Jan 10 - Sermon

Grace to you and peace

<IMAGE: Woman praying>

i've had many conversations over the years

with people

the voice of God in their lives

when they have heard

God speak to them

and I would say

by and large

the overwhelming description

is of God's voice

coming to them

in a quiet

and meek way

maybe

it's in their devotions

during a time of prayer

and God seems to speak a word to them

or perhaps they are reading the Bible

and some thing sticks out for them

that really speaks to them

and their situation

or maybe it's a sermon

delivered in a church

by a pastor

it's been known to happen

but most all of these accounts

seem to be a times and places

where that word

comes in a meek and quiet form

<Image: Lighthouse>

maybe it's even

in a tree stand

or in a Fish House

or just looking at the sunset

across the frozen lake

God does speak in those quiet times

and places

with a still small voice

but the text that we have today

are a reminder

that God not only speaks then

God speaks in bold,

and mighty

and wondrous acts

as well

in our text from genesis

from chapter 1

we have the creation of light

Revised Common Lectionary 1-10-2021: Baptism of the Lord

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

and while I i believe

the writer might have had a hard time

imagining this event

we know now that the creation of light

happened through an event

call that we moderns call the big bang

<Image: Lake Superior Storm>

the most violent

the most majestic moment

that has ever occurred

in the history of our universe

a moment that happen

in the twinkling of God's eye

and a moment that happened

because of the word of God

all of what we see in this world

including light itself

has as its fundamental origin

God's word

spoken mightily

majestically

boldly

powerfully

wondrously

the writer of the psalms

we have today did

could not have imagined

the big bang

but saw in countless ways

God acting with glory

and with strength

ascribe to the Lord you god's

the psalmist writes

Revised Common Lectionary 1-10-2021: Baptism of the Lord

1Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

2Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;

worship the LORD in holy splendor.

3The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the LORD, over mighty waters.

4The voice of the LORD is powerful;

the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

5The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;

the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

how much power

would it take to break a tree

what kind of voice

would tear apart a tree

we just had a tree taken down on our property

and it took many many

several hours

and lots of equipment

to gingerly drop all of the limbs

and then finally the trunk of the tree

what would it have taken....

to rip the tree apart with one spoken word...

now - that is power

that is the power

in today's gospel

God’s word ripped open the heavens

when Jesus was baptized

the heavens were torn apart

majestically

powerfully

as the holy spirit

comes from the heavens

and dive bombs onto Jesus

not unlike a mother bird

might dive

when her child is in danger

that's the scene

it's anything but meek

it's anything but mild

it's anything but quiet

here…today...

God moves in mighty

dramatic

bold ways...

scripture tells us

the holy spirit is moving

in mighty ways

in dramatic ways

in these texts

and the Holy Spirit is some thing

we possess

that is in us

by virtue of our baptism

in today's text from Corinthians

Paul is meeting with some people for the first time

and asking them

about their baptism

and coming to find out

that their baptism was John's baptism

one for repentance of sin's

one of forgiveness

to that Paul says

you're you're missing an ingredient

right

there is some thing

that is not yet true

and that's the power that comes from the Holy Spirit

I got some lights Christmas lights {saws all]

you're right

and as a as an example

and it's as if

they've got part of the gift of baptism

they've got the saw

but they don't have the power

and it takes the power of the Holy Spirit

to animate their faith

to show forth the light of Christ

in their lives

that's what's going on

in the Corinthian text

and once they are baptized in the Holy Spirit

they show forth those gifts

in a dramatic way

what does that mean for us?

while I was wrestling with this text

I think one of the things

that came to me

though denominational name sake

Martin Luther

made a big point

of saying that we are all priests

we are all custodians

of the mystery of God

by virtue of our baptism

he emphasize

the priesthood of all believers

which means

I'm not any more special - in my role of pastor

than you are

i'm not any holier than you are

we all

can come into the presence of God

he didn't emphasize

but I think it's equally true

that all believers are prophets

as well as priests

now a prophet doesn't mean

what many people thinks it means

some people think a prophet

is like a fortuneteller

that that is able to predict the future

like if you were a prophet

you could you could tell with the lottery numbers

were going to be

the true biblical sense of prophet

is one who speaks the word of God

to the world around

and I would say

particularly in our church in

in this day

we have been enculturated

to say that voice of God

should be spoken meekly

quietly

gently

peacefully

and by all means

when you're in mixed company

keep that word to yourself

because we must be polite

that's the higher cause

but I don't think so

do we need to be humble - in our

yes

do we need to not be obnoxious

most of the time

do we need to be extremely prayerful

about the word we bring to this world

absolutely

do we need find the grounding of God's word

in scripture

absolutely

but let us not assume that that voice

spoken into this world

that word of God

that we are called to proclaim

by virtue of the fact

that we have the Holy Spirit in us

let us not assume

that it comes only quietly

only meekly

God is doing bold things

in this world

and God is calling us

to speak bold words

to our world

i can't tell you how many times

I have heard the word unprecedented

over the last year

and that's been addressed

to all that Covid has brought

and that's been addressed

to all our political world has brought us

and that is also some thing

that has been applied

to the racial discord

we see in our world

I would submit to you

that if these are indeeded unprecedented times

then we absolutely need to provide

a fresh, and a new word of God

spoken like never before...

and that may call us to speak bold words

majestic words

truth filled words

spirit filled words

words that might even

that break trees

that thunder throughout our society

but lest you think ...

that I'm just calling for the same-old, same-old

yelling...

and arguing....

and attacking...

that is so prevalent these days...

Let me also say

a key element of that strong word

is found in the last words

of the psalm

and maybe we can use the last words

of the psalm

to help us discern

what our appropriate strong words of God

and what are just piling on

more and more

to the political rhetoric of the day

it's this prayer

that should be prayed

before we speak prophetically

as gods prophets

empowered by the Holy Spirit

and after

and all the way

through our words

oh Lord gives strength to your people

make us powerful God

give them

O Lord

the blessings of peace

will the strong words I'm talking about

lead to discord

and and hatred

and vile

they are not the strong words of the Lord

but if they lead the peace

if they lead to justice

that brings peace

then make no mistake about it

though they are not meek

they are God

active in the world

amen