1 Epiphany/The Baptism of Jesus

 

January 9, 2022

Luke 3.15-17, 21-22

+ Our Gospel this morning begins with this fascinating statement:

 “…the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts..”

 These people, who were about to witness the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, are filled with expectation, and questioning in their hearts.

 I think most of us can relate to that.

 We know what it’s like to be filled with expectation.

 And certainly here at St. Stephen’s, we know a few things about questioning in our hearts.

 In many ways, this is what we are dealing with as progressive Christians right now, in this strange time in which we live.

 Here we are, living in (hopefully) the ending of a pandemic.

 But even more so, we, as Christians, have just endured several years of political upheaval in our country.

 And that political upheaval also involved many people claiming to be Christians, who have held high the name of Jesus in situations that we hopefully find offensive and terrible.

 Of course this last Thursday was the first anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection—and it WAS an insurrection, it was an attempt to overthrow our government, and to undo the last election, and to overthrow democracy, there is no doubt about it.

 Don’t call it a riot.

 We are still dealing with the after-effects of that event.

 And we will for many years to come.

 This event is indelibly written into our history now.

 But what offended me most—no, what truly angered me—as I watched in 2021, and as I re-watched the events last Thursday, was the overabundance of Christian placards at that Insurrection.

 

Did you notice them?

 Jesus’ name was all over the place.

 It was there as the windows were being broken.

 It was there as the doors of the capitol were battered against and knocked down.

 It was there as the senate chambers and our elected officials’ offices were ransacked.

 It was there beside the noose on which they planned to hang to hang Vice-President Pence because he wouldn’t go along with their plans to undo the rightful

election.

 For me I am more than offended to find the Name of Jesus being used in such a blasphemous way.

 The people who were doing this felt justified to do what they did by their political leaders AND by their religious leaders.

 And many of them were doing it (they felt) in the name of Jesus.

 They did it because they saw themselves as “Christians.”

 Which leaves the rest of us Christians—the majority of us, I am quick to remind you—shocked and appalled and furious.

 Is this what Christianity has been reduced to now?

 How do we go on as Christians if this is what we are being reduced to?

 And when you start thinking that was happened a year ago as some isolated incident that we should just get over, the fact is there are many, many Christians right now who simply can’t.

 I am one of them.

 There are ripple effects to everything.

 There are consequences to actions.

 And we will be dealing with the consequences of these actions for years to come.

 Now, I will tell you, you will be hearing, if you haven’t already, about a new thing happened in Christianity right now called Deconstruction.

 Many Christians, in the wake of this blatant high jacking of our Christian faith by people who have made Christianity into a circus of hatred and violence, who have made Christianity into a force of American Nationalism and have formed an ugly white, spray-tanned, blond idol out of Jesus, are struggling with our faith.

 How do we move on from this—this disgusting reduction of all we hold dear?

 How do we go on as Christians when we have seen such ugliness and violence and racism in the name of our faith, in the name of Jesus, whom we love and follow, when we have seen our faith distorted and bastardized by these small-minded people who have allowed themselves to be deceived and brainwashed by conspiracy theories and talk show hosts?

 How do we separate the Jesus we follow—that middle-eastern Jew who sided with the marginalized and discarded of this earth—from the white, Americanized Jesus behind whom are amassed these ugly, hate-filled people?

 That is what many of us are struggling with.

 And will be struggling with for a long time to come.

 Many are just leaving.

 Many are separating themselves from Christianity as a result.

 I cannot tell you how many times I have people come to me and say, “I am embarrassed to call myself a Christian if this is what Christianity has become.”

 I feel the same way.

 But I will stay.

 And I will do everything in my power ( as limited as it is) to reclaim the name Christian.

 But in the process of stating, some of us are being forced to deconstruct our faith, so we can rebuild it again.

 I will be talking a lot about deconstruction in the future.

 It is certainly something, as some of you know, that I have been doing in my own faith life for the last several years.

 I have been forced to question some things in my faith that I never thought of questioning before.

 And, let me tell you, it is not a fun process.

 It is often very painful.

 It is often the equivalent of pulling a tooth or having surgery.

 But sometimes we must do it if we want to continue on.

 Sometimes we must do it is we want a real, living faith.

 Because Deconstruction usually is followed by reconstruction.

 And it also means that we are able to truly come to a belief in those things that really do sustain us.

 One of the areas in my own personal deconstruction and reconstruction is baptism.

 How appropriate to talk about this on the Sunday of Jesus’ own Baptism.

 I seriously took a long, hard look at baptism.

 And I came away with a deep conviction that something amazing and powerful happened to each of us in those waters of baptism.

 BUT I also found myself struggling with our belief that the Sacrament of Baptism  is somehow an initiation into things like Holy Communion 

Now, I am not saying I believe it. 

I am just saying that it has been interesting to just explore our beliefs about such things and ask ourselves why we believe what we do. 

 The official belief of course in the Episcopal Church is that all BAPTIZED people may receive Holy Communion.

 So, I find myself asking the question: 

 WHO at the last supper was baptized?

I know of only One.

 The One whom we encounter being baptized in today’s Gospel.

 We know nothing about any of the others there being baptized.

 But Jesus still fed them all.

 Yes, even Judas, the one who would betray him.

 This is one of those areas that we, as Christians, in our personal deconstruction/reconstruction, must grapple with.

 And in doing so, we will find that our understanding and belief of both Baptism and Holy Communion have expanded and made even more real for us.

 After all, we need to hold close to our hearts the first great example being set.

 As Jesus comes out of those waters, as the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descends upon him, he hears the words from God:

 “You are my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 Here the standard is set.

 Here the breakthrough has happened.

 From now on, this is essentially what has been spoken to each of us at our own baptisms:

 “You are my child, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 For most of us, we have no doubt taken for granted our baptisms.

 We have viewed baptism as no more than a quaint christening service for babies—a kind of dedication ceremony.

 Baptism is much, much more than that.

 As you hear me say again and again, baptism is THE defining moment in our lives as Christians.

 Whether we remember the event or not, it was the moment when our lives changed.

 It was the moment we became new.

 It was, truly, our second birth.

 When some Christians ask you, “Have you been born again?” you can tell them in no uncertain terms: “Oh, yes I have actually!”

 You can, “I was reborn in the waters of life and marked as Christ’s own forever on the day of my baptism.”

 But, what baptism cannot do is separate us from others.

 It cannot put us into a camp of “us” versus “them.”

  One of the biggest complaints I get from Episcopalians and Lutherans and others are the frustrations they have when they attend a Roman Catholic Mass and what they view as their restrictive view on the Eucharist.

 Actually I have LOT of issues about it as well, as you have heard me say many times.

 But what I really cringe at is when I hear anyone say, “I don’t care what they say about Communion. I am going to go up and receive anyway. I am a Christian. I believe what they believe. They can’t exclude me!”

 I always say this in response:

 Please don’t. Don’t disrespect them in their own house. But rather, sit back. Stay in your pew. And when you do, do this: Look around.

 Look around at the others who also are not going up.

 It is those people I feel closest in moments like that.

 Because it is with them—the unbelievers, the ostracized, the excluded, those who aren’t “in,” yes, even the unbaptized—that Jesus is truly present.

 You want real Holy Communion, is right there, right then.

 THAT is the real power of baptism.

 The paradoxical power of baptism is making us truly aware of how much we need to side with those who are not baptized, of those who are not “in,” of those who are excluded, or simply cannot allow themselves to be included.

 In the waters of our baptism, we were reborn as children of our loving and caring God.

 We became what was Jesus is.

 We can, from the very moment of our baptism, trace our relation with God our Parent—the God who recognizes us and loves us and accepts us and embraces us.

 BUT becoming what Jesus is means being where Jesus is in this world.

 And Jesus, I have learned through my years of deconstruction/reconstruction, is in that paradoxical place on the fringes of our society AND our church.

 The bond that is made at baptism is one that truly can never be broken.

 That relationship that was formed with God in those waters is eternal.

 In baptism, we truly see that we are God’s child.    

 For ever.

 We become God’s own Beloved.

 God never denies us.

 But we must accept the fact that there are some people who, for whatever reasons, just cannot make that commitment, who cannot see this amazing thing in those waters, but who are also children of God.

 Who still desire Jesus in some way, whether they even know it or now.

 Who still desire some Presence of Christ in this world, even if they might not even be aware that it is Christ they long for.

 We, in turn, have to fight to not become those Christians that are causing so many of us to deconstruct a faith we have held dear for so long.

We have to fight not to become those people who turn others away from Christ.

We as baptized Christians must fight hard to not become ugly stereotypes of what Christianity is right now in this country.

We, as loved children of a loving God, must work hard to not be manipulative, controlling, gossipy, backbiting, unloving people.

We must not hide behind the name of Jesus as we call for destruction and death on those who don’t follow out own deceptions.

We must not be what our critics accuse of us being.

We must love and respect each other equally.

Our baptism forces us out into the world to be a part of the world and, by doing so, to transform the world.

 In a few moments, I will come through the nave and will sprinkle you with holy water.

 As that water touches you, remember how God loves you and cherishes you.

 And when you leave church, pay attention to the baptismal font in the narthex and the blessed water in it.

 Touch that water, bless yourselves with it, and when you do, remember it as a reminder of that wonderful event in your life which marked you forever as God’s very own.

 But let us not see this amazing event as some special, exclusive initiation.

 Rather let us see it as a radical event in our lives that puts us in the company of those who are on the fringes of our life, our society and our church.

 When we do, it is then that those words spoken to Jesus on the day of his baptism are spoken to us again and again.

 “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 Let us pray.

Loving God, we are so grateful for what you did for your Loved One Jesus in those waters in the Jordan River; we are thankful for what you did in the waters of our own baptism; help us to live a truly baptismal life of love, of acceptance, of inclusion, of radically embracing those who are excluded, of those who are on the fringes. Help us to be Jesus in this world to those who need Jesus. And especially help us who are struggling to rebuild our faith so that we can truly live a faith pleasing to you. In Jesus’s Name we pray. Amen.