January 13, 2002
|
|
|
| Baptized
for Mission and Ministry Prayer: Lead us over and over again to the waters, O God, that in the baptism of Jesus we may find our way to our own, and through your ministry, may we find a sense of mission and ministry. In his name, Amen. Last week, we were reminded that the wise men who came to Bethlehem to see Jesus were not Jews, but Gentiles who signaled that the good news of Jesus was meant for the whole world. This season of Epiphany, the church season between Christmas and Lent has become a time when the church emphasizes the importance of our relationship with God. Baptism is one of the ways that relationship is made known. It is by biblical accounts thirty years after the birth of Jesus when John the Baptist emerges from the wilderness to announce the coming of Jesus. What an image we have. See John dressed in camel hair and smelling of leather and honey and wild locusts. Listen as he declares, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (John 3.11).” Matthew continues the story when Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. And as Jesus comes for baptism, we get a glimpse of how Jesus understands himself. He is the Son of God who comes to show us that he is devoted to God and in so doing he calls us to the same devotion and obedience. John must have thought what many of us have thought. Why would Jesus, the perfect Son of God, the one conceived by the Holy Spirit, born without sin, whose birth changed the way the world measures time need to be baptized? Jesus wants to be baptized? Why? After all, John knows that baptism was one of the rites of purification for Jewish converts. In John’s day, washing rites, such as baptism characterized preparation for offering sacrifices. These ritual washings were not only linked to religious purity, but also with the concern for sinfulness and moral purity. John knows that Jesus is the one about whom he has spoken, and he does not want really believe that Jesus needs to be baptized, nor does John believe that he is the one to baptize Jesus. Surely it must be the case that Jesus is not only modeling an act of purification for the church, but he is signaling his own coming sacrifice on the cross. But John does not know that. So Jesus has to convince John that his baptism is necessary for both of them. John at first declines to baptize Jesus. After all, Jesus is the one whom John had promised would come in the full power of God and the Holy Spirit. John, who does not feel worthy even to untie the sandals of Jesus, certainly does not feel worthy to baptize him. But Jesus convinces John that his baptism is necessary for both of them. He tells John that in order to fulfill the call they both have from God, this act must be done. It is not a matter of who is worthy, but of how they will each show that they are faithful to the God who has called them both to mission and ministry. John finally agrees to baptize Jesus, and as he does, the heavens open, God speaks, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased”, the Holy Spirit descends like a cooing, fluttering dove. These signs from God had not been seen in a long time, so long a time in fact that they were thought to be hidden away until the end of the age. Matthew is up to something here. He wants the church to know that these gifts of God are given now in the instant that Jesus comes out of the water. The gifts are present now because God is present in Jesus. Matthew is telling us that God has made these signs visible now because the revelation, the visitation of God is here now. The gifts of God are present in God’s own unique son now. And Jesus is able to come up out of the water ready to face down Satan (Matthew’s account of the temptation story begins the next chapter), and begin his ministry. So what do we make of baptism now? In the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), baptism is one of the things all congregations have in common. We may not agree on points of theology, on styles of worship, on the length of the Sunday morning service, on how much to send to Basic Mission Finance, or whether we ought to be present at Regional and General Assemblies. But we do agree on these two things. We celebrate communion each Sunday, and we baptize by immersion. When we perform the act and ministry of baptism, the candidate is put all the way under the water, and they are brought back up again. For Disciples, baptism is a matter of choice and will. Like Jesus, we choose the moment when we will come to the water and offer ourselves to the church, as Jesus offered himself to John at the Jordan. We are an independent group of people, and this ability to choose is important to us. So we practice believers baptism because we understand that each of us is responsible for how it is that we will answer the call to discipleship extended to us by God. We know that God speaks to each of us differently, it may be in gentle whispering tones to some, while others may hear a louder voice. God speaks to us at different times, and in different ways. Choosing to be baptized, when we are led by the Spirit of God to come forward and present ourselves to the church, indicates our own sense of readiness to be baptized. Baptism is a public proclamation to the world that we are followers of Christ. It is a statement that we belong to Christ just as his baptism was a public declaration that he belonged to God. Baptism is an act of the church, and is best done in the context of community and worship. There are exceptions of course. Anyone who is for reasons of health, unable to be present in worship in order to express their desire to be baptized or to be baptized will be accommodated. Baptism is one of the ways a person becomes a member of a congregation. Here, the decision to come forward as a candidate for baptism usually comes after a period of study in a discipleship class in which the students learn about the meaning of baptism and the history of this congregation and the Disciples of Christ. Then if they feel ready to be baptized, they come forward and declare that they believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that they are ready to be baptized. But, baptism is into the whole church. It is not just into a particular congregation or a particular denomination. So we do not demand for instance that someone who was baptized as an infant or who was baptized in some way other than by immersion, must be baptized again in order to be fully a member of the church. Baptism marks us ways that help us to know what we as people of faith are about. It is said that every day the German reformer Martin Luther would put his hand into a bowl of water, touch his wet hand to his forehead and say, “always remember Martin, you are baptized”. Always remember that you have work to do, you have a cause to proclaim, never forget that you are in sacred relationship with God and with God and with God’s people. Baptism for Jesus and for the church is an act of dedication and consecration to God. As we are baptized, we say that God has become part of our lives. We will live to God, we will serve each other for God, and we will engage in acts of mission in the community and in the world for God. And then when we come to the end of our lives, we will die to God, so that whether we live, or whether we die, we belong to God. That is what Jesus meant when he talked about fulfilling all righteousness. It is what Isaiah meant when he described God’s servant as one on whom the Spirit had put the ability to bring about justice, to speak boldly and gently, to not break or be stopped, or to grow too tired or to be crushed down. So it is with us. To live as righteous people to live in right relationships with God and with each other. It is to acknowledge that we are held and led by God, that we have this sacred agreement, this covenant to be the source of light when people are trapped in the dark places of their lives. It is to liberate people from the prisons of injustice, hopelessness, bitterness, from thinking that their lives have no significance to God or to themselves. It is to free people from the pride that makes us believe that our lives have an inherent worth far superior to whomever it is we would put out of our sightlines because our lives are better if we just don’t see them. I heard a story recently about a woman who said that she was led to work with people for social justice because every time she saw a homeless man or woman sleeping on a park bench, she had the same thought. She could not help but think that the person now so mired in despair and defeat was once someone’s little boy or girl. Somewhere they had gotten lost, and she wanted to work with them so that they could be found again. And as she worked with disenfranchised people, she found what she was really all about. She discovered meaning in her own baptism. What will we do to recall who we are, and what we are about? How will we think about our baptism? At the elders’ meeting yesterday, I shared three of expectations I have of all of us who are members of this congregation. These expectations are part of the membership preparation classes. There are actually four, but I could only recall three off hand. They are to attend church regularly, to be as generous as possible in supporting the church financially, and to be part of at least one small group. The fourth expectation is to declare publicly by confessing faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and by preparing for baptism, or by placing membership in this congregation. How will we live out our baptism? For those who have not yet been baptized, what will help you decide to join with us in this journey of faith? I have a suggestion that reflects some of the thinking of the One To One Focus Group last weekend. At last Tuesday evening’s General Board meeting, I shared a draft vision and mission statement. A vision statement describes the way we see ourselves. A mission statement declares what our purpose will be. The one I offered at the Board Meeting says: “Our vision: To be an inviting and welcoming household of faith which supports and serves the community in our neighborhood and around the world”. I believe that we can see ourselves as we are, a congregation that is open to any who accept our invitation to come and see what Broad Street Christian Church is all about. We can welcome people as we go about our ministries that are as local as our participation in BREAD and as far-reaching as our Basic Mission Finance and other outreach dollars take us. “Our mission: To be and to live the Good News of Jesus Christ for all people”. Our mission and ministry invites us to risk putting our faith on the line as we go about ministry and mission. It calls us into intimate relationship with God and with those we encounter. Ministry is an up close and personal kind of enterprise, it is hard to do long distance. Because ministry is intimate, it declares that we are in loving relationship with the creator, redeemer and sustainer of our lives. And if we are that kind of relationship with them, there is little that we will not be able to accomplish. As one of our leaders said the other day, “we can make this corner jump again”. These are interesting times, and they call for our highest creativity and commitment. The question for us is will we operate out of our sense of mission and ministry or out of a sense of fear and failure? If we can say yes, we choose mission and ministry with the understanding that yes means working to make it so, and studying to make it so, then we will discover a renewed sense of joy. Then we can take our place among the baptized, and as baptized persons, we can know that we are saying yes to God, yes to Christ, yes to each other, and yes to the ones who will join us. God will be pleased, the Spirit will descend upon us, and we will be among the beloved of God. May God grant us all that we need to make it happen and to be God’s people in the world. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
|
Broad
Street Christian Church
|
