January 11, 2015
Genesis 1.1-5; Mark 1.4-1
+ So, I don’t know about you, but, doesn’t it seem like Christmas
is already a long time ago? Of course, for us, as Christians, the Christmas
season just ended. But Christmas Eve and Christmas Day seem like a long time
ago. We now are in this very long, very
cold month of January. I have always said, I think January is my very least
favorite month of the year. But, we find
ways to go on.
For me, it’s the liturgical calendar. Our
regular cycle of feasts and fasts and saints days help me get through this
cold, bleak time. And right now, for us, we’re in this season of Epiphany. This past Tuesday was the actual Feast of the
Epiphany.
Epiphany is a beautiful feast, though
I think it’s a bit anti-climactic, following Christmas. My dear friend, Fr. John-Julian, an Episcopal
priest and a member of the Order of Julian of Norwich in Wisconsin, wrote
wonderfully about Epiphany. He starts
out by reminding us that this word, Epiphany, comes from the Greek word
epiphaneia, which means, “manifestation” or “showing forth”. He then goes on to explain that the Epiphany
commemorates four manifestations of Christ in his life:
1) The adoration of Shepherds at the manger in Bethlehem, which we
commemorated essentially on Christmas Eve
2) The Visit of the Magi or the Three Kings, which is very much
the traditional understanding of what Epiphany is.
3) Jesus baptism by John the Baptists in the River Jordan, which
we commemorate this morning.
And 4) Jesus’ first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
In today’s Gospel reading, we find what Fr. John-Julian and many
other Christian thinkers call a Theophany. Theophany means “A manifestation of God”, but
today we see it in a very profound way. We
actually find the very Trinity—Father, Son and holy Spirit—being revealed—the
Father, in the voice that proclaims, “You are…my Beloved; with you I am well
pleased,” the Son in the flesh of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the dove that
descends upon Jesus. It is an incredible event—in the lives of those first
followers and in our lives as Christians as well.
Here the standard is set. In this moment, it has all come together. In this moment, it is all very clear how this
process is happening. Here the
breakthrough has happened. For us it’s important because we too are still
experiencing the benefits of that event. From now on, this is essentially what was
spoken to each of us at our own baptisms:
“You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
For most of us, we have no doubt taken for granted our baptisms,
much as we have taken for granted water itself.
Yes, I know: I preach a lot about
baptism. And I don’t just mean that I
preach a lot about how much I like doing baptisms. I preach often about how important each of our
baptisms are to us because they are important. In a sense what happened at Jesus’ baptism
happened at our baptisms as well. At
each of our baptisms, a theophany happened. And when we realize that, we also realize that
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.
I am so happy that we do something as simple as commemorate our
baptisms here at St. Stephen’s. I ask on a regular basis for you to search out
the dates of your baptisms. And we
remember those dates in our prayers here in the Eucharist each Sunday. I like to encourage people to find out the
date of their baptism. Of course, as you know, I always look for a reason to
celebrate, but baptism anniversaries are truly great opportunities to
celebrate. Why shouldn’t we celebrate the theophanies of our lives, those
manifestations of God in our own lives?
There was a bond formed with God in
our Baptism. In our current Prayer Book
this bond is probably best defined. After
the Baptism, when the priest traces a cross on the newly baptized person’s
forehead, she or he says, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and
marked as Christ’s own for ever.” This is essential to our belief of what
happens at baptism.
In baptism, we are all marked as
Christ’s own. For ever. It is a bond that can never be broken. We can
try to break it as we please. We can struggle under that bond. We can squirm and resist it. We can try to escape it. But the simple fact is this: we can’t. For ever is for ever. No matter how much we
may turn our backs on Christ, Christ never turns his back on us. No matter how much we try to turn away from
Christ, to deny Christ, to pick Christ apart and make Christ something other
than who he is, Christ never turns his back on us. Christ never denies us.
What Baptism shows us, more than anything else, is that we always
belong to Christ. It is shows us that
Christ will never deny us or turn away from us. It shows us that, no matter what we might do,
we will always be Christ’s. Always. For ever.
In this way, Baptism is truly the great equalizer. In those waters, we are all bathed—no matter
who we are and what we are. We all
emerged from those waters on the same ground—as equals. And, as equals, we are not expected to just
sit around, hugging ourselves and basking in the glow of the confidence that we
are Christ’s own possession. As equals,
made equal in the waters of baptism, we are then compelled to go out into the
world and treat each others as equals. And we remind ourselves of this fact in
others ways.
This coming Thursday night, we will be
having the Vigil service for Rick Holbrook. In that service, there of course
will be a time for people to get up and speak about Rick. But before any of
that, we, as the church, will receive his ashes. And we will cover the urn with
his ashes with a white pall—a white cloth. And the ashes will be sprinkled with
holy water.
Everyone who is buried from St.
Stephen’s has a pall placed either on their urn or coffin. The pall is a beautiful
remembrance of our baptism. And, in that moment when the pall is placed, it
does not matter how ornate, how expensive, how poor or simple the coffin or urn
are. The pall, as a symbol of baptism,
is the great equalizer. No one is better or less under that pall. We are all
equal and all precious and deeply loved by our God.
And that is also the case with our
baptism. In the same waters all of us,
rich or poor, physically perfect or imperfect, were washed. All of us came out
of those waters reminded that we are all loved and cherished by our God.
For us at St. Stephen’s, Baptism is
not some quaint dedication ceremony. It
is the event that still provokes us and compels us to go out into the world and
make a difference in it. Our baptism
doesn’t set us apart as a special people above everyone else. It forces us out into the world to be a part
of the world and, by doing so, to transform the world.
So, in those waters of baptism, something incredible happened for
us. We went into those waters one
person, and emerged from those waters as something else completely. It was an incredible moment in our lives, just
as it was in the life of Jesus, who led the way and showed us that Baptism was
an incredible outpouring of God’s love and light into our lives.
So, with this knowledge of how important it is, let us each take
the time to meditate and think about our own baptisms and the implications this
incredible event had and still has in our lives.
When you enter this church, and when
you leave it, 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 you do so as a reminder of
that wonderful event in your life which marked you forever as Christ’s very
own. And let that water be a reminder to
you that you are called to go now from this church and from this Eucharist we
have shared in, to love. To love, full and completely. To realize that we are equally loved by God—no
matter who we are or what we are.
And as we go from here, let us listen
for those words—those beautiful, lulling words—that are spoken to each of us,
with love and acceptance:
“You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
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