INTRODUCTION: Today’s Scripture is traditionally read on the Sunday after Epiphany. It is the story of Jesus’ baptism, which takes place in the wilderness around the Jordan River. Jesus’ baptism marks a huge turning point in his life--he leaves his old life behind and begins a new chapter where his focus becomes sharing the Good News of God’s Kingdom. As we hear these words and picture this scene, may we consider what God is calling us to leave behind as we begin a new year trusting in God’s guidance.
Scripture: Mark 1:4-11
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Sermon: “Baptism: A New Beginning”
Before I start this sermon, I just want to remind you again to have a bowl of water on hand for a renewal of baptismal vows that is happening right after the sermon.
PRAY
Over the years, I have Googled the word “wilderness,” and I always get very interesting results—an odd conglomeration of things. My favorite results have included: Wilderness Resort Hotel and Waterpark in Wisconsin; a podcast about the Democratic Party, and reviews of a British horror movie with Wilderness in the title.
I don’t think any of these things were what the writer of today’s Scripture had in mind when the text says that John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.
Clearly, the wilderness reference in Mark’s gospel refers to the traditional understanding of wilderness as defined by Merriam-Webster: “a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings...” In fact, throughout the scriptures, the word “wilderness” has at least two levels of meaning: 1) it refers to the literal areas where human beings do not live or cultivate, and it also 2) refers symbolically to the areas of our lives that are in chaos outside our control--which I dare say is what many of us have been feeling a lot lately--but I will get to that later. Let me stick with the text for a while…
When John the Baptizer appears in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem, he is literally out there with the rocks and shrubs and snakes and locusts and lions. But the people hearing this scripture in the first century would also understand that symbolically it meant that meant John was out there with our fears and anxieties, worries and heartaches—all those things that wake us up in the middle of the night and infringe on our peace of mind. John is out there—way out there—in the middle of a frightening chaos that most human beings would prefer to avoid.
But here is an amazing thing: when John goes out into the wilderness—in the tradition of the prophets of old, wearing camel’s hair, eating locusts and wild honey-- people actually choose to follow him. They choose to follow him out to a place where they come face to face with their own fears and anxieties, worries and heartaches. And not only do they come to face them, which is hard enough, but John asks them to go one step further and repent, that is, acknowledge their own part in these things and promise to make a new beginning.
Now hear me, John isn’t asking people to accept responsibility for ALL the chaos in the world or lives. No. That would not be fair. That would not be loving. That would not be honest—because no one is powerful enough to cause ALL the chaos around them. John is simply asking people to acknowledge—to own-- before God whatever their part is in such things—great or small.
I wonder if we are at a similar place in our lives today? Anyone who has watched the news this week can attest that our country is experiencing chaos like we’ve never witnessed before. Regardless of our political party affiliations, watching a mob of angry people storm the Capital building in Washington and interfere with our Democracy was frightening, to say the least. Frightening most of all to the families of the 5 people who lost their lives in the midst of the violence. But frightening to almost everyone: to the members of congress trying to do their jobs; to the Capital Police, who “didn’t have the outside support they needed” and “failed to do their mission”1; to journalists who were there to cover a session of congress and ended up fearing for their lives2; and to the rest of us: people at home watching on TV who saw violence and vandalism unfold and were powerless to stop it--and who worry that we haven’t seen the last of it, because the root causes of the violence and unrest have not gone away.
There are still political leaders and millions of citizens who truly believe the fraudulent claim that the election was stolen. But worse than that, this mistaken belief is part of growing trend of people basing their beliefs and actions NOT on verifiable facts but on opinions masquerading as truth, opinions promulgated by people with agendas that feed their own power.3 And the result of this trend is that people are misled into acting in ways that ultimately hurt our whole society, but particularly deepen the pain of the poor and marginalized. Because it’s always the people with the least power in a society who are hurt the most by false narratives. In our society the people hurt the most are people with black and brown skin and, to a lesser extent, poor whites. But, make no mistake, ALL of us are hurt--because we are all connected to each other.
So what can we do about this trend, which lands us in the wilderness of chaos and pain? Our Scripture can guide us: we can follow John the Baptist’s lead and bravely walk into the wilderness, bravely face the chaos. And name it. And name our part in it. We can name the pain we experience and we can name our part in the things that cause the pain. Maybe we haven’t succumbed to belief in opinions masquerading as truth, but maybe we’ve kept our mouths shut too often when we’ve heard others knowingly or unknowingly spread falsehoods, maybe because we haven’t wanted to be disrespectful or hurt someone’s feelings or cause a rift in the family. OR maybe we haven’t kept quiet, but rather, in our frustration, we’ve proclaimed the facts so loudly and angrily that the people we are trying to reach have stopped listening--and refuse to engage with us. And when this happens, not only do people stop hearing us, but we stop hearing them. We stop hearing each other’s pain. We stop seeing each other’s humanity.
So what can we do? We can name the pain and chaos of the wilderness we are currently in. We can name our part in that pain. And we can listen to others as they name theirs. And then, we can remember our baptism. Baptism. The word literally means “to sink.” In today’s Scripture reading John invites the people to sink themselves down into the flowing water of the River Jordan and allow the Spirit of God to wash away the effects of all the painful chaos they’ve been experiencing.
The early church (started by the disciples of Jesus in the first century) actually saw baptism as a symbolic death and rebirth. They saw it as death to the power of the wilderness and all its chaos—and rebirth to the power of God’s Loving Spirit to renew and refresh people’s lives.
It’s like taking part in the annual Polar Plunge on New Year’s Day. (You know, when people put on bathing suits and rush into--and out of--the cold water of a lake or ocean.) Maybe you’ve done it? Or witnessed it? I’ve never done it, but I’ve watched it on a beach near my house. The amazing thing to me about this event is that the participants are always smiling, no matter how cold it is. And not just smiling, but whooping and hollering and running out of the water raising their hands in the air like athletes who have just won some kind of championship. Whether we participate in person or just watch the Polar Plunge on video: everyone who runs out of the water on New Year’s Day is full of glee—caught up in the spirit of joy and celebration and new beginnings.
I think this is what it was like for the people who were baptized by John in the wilderness in the Judean countryside. They faced the chaos in their lives, owned up to their own part in it, and then took the plunge of baptism, rising up to renewed life. And they rose up with great joy, like Jesus did, to the voice of God speaking to their hearts, saying, “You are my child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
In baptism God says to us, each of us, in effect: “The chaos in your life does not have to define you. I am with you. Center yourself in my love, and I will not let the chaos sweep you away.”
It is not a coincidence that this reading about baptism comes every year at the beginning of January. It’s a reminder that, regardless of the chaos we may have experienced in the year before, God is still with us. As Rev. Esther Rendon-Thompson reminded us a couple of weeks ago in her sermon, even in a year like 2020 with all the chaos and loss it contained, we can still experience the blessings of God. God can help us to leave the difficulties of the past behind and move into a new year—consciously choosing to count our blessings--and to BE a blessing, centered in the Love of God who calls us to reflect God’s love to all our neighbors.
So, I thought I would invite anyone who wants to-- to participate in a renewal of Baptism ceremony. No pressure. If you don’t want to participate, feel free to just stay prayerfully where you are and know that God’s love is with you.
But, if you’d like to participate, here’s what I ask you to do.
In a moment, I am going to read the questions on the screen, and I invite you to read the responses.
And, as you read, I invite you to think about what you would like to leave behind from the past year.
After the questions, I will invite you to dip your hand into the bowl of water and place some water in the middle of your forehead, as a reminder of your baptism. And if you haven’t yet been baptized, please still feel free to participate, as I am sure Jesus would want you to be included.
RENEWAL OF BAPTISMAL VOWS
Pastor: Do you desire to be baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?
All: I do.
Pastor: Do you renounce the powers of evil and desire the freedom of new life in Christ?
All: I do.
Pastor: Do you profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?
All: I do.
Pastor: Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best you are able?
All: I promise, with the help of God.
Pastor: Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow in the Christian faith and to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, celebrating Christ’s presence and furthering Christ’s mission in all the world?
All: I promise, with the help of God.
Pastor: I now invite you to dip your hand into the bowl of water and place some water on your forehead as a reminder of your baptism. Let us pray…
O God, for your Loving Spirit, we give you thanks. We thank you that you meet us even in the wilderness of our lives—and of the world. We boldly ask that you free us from the tangled cords that bind us to the chaos of our past. Forgive us our part in the chaos, whatever that may be, and give us grace and strength to start anew, loving our neighbors as ourselves. In Jesus’ name, we pray and act. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA
1 Seth Moulton quoted in Boston Globe Editorial, Saturday, January 9th, 2021, p. A8.
2 From NPR discussion on January 8th or 9th, 2021 with female journalists who were present at the Capital Building when the insurrectionists stormed it. (I can’t remember which program I was listening to)
3 My observations/theory stated here was informed by this article: “The information ecosystem that led to the Capitol attack” by Claire Wardle, Boston Globe, Saturday, January 9th, 2021, p. A8
[An earlier version of this sermon was written and preached by Marlayna on January 13, 2019]