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.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Born to Become
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday January 4, 2009, the 2nd Sunday in Christmas.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 147:12-20
Ephesians 1:3-14
John 1:10-18
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
About fifteen years ago, I heard a report on National Public Radio saying that monogamy was not the human being’s biological default. The story said it is in our nature to have more than one mate. Polyandry, polygyny, polygamy; I don’t remember if the story said whether it was more than one husband or more than one wife or both; but to our sensibilities, it doesn’t really matter. Our society is built around monogamy or at least the concept of one mate at a time.
Scripture is filled examples of men having more than one wife and/or concubine at a time. Pop culture rings in from “The King and I” as Yul Brenner sings that the bee goes from flower to flower to flower; the flower does not go from bee to bee to bee.
Anyway, back to fifteen years ago, it disturbed me that what I thought was normal was not the biological imperative. But it got me thinking about something the Reverend Bill Clark preached at First Presbyterian in Lamar, Colorado. Bill reminded the congregation that people have a choice. People can act the way people do when our humanly omnivorous appetites are allowed to come to the forefront; or we can act as we are called to behave in a still more excellent way by our Lord Jesus Christ.
I was overjoyed by this notion. Yes, we may well be hard wired in ways that aren’t beneficial for us; and no, we don’t have to act on these impulses. Our call as the children of God is to become better than our sinful selves. I may well be naturally set to have more than one partner, but I am called by the Lord to a faithful monogamous relationship with the one I love. Dear Marie, by Christ may I forever be your loving faithful husband.
“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
Born by the will of God. Yes, there is fleshiness to our existence. To use the words of the New International Version, there is an aspect of our existence that is born of “natural descent, human decision, or a husband’s will.” But we are called to become so much more than that and what is more comes from being born by the will of God.
The news reminds us everyday of the sinful nature of human life. Terror, pain, and suffering are found far too often in this world. Judging people as children of Adam and not Children of God makes taking advantage of other people tolerable.
Demonizing others by ethnicity or race and not treating others as children of God means we do not have to extend God’s peace and grace. Just ask anybody within 50 kilometers of Gaza. Ask the Muslim family who was kicked off of an AirTran flight last week because one single passenger thought their conversation was suspicious.[1]
But for those who believe in his name, he gives power to become children of God, born of God, and from his fullness receive grace upon grace. From God’s own fullness, we receive the Lord’s unmerited favor.
The Parable of the New Community in Matthew 20 shows us what this grace looks like as the landowner pays his laborers the same wage regardless of the time of day they started. The workers are promised they would be paid “whatever is right.” We would expect them to be paid by the hour or by the bushel, this is the way we would expect to be paid. This is the way we would expect to pay. But these workers weren’t promised what is fair; they were promised what is right, and everybody received the same wage. The people who started later in the day received merit they did not deserve by generally accepted accounting principles.
Matthew 18 reminds us of grace beyond imagining when we are called to forgive without keeping track of how many times we forgive those who sin against us. After all, if we are counting up to seventy-seven times plus one, we haven’t really forgiven at all. There is no grace in either being abused seventy-seven times or in counting to seventy-seven times. Forgiving transgressions without being abused is at the root of grace. This is displaying God’s unmerited favor without being a victim. And Jesus was never a victim.
Jesus tells us to use our voices to share the good news of his extravagant grace with a world that thirsts for the Word. Our instruction is simple: come to the Lord, hear the Word, be changed by the Good News, share the overflowing grace of God with the world, and rejoice—rejoice with the Lord and the entire heavenly host. Come, hear, share and rejoice.
We are called to respond to the Word of God in faith, not in fear. We are to respond to a relationship with a living being, the Living God; not out of fear of reprisal from laws we could never hope to keep. The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians Paul says, “In Christ you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”
As we have received grace upon grace through Christ and were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, we are to share these with the world. And over the past few weeks we have heard some wonderful examples of this sharing.
We have heard about Grapevine Faith High School Head Football Coach Kris Hogan who showed the love of Christ giving fifteen young men abandoned to Texas youth criminal justice system hope just by giving them fans at a football game. Hogan showed these young men the grace and peace of our Lord giving them the message “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”
Where Simeon was ready to die, we are called to be ready to live. Hogan’s example shows us that we are to do more with the grace we receive than die happy, we are to live happy—joyfully doing the will of Christ showing God’s grace in all creation.
Washington Capital’s web producer turned substitute goalie Brett Leonhardt demonstrated the value of showing up when called. Leonhardt’s example teaches that showing up is the beginning of every good act. Making yourself available is always the first step toward being useful.
Mary giving herself—not passively allowing herself to be taken but voluntarily giving herself—shows us that only when we say yes to the Holy Spirit can we make a dent. Mary shows us that saying no to God makes us benign to creation. History is made by people who show up.
The Gospel of John also reminds us that the people who are the most ordinary can be indwelt and empowered by the Spirit to become extraordinary. The man we know as John the Baptist is simply known as John in the fourth gospel. He’s not the Messiah, not Elijah, not one of the prophets, so in the eyes of the temple leaders he was nobody. While in one sense he is “just John,” the witness of history shows him to have been more than that. He was indwelt and empowered by the Spirit of God to become the Baptist.
We are born to become. We are born to become the children of God; born of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us so that we may see the glory of God through the Son. It is by God’s only Son that we come to know the Father and the Father’s heart. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we reflect this grace through our actions.
It is by saying yes when called that we participate in history; we participate in the inbreaking of God in all creation. It is by serving the Lord with imagination and perseverance that we discern how to show God’s grace and peace to a thirsty world. It is by being ordinary that we may be empowered to do something extraordinary. And this is our call—not just to receive Christ and by him become the Children of God—our call is to return this gracious gift to the world.
Again as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, as we receive the mark of the seal of the Holy Spirit, we receive the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people to the praise of God’s glory. By sharing this mark with others through good works we reflect the face of Christ to a world that needs it, now more than ever.
[1] AirTran Apologizes to Muslim Family Removed from Plane, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/02/family.grounded/index.html, retrieved January 3, 2009.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 147:12-20
Ephesians 1:3-14
John 1:10-18
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
About fifteen years ago, I heard a report on National Public Radio saying that monogamy was not the human being’s biological default. The story said it is in our nature to have more than one mate. Polyandry, polygyny, polygamy; I don’t remember if the story said whether it was more than one husband or more than one wife or both; but to our sensibilities, it doesn’t really matter. Our society is built around monogamy or at least the concept of one mate at a time.
Scripture is filled examples of men having more than one wife and/or concubine at a time. Pop culture rings in from “The King and I” as Yul Brenner sings that the bee goes from flower to flower to flower; the flower does not go from bee to bee to bee.
Anyway, back to fifteen years ago, it disturbed me that what I thought was normal was not the biological imperative. But it got me thinking about something the Reverend Bill Clark preached at First Presbyterian in Lamar, Colorado. Bill reminded the congregation that people have a choice. People can act the way people do when our humanly omnivorous appetites are allowed to come to the forefront; or we can act as we are called to behave in a still more excellent way by our Lord Jesus Christ.
I was overjoyed by this notion. Yes, we may well be hard wired in ways that aren’t beneficial for us; and no, we don’t have to act on these impulses. Our call as the children of God is to become better than our sinful selves. I may well be naturally set to have more than one partner, but I am called by the Lord to a faithful monogamous relationship with the one I love. Dear Marie, by Christ may I forever be your loving faithful husband.
“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
Born by the will of God. Yes, there is fleshiness to our existence. To use the words of the New International Version, there is an aspect of our existence that is born of “natural descent, human decision, or a husband’s will.” But we are called to become so much more than that and what is more comes from being born by the will of God.
The news reminds us everyday of the sinful nature of human life. Terror, pain, and suffering are found far too often in this world. Judging people as children of Adam and not Children of God makes taking advantage of other people tolerable.
Demonizing others by ethnicity or race and not treating others as children of God means we do not have to extend God’s peace and grace. Just ask anybody within 50 kilometers of Gaza. Ask the Muslim family who was kicked off of an AirTran flight last week because one single passenger thought their conversation was suspicious.[1]
But for those who believe in his name, he gives power to become children of God, born of God, and from his fullness receive grace upon grace. From God’s own fullness, we receive the Lord’s unmerited favor.
The Parable of the New Community in Matthew 20 shows us what this grace looks like as the landowner pays his laborers the same wage regardless of the time of day they started. The workers are promised they would be paid “whatever is right.” We would expect them to be paid by the hour or by the bushel, this is the way we would expect to be paid. This is the way we would expect to pay. But these workers weren’t promised what is fair; they were promised what is right, and everybody received the same wage. The people who started later in the day received merit they did not deserve by generally accepted accounting principles.
Matthew 18 reminds us of grace beyond imagining when we are called to forgive without keeping track of how many times we forgive those who sin against us. After all, if we are counting up to seventy-seven times plus one, we haven’t really forgiven at all. There is no grace in either being abused seventy-seven times or in counting to seventy-seven times. Forgiving transgressions without being abused is at the root of grace. This is displaying God’s unmerited favor without being a victim. And Jesus was never a victim.
Jesus tells us to use our voices to share the good news of his extravagant grace with a world that thirsts for the Word. Our instruction is simple: come to the Lord, hear the Word, be changed by the Good News, share the overflowing grace of God with the world, and rejoice—rejoice with the Lord and the entire heavenly host. Come, hear, share and rejoice.
We are called to respond to the Word of God in faith, not in fear. We are to respond to a relationship with a living being, the Living God; not out of fear of reprisal from laws we could never hope to keep. The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians Paul says, “In Christ you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”
As we have received grace upon grace through Christ and were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, we are to share these with the world. And over the past few weeks we have heard some wonderful examples of this sharing.
We have heard about Grapevine Faith High School Head Football Coach Kris Hogan who showed the love of Christ giving fifteen young men abandoned to Texas youth criminal justice system hope just by giving them fans at a football game. Hogan showed these young men the grace and peace of our Lord giving them the message “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”
Where Simeon was ready to die, we are called to be ready to live. Hogan’s example shows us that we are to do more with the grace we receive than die happy, we are to live happy—joyfully doing the will of Christ showing God’s grace in all creation.
Washington Capital’s web producer turned substitute goalie Brett Leonhardt demonstrated the value of showing up when called. Leonhardt’s example teaches that showing up is the beginning of every good act. Making yourself available is always the first step toward being useful.
Mary giving herself—not passively allowing herself to be taken but voluntarily giving herself—shows us that only when we say yes to the Holy Spirit can we make a dent. Mary shows us that saying no to God makes us benign to creation. History is made by people who show up.
The Gospel of John also reminds us that the people who are the most ordinary can be indwelt and empowered by the Spirit to become extraordinary. The man we know as John the Baptist is simply known as John in the fourth gospel. He’s not the Messiah, not Elijah, not one of the prophets, so in the eyes of the temple leaders he was nobody. While in one sense he is “just John,” the witness of history shows him to have been more than that. He was indwelt and empowered by the Spirit of God to become the Baptist.
We are born to become. We are born to become the children of God; born of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us so that we may see the glory of God through the Son. It is by God’s only Son that we come to know the Father and the Father’s heart. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we reflect this grace through our actions.
It is by saying yes when called that we participate in history; we participate in the inbreaking of God in all creation. It is by serving the Lord with imagination and perseverance that we discern how to show God’s grace and peace to a thirsty world. It is by being ordinary that we may be empowered to do something extraordinary. And this is our call—not just to receive Christ and by him become the Children of God—our call is to return this gracious gift to the world.
Again as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, as we receive the mark of the seal of the Holy Spirit, we receive the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people to the praise of God’s glory. By sharing this mark with others through good works we reflect the face of Christ to a world that needs it, now more than ever.
[1] AirTran Apologizes to Muslim Family Removed from Plane, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/02/family.grounded/index.html, retrieved January 3, 2009.
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