Named, Claimed, And Unashamed
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Dear Fellow Pastor,
To be acknowledged and affirmed is a deep need of every human being. Essie Mae Washington-Williams was denied the fullness of that experience for most of her life. By contrast, Jesus, at his baptism at the Jordan as told in the Gospel lection for January 11, was not only acknowledged and affirmed by God but also commissioned to a unique, Spirit-led task. Some congregations will observe this "Baptism of Our Lord" Sunday by inviting us to celebrate, remember, or affirm our own baptism, rejoicing in the corresponding affirmation of us by God.
Carlos Wilton in our lead article reflects on our need for Blessing (with a capital "B") - not only from God but also from others, linking this with the narrative of Jesus' baptism. Team members respond with reflections on the meaning of Christian baptism and on the evils of racism. Illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon round out this issue of The Immediate Word.
NAMED, CLAIMED, AND UNASHAMED
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
by Carlos E. Wilton
The Message on a Postcard
"I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams and, at last, I feel completely free."
Just before Christmas, the newspapers were filled with stories about this retired African-American schoolteacher from California, who had just revealed that she is the illegitimate daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond. (Thurmond, of course, was the centenarian politician who, in the bad old days of racial segregation, had soared to political fame on a white-supremacist platform.)
To the press, the fact that the crusty old senator had, as a young man, fathered a daughter by an African-American domestic servant seemed ironic in the extreme. Although Thurmond never publicly acknowledged his eldest child, he did maintain a lifelong - albeit oddly distanced - relationship with her.
Ms. Washington-Williams told the press, "There's a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year. Once I decided that I would no longer harbor such a great secret that many others knew, I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted" ("Thurmond's daughter: 'Tremendous weight' lifted," on CNN; can be found online at http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/12/17/thurmond.paternity). Even in the absence of a parental blessing, she found the experience of publicly claiming her identity to be liberating.
As Jesus stands immersed in the Jordan, having just been baptized by John, there's no doubt about God's acknowledgment of him: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Although the Gospel writers differ as to how public was God's announcement, still it represents God's claiming him, and also commissioning him to begin his ministry.
When we truly understand the meaning of our own baptism, we too discover who we are. Along with that discovery comes the realization that God has a claim on us - and also has important work for us to do. That experience is empowering, and truly liberating.
Some Words on the Word
The baptism of Jesus occurs in all three Synoptic Gospels (and by allusion in John); it is better-attested, therefore, than the narratives of Jesus' birth. For the early church, the baptism of the Lord was a far more important festival than Christmas.
Jesus' baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry. Here he emerges from the historical shadows that characterize the first thirty years of his life. From this point onward, he walks the road that will eventually lead to his cross and resurrection.
In telling the story of Jesus' baptism, the Gospel writers emphasize the human side of his incarnation (which often is the more difficult aspect of the incarnation for modern church people to understand). The waters of baptism are a link between Jesus and ourselves, a point of continuity.
There are interesting contrasts among the four Gospel narratives. The other Gospel writers make it clear that John the Baptist performs the rite; Luke leaves open the question of who administered Jesus' baptism (in fact, he's already told the story of John's arrest, so it's very possible Luke does not think John was there). Luke relates how "the heaven was opened" just prior to the divine blessing. This is reminiscent of Isaiah's plaintive cry in a season of suffering, "O that you would rend the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). For Luke (unlike Mark), the ecstatic vision is witnessed by everyone present, not just by Jesus. He takes pains to point out that the dove descends "in bodily form." Luke also puts the divine blessing in the second person, rather than the third: "You are my son, the beloved," as opposed to "This is my son, the beloved." God is addressing Jesus directly.
The voice from the heavens is strongly linked to Luke's Transfiguration account (Luke 9:35), in which the divine blessing again booms out, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
"Beloved" in the Greek original is agapetos - agape, the highest form of love. "I am well-pleased" is eudokeo. Eudokia, a related noun, came to be important in Gnosticism as a name for Jesus (G. Schrenk, in Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans] 2:750.) Jesus is the one who pleases God.
Much ink has been spilled over the question of why the sinless Jesus has to receive baptism. As good an explanation as any is supplied by G. B. Caird: "Jesus went to be baptized, then, not for private reasons, but as a man with a public calling. John had summoned all Israel to repentance, and with Israel Jesus too must go. He dwelt in the midst of a people with unclean lips and could not separate himself from them. Rather he must be fully identified with them in their movement towards God" (Saint Luke, The Pelican New Testament Commentaries [New York: Penguin, 1963], p. 77).
There is an old Russian Orthodox belief that any two babies baptized in the same church, on the same day, are as brother or sister. Perhaps that's the way it is with Jesus' baptism. He doesn't need it for himself, but he needs it in order to share our humanity - to fully and publicly join with the human family.
A Map of the Message
The story of God's blessing at Jesus' baptism provides an opportunity for a pastoral sermon directed at those who very much need to feel such a blessing. For those who feel such a need in their lives, it's not just any blessing: it's the Blessing. On any given Sunday, there are some sitting in our pews who have long sought the Blessing from those in authority in their life but have never received it.
In the best circumstances, such a blessing is handed out to children by their parents, when the time is right: when the driver's license is earned, the diploma received, the engagement ring given, the first baby brought home from the hospital. There's no single occasion for giving it. It's best given again and again, in progressive stages, as parents say to their children, "Hey, you're all right ...You've done a nice job ...You're mine, and I love you."
The blessing is part of the essential equipment for striking out on one's own. It can't be packed in a suitcase or hung in a frame upon a wall or hermetically sealed in a special box and stored in the attic. No, the blessing can't be held onto - except in the heart and mind and memory. But it's an essential part of life's traveling kit, all the same.
Those who have sought to leave home without the Blessing find themselves in much the same predicament as the Prodigal Son, in Jesus' famous parable. In Jesus' parable, of course, the father does more than put the penitent prodigal on the payroll: he welcomes him home with open arms. He blesses him.
The father in that parable is God, and God's noted for that sort of thing. But it doesn't happen so readily in many of today's families. "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." Maybe even Jesus needs to hear those words, before he can set out on his life's work.
Team Comments
George L. Murphy responds: When the subject of baptism comes up, we usually think about ways in which it does - or doesn't - affect the condition of the person who is baptized. The emphasis may be on God's activity to bring about faith and change the relationship of the person so that she or he becomes a child of God. Baptism, in other words, has salvific power because of God's Word, which is connected with it. Other Christians would place the stress on baptism as a sign of the faith of the one who is baptized. There has been a great deal of debate over the centuries about how baptism should be understood. Is there indeed an objective aspect of it so that it makes sense for infants to be baptized even if they don't understand what's going on? The Nicene Creed speaks of "one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins," but is that to be taken literally? Does baptism actually get rid of a person's sins?
These are important questions and I don't want to suggest that they be ignored. But they understand baptism in an essentially static way: Does it or does it not change the person's status before God? There is another important aspect that ought to be considered. Baptism is a call to live as God's people in the world and to carry out the mission that God has given each person as a member of the Body of Christ.
The Gospel for this First Sunday after the Epiphany is always the account of the Baptism of our Lord from one of the Synoptic Gospels, and in this year of Luke is of course from that Gospel. But questions arise with Jesus' baptism too - not exactly the same ones we've already considered although they are related. Basically the question about Jesus' baptism has been "Why?" We're told (Luke 3:3) that John's was "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." So if Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be baptized?
It seems clear from the New Testament that as Christians came to understand more clearly who Jesus was, his baptism became a puzzle and embarrassment. In what was probably the earliest Gospel, Mark, there's no problem: Jesus is simply baptized by John. But in Matthew there's a little preliminary dialogue between John and Jesus in which the Baptist says that he should be baptized by Jesus, while Luke skips over the baptism itself and focuses on what happens during Jesus' prayer afterward. Finally the Gospel of John never actually says that Jesus was baptized!
The fact is that we don't know why Jesus felt it necessary to be baptized by John. Even the words put in his mouth by Matthew (3:15) - that it was "to fulfill all righteousness" - don't explain much. But the way in which baptism functions for Jesus is obvious: It is the beginning of his ministry. As soon as Jesus is baptized, he hears a heavenly voice proclaiming him God's Son and the Spirit descends upon him. He is then driven into the wilderness to be tested and returns proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God.
Baptism has often been thought of as a kind of fire insurance policy, and people have babies baptized just so they won't go to hell if they die. Unfortunately, they often don't think about the implications of baptism if the child lives - and in particular, about the obligations they assume to bring the child up in the Christian faith. But while baptism has an importance that extends beyond this life, we also ought to be thinking about what it means for our lives now. Paul's point in Romans 6:1-11 is that baptism is a sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ. The person who is baptized has already died to the sinful condition of separation from God, and because of Christ's resurrection "might walk in newness of life." Thus the whole Christian life ought to be a living out of baptism, learning to think and act in accord with what it means to be identified with the crucified and risen Christ.
Baptism in itself of course doesn't provide a person with the details about what each person is to do with her or his life, what career to pursue and so forth. But each Christian's calling - including the ordained ministry but by no means limited to that - ought to be understood as being grounded in baptism. Some churches have services of "Affirmation of Baptism" which can be used for confirmation and reception of new members, and which might be made part of worship on this Sunday for all members (e.g., Lutheran Book of Worship, pp. 198-201). But baptism isn't just a call to distinctively "religious" activity. An even broader understanding might be encouraged by a service of affirmation of the vocation of Christians in the world - whether salespersons, scientists, plumbers, homemakers, or whatever.
This type of understanding of baptism will be helped by the realization that it is not just an act that affects us as individuals. Baptism is also initiation into the Christian community, an incorporation into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). It has sometimes been suggested that 1 Peter is based on a sermon for those who had just been baptized, and there (2:5) the language of "a holy priesthood" is used for the church. The idea of "the priesthood of all believers" does not mean that all Christians are to serve in the pastoral office. It does mean that all baptized Christians, in the church and in the world, are to offer everything they have been given for God's service.
Carter Shelley responds: I understand that the emphasis of this week's issue is not upon Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams herself but upon the importance of legitimacy and validation for Jesus in his ministry and for us as Christian followers and children of the same God and Lord. As someone who spent my formative years in the state of South Carolina, I have some perspective on this week's The Immediate Word, "Named, Claimed, and Unashamed."
For example, my husband Tom, who also grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, has clear memories of his seventh grade social studies teacher commenting in 1966 that our senior Senator Strom Thurmond was too old to serve another term in the U.S. Senate. Since Thurmond continued to serve for 38 or 39 more years, he was waaaay beyond his dotage at the end, leaving the decision-making and his daily D.C. activities to aids who were not in fact elected to be in such positions of power and influence. Both those observations (too old to serve in 1966, verified by inability to be more than a figurehead senator in the 1990s and 2000s) mean that I am not at all surprised to hear that the recently deceased Thurmond's his-story continues to be newsworthy.
Nor does it surprise me at all to learn that Thurmond had an illegitimate daughter by an African American woman. Thurmond's run for the United States presidency on the Dixiecrat ticket in the late 1940s gained its momentum from racial bigotry and segregationism. In the post-Civil War South from Reconstruction onward, many Southerners saw no inconsistencies in maintaining a white supremacist superiority stance while engaged in miscegenation, sexual exploitation, and abuse of the very people white South Carolinians claimed were not fully human. African American women had no recourse against social humiliation, economic exploitation, physical abuse, and/or rape. Anyone who has read Harper Lee's splendid To Kill a Mockingbird knows how equally dangerous and fatal the charge of a white woman against a black man could be in the South. Just the hint of such a possibility could lead to a lynching that would not be challenged or noted by either local government or law. My primary point here is that knowledge of Strom Thurmond's fathering of a child with an African American servant would not have injured his political career, because such conduct was winked at and overlooked in much the way Jack Kennedy's multiple infidelities were ignored by the press in the early 1960s.
Racism justifies behavior that is sinful and injurious to those who are oppressed based upon the claim that Negroes, Jews, Latinos, Asians - whoever - are more like animals than human beings and so their death, abuse, persecution, and exploitation are justifiable because such people are too ignorant, stupid, or immoral to merit "equal treatment and opportunity under the law." Consequently, I suspect many knew and did not care if Strom Thurmond "had a little fun on the side" when he was a young man. It wasn't that uncommon a practice in the South prior to the 1950s and 1960s.
None of that is to say that all Southerners were bigots or that all Southerners would have considered such news insignificant. There were many who were shocked at the mistreatment of Negroes in the South and many who worked for equal rights and equal opportunities. Unfortunately, those conscientious people were not enough to instigate change without the help of the federal government and acts by Congress.
While the vestiges of racism remain in the South, as they do in all parts of our nation, I am eternally glad such bigotry and injustice no longer remain the societal norm in the Southeast. But even as I write these words, I am certain my African American colleagues would assert that there is far more racism afoot in January 2004 than I can know as a Euro-American female.
Thus, I can well imagine that Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams finally feels a sense of freedom in being able to come forward; her lifelong wounds must be deep. When a child's parentage much be kept a secret, that child cannot help but experience a sense of shame and wrongness about herself. Born of a domestic servant mother and a famous father, Ms. Washington-Williams entered a hostile world in which her skin color, her illegitimacy, and her fatherless state were all held against her and actually blamed upon her. In the South Carolina of the late 1950s and early 1960s of my childhood, it was not at all uncommon for white folks to speak disparagingly of the slovenliness, laziness, immorality, and sexual license common among Negroes. But I never heard any of these morally smug, white Christians suggest the culpability of themselves or their neighbors in creating a world that perpetuated such stereotypes, prejudices, and suffering.
It's no wonder Essie Mae Williams lives today in California and not South Carolina. It's no wonder African Americans established their own churches as a safe haven from the trials and tribulations of their daily lives in southern states. It's no wonder the metaphor of God as father, Jesus as brother and savoir, and the Exodus as testimony to God's alliance with the subjugated and enslaved hold such a profound place in African American Christianity. Historically, great faith helps the despised and persecuted survive and thrive despite slavery in Egypt, martyrdom in Rome, or tenant farming in South Carolina. African American theologian James Cone, in Theology of the Oppressed, demonstrates the vital role God plays as liberator of African Americans. The white landowner may not see any contradictions in earthly bigotry and exploitation but one's heavenly father surely does.
The best book to come out in recent years to help those younger than fifty get a sense of the power of racism and the power of love to overcome racism is Susan Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. Previously known for her devotional materials, Monk Kidd evokes the racial tensions, dangers, and faith of Negroes living in South Carolina prior to Civil Rights. In the moving novel, a central faith focus of the African American women is the Black Madonna. Not only does Christ serve as a symbol of hope and salvation, but Mary, his mother, provides a powerful focus for the novel's key characters.
When teaching college freshmen and women American literature, I always make a point of assigning readings from the autobiography of Frederick Douglas along with Herman Melville's short story "Benito Cereno" and the unfairly, underrated film Amistad, directed by Stephen Spielberg. Invariably, the Euro-American students are stunned and appalled by what they discover, because previous history and social studies classes had not impressed upon them the horrors of slavery or Jim Crow laws. We as preachers must tell the stories of Jesus. We as parents, preachers, teachers, and citizens must also tell and retell the stories of sinfulness, selfishness, and brutality we as a nation carry. As with the Holocaust, the only way not to repeat the horrors of the past is to keep the memory of those horrors alive.
Related Illustrations
Several years ago I attended a Rotary meeting that included many high school seniors. Each of these seniors had spent the morning at the office of a Rotarian's place of business. The program chairman had enlisted a motivational speaker for the occasion. By prearrangement he had a female student called from the luncheon just before he spoke. He then informed the rest of the group that when she returned he simply wanted the audience on cue to stand and give her a standing ovation. Within moments he began his speech and when the girl returned to her seat he began to say a few words of introduction of the student and then invited her to come forward. As she approached the speaker the 250 plus people stood and began a 2 to 3 minute ovation. We all watched as she changed from a very shy, befuddled person to someone who became confident and grateful for the acknowledgment, even though she had no idea why she was being honored. Later she confessed that she had never felt so wonderful in her entire life, although she had no idea why she was being honored.
- Wesley Runk
***
"I am sure that the question looming here today is why have I waited to come forth. My response is throughout his life and mine we respected each other. I never wanted to do anything to harm him or cause detriment to his life or to lives of those around him....
"I was sensitive about his well-being and career and his family here in South Carolina. It was only at the urging of my children and Senator Thurmond's passing that I decided that my children deserve the right to know from whom, where, and what they have come. I am committed in teaching them and helping them to learn about their past. It is their right to know, and I understand the rich history of their ancestry, black and white.
"At this juncture in my life, I am looking for closure. I am not bitter. I am not angry. In fact, there's a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year. Once I decided that I would no longer harbor such a great secret that many others knew, I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted.
"I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last, I feel completely free."
- From the public statement of Ms. Washington-Williams on December 17, 2003, at the Adams Mark Hotel, Columbia, South Carolina
***
The blessing that Ms. Washington-Williams received from her father during his life was hesitant, and it was more implied than directly stated. As she told Dan Rather of CBS news during a Sixty Minutes broadcast:
"The first time he saw me he said, 'Well, you look like one of my sisters. You've got those cheekbones like our family, so that was almost an admission ... without saying ... yes, you are my daughter"....
"Whenever I came in, he would always hug me when I came in. And when I'd leave, he'd hug me. But he never came out and said, 'I love you,' but he sort of showed it in his expression" ....
"It felt good that at least my father cared something about me. It made me feel better."
-From the CBS Sixty Minutes web site
***
There's an old fable that illustrates what impact the Blessing can have upon a life. It's the story of a fabulously wealthy king, who has a son whom he adores. The boy is bright and handsome, perfect in every way, except one: he has a hunchback.
This saddens the king to no end. He proclaims that a rich treasure will go to the person who figures out how to heal the boy's back.
Months and months pass, without a solution. The wisest thinkers and most learned scholars travel to the palace from afar. But no one knows what to do. Finally, an old, wise woman happens into the kingdom and hears about the problem. "I want nothing of your treasure," she says; "but I do have the answer to your problem."
The old woman directs the king to build a statue in the center of the palace courtyard, an exact replica of his son, but with one exception: its back must be perfectly straight. "That's all you have to do," she assures him. "Trust God for the healing."
The king's artisans set to work, and in no time, a beautiful marble sculpture sits in the center of the courtyard. Every day, as the little boy plays, he studies the figure in admiration. He starts to say to himself, "That's me! It looks exactly like me."
Little by little, the boy's back straightens. The day comes when the king gazes out at the prince, frolicking in the garden - and realizes his son's back is totally healed. The boy's identification with the statue is so complete that he has come to believe it is him - straight back and all. His body obeys his belief.
***
There's that familiar scene from the end of The Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard (now revealed to be nothing more than a displaced patent-medicine huckster, but still retaining some wispy remnants of his wizard's mystique) presents to each of Dorothy's three companions a gift. Along with each gift comes a kind of blessing: a medal of courage for the cowardly lion, a ticking heart-shaped watch for the hollow-chested tin woodsman, and a diploma to swell the straw-stuffed head of the scarecrow. Courage, heart, brains: the Wizard gives these three nothing they do not already have; but it's his blessing that frees them to acknowledge their gifts and move forward.
***
Fred Craddock tells a story of a vacation he and his wife took together in the Smoky Mountains. A distinguished older gentleman came to their table in the hotel dining room. He was, as it turned out, a celebrity - a former governor of Tennessee. When he discovered that Craddock was a professor of preaching, the man said he had a story to tell him, a story about a preacher.
It seems that, when the governor was born, his mother wasn't married. He never knew his father. Now that may not seem so unusual today, but in the Southland of that era, that made for a difficult childhood. The other children used to taunt him and call him names. They used to ask him when his father was coming back. Whenever he was out with his mother in public, he was painfully aware that he had but one parent.
One day, when he was about ten, this boy was in church. Usually, when the service was over, he found his way discreetly out the back door - which meant that he never talked to the minister, never had to share his name. On this particular occasion, though, the boy got swept up in the crowd, and before he knew it, there was the pastor, at the front door, his hand extended.
"Well, son," the preacher's voice boomed out, "whose boy are you?" He could hardly have asked a more embarrassing question. The boy flushed and started to stammer - but before he could say anything more, the preacher (still gripping his hand) said: "I know! ... You're God's son!" He slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Boy, go claim your inheritance."
The boy never forgot that incident. He never forgot the preacher's kindness in not drawing attention to his single-parent family. He never forgot the way he sent him out, either: "Go claim your inheritance!"
Long after he became one of the most popular governors in Tennessee history, this man still delighted in telling the story of the day the preacher told him he was a child of God.
It was almost as though a voice had spoken from the heavens: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." That was the day the boy received the Blessing.
***
It's well known that Martin Luther had a lifelong habit that he carried out each morning, as he arose. He would make the sign of the cross on his forehead and say to himself, "Remember, Martin, you are baptized." To Luther, his baptism set him apart - and, along with others who are likewise set apart, he felt a common bond, a sense of community.
Even after Luther broke with Rome, he continued to do this. His ordination as a priest might have been set aside by the pope and his membership in the Augustinian order of monks may have been revoked, but in having received this sacrament he had something no one could take away: he was one of the baptized!
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
OPENING
Hymns:
"God, Whose Love Is Reigning o'er Us": WORDS: William Boyd Grove, 1980; MUSIC: John Goss, 1869; Words (c) 1980 William Boyd Grove.
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is": WORDS: Henry W. Baker, 1868; MUSIC: Irish Melody; harm. From The English Humnal, 1906; (c) public domain.
"Lift High the Cross" (especially v. 2): WORDS: George William Kitchin and Michael Robert Newbolt, 1916, alt.; MUSIC: Sydney Hugo Nicholson, 1916; (c) 1974 Hope Publishing Co.
"When Jesus Came to Jordan": WORDS: Fred Pratt Green, 1973; MUSIC: Attr. to William Walker, 1835; harm. by Carlton R. Young, 1988; Words (c) 1980 Hope Publishing Co.; harm. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House.
Songs:
"Arise, Shine": WORDS: Isaiah 60:1; MUSIC: Gary Alan Smith; Music (c) 1992 Gamut Music Productions.
"As We Gather": WORDS & MUSIC: Mike Fay and Tom Coomes; (c) 1981 Coomesietunes.
Call to Worship
Leader: Ascribe to God, O heavenly beings,
People: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
Leader: Ascribe to God the glory of the Name;
People: 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 calls us by name.
People: God calls us the beloved.
Leader: We have been baptized into Christ.
People: We are God's own forever.
Leader: Praise be to God who blesses from the foundations of the world.
People: Praise be to God who blesses us forevermore.
Collect/Opening Prayer
O God who called Jesus the beloved at his baptism: Help us to hear you claim us and call us through our baptism that we may in trust respond to the ministry you entrust to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
God, you have called us and claimed us. You have made us your people, your children, the sheep of your pasture. You have filled us with your own Spirit and sent us as your messengers into the world. Help us to rest secure in your claim on our lives and enable us to respond faithfully to the work you put before us. Amen.
Response Music
Hymns:
"Praise and Thanksgiving Be to God": WORDS: H. Francis Yardley, 1982; MUSIC: Parish Antiphoner, 1681; harm. by David Evans, 1927; Words (c) 1982 H. Francis Yardley; harm. by permission of Oxford University Press.
"Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters": WORDS: Ruth Duck, 1987; MUSIC: Attr. to B. F. White, 1844; harm. by Ronald A. Nelson, 1978; Words 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House; harm. (c) 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship.
"Child of Blessing, Child of Promise": WORDS: Ronald S. Cole-Turner, 1981; MUSIC: Attr. to C. F. Witt, 1715; adapt. by Henry J. Gauntlett, 1861; Words (c) 1981 Ronald S. Cole-Turner.
Songs:
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life": WORDS: based on Psalm 63:3-4; MUSIC: Hugh Mitchell; Chorus (c) 1956 and verses (c) 1962 Singspiration Music.
"The Steadfast Love of the Lord": WORDS: Edith McNeill; MUSIC: Edith McNeill; arr. by J. Michael Bryan; (c) 1974 Celebration.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, etc.
We worship and adore you, O God, for you are the one who created us and all creation. You declared that all you created was good and we are part of your good creation.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess that we have forgotten the words of blessing you spoke when you created us and when you claimed us in baptism. We have tried to earn a place in your favor when you have given it freely to us. We have tried to rob others of your blessings so that we could have it for ourselves when all along you had already given it to us to pass along to others. Forgive us and by the power of your Spirit help us to take our rightful place as your children and your disciples.
We thank you for all the blessings you have given to us. We thank you for your good favor towards us and all your creation. We thank you for your love and care that always surrounds us.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We know that you love all creation and we offer up to you those who find it hard at this time to feel blessed. We pray for the sick, the poor, the abused, the dying. May we join you in sharing your blessings on them.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray, saying, "Our Father...."
A Children's Sermon
by Wesley Runk
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Text: "And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased'" (verse 22).
Object: Ask a parent or both parents to accompany their child to the front of the church for the children's sermon.
Good morning, boys and girls, and welcome to your parents. This morning I want to talk to you about something pretty wonderful. It is called baptism. There are a lot of ideas about what baptism means. Some Christians believe that it is a sign that they believe in Jesus and want to be his disciples. Other Christians believe it is a special act of God adopting each child or adult as one of his own children. (Explain your position on baptism in a few words.) In some churches a child receives his/her name when he/she is baptized.
I invited your parents to come forward this morning and introduce you to the congregation. (At this point ask each parent to introduce their children by name and age and perhaps how long the family has belonged to the congregation. If the child has been baptized or dedicated, ask the parents to give an approximate date when they were baptized or dedicated.)
Isn't this wonderful! All of you are children of God and part of his family of believers. I would like the congregation to stand and recognize these families with a rousing round of applause. (Have the congregation applaud them vigorously or show some sign of their collective approval. You may even choose a hymn to be sung at this moment that recognizes the presence of God in their lives.)
I want to share with you the fact that the Bible speaks of the day that Jesus and many others were baptized in the River Jordan by the great prophet and preacher John the Baptist. It was a wonderful event, filled with joy and worship. The only difference on that day was that when Jesus was baptized, a dove flew down from the heavens and circled Jesus before landing on his shoulder. This dove was a sign of the Holy Spirit. The dove had no sooner landed upon Jesus than a voice from heaven spoke, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." The sign was greater than any applause but Jesus knew and many others understood that Jesus was a very special person in the eyes of God.
You too are special. You are marked by God as one of his very own children. So are your parents and all of the other people here this morning that claim Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God. I hope you feel special and always remember how God has called us into his ministry.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
The Immediate Word, January 11, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
To be acknowledged and affirmed is a deep need of every human being. Essie Mae Washington-Williams was denied the fullness of that experience for most of her life. By contrast, Jesus, at his baptism at the Jordan as told in the Gospel lection for January 11, was not only acknowledged and affirmed by God but also commissioned to a unique, Spirit-led task. Some congregations will observe this "Baptism of Our Lord" Sunday by inviting us to celebrate, remember, or affirm our own baptism, rejoicing in the corresponding affirmation of us by God.
Carlos Wilton in our lead article reflects on our need for Blessing (with a capital "B") - not only from God but also from others, linking this with the narrative of Jesus' baptism. Team members respond with reflections on the meaning of Christian baptism and on the evils of racism. Illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon round out this issue of The Immediate Word.
NAMED, CLAIMED, AND UNASHAMED
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
by Carlos E. Wilton
The Message on a Postcard
"I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams and, at last, I feel completely free."
Just before Christmas, the newspapers were filled with stories about this retired African-American schoolteacher from California, who had just revealed that she is the illegitimate daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond. (Thurmond, of course, was the centenarian politician who, in the bad old days of racial segregation, had soared to political fame on a white-supremacist platform.)
To the press, the fact that the crusty old senator had, as a young man, fathered a daughter by an African-American domestic servant seemed ironic in the extreme. Although Thurmond never publicly acknowledged his eldest child, he did maintain a lifelong - albeit oddly distanced - relationship with her.
Ms. Washington-Williams told the press, "There's a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year. Once I decided that I would no longer harbor such a great secret that many others knew, I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted" ("Thurmond's daughter: 'Tremendous weight' lifted," on CNN; can be found online at http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/12/17/thurmond.paternity). Even in the absence of a parental blessing, she found the experience of publicly claiming her identity to be liberating.
As Jesus stands immersed in the Jordan, having just been baptized by John, there's no doubt about God's acknowledgment of him: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Although the Gospel writers differ as to how public was God's announcement, still it represents God's claiming him, and also commissioning him to begin his ministry.
When we truly understand the meaning of our own baptism, we too discover who we are. Along with that discovery comes the realization that God has a claim on us - and also has important work for us to do. That experience is empowering, and truly liberating.
Some Words on the Word
The baptism of Jesus occurs in all three Synoptic Gospels (and by allusion in John); it is better-attested, therefore, than the narratives of Jesus' birth. For the early church, the baptism of the Lord was a far more important festival than Christmas.
Jesus' baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry. Here he emerges from the historical shadows that characterize the first thirty years of his life. From this point onward, he walks the road that will eventually lead to his cross and resurrection.
In telling the story of Jesus' baptism, the Gospel writers emphasize the human side of his incarnation (which often is the more difficult aspect of the incarnation for modern church people to understand). The waters of baptism are a link between Jesus and ourselves, a point of continuity.
There are interesting contrasts among the four Gospel narratives. The other Gospel writers make it clear that John the Baptist performs the rite; Luke leaves open the question of who administered Jesus' baptism (in fact, he's already told the story of John's arrest, so it's very possible Luke does not think John was there). Luke relates how "the heaven was opened" just prior to the divine blessing. This is reminiscent of Isaiah's plaintive cry in a season of suffering, "O that you would rend the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). For Luke (unlike Mark), the ecstatic vision is witnessed by everyone present, not just by Jesus. He takes pains to point out that the dove descends "in bodily form." Luke also puts the divine blessing in the second person, rather than the third: "You are my son, the beloved," as opposed to "This is my son, the beloved." God is addressing Jesus directly.
The voice from the heavens is strongly linked to Luke's Transfiguration account (Luke 9:35), in which the divine blessing again booms out, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
"Beloved" in the Greek original is agapetos - agape, the highest form of love. "I am well-pleased" is eudokeo. Eudokia, a related noun, came to be important in Gnosticism as a name for Jesus (G. Schrenk, in Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans] 2:750.) Jesus is the one who pleases God.
Much ink has been spilled over the question of why the sinless Jesus has to receive baptism. As good an explanation as any is supplied by G. B. Caird: "Jesus went to be baptized, then, not for private reasons, but as a man with a public calling. John had summoned all Israel to repentance, and with Israel Jesus too must go. He dwelt in the midst of a people with unclean lips and could not separate himself from them. Rather he must be fully identified with them in their movement towards God" (Saint Luke, The Pelican New Testament Commentaries [New York: Penguin, 1963], p. 77).
There is an old Russian Orthodox belief that any two babies baptized in the same church, on the same day, are as brother or sister. Perhaps that's the way it is with Jesus' baptism. He doesn't need it for himself, but he needs it in order to share our humanity - to fully and publicly join with the human family.
A Map of the Message
The story of God's blessing at Jesus' baptism provides an opportunity for a pastoral sermon directed at those who very much need to feel such a blessing. For those who feel such a need in their lives, it's not just any blessing: it's the Blessing. On any given Sunday, there are some sitting in our pews who have long sought the Blessing from those in authority in their life but have never received it.
In the best circumstances, such a blessing is handed out to children by their parents, when the time is right: when the driver's license is earned, the diploma received, the engagement ring given, the first baby brought home from the hospital. There's no single occasion for giving it. It's best given again and again, in progressive stages, as parents say to their children, "Hey, you're all right ...You've done a nice job ...You're mine, and I love you."
The blessing is part of the essential equipment for striking out on one's own. It can't be packed in a suitcase or hung in a frame upon a wall or hermetically sealed in a special box and stored in the attic. No, the blessing can't be held onto - except in the heart and mind and memory. But it's an essential part of life's traveling kit, all the same.
Those who have sought to leave home without the Blessing find themselves in much the same predicament as the Prodigal Son, in Jesus' famous parable. In Jesus' parable, of course, the father does more than put the penitent prodigal on the payroll: he welcomes him home with open arms. He blesses him.
The father in that parable is God, and God's noted for that sort of thing. But it doesn't happen so readily in many of today's families. "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." Maybe even Jesus needs to hear those words, before he can set out on his life's work.
Team Comments
George L. Murphy responds: When the subject of baptism comes up, we usually think about ways in which it does - or doesn't - affect the condition of the person who is baptized. The emphasis may be on God's activity to bring about faith and change the relationship of the person so that she or he becomes a child of God. Baptism, in other words, has salvific power because of God's Word, which is connected with it. Other Christians would place the stress on baptism as a sign of the faith of the one who is baptized. There has been a great deal of debate over the centuries about how baptism should be understood. Is there indeed an objective aspect of it so that it makes sense for infants to be baptized even if they don't understand what's going on? The Nicene Creed speaks of "one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins," but is that to be taken literally? Does baptism actually get rid of a person's sins?
These are important questions and I don't want to suggest that they be ignored. But they understand baptism in an essentially static way: Does it or does it not change the person's status before God? There is another important aspect that ought to be considered. Baptism is a call to live as God's people in the world and to carry out the mission that God has given each person as a member of the Body of Christ.
The Gospel for this First Sunday after the Epiphany is always the account of the Baptism of our Lord from one of the Synoptic Gospels, and in this year of Luke is of course from that Gospel. But questions arise with Jesus' baptism too - not exactly the same ones we've already considered although they are related. Basically the question about Jesus' baptism has been "Why?" We're told (Luke 3:3) that John's was "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." So if Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be baptized?
It seems clear from the New Testament that as Christians came to understand more clearly who Jesus was, his baptism became a puzzle and embarrassment. In what was probably the earliest Gospel, Mark, there's no problem: Jesus is simply baptized by John. But in Matthew there's a little preliminary dialogue between John and Jesus in which the Baptist says that he should be baptized by Jesus, while Luke skips over the baptism itself and focuses on what happens during Jesus' prayer afterward. Finally the Gospel of John never actually says that Jesus was baptized!
The fact is that we don't know why Jesus felt it necessary to be baptized by John. Even the words put in his mouth by Matthew (3:15) - that it was "to fulfill all righteousness" - don't explain much. But the way in which baptism functions for Jesus is obvious: It is the beginning of his ministry. As soon as Jesus is baptized, he hears a heavenly voice proclaiming him God's Son and the Spirit descends upon him. He is then driven into the wilderness to be tested and returns proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God.
Baptism has often been thought of as a kind of fire insurance policy, and people have babies baptized just so they won't go to hell if they die. Unfortunately, they often don't think about the implications of baptism if the child lives - and in particular, about the obligations they assume to bring the child up in the Christian faith. But while baptism has an importance that extends beyond this life, we also ought to be thinking about what it means for our lives now. Paul's point in Romans 6:1-11 is that baptism is a sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ. The person who is baptized has already died to the sinful condition of separation from God, and because of Christ's resurrection "might walk in newness of life." Thus the whole Christian life ought to be a living out of baptism, learning to think and act in accord with what it means to be identified with the crucified and risen Christ.
Baptism in itself of course doesn't provide a person with the details about what each person is to do with her or his life, what career to pursue and so forth. But each Christian's calling - including the ordained ministry but by no means limited to that - ought to be understood as being grounded in baptism. Some churches have services of "Affirmation of Baptism" which can be used for confirmation and reception of new members, and which might be made part of worship on this Sunday for all members (e.g., Lutheran Book of Worship, pp. 198-201). But baptism isn't just a call to distinctively "religious" activity. An even broader understanding might be encouraged by a service of affirmation of the vocation of Christians in the world - whether salespersons, scientists, plumbers, homemakers, or whatever.
This type of understanding of baptism will be helped by the realization that it is not just an act that affects us as individuals. Baptism is also initiation into the Christian community, an incorporation into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). It has sometimes been suggested that 1 Peter is based on a sermon for those who had just been baptized, and there (2:5) the language of "a holy priesthood" is used for the church. The idea of "the priesthood of all believers" does not mean that all Christians are to serve in the pastoral office. It does mean that all baptized Christians, in the church and in the world, are to offer everything they have been given for God's service.
Carter Shelley responds: I understand that the emphasis of this week's issue is not upon Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams herself but upon the importance of legitimacy and validation for Jesus in his ministry and for us as Christian followers and children of the same God and Lord. As someone who spent my formative years in the state of South Carolina, I have some perspective on this week's The Immediate Word, "Named, Claimed, and Unashamed."
For example, my husband Tom, who also grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, has clear memories of his seventh grade social studies teacher commenting in 1966 that our senior Senator Strom Thurmond was too old to serve another term in the U.S. Senate. Since Thurmond continued to serve for 38 or 39 more years, he was waaaay beyond his dotage at the end, leaving the decision-making and his daily D.C. activities to aids who were not in fact elected to be in such positions of power and influence. Both those observations (too old to serve in 1966, verified by inability to be more than a figurehead senator in the 1990s and 2000s) mean that I am not at all surprised to hear that the recently deceased Thurmond's his-story continues to be newsworthy.
Nor does it surprise me at all to learn that Thurmond had an illegitimate daughter by an African American woman. Thurmond's run for the United States presidency on the Dixiecrat ticket in the late 1940s gained its momentum from racial bigotry and segregationism. In the post-Civil War South from Reconstruction onward, many Southerners saw no inconsistencies in maintaining a white supremacist superiority stance while engaged in miscegenation, sexual exploitation, and abuse of the very people white South Carolinians claimed were not fully human. African American women had no recourse against social humiliation, economic exploitation, physical abuse, and/or rape. Anyone who has read Harper Lee's splendid To Kill a Mockingbird knows how equally dangerous and fatal the charge of a white woman against a black man could be in the South. Just the hint of such a possibility could lead to a lynching that would not be challenged or noted by either local government or law. My primary point here is that knowledge of Strom Thurmond's fathering of a child with an African American servant would not have injured his political career, because such conduct was winked at and overlooked in much the way Jack Kennedy's multiple infidelities were ignored by the press in the early 1960s.
Racism justifies behavior that is sinful and injurious to those who are oppressed based upon the claim that Negroes, Jews, Latinos, Asians - whoever - are more like animals than human beings and so their death, abuse, persecution, and exploitation are justifiable because such people are too ignorant, stupid, or immoral to merit "equal treatment and opportunity under the law." Consequently, I suspect many knew and did not care if Strom Thurmond "had a little fun on the side" when he was a young man. It wasn't that uncommon a practice in the South prior to the 1950s and 1960s.
None of that is to say that all Southerners were bigots or that all Southerners would have considered such news insignificant. There were many who were shocked at the mistreatment of Negroes in the South and many who worked for equal rights and equal opportunities. Unfortunately, those conscientious people were not enough to instigate change without the help of the federal government and acts by Congress.
While the vestiges of racism remain in the South, as they do in all parts of our nation, I am eternally glad such bigotry and injustice no longer remain the societal norm in the Southeast. But even as I write these words, I am certain my African American colleagues would assert that there is far more racism afoot in January 2004 than I can know as a Euro-American female.
Thus, I can well imagine that Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams finally feels a sense of freedom in being able to come forward; her lifelong wounds must be deep. When a child's parentage much be kept a secret, that child cannot help but experience a sense of shame and wrongness about herself. Born of a domestic servant mother and a famous father, Ms. Washington-Williams entered a hostile world in which her skin color, her illegitimacy, and her fatherless state were all held against her and actually blamed upon her. In the South Carolina of the late 1950s and early 1960s of my childhood, it was not at all uncommon for white folks to speak disparagingly of the slovenliness, laziness, immorality, and sexual license common among Negroes. But I never heard any of these morally smug, white Christians suggest the culpability of themselves or their neighbors in creating a world that perpetuated such stereotypes, prejudices, and suffering.
It's no wonder Essie Mae Williams lives today in California and not South Carolina. It's no wonder African Americans established their own churches as a safe haven from the trials and tribulations of their daily lives in southern states. It's no wonder the metaphor of God as father, Jesus as brother and savoir, and the Exodus as testimony to God's alliance with the subjugated and enslaved hold such a profound place in African American Christianity. Historically, great faith helps the despised and persecuted survive and thrive despite slavery in Egypt, martyrdom in Rome, or tenant farming in South Carolina. African American theologian James Cone, in Theology of the Oppressed, demonstrates the vital role God plays as liberator of African Americans. The white landowner may not see any contradictions in earthly bigotry and exploitation but one's heavenly father surely does.
The best book to come out in recent years to help those younger than fifty get a sense of the power of racism and the power of love to overcome racism is Susan Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. Previously known for her devotional materials, Monk Kidd evokes the racial tensions, dangers, and faith of Negroes living in South Carolina prior to Civil Rights. In the moving novel, a central faith focus of the African American women is the Black Madonna. Not only does Christ serve as a symbol of hope and salvation, but Mary, his mother, provides a powerful focus for the novel's key characters.
When teaching college freshmen and women American literature, I always make a point of assigning readings from the autobiography of Frederick Douglas along with Herman Melville's short story "Benito Cereno" and the unfairly, underrated film Amistad, directed by Stephen Spielberg. Invariably, the Euro-American students are stunned and appalled by what they discover, because previous history and social studies classes had not impressed upon them the horrors of slavery or Jim Crow laws. We as preachers must tell the stories of Jesus. We as parents, preachers, teachers, and citizens must also tell and retell the stories of sinfulness, selfishness, and brutality we as a nation carry. As with the Holocaust, the only way not to repeat the horrors of the past is to keep the memory of those horrors alive.
Related Illustrations
Several years ago I attended a Rotary meeting that included many high school seniors. Each of these seniors had spent the morning at the office of a Rotarian's place of business. The program chairman had enlisted a motivational speaker for the occasion. By prearrangement he had a female student called from the luncheon just before he spoke. He then informed the rest of the group that when she returned he simply wanted the audience on cue to stand and give her a standing ovation. Within moments he began his speech and when the girl returned to her seat he began to say a few words of introduction of the student and then invited her to come forward. As she approached the speaker the 250 plus people stood and began a 2 to 3 minute ovation. We all watched as she changed from a very shy, befuddled person to someone who became confident and grateful for the acknowledgment, even though she had no idea why she was being honored. Later she confessed that she had never felt so wonderful in her entire life, although she had no idea why she was being honored.
- Wesley Runk
***
"I am sure that the question looming here today is why have I waited to come forth. My response is throughout his life and mine we respected each other. I never wanted to do anything to harm him or cause detriment to his life or to lives of those around him....
"I was sensitive about his well-being and career and his family here in South Carolina. It was only at the urging of my children and Senator Thurmond's passing that I decided that my children deserve the right to know from whom, where, and what they have come. I am committed in teaching them and helping them to learn about their past. It is their right to know, and I understand the rich history of their ancestry, black and white.
"At this juncture in my life, I am looking for closure. I am not bitter. I am not angry. In fact, there's a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year. Once I decided that I would no longer harbor such a great secret that many others knew, I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted.
"I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last, I feel completely free."
- From the public statement of Ms. Washington-Williams on December 17, 2003, at the Adams Mark Hotel, Columbia, South Carolina
***
The blessing that Ms. Washington-Williams received from her father during his life was hesitant, and it was more implied than directly stated. As she told Dan Rather of CBS news during a Sixty Minutes broadcast:
"The first time he saw me he said, 'Well, you look like one of my sisters. You've got those cheekbones like our family, so that was almost an admission ... without saying ... yes, you are my daughter"....
"Whenever I came in, he would always hug me when I came in. And when I'd leave, he'd hug me. But he never came out and said, 'I love you,' but he sort of showed it in his expression" ....
"It felt good that at least my father cared something about me. It made me feel better."
-From the CBS Sixty Minutes web site
***
There's an old fable that illustrates what impact the Blessing can have upon a life. It's the story of a fabulously wealthy king, who has a son whom he adores. The boy is bright and handsome, perfect in every way, except one: he has a hunchback.
This saddens the king to no end. He proclaims that a rich treasure will go to the person who figures out how to heal the boy's back.
Months and months pass, without a solution. The wisest thinkers and most learned scholars travel to the palace from afar. But no one knows what to do. Finally, an old, wise woman happens into the kingdom and hears about the problem. "I want nothing of your treasure," she says; "but I do have the answer to your problem."
The old woman directs the king to build a statue in the center of the palace courtyard, an exact replica of his son, but with one exception: its back must be perfectly straight. "That's all you have to do," she assures him. "Trust God for the healing."
The king's artisans set to work, and in no time, a beautiful marble sculpture sits in the center of the courtyard. Every day, as the little boy plays, he studies the figure in admiration. He starts to say to himself, "That's me! It looks exactly like me."
Little by little, the boy's back straightens. The day comes when the king gazes out at the prince, frolicking in the garden - and realizes his son's back is totally healed. The boy's identification with the statue is so complete that he has come to believe it is him - straight back and all. His body obeys his belief.
***
There's that familiar scene from the end of The Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard (now revealed to be nothing more than a displaced patent-medicine huckster, but still retaining some wispy remnants of his wizard's mystique) presents to each of Dorothy's three companions a gift. Along with each gift comes a kind of blessing: a medal of courage for the cowardly lion, a ticking heart-shaped watch for the hollow-chested tin woodsman, and a diploma to swell the straw-stuffed head of the scarecrow. Courage, heart, brains: the Wizard gives these three nothing they do not already have; but it's his blessing that frees them to acknowledge their gifts and move forward.
***
Fred Craddock tells a story of a vacation he and his wife took together in the Smoky Mountains. A distinguished older gentleman came to their table in the hotel dining room. He was, as it turned out, a celebrity - a former governor of Tennessee. When he discovered that Craddock was a professor of preaching, the man said he had a story to tell him, a story about a preacher.
It seems that, when the governor was born, his mother wasn't married. He never knew his father. Now that may not seem so unusual today, but in the Southland of that era, that made for a difficult childhood. The other children used to taunt him and call him names. They used to ask him when his father was coming back. Whenever he was out with his mother in public, he was painfully aware that he had but one parent.
One day, when he was about ten, this boy was in church. Usually, when the service was over, he found his way discreetly out the back door - which meant that he never talked to the minister, never had to share his name. On this particular occasion, though, the boy got swept up in the crowd, and before he knew it, there was the pastor, at the front door, his hand extended.
"Well, son," the preacher's voice boomed out, "whose boy are you?" He could hardly have asked a more embarrassing question. The boy flushed and started to stammer - but before he could say anything more, the preacher (still gripping his hand) said: "I know! ... You're God's son!" He slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Boy, go claim your inheritance."
The boy never forgot that incident. He never forgot the preacher's kindness in not drawing attention to his single-parent family. He never forgot the way he sent him out, either: "Go claim your inheritance!"
Long after he became one of the most popular governors in Tennessee history, this man still delighted in telling the story of the day the preacher told him he was a child of God.
It was almost as though a voice had spoken from the heavens: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." That was the day the boy received the Blessing.
***
It's well known that Martin Luther had a lifelong habit that he carried out each morning, as he arose. He would make the sign of the cross on his forehead and say to himself, "Remember, Martin, you are baptized." To Luther, his baptism set him apart - and, along with others who are likewise set apart, he felt a common bond, a sense of community.
Even after Luther broke with Rome, he continued to do this. His ordination as a priest might have been set aside by the pope and his membership in the Augustinian order of monks may have been revoked, but in having received this sacrament he had something no one could take away: he was one of the baptized!
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
OPENING
Hymns:
"God, Whose Love Is Reigning o'er Us": WORDS: William Boyd Grove, 1980; MUSIC: John Goss, 1869; Words (c) 1980 William Boyd Grove.
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is": WORDS: Henry W. Baker, 1868; MUSIC: Irish Melody; harm. From The English Humnal, 1906; (c) public domain.
"Lift High the Cross" (especially v. 2): WORDS: George William Kitchin and Michael Robert Newbolt, 1916, alt.; MUSIC: Sydney Hugo Nicholson, 1916; (c) 1974 Hope Publishing Co.
"When Jesus Came to Jordan": WORDS: Fred Pratt Green, 1973; MUSIC: Attr. to William Walker, 1835; harm. by Carlton R. Young, 1988; Words (c) 1980 Hope Publishing Co.; harm. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House.
Songs:
"Arise, Shine": WORDS: Isaiah 60:1; MUSIC: Gary Alan Smith; Music (c) 1992 Gamut Music Productions.
"As We Gather": WORDS & MUSIC: Mike Fay and Tom Coomes; (c) 1981 Coomesietunes.
Call to Worship
Leader: Ascribe to God, O heavenly beings,
People: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
Leader: Ascribe to God the glory of the Name;
People: 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 calls us by name.
People: God calls us the beloved.
Leader: We have been baptized into Christ.
People: We are God's own forever.
Leader: Praise be to God who blesses from the foundations of the world.
People: Praise be to God who blesses us forevermore.
Collect/Opening Prayer
O God who called Jesus the beloved at his baptism: Help us to hear you claim us and call us through our baptism that we may in trust respond to the ministry you entrust to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
God, you have called us and claimed us. You have made us your people, your children, the sheep of your pasture. You have filled us with your own Spirit and sent us as your messengers into the world. Help us to rest secure in your claim on our lives and enable us to respond faithfully to the work you put before us. Amen.
Response Music
Hymns:
"Praise and Thanksgiving Be to God": WORDS: H. Francis Yardley, 1982; MUSIC: Parish Antiphoner, 1681; harm. by David Evans, 1927; Words (c) 1982 H. Francis Yardley; harm. by permission of Oxford University Press.
"Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters": WORDS: Ruth Duck, 1987; MUSIC: Attr. to B. F. White, 1844; harm. by Ronald A. Nelson, 1978; Words 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House; harm. (c) 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship.
"Child of Blessing, Child of Promise": WORDS: Ronald S. Cole-Turner, 1981; MUSIC: Attr. to C. F. Witt, 1715; adapt. by Henry J. Gauntlett, 1861; Words (c) 1981 Ronald S. Cole-Turner.
Songs:
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life": WORDS: based on Psalm 63:3-4; MUSIC: Hugh Mitchell; Chorus (c) 1956 and verses (c) 1962 Singspiration Music.
"The Steadfast Love of the Lord": WORDS: Edith McNeill; MUSIC: Edith McNeill; arr. by J. Michael Bryan; (c) 1974 Celebration.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, etc.
We worship and adore you, O God, for you are the one who created us and all creation. You declared that all you created was good and we are part of your good creation.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess that we have forgotten the words of blessing you spoke when you created us and when you claimed us in baptism. We have tried to earn a place in your favor when you have given it freely to us. We have tried to rob others of your blessings so that we could have it for ourselves when all along you had already given it to us to pass along to others. Forgive us and by the power of your Spirit help us to take our rightful place as your children and your disciples.
We thank you for all the blessings you have given to us. We thank you for your good favor towards us and all your creation. We thank you for your love and care that always surrounds us.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We know that you love all creation and we offer up to you those who find it hard at this time to feel blessed. We pray for the sick, the poor, the abused, the dying. May we join you in sharing your blessings on them.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray, saying, "Our Father...."
A Children's Sermon
by Wesley Runk
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Text: "And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased'" (verse 22).
Object: Ask a parent or both parents to accompany their child to the front of the church for the children's sermon.
Good morning, boys and girls, and welcome to your parents. This morning I want to talk to you about something pretty wonderful. It is called baptism. There are a lot of ideas about what baptism means. Some Christians believe that it is a sign that they believe in Jesus and want to be his disciples. Other Christians believe it is a special act of God adopting each child or adult as one of his own children. (Explain your position on baptism in a few words.) In some churches a child receives his/her name when he/she is baptized.
I invited your parents to come forward this morning and introduce you to the congregation. (At this point ask each parent to introduce their children by name and age and perhaps how long the family has belonged to the congregation. If the child has been baptized or dedicated, ask the parents to give an approximate date when they were baptized or dedicated.)
Isn't this wonderful! All of you are children of God and part of his family of believers. I would like the congregation to stand and recognize these families with a rousing round of applause. (Have the congregation applaud them vigorously or show some sign of their collective approval. You may even choose a hymn to be sung at this moment that recognizes the presence of God in their lives.)
I want to share with you the fact that the Bible speaks of the day that Jesus and many others were baptized in the River Jordan by the great prophet and preacher John the Baptist. It was a wonderful event, filled with joy and worship. The only difference on that day was that when Jesus was baptized, a dove flew down from the heavens and circled Jesus before landing on his shoulder. This dove was a sign of the Holy Spirit. The dove had no sooner landed upon Jesus than a voice from heaven spoke, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." The sign was greater than any applause but Jesus knew and many others understood that Jesus was a very special person in the eyes of God.
You too are special. You are marked by God as one of his very own children. So are your parents and all of the other people here this morning that claim Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God. I hope you feel special and always remember how God has called us into his ministry.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
The Immediate Word, January 11, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
