The 1st Sunday after the Epiphany - Be Open to God

         The gospel of Luke describes the people who gathered to hear John the Baptizer's words and to participate in the baptism he offered as “filled with expectation.” Did you come to St. Nicholas' this morning “filled with expectation?”  What might that expectation be?

         I imagine we were pretty sure there would be nothing so exciting here this morning as John declaring the Messiah will come with a winnowing fork to gather up the good wheat into the granary and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.  What a colorful image of God's judgement!  Out of politeness we might listen to John, but then leave as quickly as possible to find church setting where the message isn't so scary!

         What was Jesus' experience in the crowd around John the Baptizer that day like from Luke's perspective?  Luke reports that Jesus was among many people who came to be baptized that day.  In Luke's gospel we saw that Jesus' had some understanding of himself as in an intimate relationship with God when he was just 12 years old.  Remember how he stayed in the Temple listening to and asking questions of the teachers there when his family, relatives and friends were returning home.  When questioned by his mother about why he had chosen to do something that upset his parents, Jesus answered, “Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?”

         Most likely he heard John's prophecy about the coming of the Messiah and God's judgement executed by the Messiah.  How did he respond?  He chose to be baptized with water, placing himself among the other people who came for the baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Then he began to pray.  That day Jesus chose to be like all the others who came to hear John with the expectation that being baptized would bring them closer to the holiness God intended for them.  Led by the experience into prayer, Jesus became open to a full revelation of his identity.  God as Holy Spirit declares Jesus as “my son, the Beloved.”

         In the passage that follows the baptism account Luke comments on the claim Jesus being God's son by tracing his lineage from “son (as was thought) of Joseph” all the way back to “son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.”  So Luke provides us with both the mystical evidence of Jesus' origin and nature in the appearance of the Holy Spirit at his baptism and in the human evidence of a genealogy based on the Hebrew scripture.

         So in Christian baptism we are following the path that Jesus took as he began his ministry.  When an adult decides to follow, he or she begins as Jesus did:  being baptized with water and then being sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  When a child is presented by his or her family and godparents to become a member of the Christian community, there is that same beginning.  For a child, of course, what has happened must be explained when he or she becomes old enough to understand.

         Luke told us in the seventh and eighth chapters of Acts about the experience of the Samaritans who responded to Philip's healing people who were ill and “proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.”  After choosing to become Christian, they were baptized with water.  Yet the Christians who remained in Jerusalem knew that these new Christians needed affirmation of their connection with them.  So they sent Peter and John to lay hands on them.  Through this, the Samaritan Christians became empowered by the Holy Spirit.

         Last Sunday, when I baptized A--, I preached about how God reveals God's self to us in the sacraments—the outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace.  I said that this revelation called us to respond to the love of God revealed.  Today we see that this sacramental pattern of allowing ourselves to be open to God's revelation began with Jesus' coming to John for baptism.

         In the case of John the Baptizer and Jesus, the moment of baptism came during a time of prophetic declaration. The writings of the prophets in Hebrew scripture and prophetic tradition called for repentance and turning back to following the guidance God gave them in the Law.  John acted out of that prophetic tradition, and Jesus responded.

         Our moment of turning to God can come suddenly—or we may experience many moments of slowly turning to God—or we may experience both.  These moments may have come or perhaps will come in the midst of hearing someone preach, as the sacrament of Eucharist is received, during a time of prayer, when scripture is read, when music touches our hearts, or . . . . you could add more moments here as you remember them.  No matter what the moment, God can use it.

We will experience, as Jesus did, the desire that God places in our hearts to be renewed and empowered.  We will experience a moment of knowing we are beloved by God—a child with whom God is well pleased.  Remember that moment—remember all of those moments—and carry them in your heart.  For life can be full of challenges, some of which we may find trouble facing—Jesus certainly did.  But never forget, beloved ones, God's Holy Spirit will come with love and with power to sustain us, as indeed the Holy Spirit came for the Samaritan Christians—and as the Holy Spirit came for Jesus.

Epiphany, Adoration, and Baptism

         Some friends of mine went to visit their daughter, son-in-law, and two year old granddaughter.  Pictures of this chubby-cheeked, smiling child with tousled blond curls appeared on Facebook with this title:  “The Adoration of the Child.”   This tongue-in-cheek title brought to mind the multiple depictions  of the adoration of the baby Jesus by these traveling magi.  

         These paintings, usually entitled “The Adoration of the Magi,” found great popularity in the Renaissance period when the complexity of the scene led to bravura performances on the part of the artists.  What could be more colorful and delight the eye than a crowded manger scene with the baby, Mary and Joseph, domesticated animals of all sorts, sometimes sheep and shepherds, and, of course, wealthy men (three by tradition), bearing expensive gifts, dressed clothing made of gorgeous fabrics, and kneeling in homage.

         These amazing paintings teach us more about our human ideas of kingdoms and kings, wisdom and wise men than they do about God's reign made manifest by the incarnation of God's self as a newborn baby.  Those magi, scholar-scientists of their day, wanted to see and adore a special child because, by Matthew's account, they had studied the stars and believed they saw something special in them.  The Jewish scholars and religious authorities, beckoned by King Herod, knew the prophecy from their holy scriptures and the traditions concerning the Messiah's birth.  They adored the words they had studied and knew so well.  But who was adoring the miracle of the real birth of Mary's baby?

         Today we will be bringing a very special baby, A--, into the body of Christ through baptism.  As  every human birth is, her birth was a miracle.  As she breathed oxygen into her tiny lungs during those first moments, all the components of every system in her body said, “Yes!” to the miracle of her new life.  Much adoration happened in that moment, I'm sure!

         The sacrament of baptism looks a bit different from the miracle of birth.  We call it a holy “mystery,” for God acts to reveal God's self in our new life in Christ.  Whether we are an adult or an infant, in baptism we are re-born by God's action.  What I do when I pour water over A--'s head and declare I am baptizing her in the name of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not only makes her one of Christ’s own forever, but also helps to make all of us aware that God loves us and desires that we live in response to God's love.

         Infant baptism places responsibility on the godparents, the parents, the extended family and the whole Christian community to teach that child what it means to live in response to God's love. The five promises, made this morning on A--'s behalf and re-affirmed by all of us, tell all of us what living in response to God's love looks like.

         God also reveals God's self in the other sacrament we will celebrate this morning, the Eucharist.  When I consecrate the bread and the wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ, I am bringing all of us into the mystery of God's presence in our world.  No one has seen God, our scriptures say, but we believe we come to know God in many ways.  A very important way we come to know God is through the sacraments.  So by coming to know God through the sacraments and by sharing the sacraments in community with other Christians, we can begin to glimpse how we must live in response to God's love.

         I want to share a story with you about how this happened for one child and one congregation.  It comes from a book called Godparenting: Nurturing the Next Generation by Nancy Ann McLaughlin and Tracey Herzer.  The story was told by an Episcopal priest named Debra Kissinger:  “When I was the vicar of a small church in Connecticut, there was a three-year-old boy, Jeffrey, who came to the altar rail week after week with his mother . . . Jeffrey’s mother was reluctant to allow him to receive the sacrament ‘until he was old enough to understand.’  Week after week, the little boy would extend his hands to receive, and week after week his mother would pull his hands back to his chest with a thump.  But one Sunday Jeffrey was not to be denied.  He extended his hands.  His mother pulled them back. Not once but three times . . . And then it happened:  Jeffrey yelled at the top of his lungs, ‘Jesus, Jesus! I want Jesus, too!  Give me Jesus!’ and thrust his hands forward again to receive the host.

         You could have heard a pin drop.  The [Holy] Spirit silently danced through the church.  I looked at Jeffrey’s mom, both our eyes brimming with tears.  She nodded her consent.  I barely choked out the words: ‘The Body of Christ’ as Jeffrey took Jesus into his hands and pronounced a loud ‘Amen!’ for all to hear . . . Jeffrey knelt in awe before Jesus that day, and we were each filled with awe as we searched our own hearts and shared his experience.”

         What had happened?  Jeffrey had been received into the Body of Christ through baptism.  He had listened and observed what had been going on around him in a particular incarnation of Christ’s Body, that parish in Connecticut.  He had learned to want Jesus—and he was not to be denied the sacrament all the others were receiving at that parish every Sunday. God had revealed God's self to Jeffrey, and Jeffrey responded with his own form of adoration.

         So, today, come let us adore.  Yes, we should join A--'s family in adoring her!  But even more we should adore, as gospel writers Matthew and Luke did, both the miracle of Jesus' birth and the mystery of God's revelation. God in Jesus became one of us, fully human while still being fully divine, in order to love us back into relationship and to redeem us, so we can be re-born and live fully in response to God's love .