A Day for Messy Christians
The Baptism of Our Lord
January 7, 2007
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22
By Pastor Tom Kadel
Was it just me, or did you, too, hear
almost nobody talking this year about
making a list of New Years Resolutions?
I can’t recall even one person mentioning
it this year. In the past it seemed
as if everyone made a list of resolutions.
It was a pretty big deal. And so was
the humor about not being able to
keep them. But this year, I heard
nothing. Maybe we’ve given up on making
those lists. Actually, I can’t even
remember the last time I made a New
Years Resolution. I never kept them
more than a week or two at most, so
what’s the use?
I know why I never kept them. It’s
because my life is too messy. I can
really resonate with Michael Yaconelli,
a pastor and author of a great book
called Messy Spirituality. He wrote:
“For as long as I can remember, I
have wanted to be a godly person.
Yet when I look at the yesterdays
of my life, what I see mostly, is
a broken, irregular path littered
with mistakes and failure. I have
had temporary successes and isolated
moments of closeness to God, but I
long for the continuing presence of
Jesus. Most moments of my life seem
hopelessly tangled in a web of obligations
and distractions.”
Boy, that’s me. Is it you, too?
Yaconelli then tells of a recurring
dream in which he is tagging along
behind Jesus when suddenly the Savior
stops and turns around and looks in
his direction and says, “Follow me!:
In his dream his heart races and he
begins to run toward Jesus when Jesus
interrupts and says, “Oh, not you;
the guy behind you. Sorry.” If you
resonate with Michael Yaconelli and
if you resonate with my resonating
with Michael Yaconelli, then today
is a day for us.
Today is the first Sunday in the Season
of Epiphany and on this first Sunday
of Epiphany we always hear the story
of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River.
And if ever there is a day for us
messy-why-bother-making-resolutions-that-I-can’t-keep
people, this is it.
Now, before I explain why that is
so, I’d like us to disengage ourselves
from a bit of bad theology that many
of us learned along the way. It is
the idea that Baptism is some kind
of insurance policy against the wrath
of God – a sort of Get Out of Jail
Free card. If that were what Baptism
is, then there would have been no
reason for Jesus to be Baptized. So,
lay that idea aside, okay? Nothing
could be further from the truth.
Baptism is, instead, an act of inclusion
into a mysterious community of very
messy people. And that community is
called the Christian Church. Baptism
is an inclusion into a fellowship
which, when it is honest with itself,
knows that it could not keep an important
New Years Resolution if our lives
depended on it. It is an inclusion
into an assembly of folks who can
all say with Mike Yaconelli, “For
as long as we can remember, we have
wanted to be godly persons. Yet when
we look at the yesterdays of our lives,
what we see mostly, are broken, irregular
paths littered with mistakes and failures.”
Yeh, that’s us.
But, this Christian faith is tailor-made
for misfits, failures, broken ones,
and those who can’t keep a resolution.
Now, if you can picture yourself that
way (and I’ll bet you can), imagine
this motley crew being invited into
the presence of the Almighty, World-Creating
and Life-Sustaining God. Not bad,
eh?
In fact, words can’t really do justice
to what being included in this community
really means. Not that the people
of God haven’t looked for the right
words. And the best we’ve come up
with is the phrase “fear of the Lord.”
That doesn’t mean being afraid of
God. It means standing in awe and
trembling before One who is so much
bigger, more powerful and more loving
than any of us could ever be. Fear
of the Lord is a cultivated reverence
for what God has done and what God
is doing. I believe that our baptisms
are invitations to experience the
fear of the Lord. Baptism is our invitation
to drop our pretense about ourselves
and to stop trying to get God’s job.
And here is where Jesus’ baptism begins
to make some sense. In his baptism,
Jesus submitted himself to the will
of the Father in heaven. It was St.
Paul who said it best about Jesus
in his letter to the church in Philippi:
“Let the same mind be in you that
was in Christ Jesus, who, though he
was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God as something to
be grasped, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.” (Philippians
2:5-8) That is fear of the Lord. That
is living in reverence for what God
has done and is doing.
And you’ve been invited to be in on
this. Were you baptized? If so, you
were invited into living in reverence
for what God has done and is doing
and you’ve been invited to get in
on it, be a part of it.
But there’s a warning here for any
of us who truly would like to get
in on what God is doing. Here it is:
getting in on it is sacred business
done by messy people; done by people
who know that they can’t possibly
contribute one little thing of their
own to what God is doing in the world
and then simply giving themselves
over to God in profound humility to
be used by God.
In baptism you are linked to something
sloppy (the fellowship of Christians)
and holy (God’s mission in the world).
Baptism for us is the same as baptism
was for Jesus. It is about surrender,
giving in to all those things we are
not in control of and giving them
over to God to work with. Baptism
is about getting drenched in water
and getting drenched in grace.
Baptism is all summed up in the words
of writer Henri Nowen when he writes:
“He who thinks that he is finished
is finished. Those who think that
they have arrived, have lost their
way. Those who think they have reached
their goal, have missed it. Those
who think they are saints are demons.”
So praise God, you unfinished ones,
you not-yet-arrived ones, you short-of-the-goal
ones, you messy can’t keep a resolution
ones. You are baptized. Yes, praise
God.
Amen
The peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
