"EPWORTH Refocus 50/50: Water"
- Rev. Bob Thomas
Senior Pastor
the Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 3: 13 - 17
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The Baptism of Our Lord
When I teach about Baptism in New Member Groups or Confirmation Classes, I always ask the participants to tell a “water” story. I have heard all kinds of water stories over the years…from people being deathly afraid of water to little children just jumping into deep water with out any fear at all. Some of you like to boat, or fish or ski. I like to body surf. Unfortunately I didn’t get to do that last week when Mary Beth, Kate and I went to Florida…the water was a bit too cold to do much more than frigid wading. But in the summer when the water is warm and the waves are just right, there’s nothing more exhilarating than standing in waist deep surf and feeling the water fill the oncoming wave and at just the right moment laying into the crest of the wave and allowing it to propel you on the frothy break water right up to the sandy beach. Well that’s if it all works out like it should…sometimes you just get slapped by the incoming wave, bowled over or tumbled and twisted like being in a commercial washing machine if the wave is too big or breaks too soon. But when you catch the right wave and the broiling water washes you right up on shore. It’s really fun. That’s my water story.
Water has played a prominent role in the faith story of the Judeo-Christian traditions. Listen to the beautiful words from the prayer of Thanksgiving over the water in the Baptismal Liturgy: ‘When nothing existed but chaos, [God] swept across the dark waters and brought forth light. In the days of Noah, [God] saved those on the ark through water. After the flood [God] set in the clouds a rainbow. When [God] saw his people as slaves in Egypt, [God] led them to freedom through the Red Sea to the land of milk and honey that was promised. And then in the fullness of time [God] sent Jesus, nurtured in the water of a womb. Jesus was baptized by John and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus called his disciples to share in the baptism of his death and resurrection and to make disciples of all nations.” Today at the beginning of this new year we pause to celebrate Jesus’ baptism. Water.
People have given Jesus many titles in order to explain his unique role in God’s plan to save the world. Jesus has been called prophet, priest, king—but most importantly he was human. Jesus made a very important choice. He chose to live in the world and to be engaged in the business of the ordinary circumstances human life. Just like us, He was called by God and was led by the Spirit. Jesus accomplished the plan of salvation from within the human family, like leaven in bread. He became one with us, like us. And all his work and ministry began officially when Jesus was baptize in the water of the Jordan and he was affirmed and sanctified by God.
Through Jesus own baptism he acted out his solidarity with all human beings. Jesus himself was sinless, but he willingly shared the burden of the human condition. Through baptism Jesus announced his solidarity with God.
When Jesus was baptized, Matthew tells his readers that the Spirit came upon Jesus and a voice from heaven affirmed both Jesus’ identity and purpose. Jesus is SON. Jesus is LOVED. Jesus very being pleases GOD. Now this is where it gets really scary…The very same elements are present at each of our baptismal encounters. The Spirit comes; God approves and affirms that we are beloved children with unique purposes in life. What does that mean? Theologian Linda Clader has described this new life in the Spirit as stepping into “Holy Spirit Territory.” You’ve been there…some of you on your Emmaus walks or on retreat, or in the midst of a crisis, or here in church, or at the lake at sunset deep in open-eyed prayer and you entered that dynamic place where your faith grew and blossomed…your creative impulses came together with divine trust and you developed a plan of action you knew was God given…sometimes those moments even felt like a bolt of spiritual electricity…and those encounters give us raw courage to proclaim the truth, to receive a healing touch, to offer forgiveness we thought we never could muster and discovered a strength in the midst of overwhelming weakness.” All that and so much more happened to Jesus when he was baptized and to us as well.
But why did Jesus submit to a baptism obviously intended for sinners like you and me? Most scholars agree that Jesus action illustrates the sinless Jesus’ solidarity with the sinners whom he had been sent to save. But Jesus called his baptism by John “fitting” and the “fulfillment of righteousness.” Since there is no scripture text suggesting that the messiah should be baptized, what is being fulfilled here is not a scriptural formula but the will of God. God willed that Jesus should become entirely immersed in the human experience so as to redeem human beings from sin. That immersion began when Jesus was conceived and was affirmed at his baptism by the presence of the spirit and very voice of God. In our own baptism we experience the presence of the Spirit and the blessing of God’s voice and each one who is baptized becomes a new sign to the world of God’s ongoing power in the world to create, to consecrate, to transform, to forgive and to save.
So, today is not just a day to remember and celebrate Jesus’ baptism; it is also an opportunity to reaffirm our own baptism. With that renewal of belonging comes a renewed sense of our individual purpose and common mission.
The mission of Epworth United Methodist Church is “To create Christian community by making disciples of Jesus Christ.” It’s on our bulletin every Sunday. The Administrative Council and the staff try to use our mission statement to evaluate the programs and ministries we support and develop as a church to help us live out our faith in Christ’s transforming love.
These are exciting times here at Epworth. And I am convinced that we are living out our baptismal faith. We are reaching people for Christ and offering spiritual hope and practical assistance to those in need as we continue to live into our call to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. The community of faith is growing. Just yesterday we sent our sixth team to work in New Orleans to help residents rebuild their lives and homes after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Last week 14 youth and 8 adult counselors spent 5 days in New York City working in soup kitchens and homeless shelters—extending the love of Christ to those in the Big Apple who need Jesus’ love the most. You have again this year contributed over $7,500 to Heifer Project International which means we have filled an ark. The Heifer Gift Ark offers hope worldwide to families who are poor and hungry. Together we will help families start on a journey to fulfill a seemingly impossible dream - to secure food and a source of dependable income.
Each family who receives livestock will pass on one or more of the animal's offspring to other families who are in need in their community. Every gift will multiply for years to come.
This is how our gift can change the world. Two cows bring milk and income to a Russian village. Two sheep help families in Arizona produce wool. Two camels help families in Tanzania earn income by transporting agricultural and industrial materials. Two oxen pull plows and carts in Uganda. Two water buffalo help Cambodian families increase rice production through animal draft power. And that's just the first five sets of animals ... our ark will provide 15 pairs of animals to change lives. What a wonderful way to bring joy to the world!
And in November the United Methodist Women’s annual Harvest Bazaar in November made nearly $10,000 for local mission out reach…The list goes on and on.
In a recent sermon, Rev. Streitenberger reminded us that 46 years ago after the fire that heavily damaged the original structure at Parkwood and Delaware, the leadership of Epworth took the bold step to relocate to our current park-like setting here on the banks of the Ottawa River. In the year 2011 we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary at this location. Can you believe that? Church historian Sue Moesser is going to help us remember the past so we can look ahead 50 years into the future and beyond…
With all of that in mind, the 2007 Charge Conference took action to establish “Task Force 50,” whose role and responsibility is to look at the physical plant needs for our congregation based on the work and recent reports of the Dream Team and Building Utilization Review Committee. Just yesterday, Task Force 50 had its first meeting and began the task of putting bones around our dreams to give them shape and then energize them with the muscles and tendons to get the job done. I know that many of you have been wondering what we are planning to do with the Wesley property acquired with funds borrowed from the Epworth Foundation. We need a plan and we need a plan soon. All of these concerns and opportunities will be brought together by some of our best thinkers, dreamers, and planners and you can expect a preliminary report by the March Administrative Council meeting. We begin the new year by refocusing on our mission statement and setting the course for the next 50 years in this place. Because of our baptism we are those called to create Christian community by making disciples of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus burst on the scene in first- century Israel, one of his first actions was to mark his life and ministry in the water of the Jordan River, a notoriously muddy river. He traveled way off-road, all the way out into the Judean wilderness, to see his cousin John, the quintessential rugged individualist. In the manner of other ancient Israelite prophets, John lived a solitary life amid sand and snakes but preached a message so compelling that people were willing to get their feet dirty to go find him.
Standing there in the muddy water of the Jordan River, John offered a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4). First-century Jews were used to ceremonial washings, but the only one that involved immersion was for those converting to Judaism. John called everyone, even ethnic Jews, to be baptized or “marked” as being in need of forgiveness and salvation — the mud and muck of human sin being washed away and replaced with a real mark of repentance and confession. John’s baptism was, in a real sense, a great equalizer, declaring that rich and poor, Jew and non-Jew, righteous or roustabout all must turn toward God.
And herein is a paradox. You don’t wash your clothes in dirty water. Yet John calls his disciples to be “washed,” marked, or cleansed in the dirty waters of the Jordan. Baptized in dirty water.
The followers of Jesus are called to come to where Jesus is. But Jesus is standing in dirty water, the muddy Jordan. He might as well have said, “Don’t expect room service, and a mint on the pillow, Perrier and afternoon lattes.” You walk with Jesus, you start in the muddy Jordan and you end up dying on a cross that Jesus himself will invite you to embrace.
When Jesus came to the edge of the water, John is incredulous that the Messiah would need any kind of baptism — “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Yet Jesus willingly steps down into the brown water to take on the same muddy mark as his people.
When we’re baptized we take on that same mark. Jesus’ baptism is the prototype for those of us who would follow him. What does our baptism say about us?
For us, baptism is a sign of God’s favor as well, but it is favor that is unmerited. We recognize that we can’t fake out God and be something that we’re not, so we “come clean” through repentance and confession and simply receive the love of God who created us and sees us as being “very good.”
There’s more. The baptism of Jesus was a form of anointing by which the Messiah, the promised One, would save Israel and the whole world. Israelite kings were marked as a symbol of their office and their responsibility. For Jesus, and for us, baptism is preparation for ministry.
Baptism is a sign that we pledge allegiance to a different kingdom — the kingdom of God. And that allegiance is worked out in our service to others. Baptism marks us, sets us apart as different from the world’s idea of power.
In other words, we’re called to “go” into the world and get dirty serving others. There’s no room for pretending or keeping to our own side of town. Our baptism is a commission and a call to go into the wilds of a hurting world.
Jesus, God in the flesh, lived and moved in the world but was not “of” the world. He was tempted like us, human like us, but recognized that his kingdom was beyond the human realm. Jesus didn’t merely call people to get straightened up so that they could fly off to heaven when they died. The real good news that he preached is that God’s kingdom, in the person of Jesus, had broken in — a new reality was coming to the forefront. Jesus saw heaven not as being far away but rather at hand, active, working, engaging, breaking into human history.
What we do now matters — we are to be agents of the in-breaking kingdom where we are today, here on the banks of the Ottawa River, in downtown Toledo or New York City or in the flooded parish neighborhoods of New Orleans or in Africa or South America… We can experience the promises and purposes of God in our lives today. Our baptism invites us to live in a new reality — a heavenly, God-ordained reality, that does not see eternity as “out there” somewhere but sees God at work here and now.
For nearly 50 years we have been in ministry here at this site all of that built on the rich the rich history of Epworth that goes back to 1894. Right now, we are standing on the brink of the next 50 years and beyond.
Living as baptized followers of Christ takes courage, commitment and compassion. Jesus waded into the water, he set the example for us. Bottom line: If the Son of God is willing to get dirty changing the world, we who follow may need to do the same.
Today let us remember our Baptism and be thankful. Today let us reaffirm our commitment to allow the waters of baptism to change us so we can make a real difference in the world… Epworth, remember your Baptism and be thankful.
