It may seem antiquated to worry much about denominational ties in an era of church life that is essentially postdenominational.

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1 Garrett Vickrey 10:45 AM Worship Woodland Baptist Church San Antonio, Texas What s in a Name? Part II: Baptist Mark 1:4-11 I like how the Common English Bible translates v. 4 here: John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. I like this translation because it clearly articulates the call to baptism the call to Christian life that is central to understanding that word we use as our church s middle name baptist. It may seem antiquated to worry much about denominational ties in an era of church life that is essentially postdenominational. Used to be, that everything flowed down from the denomination to the local church churches would get everything from denominations. For Southern Baptists that meant boxes would arrive from Nashville bringing Sunday School lessons, missions curriculum for Wednesday nights, RA and GA activities for Sunday nights, visitor cards with southern baptist insignia, church ledger books, and about anything else you would need. But, these days things are different. Most churches do all this for themselves. Churches have more staff with better technology and access to better information where we don t need to rely on a denominational hierarchy which may or may not be adept at communicating to varying congregational environments. Many churches have even dropped denominational ties from their church names including some of the largest churches in the country. We have not. I think that s a good thing for us. It connect us with a certain history; and helps give direction on where we are going. Last week we talked about our church s first name: Woodland. In many ways our church name is like one of our names. We have a last name which connects us to a larger family the Church. A middle name which conveys some set of values or tradition. And a first name that is particular to us where we are and what call God has placed upon us. Next week, Aaron Tyler will be preaching on our connection to the Church universal the church around the world. And we are blessed to have him speak, because he has a wealth of experience with Christians around the world. This week we talk about that quirky middle name: baptist. A Roman Catholic, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, and a Baptist were all out fishing together on an ecumenical fishing trip. They got into an argument on what denomination Jesus would be. The Roman Catholic said no doubt he would be part of the Mother Church. The Presbyterian said, "No, no. When you consider all that John Calvin did for the Christian faith, there is no question 1

2 he would unite with the Reformed tradition." The Methodist said, "No, no, no, no. When you consider all that John and Charles Wesley did for the Christian faith, there is no question Jesus would would be Methodist. The Baptist looked perplexed for a few minutes and said, "Boys, I don't think he's going to change." Although, some might assume the baptist movement was founded by John the Baptizer that day on the Jordan River. This baptist thing is actually about 400 years old, as opposed to 2000 years old. Still, this story from Mark is an important one for us, because it gets to the heart of what unites us as a church we are a community of disciples that recognize our brokenness we recognize that all sin and fall short of the glory of God and yet from this state we are being redeemed to something more than we could be on our own. Our hearts are being changed by an encounter (or encounters) with God in Jesus Christ. An encounter which brings a new start, new hope, and new life. John was inviting people to show a change of heart and change of life. Baptism didn t do that; it was a sign of what had happened. An outward sign of an inward and invisible grace. We are a community of changed hearts and minds. That s what is at the core of being baptist. Not water. Not even potluck suppers. But, commitment to a community of transformation a community of those being redeemed by the love of God in Christ Jesus. And sharing that grace with our neighbors. It s the encounter with Jesus that is the basis for membership in a believer s church. That s a rather broad criteria when you think about it. Which is why there are so many different kinds of baptists. There are more than 30 million people who are a part of over 40 different groups of baptists in the United States (according to Association of Religion Data Archives 1). And these groups range all over the theological spectrum. Some, like us, believe that women should be ordained to leadership in the church if they have experienced a call from God, others believe that the only statement women should make in church should be through their easter bonnets. Some baptist groups supported the Civil Rights movement, some opposed. Some baptists helped to start the Americans United for Church and State, others helped found the take back America for God movement. Jerry Falwell is a baptist. Jesse Jackson is a baptist. Bill Clinton, Strom Thurman, Jimmy Carter, and Jessie Helms are all baptist. Fred Phelps and Martin Luther King Jr. both baptists. And of course, Chuck Norris. What unites all these people? A lifechanging encounter with Jesus Christ. All these folks disagree with each other in sometimes violent ways but, part of the core of any believer s church is the premise that faith and conscience must remain free. The early baptists espoused core freedoms that can help us still navigate the choppy/ambiguous waters of Christian life today. Some of these things are spelled out in our statement of faith. Here s five values 2

3 that connect us with our baptist roots: Freedom of the soul. Every person has a God-given spiritual competence to open the Bible and listen to the Spirit of God and determine the shape of their spiritual life. A freedom spelled out here in Mark 1. Believer s baptism which was a radical notion in the 16th and 17th centuries. even to Protestants. Baptism is reserved for those who ve made a decisive choice to follow Jesus. The church therefore is not the company of those who happen to be born in a Christian culture or Christian home, but those who have committed to the way of Christ. Freedom of the local church. The local congregation is competent to open the Bible and listen to the Spirit of God and determine the shape of its life and faith. We govern ourselves by congregational democracy. No higher church authority can interfere. Freedom of fellowship. Church is experienced in community. We are church unto each other we are the presence of Christ to those within these walls living together in the strength of the spirit of God. No creed defines us. Freedom of confession. Faith that is coerced is not faith just as love that is coerced is something else entirely. Therefore we must stand up for religious liberty for all whatever their faith or lack thereof. One of the founders of the first baptist community, Thomas Helwys wrote the King of England saying: Men s religion is between God and themselves. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure. This is made evident to our lord the king by the scriptures. We feel the importance of this freedom this week, as we grieve over the brutal murder of 12 people in Paris violence once again proclaimed by the perpetrators to be justified by God. Freedom of confession reminds us never to baptize violence, but to hold on to our belief in the sacredness of all human life because of the God who not only created us from dust but walked dusty roads with us. I think these values are a way of defining who we want to be even while we realize that these things aren t necessarily captive to one denominational movement. Many varieties of Christians would say that these are good things. Hopefully, these freedoms which are spelled out in other language in our statement of faith can help help us bless our roots. We re blessed to have people here who have grown up and served churches of all sorts. Catholic, Methodist, Nondenominational, Bible Churches, Presbyterian, and Pentecostal. That kind of diversity of experience can be a gift when we begin to see ourselves as an ecumenical community rooted in the baptist tradition. Ecumenical is a Greek word that comes from the New Testament meaning the whole world as the household of God. This gathering John had at the riverside in Mark is ecumenical. Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem 3

4 went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John. They all went out there because they recognized something was broken and when something isn t working or when you ve tried and you ve tried but you re stuck. sometimes you just need a fresh start. These people went back to the Jordan River to bless their roots, to reconnect with what it meant to be Jewish to what it meant to be the people of God. They knew that long ago God brought them their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt God carried them out, and in the wilderness they become God s beloved. He brought them through the Jordan River and into the Promised Land They were going back to the river for a fresh start. John was calling them back to go through the waters again little did they know what they would experience that day. John was the connection point with the old ways of Israel. He picks up the torch of the great prophets of Israel prophets like Elijah. Those prophets pointed forward to a time when God would come to us in a new way and now, John is pointing not just to a time, but to a man walking by the River. The rabbis used to say that the only action too lowly for a disciple of a great rabbi is to untie their teacher s sandals. John says he isn t even worthy to do that to this one who is coming. John almost sounds like Sam Houston, who after leading a self-proclaimed wild life, had an experience with Christ and was baptized in a river. The preacher said to him, "Sam, your sins are washed away." Houston replied, "God help the fish." Gregory of Nazianzus said back in the 4th century the reason Jesus was baptized wasn t because he needed forgiveness from sins the reason he was baptized was to make the water sacred. 2 And when he came up out of that water, Mark tells us that the heavens were torn open. It s the same verb used later in Mark when Jesus dies, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple is torn open. The barrier separating heaven and earth is torn and now all that was once ordinary all that once was secular you and me and the waters are all a little sacred. That sacred part in you and me doesn t go away no matter where you ve been or what you ve done or what you ve seen it s still there. And it calls to us still like John at the Riverside to turn toward the everlasting God who comes to you like a man walking down by the riverside unexpected, unheralded. But, in that ordinariness there is something extraordinary something that s already in you as if you ve always known it. But, in a moment the barrier between heaven and earth is torn open within you. Around Princeton there s a legendary tale about Albert Einstein. He was walking by a swanky hotel when he was mistaken for a bell boy. A woman in extravagant clothing just arrived and as she stepped out of her shiny black Rolls Royce, she ordered Einstein to carry her luggage into the hotel. And, 4

5 according to the story, Einstein did it, received a small tip, and then meandered along the sidewalk back to his office to ponder the mysteries of the universe. When we hear this, of course, we know what that woman didn t: the strange-looking, ruffled little man is the most celebrated intellect of our time. Maybe that s what Mark is doing here as he begins his account of the story of Jesus, we know who this man is we know the secret the crowd back then did not. This ordinary man is the one who unites heaven and earth. and in ordinary ways, through ordinary people he is still doing that today. He calls us to follow, and in following our lives testify to the good news that what was torn open cannot be stitched back together heaven s holiness has spilled out on you and there s no putting it back. new thing will shake us to the core. We are the descendants in some way of those people down by the river that day Maybe this John the Baptist character really is baptist. Or at least, an example to us Of one who witnessed and lived as if the kingdom of God was coming near. As if the heavens were torn open and now nothing can separate us from the love of God. And so as we too are called to stand in the place where heaven is thrown open to earth and in being there we know that everything must change. We can no longer bow down to other lords or other ways of living, but must bear witness to this new kingdom which is coming into and judging our world now. And the confrontation of these two kingdoms is tears at our soul. God is about to do a new thing, John tells us, a great thing. But, this 5

6 1 2 Williams C. Placer, Mark, (Westminster John Knox: Louisville, KY, 2010) 51. 6