It is the feast if the
Baptism of Jesus, all of our readings kind of bring us to some of the basics of
our Christian faith and that reality that, you know, why was Jesus
baptized? He was the One who was the
giver of baptism. Yet Jesus went through
this baptism because as the last line of the gospel says, “A voice came from
the heavens, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased’.” In other words, the gospel accounts are
telling you and me 2000 years after the fact of Jesus walking this earth as a
human being, that He needed to be affirmed and shown what His identity
was. That He was called by the Father,
by God, to this mission. So He called
him You are My Son, You are the Son of God.
This is Your mission. To be here
on this earth and bring redemption to these people.
Our own baptism gives you
and me a mission as well. Both readings,
actually the first reading from the prophet Isaiah kind of lines up all the
things that this Messiah, Savior would do.
And it’s kind of a prologue before the coming of Jesus. So go back to that reading again, put Jesus’
name in there. That’s His identity, His
purpose.
John reminds us once again
that the Spirit is given to Jesus, to all those who are followers of Jesus. So our baptism starts the journey of
faith. Everyone of us here this morning,
perhaps probably when you were just a little baby were baptized. Our parents and our godparents spoke for us
and make that profession of faith that started us on that beautiful journey of
being a follower of Jesus. This journey
that’s given to each and every one of us, the mission that we have.
Now just a week ago I was
back home in
Well as you get into the
prenatal unit, you know you’ve got to scrub up and everything and really make
sure there are no germs walking with you into that unit. And when you walk in there and you see this
little incubator—here’s this tiny little baby girl, maybe all of 6-inches
long. Just coming out of the womb after
only 4-1/2 months. And fighting for her
life. The prognosis was a 50-50 chance
that she might survive. And as I stood
next to that little incubator and on the other side there’s Patrick and there’s
his girlfriend, Amanda. And we all know
how these things happen but God bless them, they decided to have the baby and
bring this little child into the world without knowing that this little girl
would come into the world so soon. And
here’s this little daughter, this little girl, this little human being fighting
for her life. And this is only the
second time that I have seen a child that young, only 4-1/2 months from the
womb. The skin isn’t all totally formed,
but all the features. You see the head,
the hands, you can even see the organs inside that little body as they are
struggling for life. You put your hand
through there. They give you like an
eyedropper with distilled water, just to put a drop of water, to baptize little
Gracie and to give her God’s life.
It reminded me of my mission,
my call that God has given to me through my baptism, to be there at that
moment, at that time to bring God’s life to that little baby, and to bring some
measure of love and hope to my nephew’s son and girlfriend and to be there with
my sister.
Jesus is called to be loved,
You are my Son, this is Your mission.
You were given a mission when you were baptized. Perhaps your mission is mother, father, son,
daughter. Maybe of a title, aunt,
teacher, electrician, plumber, retired, whatever it might be. Whatever our age, whatever our point in this
life is, whatever titles we have. Go
back to that basic title, a Christian, a follower of Jesus. And each of us, our mission, by our baptism
is to do something good in the world, whatever that might be.
So that’s just the simple
message that you are beloved, that God is pleased with you and me. That each of us is called and maybe somehow
today in some gentle little way. Maybe
you won’t be going to a hospital but you’re going to meet somebody else. It might be your own spouse. It might be a member of your family. It might be a total stranger today or
throughout this week. It might be
through a letter or a handshake. Or it
might be by a phone call. It might be
someone at work, but somehow you and I are put here at this moment in time and
history to do something good. Let’s be
faithful to that calling that we received at our baptism and somehow, like
Jesus too, you will go forth from this Eucharist knowing that we are beloved,
that God is pleased with us.
So I am going to ask us to
stand. I’m going to ask us to renew the
vows of our baptism. I’m going to ask us
six questions, and after each of these our response is “I do.” Our parents and godparents made those
promised for us years ago so let’s do it ourselves this morning.
Do you reject sin so as to
live in the freedom of God’s children?
RESPONSE: I do.
Do you reject the glamour of
evil and refuse to be mastered by sin?
RESPONSE: I do.
Do you reject Satan, father
of sin, prince of darkness?
RESPONSE: I do.
Do you believe in God, the
Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
RESPONSE: I do.
Do you all believe in Jesus
Christ, His only Son Our Lord, who was born of the virgin Mary, was crucified,
died and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of
the Father?
RESPONSE: I do.
Do you believe in the Holy
Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of
sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting?
RESPONSE: I do.
And this is our faith, this
is the faith of the church. We are proud
to profess it in Christ Jesus Our Lord, Amen.
Let’s ask God to hear all of
our prayers and our needs that we have for today.