Sermon January

Marked as One with Us

Scripture Psalm 29 read responsively and Luke 3:15-22

January 10 – Renewal of Baptism Vows and Ordination and Installation of Officers

Unity Presbyterian Church

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 29 read responsively


Sarah Hinlicky Wilson writes that the God of Psalm 29 is not one you really want to meet “without a sturdy raincoat, a pair of galoshes and a friend with an SUV who could pick you up and bail you out.” This God, who is master over many waters and sits enthroned over the flood, has himself been swept overboard, immersed and engulfed in the river Jordan. Baptism with water is not enough, for God also flashes forth flames of fire: he baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit. This is our Creator, who Psalm 29 praises.


1Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.
3The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.
4The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!


Luke 3:15-22
The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all retell the story of Jesus’ baptism. Out of Jesus own submission to this ritual, he is marked as one with us. The beauty is that in our baptism we are marked as one with him.

15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added to them all by shutting up John in prison.


21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”



SERMON
Beginning with Jesus, baptism has been a sign of his connection to us and our relationship with him. There is a lot going on in Jesus’ baptism he is anointed as the Messiah, he is commissioned to speak God’s truth to power. We hear a prefiguring of the cost of answering God’s call in John’s arrest. God declares him beloved.



There is also a lot going on in our baptisms. Paul says that in our baptism we are immersed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.(Romans 6:4) A covenant is formed of multiple commitments. First, there is God's commitment to us. Then there are the commitments the community of faith makes to us. Finally, there are the commitments we make to God and to the church. Our baptism is the sign and seal of our cleansing from sin, and of our being grafted into Christ. Through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ, the power of sin was broken and God’s kingdom entered our world. Through our baptism we were made citizens of God’s kingdom, and freed from the bondage of sin. John Calvin writes on the nature of baptism:


Baptism enacts and seals what the Word proclaims: God's redeeming grace offered to all people. Baptism is God's gift of grace and also God's summons to respond to that grace. Baptism calls to repentance, to faithfulness, and to discipleship. Baptism gives the church its identity and commissions the church for ministry to the world.

The grace God extends to us in baptism is not cheap. Through faith, grace is certainly free to us, in the sense that it is not earned or merited. But it was not free to God. Its price was the life of God's only Son, Jesus. And on the human level, it also costs us our own lives, which now unconditionally belong to God. Baptism acknowledges our intention to live as God's people.

We will have an opportunity to renew our baptismal vows today. To recommit ourselves to answering God’s call to serve. To touch the waters of baptism and remember Jesus being marked as one with us. Marked for our death. Marked to redeem us. Marked as one who loves us. Then we will ordain and install new officers who out of their baptism are set aside to serve in a particular calling. There just so much going on in baptism. Wind and water and fire all signs of the Holy Spirit moving among us to commission us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.


I love Kate Huey’s reflection on this passage.
People are still being baptized, still thirsting for God's grace and a word of forgiveness, still hoping to find their place in the story of healing and salvation, still longing for the chance to start their life over. The voice from heaven says, "You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." These words may come from heaven but they do not come out of the blue: they echo God's words from Isaiah long before: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you" (43:1b, 4a). God's love didn't start yesterday, or even in the New Testament. It is from of old, and it is focused on each one of us, by name. We belong to God, and God loves us. It's as if God is trying to say to each one of us, "No matter what happens, no matter how low and discouraged you feel, no matter what is happening around you and in your life, don't you ever let anyone tell you that you are anything but a precious and beloved child of God."


Let us renew our covenant with the Holy One, who chose to be marked as one of us. Amen.

Renewal of Baptismal Vows

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Let us celebrate that freedom and redemption through the renewal of the promises made at our baptism. I ask you, therefore, once again to reject sin, to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, and to confess the faith of the church the faith in with we were baptized.


Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? I do.

Do you turn to Jesus Christ and proclaiming him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love? I do.

Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?  I will with God’s help.


Stand for the Apostle’s Creed



Come touch the waters of baptism and renew your covenant with God. You may say, “I remember I was baptized and I am thankful.”

END NOTES
Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, “God on the Loose,” The Christian Century, December 28, 2004, p. 17
See: “What Presbyterians Believe” www.pcusa.org/today/archive/believe/wpb9506.htm

Kate Huey, UCC pastor and member of  national staff  see :i.UCC@ucc.org