All Around the World
Epiphany 1C
Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
01/10/10
Lorraine Ljunggren

        About eighteen hours ago in Wellington, New Zealand, Christians gathered in churches for services such as this one. In those churches like ours who follow a liturgical calendar, it was the First Sunday after the Epiphany which is also called the Baptism of our Lord. Congregations of God's people heard Luke's story of Jesus' baptism. In Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and in some other denominations, water was poured into silver bowls, ceramic basins, or granite fonts. Families, friends, and clergy gathered around those vessels, said prayers, made some special and serious promises, asked God to bless the water, and then dunked babies or poured water over the heads of those being baptized.
        
        The same things were repeated in each time zone around the earth. Christians on every continent, in many, many nations, in grand cathedrals with high vaulted ceilings, and in tiny rural churches made of local woods or stones, using an amazing variety of languages, all repeated rituals dating back millennia.

        Untold numbers of infants, children, youth, and adults are now counted among the baptized all around the world. We are linked to each and every one of them even though we don't know their names, may not be able to speak their languages, and live in wildly different cultures. Whatever outward appearances or customs may seem to separate us, we Christians can this day, at least, claim we are united in and through the waters of baptism.

        But the good news doesn't stop there. The truly Good News is that in and through the waters of baptism we are united with Jesus the Christ. The One who's coming was foretold by John the Baptist, the One who's public ministry was mysteriously inaugurated in the swirling waters of the Jordan River, half a world away and some two thousand years ago.

        Those who are baptized today join in the mystery that is baptism. “…[they] will find this moment in time – this particular experience with water and word – a new beginning to a journey which began with the beat of their hearts and the breath of God's Spirit in their lungs. … Baptism…is our celebration of the love and grace of God freely offered and wonderfully received. Baptism is our celebration of the mystery that promises: before ever we did our first good deed – before we took our first step – said our first word – breathed our first breath – God delighted in us! (The Rev. Jim Melnyk, 1/10/10, CHF)

        These are reasons I've always loved this feast day in the church's calendar. We've experienced the eager anticipation of Advent, decked the halls with joy and gratitude at the birth of Jesus, and have followed the brightness of a star pointing the way – revealing an open invitation into relationship with God.

        We now stand at the beginning of the season known as Epiphany – a word which means 'to show forth' or 'to manifest.' In Jesus' public ministry God will show forth God's own self – God will manifest God's ever-present loving kindness to all the world. The One on whom the Spirit descends, described as if a graceful dove were to drift down on unseen currents of wind – the One declared to be the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased -- this is the same One who will remind the people in his teaching and in his actions of the promises God made to their forebears and makes in every generation.

        We have only to listen to the prophet Isaiah, speaking to a people in exile, to hear the covenant God makes with us throughout every age – in every century: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you… For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your Savior…you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” (Isa. 43:1b-2a, 3a, 4a)

        In the promises we make in our own baptisms we affirm that we are called by God; we acknowledge that we need God's help to work through our failures; we agree to participate with God in the redemptive work so needed in our broken and often sorrow-filled world; we promise – like the Lord our God manifested in Jesus Christ does – to see God's image in all our neighbors and promise to love them as God asks us to love ourselves; we agree to strive for justice and peace among all.

        Even if no one in our community is baptized today, it is our custom to renew our Baptismal Covenant. I always find it meaningful and strengthening to join our voices together in this parish church – echoing similar promises made in the hours just past all around the world we call 'this fragile earth our island home.'

        I remember the very first Sunday we came together as God's people and priest. It was on this day eleven years past. A baby was baptized on 1/10/99. One of the baby's mom's – the one who birthed the baby – a woman of color; the baby's other mom a white Jewish woman. Friends and family whose faith journeys came from north and south, from east and west, all found their way to this sacred space, gathered around that granite baptismal font, and joined voices making a covenant with God.

        Paul Jennings, Director of Pastoral Studies at Montreal Diocesan Theological College, writes this about the concept of covenant: “'Covenant' is used consistently in scripture (at least when used in a religious way) to refer to God's relationship to us, not our relationship with each other. …The image used of our relationship to each other is that of brothers and sisters. The difference is simple, and of crucial theological importance: we don't choose our relationship with each other [he writes]. We can choose to be in relationship with God, or not – but if we are [in relationship with God], we cannot choose to be or not to be in relationship to one another. We just are.” (e-mail dated 1/8/10, 8:41pm)

        Today is 1/10/10 and, as time continues to move forward around our globe, babies, children, youth, and adults are being baptized all over our Diocese, all over our nation, throughout the northern and southern parts of the Western hemisphere. We are linked to each and every one of them as sisters and brothers even though we don't know their names, may not be able to speak their languages, and live in wildly differing cultures. Whatever outward appearances or customs may seem to separate us, we can this day, at least, claim we are united in and through the waters of baptism. Because we make an individual and corporate covenant with God in Christ Jesus, we are united to one another.

        So today as we renew our own covenant with the Lord our God, may God “give us inquiring and discerning hearts, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love God, and the gift of joy and wonder in all God's works. Amen.” (BCP 308, adapted)

©2010 Lorraine Ljunggren