Mark 1:4-12
"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and
were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now
John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his
waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is
more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down
and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus
came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn
apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came
from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness."
Sermon:
Water is such an interesting image isn't it? Water is needed for life.
We have to drink water or we will die. Our land needs water or the
plants will wither away and refuse to grow. The sound of a babbling
brook or gentle lapping waves calm us. And yet water is also powerful
and destructive. Too much water and we can drown. Too much Water can
cause flooding of homes and land. Quick moving water can cause Houses
and people can be swept away.
Water is something we seek to live in balance with and even at times try to control because it is wild and powerful.
That
is why I love these readings today. In Genesis we hear of the creation
of the earth. One translation says, "when God began to create the
heavens and the earth, the earth was wild and waste, utter darkness
covered the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding over the face of
the waters. Then God said, "let there be light!" And there was light!"
The
blank canvas that God was working with to create the world we know was
nothing but chaotic and tumultuous water. It was a wild wasteland.
And God shaped it and formed it and brought order to the chaos, tamed
the wildness and spoke life into the wasteland.
In Mark's
Gospel we hear the story of John and Jesus. John is a man who seems at
home in the wildness and the wasteland of the desert that he lives in.
He wears clothes made of camels hair and a leather belt and eats locusts
and wild honey. He lives in the desert and people come to him to hear
his proclamations of the coming Lord and he baptizes people in the
Jordan, a river which brings life to the desolateness of the desert.
Jesus
eventually comes to him to be baptized. And amidst John's baptism with
water the voice of God speaks. The same voice of God which spoke over
the waters at the creation of the world spoke over Jesus, naming him and
claiming him as his own and then sending him out into the wildness and
chaos and the wasteland of the desert.
God's voice and the waters are so interconnected throughout the Bible
and it's this connection that we have all experienced in our own
baptism.
The Spirit of God who brooded over the chaotic waters
of creation descended on Jesus in the waters of the Jordan and names him
Beloved and that same spirit drives him out into the wilderness. That
same Spirit of God descends on each and every one of us in baptism and
names us beloved. These chaotic and wild waters of baptism drown us to
our own life and make us alive in Christ and Just as Jesus was driven
into the wilderness by the Spirit, we too are called to live out this
new life in the wild and chaotic and beautiful world that God loves so
much and created for us.
**After the sermon, I invited the children forward and talked with them about baptism and had them mark the sign of the cross on one another with water from the font. We then invited everyone in the congregation forward and had the children mark everyone with the sign of the cross. I then ended the sermon time with the following blessing which was in our "Taking Faith Home" insert: "In your baptism God adopted you as a beloved child and gave you the Holly Spirit. Remember today that you belong to God. +May the spirit of God move over you and in you, filling you with faith, hope, love and peace. Amen."**
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