WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 10th 2010
Baptism of the Lord Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Baptism by Fire”
Galatians 3:26-27; Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Today the promises made by parents many years ago are going to be claimed. Today a child of this church, who is now a teenager, will make a public profession of faith. Though he was baptized as a child and claimed by God’s promise, today he will stand up front and claim this faith as his own. It is a special and powerful moment but it is not a magical moment.
It is powerful because it serves as a reminder that God claimed him long before he could say yes. In fact, God claimed him even before his parents could say yes. That is the power of baptism. We do not see it as a magical even but an outward sign of what God has already done. And when we come to the realization, the belief and hope in the promise, we cannot help but say yes.
Today we celebrate our baptisms and what they represent for our lives. Today we say yes again. We should say yes everyday but today we take special notice of this gift from God. We believe that God has claimed us in the promise just like God called and claimed the children of Israel. We are included in that promise. It was a promise made not because of what the people had done. They were not the greatest military power in the world. They were, in fact, quite ordinary, or even despised by the world. By all appearances God had abandoned them and God speaks and says: You are not alone, you do not suffer in vain, and I will care for the children of your grandchildren.
Christians acknowledge this promise and show that belief in our practice of baptism. One of the most powerful passages on this strange practice is the passage from Galatians. It is believed that this was spoken when the newly baptized came out of the water. There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, Male and Female, for you are one in Christ. The divisions, the dividing walls of hostility are broken down. You have received a new identity. Your family just got bigger than you ever expected. And society will never be the same again. It is earth shattering news that ought to make us stand up and shout with joy – even in the bad news times.
I have not always been this excited about baptism. It seemed like something we do as a simple ritual for babies but did not have much impact for the faith. But one Sunday I watched a baptism where the pastor did something a bit different. As he walked down the aisle showing off this beautiful baby girl he said something like: We all have made promises this day. This beloved child of God is going to need to hear from us that she is a beloved child of God. She is going to need to hear this because the messages she will hear will tell her she is a sex object. Those messages will tell her she is worth less than men and white people. So this community of faith needs to lift this child up so the messages of our faith win out. What I witnessed on that day was a baptism by fire.
God tore the heavens apart and spoke. This was not simple scene that could be depicted by Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kincaid. This was a tearing apart of the natural order. God shows that in Jesus, in baptism, that nothing will be the same. But out of the torn and broken order God will bring redemption. Out of the broken places of life, new life will come. It is no mere theological assertion that in baptism we claim to participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus. New life does not come easy.
The symbolic nature of baptism is a reminder that new life does not come easy and that it will not come by our hand. The use of the image of fire is a reminder that God cannot be controlled or manipulated. Even the created order of things comes under God’s judgment. Just when we expect that things are ordered and going well the heavens will tear open and God speaks. Or so the story goes. Sometimes the heavens tear apart and our world falls apart and we cannot hear God’s voice and wonder if we have been left alone. But the claims of the promises are sure and can be trusted. And that is why we gather together to remind ourselves of what we already know. And to remind ourselves that today does not have the last word.
As we begin this New Year we do not know what will come. Some predict that our lives will be better because stocks will recover. But the truth of the matter is we will faces joys and sorrows in this New Year. There will be surprises some great and others not so great. But no matter what happens remember this: We are claimed and loved by God. Not because of what we have done, or what we will do, or how much money we have, or how much education we have, none of that matters to God. We are claimed and loved. So no matter the baptisms of fire we might face, remember that your primary identity is: Beloved child of God. Amen.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
I Can't See Them
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 3rd 2010
Epiphany Sunday
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“I Can’t See Them!”
Matthew 2:1-18
I do not know if you noticed but Advent had a different feel this year. They were not major changes. It was enough for us to notice something had changed but not enough that it felt like local customs had been upended. At least, that was the hope this fall.
The Worship, Music, and the Arts group gathered in September to plan for Advent excitement filled the room. We studied the scriptures with an eye toward enhancing our celebration of this well known season of the church year. Every detail was reviewed through the lens of scripture and Westminster’s tradition. During that meeting it was suggested that since purple was the Christian color for Christmas that we use purple. We had great hope that in the end that all the sense would be engaged and the worship enhance the spirituality of the community.
I was excited about the process which created such thoughtful worship, but on the day when we decorated the sanctuary I had my doubts. Standing in the back of the sanctuary looking forward I thought: “You can’t see them!” The purple bows were more difficult to see and I realized if I had that thought, there was going to be some grumbling and murmuring about this new thing. Saying nothing to anyone I drove home through the University City Loop and looking at the decorations along the famous boulevard a smile came across my face. In that smile was a realization that the purple bows served their purpose very well. When compared with the purple bows most Christmas decorations do not allow themselves to be missed. But the Christmas story is all about how few people actually noticed Jesus’ birth. So it occurred to me that unintentionally we had created a setting where we would have to work a little harder to see.
The Magi were strange people. They read the starts and travelled following signs and dreams and visions. They are the sort of folk who we might expect to see on the psychic network. But these were people deeply in touch with the way God was at work in the world. Their perception was finely tuned. It was not because of their orthodoxy or their ties to custom but their willingness to look for God at work in the unexpected. In fact, these Magi were not followers of the God we know in Jesus Christ. But, because they were truly spiritual people they could see what the faithful and the religious leaders could not. It is an important remind of how God can even work outside of our expectations, denomination, nation, or even our religion.
This was a lesson not well received in Jerusalem. All of Jerusalem was in turmoil at the news that a new king had been born. I always wonder why, if things were not good, would people be so reluctant to change? I believe that the trouble and fear is not simply about the natural human fear of change. The greatest concern came from those who benefited from this current arrangement. I would even venture to say that the inability to see the new thing which God was doing was in direct proportion to the benefit one receives from the current arrangement. They may not have thought things were all that good but the fear of the loss of the small piece of the pie they had was enough to ignore the injustice facing those around them. It is an age old human story.
When England took over Ireland they made it illegal to practice any religion but the church of Ireland (Anglican). Those who were did not participate could not be land holders as well. It was also illegal to speak Gallic, the Celtic language, among many other cultural practices. This arrangement made it very difficult for the invaders to conquer the island. But that changed when it was decided to give Presbyterians the right to vote and to own property. As soon as they were able to participate and receive a small benefit they became the front line in the oppression of the very people with whom they formerly suffered. They were willing to overlook the brokenness in order to receive a small piece of the pie. Any threat to a change in this system has brought about the greatest struggle from the decedents of the Presbyterians. So when all of Jerusalem feared the news it is not hard to imagine why they would have not been on board.
These strange outsiders could see what everyone else could not or would not image was possible. Their powers of perception had been blunted so much that they could not see the star or hear something in their dreams. Blunted perception is a great danger for those of us on the inside of the story. We become so comfortable with these familiar stories we do not image that we ought to listen to dreams and look to the stars today. That was great back then but today God works in ways we can fully understand and control. We have crafted a God who fits neatly within the margins of our expectations. In order to guard against this tendency we must be willing to believe there is something to be learned in from our dreams and the stars.
Learning to sharpen our perception is not a luxury. Listening to dreams and watching the stars is not something reserved for the goofy in society. If we, as people of faith, do not recover these practices we will be like the religious leaders of Jerusalem who remained silent when mass murder of the innocent occurred in the name of national security. So tied were they to the current arrangements the people of faith were absent as the parents lost their sons.
So, it turns out that the practices of Advent are more than just re-living what happened in the past. It is more than simply preparation for Christmas or participation in gift giving. It is about honing our skills to see what others cannot. Creating in ourselves the ability to perceive when the calls for status quo and national security might just be a cover for protection of power. This is not simply matter. It is about life and death and about our ability to be faithful in difficult times. Who know that just replacing the bows could do all that? Amen? Amen!
January 3rd 2010
Epiphany Sunday
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“I Can’t See Them!”
Matthew 2:1-18
I do not know if you noticed but Advent had a different feel this year. They were not major changes. It was enough for us to notice something had changed but not enough that it felt like local customs had been upended. At least, that was the hope this fall.
The Worship, Music, and the Arts group gathered in September to plan for Advent excitement filled the room. We studied the scriptures with an eye toward enhancing our celebration of this well known season of the church year. Every detail was reviewed through the lens of scripture and Westminster’s tradition. During that meeting it was suggested that since purple was the Christian color for Christmas that we use purple. We had great hope that in the end that all the sense would be engaged and the worship enhance the spirituality of the community.
I was excited about the process which created such thoughtful worship, but on the day when we decorated the sanctuary I had my doubts. Standing in the back of the sanctuary looking forward I thought: “You can’t see them!” The purple bows were more difficult to see and I realized if I had that thought, there was going to be some grumbling and murmuring about this new thing. Saying nothing to anyone I drove home through the University City Loop and looking at the decorations along the famous boulevard a smile came across my face. In that smile was a realization that the purple bows served their purpose very well. When compared with the purple bows most Christmas decorations do not allow themselves to be missed. But the Christmas story is all about how few people actually noticed Jesus’ birth. So it occurred to me that unintentionally we had created a setting where we would have to work a little harder to see.
The Magi were strange people. They read the starts and travelled following signs and dreams and visions. They are the sort of folk who we might expect to see on the psychic network. But these were people deeply in touch with the way God was at work in the world. Their perception was finely tuned. It was not because of their orthodoxy or their ties to custom but their willingness to look for God at work in the unexpected. In fact, these Magi were not followers of the God we know in Jesus Christ. But, because they were truly spiritual people they could see what the faithful and the religious leaders could not. It is an important remind of how God can even work outside of our expectations, denomination, nation, or even our religion.
This was a lesson not well received in Jerusalem. All of Jerusalem was in turmoil at the news that a new king had been born. I always wonder why, if things were not good, would people be so reluctant to change? I believe that the trouble and fear is not simply about the natural human fear of change. The greatest concern came from those who benefited from this current arrangement. I would even venture to say that the inability to see the new thing which God was doing was in direct proportion to the benefit one receives from the current arrangement. They may not have thought things were all that good but the fear of the loss of the small piece of the pie they had was enough to ignore the injustice facing those around them. It is an age old human story.
When England took over Ireland they made it illegal to practice any religion but the church of Ireland (Anglican). Those who were did not participate could not be land holders as well. It was also illegal to speak Gallic, the Celtic language, among many other cultural practices. This arrangement made it very difficult for the invaders to conquer the island. But that changed when it was decided to give Presbyterians the right to vote and to own property. As soon as they were able to participate and receive a small benefit they became the front line in the oppression of the very people with whom they formerly suffered. They were willing to overlook the brokenness in order to receive a small piece of the pie. Any threat to a change in this system has brought about the greatest struggle from the decedents of the Presbyterians. So when all of Jerusalem feared the news it is not hard to imagine why they would have not been on board.
These strange outsiders could see what everyone else could not or would not image was possible. Their powers of perception had been blunted so much that they could not see the star or hear something in their dreams. Blunted perception is a great danger for those of us on the inside of the story. We become so comfortable with these familiar stories we do not image that we ought to listen to dreams and look to the stars today. That was great back then but today God works in ways we can fully understand and control. We have crafted a God who fits neatly within the margins of our expectations. In order to guard against this tendency we must be willing to believe there is something to be learned in from our dreams and the stars.
Learning to sharpen our perception is not a luxury. Listening to dreams and watching the stars is not something reserved for the goofy in society. If we, as people of faith, do not recover these practices we will be like the religious leaders of Jerusalem who remained silent when mass murder of the innocent occurred in the name of national security. So tied were they to the current arrangements the people of faith were absent as the parents lost their sons.
So, it turns out that the practices of Advent are more than just re-living what happened in the past. It is more than simply preparation for Christmas or participation in gift giving. It is about honing our skills to see what others cannot. Creating in ourselves the ability to perceive when the calls for status quo and national security might just be a cover for protection of power. This is not simply matter. It is about life and death and about our ability to be faithful in difficult times. Who know that just replacing the bows could do all that? Amen? Amen!
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