Pitt Street Uniting Church, 11-Jan A Contemporary Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman. Baptism of Jesus - Epiphany 1B

Transcription

1 Pitt Street Uniting Church, 11Jan2015 A Contemporary Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Baptism of Jesus Epiphany 1B Gn 1:1; 5 Ps 29 ; Acts 19:17; Mk 1:411 Ok. It s 11 days after New Year. So how are those New Year s resolutions working out for you? My new year s resolution for this year was not to make any new year s resolutions. So I m a hundred percent on target. I do however have lots of goals for the year so I m probably kidding myself. What would be helpful, I think, is a few less doing goals or resolutions and a few more being goals or resolutions. Our society and culture, and much of our protestant religious heritage, have been so focused on achievement and doing that it s easy to lose touch with being and knowing ourselves as people who are loved just as we are. This Sunday our faith story focuses on the baptism of Jesus. But wow, didn t Jesus grow up fast. A couple of weeks ago he was in the manger and now he s near thirty and being baptised by John in the Jordan. It leaves us breathless and missing the sense that Jesus was formed as a person through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Through being loved. Jesus baptism marks the beginning of his ministry but it s also a story of selfawareness. it. It is told because the hearers of Mark s gospel, and we ourselves, are invited to participate in + To participate in two ways: First: in the experience of God s acceptance and love Second: in the preparation for ministry and mission, for living. Acceptance and love Interpreters have paid far more attention to God s words You are my son, the beloved than to the words with whom I am well pleased. + You are my beloved has been used to draw attention to the separation of Jesus from the rest of humanity, rather than to affirm that we also are God s children and God is pleased with us. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 1 of 5 Sunday, 11Jan2015, Epiphany 1B Baptism of Jesus

2 + So Christianity is often seen as being about believing that Jesus is God s son. But I don t read the gospels as telling us that Jesus went about saying to people Believe in me, that I m the son of God, and if you do I ll let you come into God s kingdom. I do see Jesus travelling the land and accepting the humanity and the hospitality of all. + Faith, in the sense of believing certain things, is not the new law that Jesus demands us to obey. + The Jesus story tells us of God with us of God s love for us of God s suffering/feeling with us. God says to Jesus, God says to you, God says to me, God says to everyone: You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased. I know that you might struggle with the idea of the voice of God at all. Most of us citizens of the twentyfirst century, shaped as we are by rationalist modernism, will not hear the voice of God coming from the clouds. I invite you to engage in the story as theological poetics. And as poetry invites the reader to engage with images and associations, to ask yourself where and how you might hear the voice that calls you to join in living for justice, peace and love here and now. A way of living that starts by experiencing ourselves as beloved by the heartbeat of the universe, in a way that understands God not as an out there being but as the creativity and presence that is deep within the created order. + Even in the ancient texts of the gospel, God s words are not often reported directly. And when God does speak, God doesn t give us instructions. God doesn t even echo the words of Jesus: Love one another The one time we hear the voice of God we hear the words: This is my beloved, with whom I am well pleased. These are words about relationship and appreciation, not about resolutions and more things for us to do. + And we find echoes of it in the stories told by and about Jesus the action of the Father in the prodigal son parable, rushing out to greet his returning son, and later pleading with his older son to join in the celebration. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 2 of 5 Sunday, 11Jan2015, Epiphany 1B Baptism of Jesus

3 + And we find it even more so in the actions of Jesus as he went around accepting the hospitality of one and all. Jesus could be a bit of a freeloader. He saw the point of accepting hospitality, of being present. + Jesus message through his ministry was one of relationship and appreciation. + To those whom he met and ministered to he conveyed that they were God s children: that God was well pleased with them whoever they were whatever their family circumstances were or weren t whatever they believed about God or didn t believe The important thing was that they heard that God believed in them! + 2 nd way of participation in this story is in mission, ministry, living For the author of Mark s gospel the story is not just about Jesus s call. + It is not simply Jesus who must learn who he is, but also Mark s readers. And this understanding becomes foundational for the rest of the gospel. As Jesus has his unique ministry, so the Christian community is called to follow him. His openness to Spirit paves the way for the disciples following and for them there is also the promise of being called children of God. + Another way of saying this is that Mark s account of Jesus baptism says something about all of our baptisms. I m conscious as I speak about baptism that some of us have been baptised as infants, some as adults and some have not been baptised. This Sunday we celebrate the baptism of Jesus in a pluralistic age and it should not be interpreted as mark of insiders and outsiders. Mark s Gospel describes Jesus baptism, but God s words to Jesus reflect God s care for all our lives you are my Son or Daughter, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased. While sacraments awaken us to God s love, they don t define the scope of God s love. In the interplay of divine call and human response, sacramental moments may lead to lifetransforming experiences, bringing wholeness to body, mind, spirit, and communities. Sacraments create an energy around us that enables us to become partners with God in creative transformation and personal and planetary healing. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 3 of 5 Sunday, 11Jan2015, Epiphany 1B Baptism of Jesus

4 Still, baptism is not an occasion for Christian superiority or exclusivism. There is salvation and revelation outside the church. Those who have not been baptized are also God s beloved people in whom, with whom, and through whom God is still moving. Every cell and every soul is the object of God s creativeresponsive love. And yet, I also wanted to say this morning that if you have not been baptised and would like to be, you can be baptised here at any time in your life s journey. The invitation is always there. When Clare and I were at St Andrew s, Clare baptised a member of our congregation who had been an elder of the church for decades, but as a rest home resident he confided in Clare who was a chaplain, that he had never been baptised. Confined to a wheel chair, having suffered a stroke, Ray s baptism, at age 83, was one of the most beautiful and meaningful I have ever experienced. Baptism reminds us that God s graces are new every morning. While usually a once in a lifetime experience, each day can be a celebration of our baptism, whether in centring prayer or the morning shower, an opportunity for renewal, refreshment, transformation, and cleansing. The Creative Wisdom who moves in the first moments of creation is still moving in our lives, luring us forward by the vision of wholeness, justice, beauty, and shalom. When we know ourselves as beloved, we are able to respond by loving others and seeking justice for the earth and its creatures. + Justice And this justice is always specific. It means God s concern for the downtrodden, those who are on the margin, those who are squeezed out. The covenant community should be passionate in its embrace of God s care for those very same people. It should be unlike the parts of the world that step on those who are already on their way down and victimises further those who have been wounded and disadvantaged. When this passionate love for the marginalised is evident in the midst of the community, the community will have a sense of knowing itself as part of the holy. May we hold this insight before us as we live as a congregation into this new year. + Conclusion When we know ourselves to be beloved, we begin our journey as God s friends. We too symbolically cross over the Jordan to a new way of living. We set out on a path that may lead us to new discovery and possibility for transformation. It is truly a new year. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 4 of 5 Sunday, 11Jan2015, Epiphany 1B Baptism of Jesus

5 We are called to join with God by bringing justice to the earth and compassion to all people. To receive and to give, depending on the season of our lives. + As the Spirit touched Jesus at his baptism, so the Spirit touches us, connects us, and sweeps us along in life that is lifegiving. You, too, are my beloved child. Edwina Gately poem During the week I was reminded of a poem I read some years ago by theologian and liturgist Edwina Gately. I d like to conclude this reflection by reading it to you. Let Your God Love You by Edwina Gateley Be silent. Be still. Alone. Empty. Before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you. That is all. God knows. God understands. God loves you With an enormous love, And only wants To look upon you with that love. Quiet. Still. Be. Let your God Love you. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 5 of 5 Sunday, 11Jan2015, Epiphany 1B Baptism of Jesus