baptism – Page 3 – Salvaged Faith

Carnival Mirrors

Posted on September 25, 2011Leave a comment

Two summers ago, our family was on vacation at Lake Okaboji in northwest Iowa. We had this tiny little house rented and with six adults and two kids and a baby, we needed to be out and about as much as we could!

One of the days we were there, we went to Arnold’s Park – this lovely little amusement park right on the shores of the lake. As we walked into the main area of the park, we climbed through a tilted house. I remember being inside buildings like this as a child, but something about walking crooked with the ceilings shrinking above you feels very odd and disconcerting as an adult!

And then, the first thing we found inside of the park was the house of mirrors.

My niece grabbed my hand and dragged me to the entrance. As we stood in front of the skinny mirrors and the fat mirrors and the wavy mirrors, she giggled and pointed as the images of each of us transformed into creatures we didn’t recognize. I had mile long legs one minute and a neck as tall as a giraffe the next. We laughed as we told stories about what it would be like to live lives with really tall tummies and itty bitty heads.

However, as an adult I have to admit, these mirrors are a lot less amusing. The distortion of these mirrors brings into greater focus small and insignificant parts of ourselves. They either expand them out of proportion or they reduce them to nothing. Our noses grow fat and wide. Our stomachs suddenly look thin. Or vice versa.

And in doing so – the truth of our bodies comes out. Our thighs might be a little larger than we would like. Our shoulders might be narrower than we assumed. That little gap between your teeth has a spotlight shown on it.

This morning, we are going to explore how Jesus helps us to see the truth in our distorted views of reality.

Charles Campbell is a preaching professor at Duke University and he tells this story about how Jesus would like to shake up our perceptions. Campbell was watching and interview on television with Dr. Phil, the famous tv psychologist. Dr. Phil was asked, “If you could interview anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?” And immediately, he responded: “Jesus Christ. I would really like to interview Jesus Christ. I would like to have a conversation with him about the meaning of life.”

Well, Campbell was watching this on television and tells of the inner dialogue he was having at the moment. He wanted to shout out at the television and to Dr. Phil: “Oh no, you wouldn’t! You would not want to sit down with Jesus, treat him like an interviewee, and ask him about the meaning of life. You would be crazy to do that. He would turn you upside down and inside out. He would confound all your questions and probably end up telling you to sell everything you own, give the money to the poor, and come, follow me. No, Dr. Phil, you do not really want to interview Jesus, and I do not want to either. It would not go well.”

Jesus sounds like a nice and simple guy… a gentle soul… a friend to walk beside you and share your thoughts with… but in reality, Jesus turns our worlds upside down and inside out. He does the unexpected, he shows up in places we try to stay away from, he loves the unloveable, he calls the unworthy, and he brings us life through his death. And sometimes in doing so, he reveals the most difficult truths about our hearts.

His ways are not our ways – and as we walk with him, we have to be willing to let our distorted views of the world fall by the wayside so that we can see the reality of God’s love.

The main distortion that we encounter when we meet Christ is the false belief that we are good enough, that we have the answers, and that we fully understand God. This is the mirror that makes us look tall and big and fat and grand. It puffs us up, it fills us out, and we start to believe we are more important and more knowledgeable than we really are.

You see, this false understanding of faith, of religion, and of themselves is what got the priests and elders into so much trouble in our gospel reading this morning.

To put this story into context, Jesus had just come into Jerusalem the day before. The long list of things he accomplished that day included: riding into the city on a donkey and in righteous anger overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple. He was literally turning things upside down!

And so when he comes back to the temple the next morning, the religious leaders are in a grumpy mood. They want to know who this guy thinks he is and so they approach him and say very bluntly: Show us your credentials – Who authorized you to teach here?

Oh, those poor leaders. They had no idea what they were about to get themselves into. Jesus may have looked like a country bumpkin rabbi just in from the hills, but they were dealing with the Son of God. And when you ask Jesus questions… you never get the answers you expect.

Instead of giving them an answer – Jesus himself asked them a question. Jesus shed light on the true nature of their question.

Authority.

Who has it? And where does it come from?

These religious leaders had been trained. They had studied long and hard. They spent their days in the temple. They have the full weight of their culture and the institution behind them. They firmly believe that they speak for God.

And if they speak for God, then this man, this ruffian, this Jesus of Nazareth clearly does not. They want to keep things in good order, according to the traditions and the way things have always been.

But Jesus is ready to turn the world upside down.

And so he asks them a question in return: Was the baptism of John from God or from man?

He trapped them.

If they said John’s baptism was from God – then they were legitimizing his movement and in doing so, legitimizing Jesus who stood right before them.

But if they said that it was only from man – then they might have had a riot of the people on their hands… all around them were faithful people who had traveled out to the Jordan river to repent of their sins.

The distortion of their mirrors fell away. They came face to face with the truth. This Jesus did not fit in a box. Their privilege and power were more important to them than the right answer and so they responded simply – we don’t know… hoping it is the end of the story and they can return quickly to the way things were.

But Jesus doesn’t stop talking.

Instead, he tells them a story. The story of two children sent by their father into the vineyard to work. One of them refuses, but goes to work anyway later. One of them says they are going to, but never actually ends up working.

Everyone knows it was the first son who did the father’s will. No questions there.

But Jesus looks the priests and leaders straight in the eye and all false distortions fall away:

“ Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to preced you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing the right road. You turned your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.” (The Message 32)

Photo by: Chris
(http://vivid-blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/fun-house-mirrors.html)

Staring into the funhouse mirror, these leaders thought they were being faithful by saying the right words and going through the right motions. But they were so busy looking at the faults of others that they never took the time to see themselves as they truly were. They never took the time to actually live out God’s will. They never stepped away from the mirror to see their own sin and to repent.

As Christians today, that is often our greatest failing. We get so wrapped up in being a part of the church, in wearing the name of Christian, in spouting off moral precepts, that we forget to look at ourselves.

When we let Jesus show us who we truly are… a hard and difficult process… may we have the courage to look away from the mirror and into the eyes of our Savior. May we have the courage to follow him.

But while we are talking about distortions, I think it is also important to look at the flip side of the distortion… the one that makes you look smaller than you really are. That shrinks your head and whittles your body away to nothing and makes you small like a child.

In the story of those two sons, there was the one who said he would obey his father but never did.

And then there is the story of the one who said he wouldn’t.

I always wonder about what makes him say no.

Did he have other things to do? Kids to take to soccer practice, maybe?

Was he planning on other less than noble deeds like going out and getting drunk with his friends?

Did he doubt his ability to actually perform the work?

Was he just being stubborn?

Whatever was going through the first son’s mind… he refused to do the will of his father.

Just as there are many of us who have been in the church from the beginning of our lives, there are many here this morning who took a long time to get here. We had other things to keep us busy, distractions, feelings of unworthiness, and the pride of wanting to do things our own way.

But our false images of ourselves can fall away too. Like the tax collectors and the prostitutes, we can turn around, repent, and say yes… even if we have spent our whole lives up to this point saying no. We can see our true selves, and then lay our lives at the feet of Jesus and follow him.

When we really engage with Jesus, our carnival mirror distortions come into focus. And every single time we find out that he has very little care for what our lives have been in the past but really wants to know if we are going to let go of those funhouse mirrors, take off our false perceptions and see his reality instead. Jesus does not want our distorted image of ourselves… Jesus was us. He wants us to believe in him and to follow him.

As Paul wrote in Philippians, Jesus laid aside his glory to become one of us. He humbled himself even to the point of death on the cross so that each one of us could see the truth – that Jesus is Lord and that he is our reality.

Everything that we do, everything that we have, everything that we are comes from God. That is the truth we find when we look him face to face. He turns our lives upside down and yet does not leave us on unsteady ground.

No, he invites us to join in the heavenly parade of the crooks and the prostitutes, the gamblers and the addicts, the self-righteous and the stubborn… Jesus invites us to take our place among all of those who have said goodbye to their old ways and are now marching joyfully toward heaven.

Amen and Amen.

You Are Mine…

Posted on January 9, 2011Leave a comment

Baptism begins with repentance.

This water is cleansing water.
By diving in,
by letting this water pour over our finger tips,
we are saying that we want to live differently.

A strange man named John was led to call people to repentance.

He set up camp there at the Jordan River

and people were so moved by his call:

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,”

that they came to him from all over the place.

They were yearning for a chance to let go of their pasts,

to confess their sins,

and to be made clean.

There were of course other ways of repenting.

Official ways of repenting.

They could go to the temple and offer sacrifices for their sins.

The Day of Atonement was a yearly chance to let go of their transgressions.

They could pray for forgiveness like so many

of the prophets and psalmists and kings had done throughout scriptures.

But they were drawn in by John’s call.

They were moved by this tangible act

of letting themselves

be washed

by the waters

of the Jordan.

As the cold water drifted passed them,
the current took their sins away.

Baptism begins with repentance.

But it certainly doesn’t end there.

John the Baptizer himself knew that this repentance wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t enough to say, “I’m sorry.”
You actually had to live differently.
You had to bear fruits of repentance.
And he was aware we don’t always have what it takes.

John the Baptizer knew that this was only the beginning.
That water wasn’t enough.

He proclaimed that one was coming
Who would baptize with
The Holy Spirit
And with fire.
He proclaimed that one was coming
Who would not only forgive,
But set things right.
Someone was coming who would judge.

And then, out of nowhere
And I really do mean out of nowhere,
Because a couple of decades have passed between
We last saw him…
Jesus shows up.

He is no longer a baby.
No longer a child.
But a man.
And he steps into the river…

John is beside himself –
This isn’t right!
What are you doing!
You have it all backwards!
I’m supposed to be baptized by you…

But Jesus replies back gently:
It’s okay.
Let’s do it this way.
It’s proper.
It’s necessary.

Trembling, John helps to immerse Jesus
And as he comes up
Out of the water
The heavens open.

What that means, I don’t know.
Do the clouds part?
Does a gap in the blue sky appear?
Are their angels singing like at his birth?
Could anyone see it but him?
I don’t know that,
but I do know the heavens opened.

The heavens opened.
The Holy Spirit came down.
Like a dove it came down from the heavens
And landed on him.
t rested on him.
And there were words.
“This is my Son.”
“This is my beloved.”
“With him, I am well pleased.”

Jesus went into that water
Not because he needed to repent.
Not because he was unclean.
But for us.
He went into that water
So that we might go into the water.
So that we might let go of our sins
So that we might be made sons and daughters of God
So that the Spirit might flow into our lives.
Jesus went in that water
To fulfill our righteousness.

And then he leaves.
Jesus gets up from the water.
The Spirit takes him into the wilderness.
And we are left standing at the Jordan.

Only not really.
Because we know the rest of the story.
We know that what began
As water for repentance
Became water and spirit
Became newness of life
Became a beginning that was not only a fresh start
But the power to be different

What began as water for repentance
Became a mark on our souls that can never go away.
“You are mine,” God says.
“I love you,” God says.
“Don’t forget it,” God says.

Don’t forget it when you look out on this world:
This broken, bleeding, bruised world.
Carry my mark with you.
Love others, serve them, bind up their wounds.

Don’t forget it when you listen to the hatred in this world:
Remember I have called you to bring peace.
I have called you to trust in grace and mercy.
I have called you to renounce evil.
Carry my mark with you.
Don’t be afraid.

“You are mine,” God says.
“Don’t forget it.”

But how often do we forget.

How often do we forget that Jesus is our Lord and Savior
And try trusting in something else… like money or security.

How often do we fail to be Christ’s disciple
And we disobey his very word.

How often do we embrace evil and take pleasure in violence
Rather than stand against them.

How often do we use and abuse God’s name
To get what we want…
Not what God wants.

Many of us have taken the vows of baptism.
We have said them as adults.
Or we have confirmed the vows our parents took.
Some of us are parents
Who hold these vows for our children
Until they are ready to accept them themselves.

These vows are not just words we say
They are promises.
Promises that we have left behind us evil and sin and injustice
Promises that we will stand with our Lord.
Promises that we trust in his grace.

Martin Luther once said:
Everytime you wash your hands
Everytime you wash your face
You should remember your baptism
You should remember that you are God’s child
You should remember that you have made promises.

We need to remember.
We need to remember so that
When violence breaks out we can shout, “no.”
When pain is felt, we can say, “no.”
When darkness rears its ugly head, we can say, “no.”

We need to remember.
So that
we can say “YES” to hope.
“YES” to life.
“YES” to the good news that God has not abandoned us.
We need to remember
So that we are not afraid to say, YES and NO.

A colleague wrote these words yesterday
In the wake of the shootings in Tuscson…
In the wake of remembering Jesus baptism
In the wake of remembering her baptism:

“How do I preach on baptism and not address that we have witnessed the power of evil in this world practically firsthand today – and yet vow to renounce it.

“How do I preach on baptism and not address that obeying His Word and showing his love are action verbs, especially in the light of an event that is dangerously close to stunning us into silence and inaction?

“How do I preach the Good News in the shadow that has been cast by the news of a 9 year old girl’s senseless death?

“Our nation’s rhetoric has once again driven someone who is unstable to do the unthinkable and although we may not be in Arizona, there is still blood on our hands and ONLY the waters of baptism can wash them off. (kathrynzj)“

These vows are our calling.
They are our responsibility.
These waters wash us clean.
And the spirit gives us strength.

It has been said that we should
Face the world
With a newspaper in one hand

And a bible in the other

(Karl Barth)

We need to be able to face the world

And face it in all its reality
Good news and bad
Tragedy and pain, joy and celebration
And we need to be able to say, YES and NO

Yes to the things that bring life.

No to the things that bring death.

But we cannot do it

Without our baptisms.

We cannot do it
Unless the Spirit has our back.

“Do not be afraid,” God says.
“I love you.”
“You are mine.”

Love… gotta have it!

Posted on December 19, 2010Leave a comment

The Sunday that I traveled up to Cherokee, my nine-year-old cousin Taylor was baptized.

One afternoon, she came home very upset from school.

You see, one of her best friends at school had asked her that day if she had been baptized.

Taylor wasn’t sure, and her little friend responded: If you aren’t baptized, you can’t be a child of God.

When I first heard the story, I remember feeling a flash of horror come over me. Did she really say that? What a terrible and awful thing to say to someone!

And then I started to wonder why exactly that statement was so off-putting to me: If you aren’t baptized, you can’t be a child of God.

Looking deeper, I realized that my understanding of baptism… the Methodist church’s understanding of baptism is very different from the view expressed by that little girl.

You see, in our United Methodist tradition, baptism isn’t a pre-requisite for receiving the love of God… it is a sign, it is a reminder, that we are already loved.

Baptism is acknowledgment of the fact that God’s grace is already active in our lives… it goes before us – before we even know it is there.

Pop quiz time: Who remembers what kind of grace that is? The grace that goes before us?

Prevenient grace – gold star!

As much as that statement about baptism made me quake a little bit – there is also a measure of truth to the statement. In baptism, we do put on Christ, we are clothed in his righteousness, we are adopted in the family so to speak. In our baptism, but also in our confirmation of that faith when we stand before the church and profess what we believe, we are say to God – I accept that you have called me and claimed me. I will live as a child of God with your help.

But what is important to remember is that it all starts with God. And God acts in our lives because we are loved.

Often times, it is hard to see God acting in the world. Sometimes the world is cloudy and dim and life seems bleak. In fact, in our Advent scriptures this morning, we hear words of promise spoken to people who were scared and broken. In the midst of troubled days, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and offered a sign – a young woman is with child and will bear a son… and his name will be Immanuel.

God with us. Emmanuel.

God acted when He spoke His Word and all creation came into being. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He led Abraham to the promised land. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He saved a baby from the Nile river and led His people out of Egypt. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He anointed a young boy named David as King over the people. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He spoke through the prophets and gave them warnings and signs and promises. God with us, Emmanuel.

And then God acted in the life of a peasant girl from Nazareth. God with us, Emmanuel.
Paul saw these mighty acts of God as he looked back upon the faith he received and he proclaimed that it is through Christ – through the prophecies, through his ancestry, through his birth and life and resurrection – that God has come to be with us. Emmanuel.

He knew that it is only through Christ Jesus that hope, peace, joy and love are truly possible. In Christ we receive this generous gift of life, Paul writes, and we have the urgent task of passing it on to others who will receive it.

We have the obligation… the responsibility… right now… to take this hope, peace, joy and love that is taking root in our hearts… God with us… and to share it with everyone we meet.

And what is it that we proclaim?

God is with us… Emmanuel. And just as he did in the past, God goes before us making a new way.

I think a prime example of that during this Advent season is the vision given to Joseph.

Can you imagine what this man must have been feeling? He is engaged to Mary, looking forward to their marriage, and he comes to find out that she is pregnant.

God did it, she tells him.

Yeah…. Right… Of course he did… Our God goes around impregnating people.

But he loved this young woman.

According to the law, her punishment would have been stoning. But he didn’t even consider it. He didn’t want to make a scene, he didn’t want to humiliate her… and he certainly didn’t want to pretend that another man’s child was his.

He made up his mind to break off the engagement quietly. She wasn’t showing yet – people wouldn’t know that she had cheated on him.

And just when he had finally worked up the courage to do it and layed down to get some rest, an angel appeared to him in his dream.

St. Joseph with Christ Child. Michael D. O’Brien

Do not be afraid, the angel said.

Her child was conceived by God, the angel assured him.

God has done this to save his people… remember the prophets? Remember Isaiah? This is the one that you have been waiting for. This is Emmanuel. This is God, come to be with you.

Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

God acted once again. God intervened and spoke words of comfort and peace.

And Joseph woke up, and took Mary as his wife.

I can actually imagine him running out the door in the middle of the night and heading over to her father’s house. I can see him pounding on the door, begging to see her. I can see them rushing over to the nearest rabbi’s house and waking up the whole household in the process…. Can you marry us tonight?

Because you see, when we realize that God is with us. When we realize that Emmanuel has come to dwell in our lives… we are filled with urgency. Urgency to share that good news with others. Urgency to tell the story. Urgency to obey God’s commands. Urgency to spread hope and peace and joy and love to everyone we meet.

When my cousin Taylor came home from school, believing that she wasn’t a child of God, my uncle sprang into action. He called up the pastor and asked what could be done. And there is no better way to remind us of the way that God loves us – the way that God has already acted in our lives – than to touch these cool waters of baptism.

And so, with our whole family there, that weekend, we surrounded Taylor with our love, reminded her of God’s love for her, and she knew that she was a child of God. She knew that God was with her… Emmanuel.

The only question left for us is who needs to hear those words today? Who needs to know that they too are loved? Where is God already moving and waiting for you to act?

upside down and inside out

Posted on September 28, 2010Leave a comment

Today, my brain stopped working.

I was standing at the graveside for a funeral going over the so familiar liturgy and every minute or two, I just flubbed up my words. The epitome of my exhaustion came when we got to the Lord’s Prayer and I forgot a line. But because it was at the graveside and because they were presbyterians and not methodists (and said debts and not trespasses) and because I was not mic’d no one really noticed. Except me.

Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad. I did my job just fine. But I reached my limit, and I knew it.

They say that there will be those days in ministry where everything happens at once. Pshaw – I thought. I’m still young and strong. I’m a runner (or at least I was five days ago before my ministry got in the way). I have some endurance. I can do it.

But here I am, sitting on the couch after five days full of good churchy things and all I can say is that I’m really glad the episode of britney/brittany finally finished downloading so I could absolutely turn the brain off and enjoy myself.

There was a baptism, and a wedding rehearsal, and a funeral and a wedding, and a study on revelation, and a budget meeting, we installed a new patio door, and I hosted a church progressive dinner/bible study, and a conference event I helped plan and lead worship for, and another funeral and a bible study… all in the quick span of 5 days. And by the way – if I can brag a little – my methodist ladies put on the best funeral lunches in the world.

I talked with a friend on Monday afternoon and we realized that we aren’t quite so young anymore. I might still get asked if I’m the granddaughter at the funeral visitation instead of asked if I’m the minister – but I’m not as young as I look. My back starts to ache after a day standing in heels and it never did when I was the middle schooler with the big clunky shoes. The ministry comes easier. The job is absolutely rewarding. I know I can do this job. Just please, Lord, not so much of it all at once!!!

I did have a few moments of grace and rest here and there. I napped for 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon. We had a guest musician/speaker who led worship on Sunday morning. McDonald’s Mocha Frappe is actually a pretty good substitute for a good frozen espresso drink when there is no coffee shop in sight. The rest stop on I-80 where I got out and walked around (to keep from falling asleep) was really clean and had a restored prairie area. And our church newsletter was taken over by a lay person – hallelujah.

Sabbath and rest is something that I take seriously, but I also recognize that there needs to be flexibility in the schedule of a pastor. And that means that I’m totally out of commission after youth group tomorrow night. I’m leaving the state. Getting away with family to celebrate a new start for my brother. I’m looking forward to a long car ride with chex mix and laughter… and maybe some weird al yankovic if I can find the old tapes. My batteries are long overdue for an old school recharge.

Touching and Tasting God’s Love

Posted on January 14, 2010Leave a comment

What is the meaning and significance of the sacraments?

In the sacraments of our church, ordinary things like bread and grape juice and water become vehicles of God’s divine grace. We gather as a community not only to acknowledge God’s presence with us, but we are each able to reach out and experience for ourselves the holy. We feel the cool water of cleansing beneath our fingertips. We smell the loving warmth of freshly baked bread. We taste the sweetness of God’s grace. We hear the water being poured out like streams of righteousness and hear the bread of heaven being broken for us. We see into the eyes of our brothers and sisters and find Christ there. Our sacraments not only remind us that God-is-with-us… the sacraments enable us to experience God-with-us, Emmanuel.

In baptism, we are washed clean of past transgressions and we are marked as children of God. We are given new life through those waters – a life that begins in community. In the sacrament of communion, we are not only reminded of the covenant Christ made with us, but invited to participate in its coming – we experience a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. Time stands still when we invite God’s sacramental presence into our lives and we are swept up into the divine reality. But the sacraments are not merely mountaintop experiences – both of these sacraments transform us so that we become different. We become initiated into the priesthood of all believers and in the confirmation of our baptisms take vows to resist evil and injustice and oppression. We pray that we might be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. The sacraments call us into the world.

Call & Response: ie: post ordination paper sermon & bishop’s letter

Posted on January 10, 20101 Comment

Call and Response.

In the African-American church tradition – call and response is what happens when the people hear something the preacher says and can’t contain themselves… they have to respond. It’s the chorus of Hallelujahs and Amens and Tell Me More Sister’s that the congregation brings out to help the preacher along in telling the gospel story. And when you are a part of it – when you feel the energy, when you realize that each and every single person in that room is waiting to respond – it’s pretty powerful.

Now – we are a white, Iowan congregation. 51 weeks out of 52 there probably won’t be an “amen” uttered in response to anything I have to say. It’s just not who we are! =) BUT. But… we do have a call…. And, we are called to have a response.

We were first reminded of that call today from the book of Isaiah – the Lord who created us, who formed us says: DO NOT BE AFRAID, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are MINE.

Do not be afraid, God says. Do not be afraid to respond – I have called you. And so when you are called to pass through waters – I am there with you. Called through rivers? – They won’t overwhelm you. Called Into ministry in Marengo, Iowa? I have your back.