FEAR NOT: THE
BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
ISAIAH 43:1-7 PSALM 29
ACTS 8:14-17 LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22
Can anyone remember what it was
like to be without fear? Fear is a pervasive aspect of human life.
I was about eight or nine years old, just old enough to be starting to
have an awareness of the world beyond my own home, school, and
family. War was a watchword as the conflict in Korea, following a
short breather from World War II, was making the news. In our
little corner of the world the rural peace was about to be shattered by
modernization but at that time, the focus on the outer world centered
on what I heard and imagined about a war with China on one side and the
U.S. on the other. It surely seemed that the sheer numbers of the
Chinese army made any action in Korea or the Orient a fool’s errand.
And even as my awareness of war grew, the Saturday newsreels were
offering up images of the nuclear tests in the deserts of the
Southwest, McCarthyism was emerging as a major political force, the
Cold War was warming up and television arrived to bring us sights and
sounds from around the world. Of course, since that time, there
have been abundant occasions for fear: a progression of tragedies,
conflicts, and political and economic upheavals have competed with
natural disasters for headline attention. Certainly we all
experience our share of personal trials and perplexing
challenges. We are united by loss even as we grieve today with
the Silloways.
Fear not! Fear not, indeed! What Pollyanna came up with
that suggestion?
GOD!
When the prophet speaks to Israel with a promise of God’s love, God’s
deliverance, he is speaking to a people who have a tribal memory of
passing through the sea. They have a distant recall of trekking
for generations through the burning desert sands, and wading into the
Jordan River to cross into a land of promise. The land of
promise, in fact, held threats, traps, and trials as well as
treasure. But it was their land, their inheritance. It was
the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the land that God had promised
to Abraham when Abraham was yet a man of fear.
And now Jesus goes down into the waters of the Jordan just as Israel
had a millennia and a half before, to fulfill the promise, to keep the
commitment God made to the flock of his pasture, the sheep of his
fold. Do not fear, for I am with you.
Henri Nouwen, in his Life of the Beloved, has some insightful
thoughts about baptism.
Baptism
is a rite of passage. The Jewish people passed through the Red
Sea to the Promised Land in the great exodus. Jesus himself
wanted to make this exodus by passing through suffering and death into
the house of his heavenly Father. This was his baptism. He asked
his disciples and now asks us us: “Can you ... be baptised with the
baptism with which I shall be baptised?” (Mark 10:38). When the apostle
Paul, therefore, speaks about our baptism, he calls it a baptism into
Jesus' death (Romans 6:4). To be baptised means to make the
passage with the people of Israel and with Jesus from slavery to
freedom and from death to new life. It is a commitment to a life
in and through Jesus.
Baptism is
fraught with meaning – meanings – but I think that foremost it bears
witness to God with us as we go through crises, cross thresholds of
life, led by the spirit of God into places where we fear.
What did Israel fear when Isaiah came to speak for God? They
feared foreign invaders, they feared their leaders – secular and
religious, they feared for their families, for the basic needs of food
and shelter. And worse, they looked to Egypt, to the powers of
this world for security in this time of uncertainty. And God
sends words through the prophet: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.
What overcomes fear? Love. How can God say to us, “Fear
not!” as we struggle to recover from a recession with family and
friends out of work? What does “Fear not!” mean when the
headlines – and our leaders – are constantly bombarding us with things
for which we are to be fearful.
When I felt afraid as a child, it was the comfort of loving arms and
soft words that seemed to wash the fear away, leaving the clean scent
of hopefulness and trust. When God says to Israel – and to us –
“You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you,” he is
holding out loving arms to embrace away our doubt and fear. He
calls us to restoration, again and again, through our beloved
sacraments of baptism and Eucharist.
Nouwen again:
Baptism
and the Eucharist are very specific events in which God touches us
through creation and transforms us into living Christs. In
baptism, water is the way to transformation. In the Eucharist, it
is bread and wine. The most ordinary things in life - water,
bread, and wine - become the sacred way by which God comes to us.
These sacraments are actual events. Water, bread, and wine are
not simply reminders of God's love; they bring God to us.
In baptism, we are set free from the slavery of sin and dressed with
Christ. In the Eucharist, Christ himself becomes our food and
drink.
Baptism
opens the door to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the sacrament
through which Jesus enters into an intimate, permanent communion with
us. It is the sacrament of the table. It is the sacrament
of food and drink. It is the sacrament of daily nurture.
While baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime event, the Eucharist can be a
monthly, weekly, or even daily occurrence. Jesus gave us the
Eucharist as a constant memory of his life and death. Not a
memory that simply makes us think of him but a memory that makes us
members of his body. That is why Jesus on the evening before he
died took bread saying, “This is my Body,” and took the cup saying,
“This is my Blood.” By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of
Christ, we become one with him.
We are God’s
beloved. Because of that, we can face the difficulties and
uncertainties of life, the threats and losses of being human in a dying
world. We can pass through waters and walk through the fire
because in our Baptism, we have received God’s name. We carry the
family name of our redeemer, Christ. We are, after all, God’s
sons and daughters; we are among the “everyone” whom God identifies
as: “called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I
formed and made.” We are those of whom the psalmist wrote, “The
LORD shall give strength to his people; the LORD shall give his people
the blessing of peace.”
As we enter the new year, I predict that we shall hear things meant to
stir fear in our hearts. But I also remind that as members of
Christ’s body, partakers of his life and citizens of the Kingdom of
God, we have received the Holy Spirit. God is before us, behind
us, and around us, the love of God is within us. Let our
watchword be, “We shall overcome.”
As the Jews could look to the temple top Mount Zion and remember God
was with them so we can look to the covenant of our baptism for that
affirmation. I invite you now to stand with me, turn to page 304
in the BCP, and let us renew the vows of our Baptismal covenant:
Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father?
People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven
and earth.
Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and
born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right
hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People: I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Celebrant: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever
you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of
God in Christ?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
your neighbor as yourself?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People: I will, with God’s help.
John Dryden Burton
January 10, 2010
St. James’
Eureka Springs, AR