Water and Word

A sermon preached at All Hallows by Alison Terrell on 11 January 2009
(Baptism of Christ)

• Audio (listen to this sermon online) [audio not yet available]

Readings:

Genesis 1:1—5, Mark 1:4—11, Acts 19:1—7

This is the first time I have used all the lectionary readings to preach on, but I was fascinated by the links between them, particularly in the themes of water and word. So I am going to look at each reading separately, with a short pause for reflection between each one.

Creation

The first reading is on the first page of the Bible, with the picture it paints of the creation of the world. The earth is described as formless and void, covered in water and thick darkness. We are told that the wind or Spirit of God sweeps over the waters, and God speaks, the word goes out, ‘let there be light’ — and there was light, and God saw that the light was good. With each movement and word of God, something is made, and it is good, culminating in v 31 with ‘God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.’ This is the beginning, the deepest truth about this troubled world of ours, and each one of us, ‘it was very good’. Most of us sense it when we manage to get away from this brick and concrete world we live in. Something of the beauty and awesome nature of our natural world seeps into us and restores that sense of childlike wonder. All that follows in the scriptures makes it clear that God has not given up on this world, and is working to restore us to what we were created to be. We may despair of our world and of ourselves, but God does not. ‘I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made’, says the psalmist. God watched with delight as your organs and limbs took shape in the womb; that is also the deepest truth about you, whatever has happened since to make that hard to believe. Can you acknowledge that this is the truth? Let us take a few moments to ponder on the wonder of this world, and the wonder of us, each one created in the image of God.

Baptism of Jesus

Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, despite the mess, the horrendous things that people do to each other, the power struggles, God does not give up on his creation. God chooses this tiny oppressed people to show the world what his love is like. They are to live in a relationship of trust to their creator, but they cannot do it: and then the prophets begin to talk about a chosen one, ‘here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.’ Many of these have been familiar readings during the Christmas season: ‘For a child has been born to us, a son given to us, authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’

Now John, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age, comes on the scene as an adult; not a priest, following in his father’s footsteps as was his right by birth, but as an old-style blood and thunder prophet, telling people to prepare themselves for the one to come by repentance, and to show that, by confessing their sins and being baptised. The people, common ordinary folk, flock to John to be baptised, and into their midst comes Jesus, not shouting ‘guess what — I am the one he is talking about’, but coming to John and asking for baptism. What kind of Messiah is this? John has said that he is not worthy to undo his sandals, but he is asking John to baptise him. If Jesus is the saviour of the world, sent by God, he is not going to do it by standing on the sidelines and throwing in a lifebelt, he is diving straight in, and he does this both literally and figuratively in his baptism. Again we have the water and the word, as Jesus accepts the true nature of his mission, and obeys his Father, the Father speaks those words of affirmation and love, and the Holy Spirit empowers. Jesus is not alone, God is fully involved as Jesus begins his public ministry. Just as baptism for us is a sign of new life, his baptism signified enormous change for Jesus. This was the end of living in the obscurity of Nazareth with his family, he was cutting his ties and family obligations in order to fulfil the calling which God had given to him. He moved towards this new life with that affirmation ringing in his ears, ‘you are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased’. If Jesus needed to hear that, how much more do we? Do you allow God to affirm his love for you? Let us allow God to whisper his words of delight in us, and bask in his love. If we cannot do that, at least let us be honest about it. I know as a parent how hard it is, when you see your children in pain and for whatever reason they push you away. It hurts, how much more it must hurt our loving parent when we rush about, scared to stop and hear what God is saying, assuming we will hear words of criticism and rejection when God longs to share his love and delight in us.

Baptism in the Spirit

In our third reading, in Acts, we again have baptism and a voice, but this is rather different. The church has been born at Pentecost, Jesus’s followers have been baptised in the Spirit as John the Baptist foretold. Then we meet some people who have received John’s baptism for repentance but were not among Jesus’s followers when the church was born; they are baptised into the name of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands. This is not a voice from heaven, but the voice of God through his disciples. God still speaks to his world words of love, hope and faith. God has not given up on this world of ours, so let us not give up on our world, each other or ourselves. Let us listen to and speak God’s word to each other. I will end by reading the Psalm for today, Psalm 29.

Copyright © 2009 Alison Terrell

Audio

This sermon was recorded. If you wish, you can listen to the sermon online. Just click on the appropriate link below:

*Notes on the audio formats

• MP4 format
  MP4 format is a multimedia container format standard. Audio MP4 files can combine high compression with very high quality. Many media players can play MP4 files, including RealPlayer, QuickTime, iTunes, and recent versions of Windows Media Player (you may need to download a codec from www.free-codecs.com/download/3ivx.htm).
• Windows Media Player format
  Windows Media Audio is the native format of Windows Media Player, which is installed as part of Windows. If you have an earlier version, you can download version 9 (for Windows 98SE, Millennium and 2000) or version 11 or later (for Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7) from www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology. These are quite large downloads [~ 10 MB or larger], so if you have a dial-up connection you may prefer to ask Phil for a copy of the installation program on CD.
• MP3 format
  MP3 is a commonly used audio format using lossy compression. Most media players can play MP3 files, including RealPlayer, QuickTime, iTunes, Windows Media Player and many others.
• RealAudio format
  RealAudio requires RealPlayer (or the older RealOne Player) to be installed. A free version of RealPlayer can be downloaded from http://uk.real.com/player/ (choose the free player on the left of the page) — but again it’s a large download [~ 13 MB], so if you have a dial-up connection you may prefer to ask Phil for a copy of the installation program on CD.
  
  Alternatively, you can install Real Alternative, which will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player. Real Alternative is free, and works well with all major browsers; it is also a much smaller download (5.7 MB). Get it from http://www.free-codecs.com/Real_Alternative_download.htm.

This page was last updated on Sunday, 11 January 2009

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