Text: Mark 1:4-11<\/p>\n
Last week, we invited you to follow the star of the Magi\u2026
\nNot the one in the sky, but the one in the manger.
\nThe one who drew them over mountains and deserts and seas.<\/p>\n
I love how the Message translation makes clear that the object we are seeking and following is none other than Jesus.
\n\u201cThe star in this drama,\u201d John the Baptist says, \u201cwill change your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
John called people to the river to confess and repent.
\nTo wash away their old life and make a commitment to a new one.
\nIt was a simple invitation and people were drawn by this call.
\nThey were eager to embrace this tangible, physical, vigorous act of letting themselves be washed clean.
\nAs the cold water drifted by them, the current took their sins away.<\/p>\n
Wouldn\u2019t it be amazing if it was that easy?
\nJust hop in the river and everything is better?<\/p>\n
But even John the Baptizer knew this wasn\u2019t the end of the story.
\nIt wasn\u2019t enough.
\nYou couldn\u2019t just say \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d
\nYou actually had to start living differently and there was only one person who had the power to change people from the inside-out.
\nSo he started preparing people for the true star of this show, the mighty and powerful one who would wash people not with water, but with the very Spirit of God.
\nAnd then, Jesus appeared.
\nHe showed up at that very same river and spot and he was baptized, too.<\/p>\n
Mark tells us that Jesus saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit come down.
\nLike a dove diving from the heavens it rested upon him.
\nAnd then there was a voice.
\n\u201cYou are my son.
\nYou are chosen and marked by my love.
\nYou are the pride of my life.\u201c<\/p>\n
If last week, the star word we focused on was epiphany, this week it is identity.
\nAnd clearly, we discover the identity of Jesus in this passage.
\nGod makes it pretty clear who this guy standing in the water is.
\nGod\u2019s Son.
\nBeloved.
\nDelightful.<\/p>\n
But if this was the identity of Jesus Christ, why did he need to be baptized?
\nWhy did he enter the water in the first place?
\nCertainly not because he needed to repent or because he was unclean.
\nNo\u2026 Jesus entered the water for us.
\nHe stepped into the water so that you could enter the water.
\nSo that you could let go of your sins.
\nSo that we might be made sons and daughters and children of God.
\nSo that the Holy Spirit might descend and flow into our lives.
\nAs the Orthodox baptismal liturgy asserts: \u201cHe emerges from the waters and uplifts the world with Him.\u201d<\/p>\n
You see, baptism began as a simple ritual washing, but it was transformed by Christ in this holy and sacred moment into a mark that is stamped on your soul and can never go away.
\n\u201cYou are mine,\u201d God says.
\n\u201cYou are beloved,\u201d God says.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t you ever forget how proud I am of you.\u201d
\nThis is who you are now.
\nThis is your very identity.
\nChosen and beloved of God.<\/p>\n
Martin Luther once said that every time we wash our hands or our face we should remember our baptism.
\nEvery time we should remember that we are a child of God.
\nIn fact, he was known to often make the sign of a cross on his forehead and whisper softly to himself, \u201cI am baptized.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might be easy to remember on the days when the sun is shining and all is right with the world, but it is something we need to remember on the tough days as well.
\nAnd, well, we\u2019ve known some tough days lately.
\nWednesday, as I was working on writing and praying over the star words that we mailed out this week I got a notification from a colleague that said, \u201cturn on your television.\u201d
\nI sat at my desk shaking, stunned by the images unfolding on the screen.
\nT-shirts celebrating the holocaust, the confederate flag paraded through the halls of congress, the large cross being erected on the lawn.
\nAnd so many were quick to say: \u201cthis is not who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Except, it is.
\nThis world is broken, and bleeding, and bruised\u2026
\nAs my colleague Diane Kenaston wrote, \u201cThis is exactly who we are. We\u2019re shaped by white supremacy, lust for power, violence, scapegoating, fear, and individualism. We\u2019re shaped by sin. And it\u2019s for that reason that we need the transforming love of God\u2026 This is who we are, but this is not who we have to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
We are called to claim an identity that calls us to love and serve and heal and forgive.
\n\u201cYou are mine,\u201d God says. \u201cYou are beloved\u2026. Don\u2019t forget it.\u201d
\nIn the act of baptism in our tradition, it is not simply that God\u2019s Spirit washes over us.
\nGod gives us the power to actually be different.
\nAnd so with God\u2019s help, we take vows.
\nWe make promises to reject spiritual evil and the forces of this world.
\nWe promise to resist injustice and oppression.
\nWe promise to stand with God not political leaders\u2026 of either party.
\nWe promise to trust in God\u2019s grace.
\nAnd all of that becomes part of our identity, too.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we are called to do that in small ways. Nadia Bolz-Weber writes:
\n\u201cThe first move of the devil is always the same. Attack your identity as the beloved with whom God is well pleased\u2026 nowhere are we more prone to encroaching darkness than when we are stepping into the light. If you have ever experienced sudden discouragement in the midst of healthy decisions, or if there is a toxic thought that will always send you spiraling down, or if there is a particular temptation that is your weakness, then I make the following suggestion: take a note from Martin Luther\u2019s playbook and defiantly shout back at this darkness \u201cI am Baptized\u201d\u2026\u201d
\nShe goes on to recount how when faced with his own doubt and discouragement Luther was known to throw ink pots or other small items in whatever direction he felt a sense of spiritual malevolence\u2026 he could sometimes be heard throughout the castle shouting \u201cI AM BAPTIZED!\u201d<\/p>\n
I have to admit that this sermon was not only complete, but had already been printed and mailed out to about fifty households when I turned on the news on Wednesday afternoon.
\nAnd as I sat there at my desk I found myself whispering to myself\u2026 I am baptized\u2026 I am baptized…
\nBut I also wondered how many of the people in that crowd had been baptized, too.
\nI wondered about how that moment might have been different if their pastor had told them that celebrating the holocaust was evil.
\nOr if their Sunday School teacher had commented on their facebook post and challenged their white supremacy.
\nOr if they had heard a sermon that made it clear our allegiance is to God and not the leaders of this world.
\nOr maybe if there had been someone in their life besides the leader of our country who told them… You are loved. You are special.
\nAnd then I wondered whether I had actually done\u2026 or if I have failed to do those things.
\nWhere have I been complicit in this moment.<\/p>\n
The words of my dear friend and colleague, Rev. Diane Kenaston keep ringing through my head.
\n\u201cThis is who we are, but this is not who we have to be.\u201d
\nAnd as we come to these waters, we remember the identity that God calls us to embody.
\nAnd God gives us the strength to face the world in all of its reality.
\nGood and bad.
\nTragedy and pain.
\nJoy and celebration.
\nAnd the Holy Spirit helps us to say yes to the things that bring life and no to the things that bring death.
\nBut we cannot do it without our baptisms.
\nWe cannot do it if we forget that the Spirit has our back.
\n\u201cYou are mine,\u201d God says. \u201cChosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.\u201d
\nIn the midst of everything that is wrong, God pours sanctifying grace into our lives so that we can be different.
\nSo that we can remember that we belong to God and that others belong to God, too.
\nSo when violence breaks out we can stand for peace with justice and accountability.
\nWhen pain is felt, we can listen to the hurt and offer comfort without being overwhelmed.
\nWhen evil rears its ugly head, we can stand up, and let God shine through us.
\nAnd when we have failed, God forgives and renews and gives us the grace to try again.
\nThanks be to God. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Mark 1:4-11 Last week, we invited you to follow the star of the Magi\u2026 Not the one in the sky, but the one in the manger. The one who drew them over mountains and deserts and seas. I love how the Message translation makes clear that the object we are seeking and following is…<\/span><\/p>\n