Carl B. Rife

Object: A garbage bag.

* * *

In the logic of the church year, we have spent four weeks anticipating the coming of the Lord, followed by two that celebrate his arrival. Now, with the liturgical and seasonal remembrances of his birth and epiphany completed, we fast forward to his baptism. That is essentially what the gospels do, and we follow their lead.

Ted looked out over the field behind his grandparent’s house and sighed. He tried to ignore the noise from the family gathering inside and concentrate on the trees next to the house. What was wrong with him? He had been so excited to be baptized, so enthusiastic about becoming a Christian and part of the church, and now that it was over all of that excitement seemed to evaporate. Had he made a mistake?

“What are you doing out here?” Sam asked from behind him.

Ted shrugged as his older brother joined him at the railing on the deck. “I just needed some air.”

I was very disturbed to read in the papers recently about those two teenage girls who both died, apparently in a suicide pact, just before Christmas.

I was even more disturbed to learn that one of the girls had developed a deep interest in things spiritual. The implication was that it was partly due to her unshakeable belief in the eternal nature of the soul and the continuation of life after death, that had encouraged her to take this terrible path.

The references in this psalm to God's appearance in the storm are strongly reminiscent of the creation narrative. The idea of the "Lord enthroned over the flood" (v. 10), connects with the image of God's presence "brooding over the waters."

Raising these images in connection with the baptism of Jesus, however, provides an opportunity to not only expand our thinking about baptism, but about creation as well.

A certain physician started to practice medicine in a large city. His ambitions were strong and opportunities seemed plentiful there. Success was his right from the start. His practice became almost too large for him to handle. Fame and praise were heaped on him to overflowing. But he forgot that a doctor should do more than heal sick bodies. For this physician, a patient was only interesting if the sickness was interesting and then only as a stimulus to further his fame.

One Saturday when I was seventeen or eighteen, I had an unusual religious experience. I was serving on my church's board of deacons, and one of the middle-aged members of the board was driving me around so we could drop in and visit some older members of our church.

This was during the late seventies, at a time when our congregation was going through some turmoil. A number of people had been caught up in the charismatic movement that was going through a numbexound that day was very involved in the movement.

I'm glad to see that so many of you are wearing your nametags this morning. We have been struggling for some time to get you to wear them and it seems as though our latest solution is working. Putting the nametag table right next to the greeters so that you can't miss them as you walk into the church seems to do the job. Having everyone wear nametags is important to us because at Christ Church we don't want people to feel anonymous, disconnected, alone. In this church relationships matter. Relationships are at the heart of what we are about.