Epiphany Sunday - God Works With Us - Baptized By Fire

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Every year there is a special day that is all about us. Although we sometimes share it with others, it is a day that we can get away with being a little more selfish than normal. Not everyone chooses to be selfish, and not everyone even chooses to celebrate it. In fact, some people go to great lengths to hide it, and most people, as they grow older, try to hide how many times they've celebrated it.

I'm talking about our birthdays. They are wonderful days that we remember back and celebrate a day that none of us can remember, even though it is one of the most important days of our lives. It goes on all our paperwork and is one of the two dates that go on our tombstones. More important than the day we said our first word or took our first steps, it is the day that we were welcomed into this world and into the families that took us in.

We close out our Christmas season today. We went through the childhood of Jesus very quickly, leading up into the scripture about His baptism today. 30 years flew by in 3 weeks for us, but they were long years for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. They were filled with important moments and memories.

The first thing I want to share with you today is that those days between birth and adulthood are important. Luke's gospel tells us twice during several of those moments that Mary stopped, recorded and reflected on those memories, and pondered them in her heart over the decades. One day she would tell those stories to Luke, who would write them down for us to read, and that would be the beginning of Christmas for us.

Another way to look at that is that we celebrate Christmas as the first of many gifts that God gives to us in Jesus Christ that lead us into a saving relationship with Him. Jesus is the gift of God that keeps on giving.

Today is about remembering our baptism. As I mentioned last week, I think John begins his gospel with the story of Jesus's baptism because it drops us right into the middle of the tension of the people of Israel, the people of the early church, and all of us who share the human condition. Here it is: The world is broken. The Nation is a mess. The people God called to be the light to the nations are scattered, confused, and looking for leaders.

Even more, the people want to see God. We want the Messiah to come and make everything right. We want God to move among us in a way that brings sight to our faith. We want the Word of God to be flesh and come to our neighborhood again. We will confess whatever sins, go through any rituals, or put on as much of a show as it takes to convince Jesus to come help us.

What we don't expect is our savior to come and go through those motions and rituals with us. After all, isn't in our part in baptism to convince God we are worth it?

In baptism, we are welcomed into God's family and kingdom. Everything that happens afterward is how we receive and respond to that welcome.

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The Welcome

Baptism is done to us.

We spend so much energy and emotion, writing words and preaching sermons to get people focused on our own baptisms that we sometimes miss the irony of the greatest baptism of all. The baptism of Jesus. It was the one baptism that doesn't make any sense. It was the one baptism that should not have happened. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all showed us that Jesus was without sin, yet they all include this baptism. John the Baptist, the one doing all the baptizing, raised the question himself. It would never have happened if Jesus had not asked for it. Take a moment to let that sink in.

Do you remember the song...?

What can wash away our sins? - Nothing but... the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? - Nothing but... the blood of Jesus.

So what's the deal with all this water? Water doesn't wash our sins away. Only Jesus can do that, and He shed that blood, for us, almost 2000 year ago on the other side of the world. We need our sins forgiven. We want them washed away, but it's not the water that does it.

Then we read that after Jesus was baptized the heavens opened up and God spoke. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” That is the experience we look for, the words we want to hear.

New birth, both physical and spiritual is not something we accomplish ourselves. Life is always given. We cannot create our own new life, and no matter when or how we get baptized, our experience is usually something different than the baptism of Jesus.

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The Reception

I remember supervising a younger pastor at a baptism out at a lake some years ago. I shared with those about to be baptized that there was no expectation of how you were supposed to feel after being baptized. They were all grown adults and I told them that when they came up out of the water, the only feeling some of them might feel was... wet. That was okay, because getting baptized is not about trying to chase or achieve some kind of spiritual feeling.

Then I reminded them about the second baptism we receive from Jesus. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire. Unlike water baptism, which signifies new birth and only happens once, Holy Spirit Baptism happens all the time. Also, unlike water baptism, it is not a celebration we throw to remember what God has done for us, it is an empowerment that helps us actually do the work with God. Pentecost, when we celebrate the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit baptism, was not a party. It was the first day of work for the Church. It was their grand opening.

When we receive that fire baptism of the Holy Spirit, whether it comes large and loud, or quiet and slow, our identity in Christ is sealed and revealed for what it is. We can make all kinds of speeches and promises before water baptism, but it is the fire that tests whether we live those promises out or not. Fire baptism burns the chaff away and reveals what remains.

Jesus experienced the Holy Spirit during his water baptism, but it immediately drove him into the wilderness to fast and face temptation for 40 days. Only after that trying experience did He angels come and minister to Him, preparing him to go back into the fire of starting His ministry. Likewise, the disciples experienced 50 days of waiting on God, hiding in the upper room, before they had their Holy Spirit Baptism, and it pushed them out into the public, preaching and teaching about Jesus at the risk of their own lives. That experienced solidified everything they had be invited into during their baptisms, and not all of the disciples made it. Judas got plenty wet, but never experienced the Holy Spirit like the others.

I think Paul may have been alluding to this Holy Spirit Fire Baptism when he wrote

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 (NRSV): 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

Likewise Peter wrote:

1 Peter 1:6–7 (NRSV): 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Both were writing about the Day Christ will return, but both knew and experienced that testing fire in their own lives, long before the day in the future when Christ comes again. It was His presence through the Holy Spirit, poured out on us each and every day, that sends us into the very work that tests our faith and our commitment to Christ. The challenges we face are the very things that help us live into our baptism each day.

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New Life Among the Dying

Living new life among the dying feels like going through the fire. There are moments when the flames roar up around us and other days that are a slow burn. If we go through life and all we see is our own skills and talents revealed, we have just lived and died the physical life. If those in relationships with us are able to identify the ways our individual lives slipped away and Jesus appeared through the cracks we earned through our trials, we will have lived life well.

Doing that takes both water and fire. It takes the act of God, inviting us into new spiritual life and new birth. Whether we remember that water baptism or not is not the most important thing. Whether we had a powerful experience or whether we just got wet, it was an invitation into God's family and kingdom, and into the Body of Christ where we are meant to live that life and grow into Christ-likeness.

But it takes the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit that Christ leads us into by His example and His command. It is in the fire that our rough edges are smoothed away until we become the shining gemstones, living stones, that build up the house in which God lives - in and through us.

Join me now as we remember our baptism by water and the call into that baptism by Fire and the Spirit that God calls us to live each day.

Baptism Remembrance Liturgy:

THE BAPTISMAL RENEWAL COVENANT IV (Adapted for NUMC 01/09/2022)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERVICE

A deacon or pastor addresses the congregation:

Brothers and sisters in Christ:

Through the Sacrament of Baptism

we are initiated into Christ's holy Church.

We are incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation

and given new birth through water and the Spirit.

All this is God's gift, offered to us without price.

Through the reaffirmation of our faith

we renew the covenant declared at our baptism,

acknowledge what God is doing for us,

and affirm our commitment to Christ's holy Church.

RENUNCIATION OF SIN AND PROFESSION OF FAITH

The pastor addresses the congregation, and the congregation responds:

On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you:

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,

reject the evil powers of this world,

and repent of your sin?

I do.

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you

to resist evil, injustice, and oppression

in whatever forms they present themselves?

I do.

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,

put your whole trust in his grace,

and promise to serve him as your Lord,

in union with the Church which Christ has opened

to people of all ages, nations, and races?

I do.

According to the grace given to you,

will you remain faithful members of Christ's holy Church

and serve as Christ's representatives in the world?

I will.

We have confessed our faith in the Apostle’s Creed. Now we give thanks for God’s part in baptism.

THANKSGIVING OVER THE WATER

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray.

The pastor may raise hands in the ancient Christian posture of prayer, and invite the congregation to do likewise.

Eternal Father:

When nothing existed but chaos,

you swept across the dark waters

and brought forth light.

In the days of Noah

you saved those on the ark through water.

After the flood you set in the clouds a rainbow.

When you saw your people as slaves in Egypt,

you led them to freedom through the sea.

Their children you brought through the Jordan

to the land which you promised.

**Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Tell of God's mercy each day.

In the fullness of time you sent Jesus,

nurtured in the water of a womb.

He was baptized by John and anointed by your Spirit.

He called his disciples

to share in the baptism of his death and resurrection

and to make disciples of all nations.

**Declare Christ’s works to the nations,

his glory among all the people.

The pastor may place hands in or over the water, stir the water, or lift the water.

Pour out your Holy Spirit,

and by this gift of water call to our remembrance

the grace declared to us in our baptism.

For you have washed away our sins,

and you clothe us with righteousness throughout our lives,

that dying and rising with Christ

we may share in his final victory.

**All praise to you, Eternal Father,

through your Son Jesus Christ,

who with you and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns for ever. Amen.

REAFFIRMATION OF FAITH

I invite you to hold your blue stones, representing a solid moment of time when God invited you to follow Him, and an unwavering invitation of adoption into His family and Kingdom. Remember your part of baptism is not the moment you were baptized, but every moment afterward.

Remember your baptism and be thankful. Amen.

The pastor addresses those reaffirming the Baptismal Covenant:

The Holy Spirit work within you,

that having been born through water and the Spirit,

you may live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

THANKSGIVING

A deacon or pastor leads the congregation to give thanks:

Let us rejoice in the faithfulness of our covenant God.

We give thanks for all that God has already given us.

As members of the body of Christ

and in this congregation of The United Methodist Church,

we will faithfully participate in the ministries of the Church

by our prayers, our presence, our gifts,

our service and our witness

that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

The pastor addresses those reaffirming the Baptismal Covenant:

The God of all grace,

who has called us to eternal glory in Christ,

establish and strengthen you

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

that you may live in grace and peace.

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