January 9, 2000
A sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb
At Jesus's baptism a voice came
from heaven saying, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you
I am well pleased." This was before Jesus's public ministry--before
he had done anything really great for God, yet the voice declared
with Jesus God was well-pleased and that he was beloved.
The same is true for us at our baptisms. Before we have done anything for God, whether we were babes in arms, or young children, or youths, or adults, God claims us and tells us we are beloved. This occasion of Baptism was only the beginning of "water-life' for Jesus & for us as well!
Jesus's baptism was his inauguration into his public ministry. Jesus needed the affirmation that the Holy Spirit's presence gave him to assure him of God's plan and begin letting others in on the plan. Already in the affirmation of God was a hint that things would not unfold as most people expected.
According to the late Scottish theologian, Matthew Black, the quote, "You are my Son, the Beloved," comes from Psalm 2 which was historically thought of as a messianic promise, but the second phrase was from Isaiah 42:1, considered part of the Suffering Servant section. This section was never thought of as referring to the Messiah, but rather to the nation of Israel. The Jews thought they were the ones called to suffer for the privilege of being a blessing to the world.
[Herbert Chilstrom, p. 19 EMP HASIS/January-February/1997.]
Jesus, however, understood this as his role in salvation. He knew that following God's way in the world would be dangerous--that there would be people who hated him for announcing God's loving acceptance of and open invitation to everyone. He also knew that he needed to draw upon the Holy Spirit to empower him for the ministry to which God was calling him. He knew this was the start of something big; there was now no turning back. He set his face to follow the course God had chosen for him.
Today I kind of have a sense of how Jesus must have felt. I have prayed about accepting this call and feel that this is God's will for my life. I know there is no turning back now, and I'm excited about the possibilities of ministry among the people of St. Stephen. Yet there is the voice inside that reminds me that I need the Holy Spirit's power, given to me in my Baptism and renewed daily as I study the Word and commune with God in prayer, to do whatever it is I'm called to do here. I also know that the task at times may seem overwhelming and maybe even a little risky, but that God is the One behind it all and I'm convinced that God is able, even when I feel I'm not.
Each of you can be assured of this as well. Just as God's Spirit hovered over the waters of chaos at the beginning of the world, creating order and bringing new life into existence, so the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of your baptism bringing possibilities of new life and God's order to the chaos of your lives without Christ. You can know that God has marvelous, exciting plans for your lives, and the life of this congregation.
You can trust that these plans will be fulfilled because our God is faithful. Our God loved us enough to send Jesus to the cross for us. We know that was not the end. The end was victory. Jesus was raised and the Holy Spirit's power unleashed on the world because of his resurrection and ascension. Now we have that power available to us. It was given at our baptisms and renewed through the Word and Sacrament.
So what do we do with all these new possibilities? We must learn to "walk wet." Walking wet is a term I learned from a friend who attended one of the national youth gatherings several years ago [borrowed from Herb Brokering]. It was at the baptism ceremony where many youths were baptized in the hotel swimming pool. After the ceremony other youths also jumped into the water with them. Then as they all walked back to their hotel rooms, he watched as they left little water footprints on the carpet. They were "walking wet," leaving an image of what had just happened to them everywhere they went. It was an image that stuck in my friend's mind and he had to share it.
That is a helpful image for each of us also because it reminds us what we are called to do. We are each to leave water footprints behind as we go about our lives. People are to notice that we bear the image of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We are to be like sponges that soak up the water of grace every day so that we can leave drippy footprints behind, watering the seeds that others have planted, especially in the dry places in the lives of people with whom we come in contact.
At first we may not have the faith to take long drinks or share our "wetness" with those who may need us, but as we grow we will be able to hold more and more water, and the prints we leave behind will be wetter and wetter.
Robert Schuller used a different image, but with the same intent.
He wrote of this process of growing in grace and faith, "Faith is wading in the shallow water and moving on to the depths." [Schuller, p. 48 Tough Minded Faith for Tender Hearted People.]
God expects that we begin with baby steps, but that we don't keep walking that way.
As we experience the faithfulness of God in our lives and the lives of those around us we become bolder in our steps and in our dreams. God invites us to dream big dreams for him. You have dreamed some big dreams here. Some dreams you have are for building expansion, new ministries, a new worship service and outreach to new people not yet being reached with the Gospel.
Calling me as associate pastor is one of those dreams that has been fulfilled--hopefully it will not turn out to be a nightmare--no, seriously, trusting this is God's plan for you and for me, I am confident that God will enable us to do great things for him together.
Schuller also wrote,
"God has given you a dream. Now you must prepare to make brave decisions. Faith is not daydreaming, it is decision making! Even God's ideas aren't worth anything--until a believer acts upon them! We exercise our faith when we make the toughest decision--the decision to get started." [ibid, p. 42]
To each of these dreams there is a cost. How much faith do you have in God's plans and how much can you give of yourself to water the dream-seeds that are planted here? There is no promise that the road will always be smooth. We may grow weary always seeking God's will and bumping up against others who don't understand God's ways or who willingly oppose them.
Some of our water will run off the backs of those to whom we offer it or evaporate into thin air. But this shouldn't surprise us; we should not expect that the way will always be easy. It certainly wasn't for Jesus. It led him to a cross, but I remind you again the cross was not the end!
If we seek God's face to reveal his will to us and trust in God to give us the power to fulfill his plans, we know that we will be successful as God deems success. We are confident in this because we know that Jesus is there at God's right hand, pulling for us, offering us his presence and power, reminding us that each of us is God's child, and that he is well pleased with us. In this knowledge we will have the faith to live out our water-life, leaving wet footprints behind in our everyday lives and others will be blessed by our presence among them because we bring the presence of God into their lives to help them know that they, too, are beloved of God, and God has a marvelous plan for them as well.