New Beginnings

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday January 11, 2008, Christ the King Sunday, the First Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Last May[1] I mentioned that in my study there is a small picture from the Isenheim Altarpiece in Colmar, Alsace titled “John the Baptist.” by Matthias Grünewald. Karl Barth used the first view of the altarpiece to remind and inspire him to what he considered the goal of his preaching and of all Christian proclamation.[2] This painting’s central image is Christ on the cross.[3] To his left is John the Baptist in camel hair holding holy writ and pointing to Christ. Barth believed that all good preaching was holding up scripture and pointing to Christ crucified.

But this is not the only view of the Isenheim Altarpiece, there are others. When the piece is opened, the second view[4] shows three scenes of great joy; the annunciation of the Christ, the concert of the angels singing and playing for the Madonna and child, and the resurrection of the Lord. Within these images; there is joy and sorrow, pain and redemption, beginnings and new beginnings.

The first view of the altarpiece presents the image which is central to the Christian faith, the crucifixion. The second view shows an iconic biography of the Lord from his annunciation to his resurrection.

Today we celebrate an event not found on Grünewald’s altarpiece, the Baptism of the Lord. On this first Sunday after Epiphany every year, we recognize this sacrament celebrated by John and Jesus, the Baptizer and the Lord. As is Mark’s common way of presenting the gospel, this is a very simple, very direct telling of their first encounter. His telling of this story resembles a Reader’s Digest Condensed Version of the tellings we find in Matthew and Luke.

Dressed in the clothing of a desert aesthetic prophet, we have a simple description of John’s ministry, the proclamation of a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We learn that people came from all over the Judean countryside. To all with ears to listen, John says that as he baptizes with water, one who is more powerful than he will come later to baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Then in those days, Jesus comes and fulfills John’s prophecy and is baptized in the waters of the Jordan. As Jesus comes from the waters, he sees the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends like a dove upon him. This is when the voice of God is heard from heaven declaring Jesus to be the Son, the beloved; with whom God is well pleased.

A good question that needs to be asked is “why does the fully human, fully divine Son of God and Son of Man need a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins?” This good question has a very good answer; Jesus does not need this baptism. Jesus chooses this baptism not for his needs but for ours. In his baptism, Jesus identifies himself with the Church, the church which he is the cornerstone. Being fully human, he knows we need this baptism, being fully divine, he ordains it for our sanctification.

What we see is the beginning for the church of Jesus Christ. We say that in our baptism we become a member of the community of the Church Universal. The book of Common Worship[5] says this about the baptism of water:

Obeying the word of our Lord Jesus,
and confident of his promises,
we baptize those whom God has called.

In baptism God claims us,
and seals us to show that we belong to God.
God frees us from sin and death,
uniting us with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.

By water and the Holy Spirit,
we are made members of the church, the body of Christ,
and joined to Christ’s ministry of love, peace, and justice.

Let us remember with joy our own baptism,
as we celebrate this sacrament.

We are invited to celebrate baptism not just as the beginning of the faith journey of the one being baptized, we are invited to remember our baptisms and treat this like a new beginning of our relationship in the arms of the Lord Almighty.

With the New Year come New Year’s resolutions. In resolutions, we establish the outcome goals for our new beginnings. What are our new beginnings as the Body of Christ? What are our new beginnings as this part of the Body of Christ? Do we seek to become more spiritual; praying more, reading scripture more, listening to God more? All of these are fruitful outcomes, but there is more.

We state our resolutions as goals, but only in a rare moment do we establish the actions to reach these goals. Do we pray more? Do we set aside the time to pray? Do we read more scripture? Do we find a schedule of reading and keep to it? Do we listen more to God? When we hear do we follow through?

In this part of the Body of Christ, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth about attendance in worship. So I ask, do you share our faith with others? Do you invite others to join you in worship? I know the answer is yes because the fruit of your sharing sits beside you here today.

And if you wonder about my success of bringing people into the worship fold, well, I cannot tell you I have caused a flood that would require Moses to open the center aisle before we could celebrate the Lord’s Supper. I have not. But if I ask two people, two people are asked. When everyone asks two people, well, the growth of this part of the body can be staggering. This is one way we can celebrate our new beginning.

If you wonder about how to share your faith, use the example of John the Baptist from the Isenheim Altarpiece, point to Jesus.

Our readings today began with the very beginning. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” This translation comes from the New Revised Standard Version. It’s the version we read every week in worship. It is a favorite of mine, but it does have its limitations. It is said that it’s not as plain as the New Living Translation, nor as word-for-word literal as the New American Standard, nor as evangelical as the New International Version.

One problem rarely mentioned is its lack of Jewish flavor in the Old Testament and the Old Testament references. For that flavor, I go to the Jewish Publication Society’s translation. In this version, Genesis 1:1 reads, “When God began to create heaven and earth.” It’s quite different from our usual “In the beginning” isn’t it?

But there’s more at stake in this translation than simply style, and it is focused on one simple word—“the.” The JPS translation doesn’t talk about “the beginning.” The way the Hebrew text and the JPS translation render creation is not the way we think about it. We think about it as the beginning, the very beginning, the “there’s nothing else out there except for God in Three Persons and a whole bunch of nothing until God made there to be something.”

The way Hebrews thought about creation, they saw it as our beginning, a new beginning. In this thinking; God is so big, so wonderful, so completely different than we; that we have no idea about what happened by God’s hand before our creation. So by human reference, we can talk about nothing other than when God began to create heaven and earth. This is our beginning; this is a new beginning between God and God’s good creation.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, amen, amen. We sing this every week as we give glory to God the Father for the assurance of Christ’s pardon for our sins. Singing this, we pray for and give praise for the new beginning as it was in the beginning, a start, a moment without sin in life that we may know our relationship with God as the Lord intended.

The question we are called to answer is “what are we going to do with our new beginning?” In the baptism of the Lord, we see the new beginning promised each of us in the waters of our baptism. We see God’s exhortation that Jesus is the Son. Through baptism, Christ who is without sin identifies himself with all who come to the water who are born of sin. Christ joins the church as much as the church joins with him. Through this adoption, we become the children of God. And as the sons and daughters of the Almighty God, let us join together giving glory to the Lord so that one day we too may hear “you are my beloved with you I am well pleased.”

[1] Mentioned in a sermon called The Church Emerges found at http://timelovesahero.blogspot.com/2008/05/church-emerges.html
[2] Willimon, William, Conversations with Barth on Preaching. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006, page 6.
[3] For a look at this image, go to http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/grunewal/2isenhei/index.html
[4] For a look at this image, go to http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/grunewal/2isenhei/index.html
[5] The Theology and Ministry Unit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “The Book of Common Worship”. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993, pages 404-405.