptions instead of God’s vision.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your children, part of your holy family and yet we constantly look for divisions and ways to separate us one from another. We want to rank people by our standards with the result that we end up in the top tiers. We gladly accept your grace for ourselves but we don’t trust you to hand it out in ways acceptable to us. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we might truly embrace others as our siblings and your children. Amen.
Leader: God is a loving parent who is pleased when we grow in love, grace, and wisdom. Receive God’s gracious love and share it with others as liberally as God shares it with us.
Prayers of the People
Blessed are you, O God, because you created a wonderful world and called it good. You created us and called us your beloved children.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your children, part of your holy family and yet we constantly look for divisions and ways to separate us one from another. We want to rank people by our standards with the result that we end up in the top tiers. We gladly accept your grace for ourselves but we don’t trust you to hand it out in ways acceptable to us. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we might truly embrace others as our siblings and your children.
We give you thanks for the wonderful creation which supplies all our earthly needs and delights our senses. We thank you for our place in your creation and in your loving family. We thank you for those who have taught us that we are your beloved children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and, especially, for those who feel excluded from your love. We pray for those who have been pushed away and told they were not worthy of your love. We pray for those whose life circumstances are so hard that they find it difficult to think of you as a loving parent.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about sorting things. You can even do a simple sorting game with them. Have some objects and sort by color or by size. It is helpful to sort things sometimes. But we need to be careful about sorting people. We need to remember that we are all God’s children...More to come soon...
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CHILDREN'S SERMONBaptism Seal
by Katy Stenta
Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11
Need: Envelopes, Baptismal fount or a bowl of soapy water, paper towel, Papers that say “love” or paper hearts (1 for each child or just an example one for the leader).
We are going to tell the story of Creation, and how God proclaimed it good.
Today we are going to talk about us as being a part of God’s creation.
First God created the heavens and the earth
Then God created the Light and the Dark,
Then the sky from the globe.
And then God created the dry land and the oceans, And God saw it was Good!
Then God said let the earth grow all kinds of things! And fruits and flowers and trees grew and God saw it was good.
Then God created the birds and animals.
And finally God created humankind in God’s image
And God saw everything God had created, and indeed it was very good.
Eventually, God saw that everything God made needed help. So God sent God’s only son Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ was about to start his teaching, he went to be baptized by John the Baptist.
And God opened the skies and said, “This is my son, I am well pleased.” And it was good.
When a baby is born, that baby is a part of the family even before the baby has a name. The name is a way to seal that they are a part of the family. That is how baptism works in God’s family. We already are proclaimed good and belong to God, but the baptism seals it.
Jesus was already the son of God, but the baptism made it so. It’s like sealing an envelope after you put something inside it. It stays okay without the seal, but the seal helps it to be more real.
Here I have envelopes and the word Love. Put your paper in the envelope. We will seal it with this water, like baptism.
(Use the water to seal the envelopes, if you have enough hand one to each child by name after it is sealed.)
Hold your envelope as we pray.
God, thank you for creating us and calling us good. Help us to be sealed in your love and remind us that nothing can separate us from your love. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, January 10, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 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 or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
