{"id":292,"date":"2013-01-19T20:38:48","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T01:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/?p=292"},"modified":"2017-10-26T22:20:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T03:20:32","slug":"sermon-baptized-1st-sunday-after-epiphany-11313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/2013\/01\/19\/sermon-baptized-1st-sunday-after-epiphany-11313\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon: Baptized! 1st Sunday after Epiphany 1\/13\/13"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRIPTURE: \u00a0Isaiah 43:1-7 and Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; and Luke 3:15-22<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The great Disciples of Christ preacher Fred Craddock tells the story of an encounter while vacationing in the Smoky Mountains.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve told this story before, but it bears repeating, much as scripture bears being heard over and over again.\u00a0 Craddock \u00a0and his wife had found a lovely restaurant at a place called the Black Bear Inn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were seated there looking out at the mountains when this old man, with shocking white hair, a Carl Sandburg-looking person came over and spoke to us.\u00a0 He said, \u2018You\u2019re on vacation?\u2019<\/p>\n

We said, \u2018Yes\u2019 and he just kept right on talking.<\/p>\n

\u2018What business do you do?\u2019 he asked.\u00a0 (\u2018Well, I was thinking,\u2019 Craddock notes, \u2018that it was none of his business, but I let out that I was a minister.\u2019)\u00a0 Then he said, \u2018Oh, a minister, well I\u2019ve got a story for you.\u2019\u00a0 He pulled out a chair and sat down.<\/p>\n

The old man said, \u2018I was born back here in these mountains [80 years ago] and when I was growing up, I attended Laurel Springs Church.\u00a0 My mother was not married and, as you might expect in those days, I was embarrassed about that–at school I would hide in the weeds by a nearby river and eat my lunch alone because the other children were very cruel.\u00a0 And when I went to town with my courageous mother, I would see the way people looked at me, trying to guess who my daddy was.<\/p>\n

\u2018The preacher fascinated me, but at the same time he scared me.\u00a0 He had a long beard, a rough-hewn face, a deep voice, but I sure liked to hear him preach.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t think I was welcome at church so I would just go for the sermon.\u00a0 And as soon as the sermon was over, I would rush out so nobody would say, \u201cWhat\u2019s a boy like you doing here in church?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018One day, though,\u2019 the old man continued, \u2018I was trying to get out but some people had already got in the aisle so I had to remain.\u00a0 I was waiting, getting in a cold sweat when all of a sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked out of the corner of my eye and realized it was the face of the preacher.\u00a0 And I was scared to death.<\/p>\n

\u2018The preacher looked at me.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say a word, he just looked at me, and then he said, \u2018Well boy, you\u2019re the child of….\u2019\u00a0 and he paused, and I knew he was going to try to guess not who my mother was but who my father was.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The preacher said, \u2018\u2019You\u2019re the child of…um.\u00a0 Why, you\u2019re a child of God!\u00a0 I see a striking resemblance boy!\u201d\u00a0 He swatted me on the shoulder and said, \u201cGo, claim your inheritance!\u201d<\/p>\n

And then the old man, whom Craddock later found out had been twice elected governor of Tennessee, said to Craddock:\u00a0 \u201cI was born on that day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Baptism is the day in which we are born to a new life, to a new understanding of who and whose we are, and what we are called to do. \u00a0\u00a0It may happen only once, or it may happen numerous times in our lives.\u00a0 It may involve water, a church, or it may have happened in a dark night, or during a bright mid-day break from work; it may involve a community of people; or it may be something that happened to you when you were alone.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Christ\u2019s baptism, which we emulate, was when the world received his name, \u201cSon\u201d, and when\u00a0 he\u00a0 began his ministry.<\/p>\n

For us, too, baptism may be the moment–when we hear our name spoken for the first time, as if we understand that we\u2014our little selves\u2014really matter.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0There are many baptism moments–when suddenly we come upon the Holy in our lives, or, more accurately, when it descends, so to speak, upon us and takes us by surprise. The experience of the great mystery of holiness, what Luke calls in Acts the gift of the Holy Spirit, \u00a0always leaves us marked, and claimed for work to do.<\/p>\n

Jesus was baptized.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u00a0 inaugurated his public ministry by identifying with what Luke describes as \u201call the people.\u201d\u00a0 In going for baptism, Jesus allied himself with all the faults and failures, pains and problems of all the broken and hurting people who had flocked to the Jordan river.\u00a0 By wading into the waters with them he took his place beside us and among us. \u00a0So it wasn\u2019t long into his public mission that the sanctimonious people derided him as a \u201cfriend of gluttons and sinners.\u201d<\/p>\n

I want you to notice something else about the baptism of Jesus.\u00a0 I want you to notice that Jesus didn\u2019t ask anyone to get out of the water before he stepped in.\u00a0\u00a0 All were acceptable; no questions asked.\u00a0 John says that he will come with a winnowing fork, but the fact is, he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 \u00a0Jesus never picks and chooses! People need to know that God has found them. They not only need to know God, but they need to know that God knows them, which Jesus seemed both to understand and to convey to others in every encounter.<\/p>\n

Notice something else about this story:\u00a0 there are people, and powers, here who are \u201copen\u201d.\u00a0 Luke says the people were filled with expectation; that is\u2014they were open to possibilities that previously had not seemed available.\u00a0\u00a0 And there are people, and powers in this story, that want to shut up the voices that speak truth.\u00a0 John, for\u00a0 speaking the truth about Herod\u2019s adultery with his brothers\u2019 wife, was tossed in prison, and eventually beheaded.\u00a0 As Luke tells the story of the baptism of Jesus, it is not even clear if John was present, or if he had already been arrested.<\/p>\n

Whatever else was going on in that baptism, it was an event that confirmed for Jesus that it was time he got busy with his mission.\u00a0 We \u00a0too were baptized, are baptized…and we each must answer what we have done and will do with the claim that is made on our life.<\/p>\n

Alan Paton in his lovely little book about South Africa, Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful<\/em>, \u00a0tells the story of a man who died and went to heaven.\u00a0 When he got there, St. Peter asked to see his hands.\u00a0 Puzzled, the man held them forth for the saint to examine.\u00a0 They were unmarked and perfect, and the man was quite proud of them.\u00a0 St. Peter looked up at him and, with tears in his eyes, said, \u201cWas there nothing important enough to fight for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our baptism is always calling us and asking us what we stand for; what we fight for.\u00a0 Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace.\u00a0\u00a0 And that inward grace galvanizes us to be an outward sign to the world of love made manifest.\u00a0\u00a0 Baptism is the\u00a0 whispering voice of God in our conscience:\u00a0 \u201cYou are mine.\u00a0 I have redeemed you.\u00a0 When (not if) you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI believe in you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou are precious in my sight.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Go on now.\u00a0 Get to work.\u00a0 You are baptized.\u00a0 Go out there, and give the world \u201cheaven.\u201d\u00a0 God knows we need all the heaven on earth we can create.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n

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SCRIPTURE: \u00a0Isaiah 43:1-7 and Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; and Luke 3:15-22 The great Disciples of Christ preacher Fred Craddock tells the story of an encounter while vacationing in the Smoky Mountains.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve told this story before, but it bears repeating,<\/p>\n

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