“The story you are
about to hear is true. Only the
names have been changed to protect the innocent.”[1]
When
he was 21, Matt, made some poor choices.
He found himself arrested, charged, convicted, and jailed. Although his mother, Sally, was angry
with Matt—his irresponsibility, his lack of forethought, his denial of the
ethics she had taught and valued—although Sally was angry with Matt, she stood
by him. She asked our church to
pray for him. She asked our pastor
and others of us in leadership to write character letters to the judge. She visited Matt regularly. She shared his address with those whose
letters and cards would uplift him.
Sally told Matt, in words and through her actions—you’re not alone. We’re in this together. We’re in this together. That’s a vow I’ve come to expect in the
context of family.
We’re
in this together. I’ve always
wondered why Jesus—God’s son, the Savior of the world—participated in John’s
baptism of repentance. It didn’t
make sense to me that the One whose way John prepared, the One who would
baptize with the Holy Spirit, the One who was God incarnate joined in a baptism
of repentance. Repentance means
turning back towards God, re-aligning one’s life with God. Jesus was already headed in the
right direction. His life was already
aligned with God. I didn’t lose
sleep over it, but it didn’t make sense to me—until my reading this week. Perhaps “Jesus presented himself for
baptism as an act of solidarity.”[2] In other words, Jesus was baptized to
signify, “We’re in this
together.”
Isn’t
that what the doctrine of incarnation is all about? As Jesus the Christ, God fully took on humanity—all that it
means to live and breathe, to work and play, to feel and do, to die—God fully
took on humanity, so that we would finally understand. God loves us so much that God says,
“we’re in this together—you and I.
I’m here, no matter what.”
“When everyone was being baptized, Jesus also
was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened.”[3] On the eve of the beginning of his
ministry, Jesus is baptized, and according to Luke, he responds with
prayer. Prayer is communication
with God. Because our Bible is a
book of words, our window, our frame of reference into Jesus’ prayers is verbal. We read the words attributed to Jesus in prayer, and we may
fall into an expectation that our prayers must contain words. I think not. Prayer does not have to be
verbal. We can share our feelings,
our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our desires with God through images, music,
emotions, and movement. Jesus
responded to his baptism with prayer—maybe a verbal prayer, perhaps a prayer of
posture, possibly a prayer of pure emotion. Jesus responded to his baptism with prayer.
While
he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit came down on
him in bodily form like a dove. And there was a voice from heaven:[4]
"You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." [5] God responded to Jesus’
prayer. Prayer is communication with God, and
communication is generally dialogue, not monologue. So prayer involves our listening as well as our
sharing. Our listening may come in
solitude, silence, and stillness or it may come in the boisterousness of physical
activity. Our reception may be
fine-tuned indoors or it may be that it is outdoors where our God-antenna works
best. We may not audibly hear God speak to us, but we may find
conversations with trusted friends offering us God’s response. We may not audibly hear God’s voice, but we
may feel God’s presence. We may not hear God, but we may see God’s response in creation or in
relationships or in art.
We’re
in this together—Jesus and us—so I’m going to ask you to close your eyes for a
moment and enter this very short biblical story. Picture yourself in the water of baptism—you may be standing
in a river like Jesus was or in a baptistery or you may be held in someone’s
arms in a sanctuary next to a font or you may be somewhere else. Picture
yourself in the water of baptism.
Breathe deeply, and open yourself to communication with God—open
yourself to prayer. Now, receive
God’s response to you—“Welcome to my family. You are my dearly loved son.
You are my beloved
daughter. I am well-pleased with
you.” Breathe deeply again and
open your eyes.
We’re
in this together—the ministry, the mission that this church is called to
do. We have leaders—deacons to
help us focus on the needs of our community. We have leaders—elders to provide
for opportunities of worship and study to nurture our faith, building us up as
Christ’s disciples. We have
leaders—elders to guide us in being faithful stewards of what God has given us.
We have leaders—elders and deacons—but we are all in this together. Each of us is an important and
necessary member of this family of faith gathered here. When any one of us is absent, we are
missed. The banter around the
family dining table is off-key when a voice is missing. The household doesn’t run smoothly when
any one member ditches their chores. We are all needed—gathered here at the
baptismal font to be affirmed, gathered here at the Lord’s Table to be
nourished, and sent out to share good news, to care for others and to bring
them back to the font and the table to be affirmed and fed.
Dearly
loved, baptized in water, touched by the Holy Spirit, wrapped in prayer, we’re
in this together—you and I and Jesus. We’re on this journey of life together.
We’re in this family of faith together.
We’re in this together.
[2] Robert M. Brearley. “Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22: Pastoral
Perspective.” Feasting on the Word.
Year C. vol. 1. Ed by David L Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. p. 236.
[3] Luke 3: 21 (Common English
Bible)
[4] Luke 3: 21b – 22a (Common
English Bible)
[5] Luke 3: 22b (New Revised
Standard Version)
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