The Ven. Richard I. Cluett
Both the Isaiah passage and
the story of Jesus’ baptism bring us Good News. And the good news is this: that
a relationship with God, the blessing of God, the love of God, the mercy of
God, the presence of God are ours from our very beginning, through whatever life
brought us yesterday or is bringing us today, all the way into forever.
It is through Jesus that we
claim our inheritance as a child of God. It is through Jesus that we too are
named as God’s very own, as God’s beloved, and it is through Jesus that the
promises of God to Israel told by Isaiah become God’s promises to us. And it is
in the waters of baptism that we affirm our identity and we are named as God’s very own
child, God’s very own girl, God’s very own boy, God’s very own man, God’s very
own woman. And we are given God’s community as our own.
Maya
Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial, explained why she thought the memorial
seemed to have such a strong grip on the emotions of the American people. “It's
the names,” she said, “the names are the memorial. No edifice or structure can
bring people to mind as powerfully as their names.”
What is your name? Say it to yourself. God says
through Isaiah, “I have called you by your name, you are mine.” It is a
guarantee of so much. It reminds Israel of their creation and their creator, of
being created and formed by God. It banishes fear and announces redemption. It
offers God's protecting hand in fire and flood. God woos Israel with a
declaration of love and confesses that Israel is “precious in my eyes, and
honored, and I love you.”
What is new in the Baptism of
Jesus is that this gift, this knowledge, this identity, this call are for all people – for everyone, without
restriction, without merit, without limit, without requirement. Not even
the requirement of John the Baptist that we repent.
In our tradition, we usually
receive the baptism of Jesus as a child, before there is any need of
repentance. We are the beloved of God before, during, and after repentance. The
baptism of Jesus was God's Revelation of that Good News, and our baptism is the
sign that Good News is for us, too.
As
we all know, there is ample opportunity in one’s lifetime (at least there has
been in mine) – ample opportunity to repent, and repent, and repent, and repent as we live out our lives and live in this
relationship with God and with other people. The Good News is that no matter
what, no matter whom, we can be baptized in the name of God: Father, Son, ad
Holy Spirit, and know that we are the beloved of God.
It
is in the waters of baptism that we receive our identity as we are named as
God’s very own. And it is in the wild, raging waters of Life that our identity
is tested and that God’s promises are tested as well.
I want to ask you this
morning, “Where do you find the ability
to hang in there in this world? Where do you find the ability to keep going
when the going really gets tough? Where do you find the ability to continue to
believe in love in a world that is filled with hate? Where do you find the
ability to continue in a world that is addicted to violence? Where do you find
the ability to continue in a world that is filled with so much suffering and
pain? Where do you find the ability to continue to believe that ultimately
God's kingdom will prevail and God's will, as revealed in Jesus, will be done
in all of creation? Where do you find the ability to be a disciple of Jesus in
this life?
It is possible to live this
life missing the obvious; missing the vision of God; missing the presence of
God; missing the radiance of God's glory; missing the empowering, comforting
Word of God's love.
What we can lose sight of is
the powerful, available presence of God in Jesus, in us, and in this life. We
are so in touch with the limitations of our selves, the realities of life. We know, so well, the difficulties and the
hills that we must climb that it is easy to miss what God is doing; to miss the
truth that it is in all circumstances of life where Jesus is to be found.
As one writer put it,
“Whether it is our own failures or illnesses, our economic uncertainty,
academic struggles, family tensions or life’s precious moments of joy, God is
with us… through it all.”
It is precisely into the
confusing, anxious, chaotic, haunted, sometimes amusing, comfortable, and
occasionally boring lives such as the life that is yours and mine that God
comes. God comes – powerfully, presently, persistently to change our lives,
to give us our identity, to prescribe where home is, to express love, and to
give us our calling, our vocation, our ministry, and our community. We are
God’s People.
Some of what we symbolize in
the sacrament of baptism is that Home is the Kingdom of the God whose love is
limitless, whose power for life is eternally available and whose work we are to
be about. Theologian Hans Kung has said
that "Christians live in the already
and the not yet," but we who are called have to decide to move into
the not yet, decide that God’s promise is true.
What we read of Jesus'
baptism, what we observe in the baptism of an infant, what we dream of in the
long night hours is true. God is in this life. His spirit is upon us. His love
is consistent. His power is ours. And he has shown us His purpose and our purpose.
As
Jesus was called to move out of Nazareth and to go deep into the waters, so we
are called to move deep into God’s kingdom and God’s promise of Life.
What
is your name?
Thus
says the Lord…
Do
not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I
have called you by your name, you are mine.
When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and
through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when
you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and
the flame shall not consume you.
For
I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of
Israel, your Savior.
I have called
you by your name. You are mine.
Thus says the
Lord.
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