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The beginning of a new year is an
excellent time to review both our vision and mission
statements. To keep our vision and mission alive it
needs to be before us. It is a part of us, our
spiritual DNA.
Our mission at First Church is
two-fold, “to experience and share God’s love.” We come
week after week to experience anew God’s love for each
and every one of us. Each one of us is a beloved child
of God. We have all been touched by God’s amazing grace
extended to us through Jesus Christ. The second part is
just as important, to “share God’s love,” with people
outside of our church. We enter into conversations with
our friends, neighbors, and co-workers, we share our
faith, and we invite them to church with us, all because
we want them to experience what we have found to be
true, in our own lives, God’s amazing love. Our mission
is “to experience and share God’s love.”
Our vision statement naturally
follows, “to know Jesus and follow his ways.” We strive
to be more and more like Jesus. What we do should
reflect what Jesus would do in the same situation.
Jesus calls each and every one of us as his modern day
disciples. As we follow Jesus we grow in “God’s
grace.” Grace plays such an important role in our lives
so that we want to be gracious to everyone we
encounter. We are, after all, followers of Jesus.
While our faith is personal, there
is always a public side to our faith as well. The next
arm of our vision is “to reach out in service and
ministry” to people living in our community. Disciples
volunteer their time to help other people. And I know
many of you give your time to many worthwhile ministries
in our community. Many of you are involved with Meals
on Wheels, which delivers hot meals to elderly persons
in our community five days a week, fifty two weeks a
year. When we reach out to others in the name of Jesus,
we do so to help others, but I believe it also helps
us. Serving others strengthens our faith. “To reach
out in service and ministry” is one way we live out our
faith.
Our church is a beacon of hope and light to our
community. So naturally, we want to “open our doors to
the community by providing a variety of programs, Bible
studies, opportunities, and service.” People who are
struggling can find hope here in our church. We welcome
and accept everyone who enters our church. We need to
practice radical hospitality, going out of our way to
make our first time guests feel welcome in our church.
We
are just thirteen days into the new year, may we resolve
to live out our vision and mission in fresh new ways
with a renewed sense of determination. With everyone
working together for the glory of God there is no
telling what the church can do. We welcome everyone who
comes to our church, believing that Jesus Christ can and
does change lives and makes a difference in how we live
our lives. Our vision and mission statements propel us
into the present and future.
With a clear sense of who we are, disciples of Jesus,
and where we are going, our mission, we will accomplish
much. Every activity, study, out reach we consider is
weighed by our vision and mission statements.
Jesus had a clear sense of who he was, God’s Son, and
his mission to draw people closer to God. Jesus spent
his young adult years working as a carpenter, a craft he
learned from Joseph. Jesus might have enjoyed working
with his hands, crafting wooden household items. Like
all good craft persons Jesus took pride in his work.
However, Jesus knew that he must be about his Father’s
business.
Our gospel lesson finds Jesus traveling out to the
wilderness to see his cousin John the Baptist. John had
been preaching that the messiah would soon be on the
scene and that the people had better prepare for his
coming. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people, traveled
out into the wilderness to see and hear John. As a sign
of their desire for new life, people were baptized in
the river Jordan, “confessing their sins.”
The Gospel writer Matthew states clearly, “then Jesus
came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized
by him.” All four gospels report that Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus’ baptism is viewed
as the starting point in his earthly ministry. He would
no longer be crafting wooden items but instead crafting
souls fit for the kingdom. Jesus went to the Jordan
River for the express purpose of being baptized. He was
intentional about being baptized in contrast to the
hundreds of others who were caught up in the moment and
were baptized.
His appearance might have surprised John. Clearly John
was not expecting Jesus. In the Gospel according to
John, Jesus’ presence went undetected for a couple of
days. John as well as all the people had no idea that
Jesus, the one they were waiting for, was actually in
their midst.
John the Baptist was startled when Jesus presented
himself for baptism. John protests, “I need to be
baptized by you, and do you come to me?” It did not
seem right; Jesus should have baptized John and not the
other way around. The fact that John baptized Jesus
caused much controversy in the early church. Some
maintained that John was greater than Jesus because John
baptized Jesus. We learn that John had quite a
following, even after Jesus’ began his ministry. One of
the Advent passages has John’s followers tracking Jesus
down to inquire whether he was the one they were looking
for or should they look for another. Jesus assured them
that he was the one they were expecting.
The first words of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s gospel
are, “let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this
way to fulfill all righteousness.” Both Jesus and John
had to submit themselves to the will of God. Jesus
needed to be baptized by John and John needed to baptize
Jesus to “fulfill all righteousness.” John consented
and baptized Jesus in the river.
Jesus went to the Jordon for the purpose of being
baptized. We might argue that Jesus did not need to be
baptized for the forgiveness of sins. We believe that
Jesus lived a sinless life and had no reason to be
baptized for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus submitted
willingly, I believe, to identify with all people.
There at the river Jesus was one of us, in his life time
he experienced everything that we do. In his baptism he
identified with the common, everyday people, like us.
At
that moment Jesus surrendered to God’s will. And God
recognized and affirmed that obedience. As Jesus was
coming up from the water, “suddenly the heavens were
opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and alighting on him.” The heavens were
opened; a moment of divine revelation, divine
affirmation, and the Holy Spirit filled Jesus. The Holy
Spirit would empower Jesus’ earthly ministry from that
moment forward.
This was a public event, witnessed not only by John but
others standing on the banks of the river. Sometimes we
get confused and view our faith as something private—to
keep to ourselves. However, there is always a public
dimension to our faith. Our faith may be intensely
personal but it is lived out in public. We cannot hide
our light under a bushel but let it shine for all to
see. The voice of God thundered from the cloud for all
to hear, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am
well pleased.” For Jesus this was a moment of divine
affirmation, he was on the right track. In truth,
Jesus’ baptism was not only the starting point of his
ministry but also the first step toward Calvary. From
the very start of his ministry Jesus knew what would
happen to him—it was his mission to die for the sins of
all the world.
Baptism remains a public act. Every once and awhile
someone will call wanting to have a child baptized and
ask if it is possible to have a private ceremony. The
answer is always, “no.” Baptism always takes place with
representatives of the church present. Baptism is a
public event, witnessed by the church. When a child is
baptized the child’s parents promise to bring the child
up in the Christian faith. The congregation also
pledges to do all in its power to assist the parents in
raising the child in the faith. The congregation is
charged with providing Christians education. Our faith
may be private but it also has a public dimension.
Deanna considers herself “skeptical bordering on
cynical, an unlikely candidate for organized religion.”
When she began attending church the congregation
welcomed her warmly and invited her into the adult
inquirers’ process. “I need fellow travelers to teach
me,” Deanna recalls, “to hold my hand, and to remind me
of Jesus’ promises.” She embarked on a pilgrimage where
she would encounter Jesus. Through the class she
learned new ways to pray, how to read the Bible, all
along enjoying being part of a community of faith. “I
found a way to a heavenly father and divine family,” is
how she describes the process.
Although her parents could not remember, Deanna
persisted in her quest to find out if she had ever been
baptized. She tracked down distant relatives, made
dozens of phone calls, and finally located the church
that her grandmother had belonged to when she was a
baby. The church secretary told her that the baptismal
records had been destroyed in a fire. Deanna was
disappointed. However, three weeks later, the church
secretary called back to say that she had tracked down
other records and that she had indeed been baptized. “I
was overjoyed,” she recalls, “I was a child of God all
along and I didn’t know it.” (1)
Baptism is our starting point. It is at our baptism
that we are claimed as children of God. At our baptism
Jesus calls us by name to follow him. We embark on a
life of faith, of discipleship, filled with the Holy
Spirit, knowing that we do not do so alone. Jesus is
present with us and we have the love and support of our
church. We have been baptized, equipped by the Holy
Spirit, and called into ministry by our Lord Jesus
Christ. We come to experience and share God’s love. We
leave to serve others, to let our light shine, living
out our faith every day where we live and work.
Amen.
1.
Christianity for the Rest of Us, Diana Butler Bass,
Harper San Francisco, 2006, p.64.
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