Those Words!

Matthew 3:13-17

December for our family is a month of birthdays.  My wife, two of my sons and of course Jesus.  Birthday celebrations of all sorts dominate the calendar for the month of December. Now it’s January.  The pace is a little slower.  The weather is colder, the roads are harder to travel, the schedule is lighter.  January is a good month for reflection and reassessment.  How did I do?  How well did I handle the challenge of the holidays? Where did I fall down and where did I succeed? How can I correct my path? How can I repair the damage?  How can I grow from what I have learned? How can I use my life in the coming year to Honor God?

I wrote a couple paragraphs on Facebook this past week reflecting on my baptism.  I wrote a letter to Dr. Neil Bintz, the pastor that baptized me.  I explained in the letter that I posted it on line because, well, Dr. Bintz passed away some years ago and I have never met him outside of my baptism as 5 month old baby.  I have no what he looks like and I have only talked to one person that knew him personally.  And unfortunately that person has passed away as well.  I would have liked to meet him but the fact is that it wasn’t him that did the baptizing it was the Holy Spirit. It’s just that Dr. Bintz was the one who was the willing servant of God who stood in that place and said those words in front of that congregation. It was my parents who took vows on my behalf.  It is God who loves me, who poured out his blessing on me but it was the loving arms of that congregation and many more people throughout my life who have acted out that love.  For that I thanked Dr. Bintz a man I have never had a conversation with.  A man whose understanding of the scriptures I have never been exposed to. A man who’s life I know nothing about.

What if I find out he lived out a life of Christ like perfection in love?  What if I found out that he was a complete fraud?  Does that change the love of God for me?  Does that change my response to God’s love?  Absolutely not. 

Think about your own baptism.  Who baptized you?  Does the character of the one who baptized you shape your spirituality today? Were you baptized as an infant or later in life?  Was it by sprinkling, pouring or emersion, and does that matter to you?  Where did it happen?  Was it here in this place? Was in another church or at a camp or at a lake or a river?  I want you to ponder your baptism story because it is your beginning.  Your baptism is your initiation into the family of God.   Mine happened at Mt. Pleasant First United Methodist.  I have been back to that sanctuary many times.  The large glass windows on one side and the brick wall on the other side.  The large chancel area. The Narthex. Even the entryway and the parking lot, all these places hold many memories for me, both joyous and painful ones. That place is part of my spiritual journey.  That place is a part of my walk with Jesus.

In today’s scripture we read about the place and events of Jesus’ baptism. It was at a river. There were probably a lot of people around. John was teaching and baptizing.  He was preparing people for the coming of the messiah.  Then one day Jesus showed up. They knew each other, probably.  Their mothers were cousins.  Mary stayed with Johns mom Elizabeth shortly after she found out she was pregnant. And Elizabeth was already about 6 months pregnant with John, so Jesus and John were about the same age.

Jesus gave himself to be baptized. It doesn’t seem like the whole conversation was recorded.  Elizabeth was quite advanced in age when she had John so it is likely that she was gone at this point.  But this was a gathering of faithful people right?  Like a church? If I know anything about church folk they like to chat and get caught up.  So I imagine John was asking how Mary was doing.  How are Jesus younger brothers doing now that Jesus left the family business, all the while knowing that Jesus is the son of God, that his younger cousin is the savior of the world?  It was a very special place that God put John.  To know Christ intimately as both family and as savior.

 Jesus went to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  John, knowing who Jesus is through and through protested, he thought that Jesus ought to baptize him. I would do the same. With the knowledge that John had of Jesus wouldn’t you have the same resistance?  Jesus didn’t need to be baptized; there was no old nature to cast off.  There was no sin that needed to be forgiven.  But Jesus made the public statement that day that he belonged to God. Not only was he making a statement but he was sanctifying his earthly existence.  He gave himself over to God and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

Then came those words.  “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

What did that sound like? Was it booming from the clouds? Was it as if someone was yelling from a distance? 

Have you ever heard from God?  Have you ever been aware of God’s will in a specific way?  Have you ever noticed God’s action and working in the world?  How did it come to you?  Was it a booming voice from the clouds?  Or was it knowledge that came to you?  Or a feeling or an…epiphany?

However it happened. It was clear that Jesus was God’s son and God is well pleased. 

Do you know that God says the same about you?

You have been adopted and a child of God and our Lord Jesus Christ gives his righteousness to you. When God sees you sees the holiness of Jesus Christ.  Whatever sin you may have committed, he is willing and eager to forgive that sin when you come to Him in confession. God will dwell in you by the Holy Spirit when you become his child. Baptism is the door we walk through to have this wonderful relationship with God.  So today we reaffirm our baptism.  If you have never been baptized I invite you to come and receive the free gift of God’s grace. If you have been baptized you need never be baptized again.  God’s grace has been poured out on you and you are a child of God.  Paul says in the book of Romans that nothing can separate you from God’s love.  So why would we reaffirm our baptism? God remains faithful to God’s half of the covenant; we are not always faithful to our promises. Our half of the covenant is to confess Christ as our Savior, trust in his grace, serve him as Lord in the church, and carry out his mission against evil, injustice, and oppression.

The breath of life is in us.  When we were born and we drew our first breath, we have the life in us that God had granted.  That breath is a daily reality. Every day we celebrate that first breath with each successive breath.  We celebrate that first breath yearly on our birthday. We blow out the candles on the cake to show the breath of life is in us.  We appreciate life on a daily basis but that day is special.

On the day we were baptized we put to death our old nature; we share in Jesus death to the body new life as a child of God.  Every day we celebrate being a child of God.  But on this day the day of the Lords baptism we should celebrate our baptism as sort of our Spiritual birthday party since our life is in Him.

The vows that we took at baptism reflect the work that Jesus did on earth and calls us to carry on on his behalf. When you read the words try to envision what they will mean for you in the year to come. How can you live into these vows in a more intentional way? 

So how is it with you today?  May you always know that you are God’s beloved child and that in you he is well pleased? 

Today marks the 2-year anniversary of our little man coming
to live with us. I am so full of gratitude to God for this blessing.

By Another Road

Merry Christmas.  This is the twelfth day of Christmas. This is Epiphany Sunday.  I love epiphany Sunday because it is still Christmas while Christmas is by and large done for most people.  You can see we have most of the decorations taken down but we still have the nativity scene here.  The epiphany is the celebration of the visitation of the wise men.  People from the east came and the divinity of Jesus was revealed to them.  Jesus was born as a Jew in a Jewish land but at a very young age (under 2) the non-Jewish world (the bible calls us “gentiles”) was let in on the miracle of his birth.

What does this mean?  I mean, so what? I struggled with the importance of this day for a long time. A man who I knew, who has since passed away, said that this is the most important holiday of the year. I didn’t get it.  So some guys came and brought gifts.  Is this a historical record a sort of review of the gust book of visitors to the young Jesus? Jesus divine nature was revealed to the gentiles.  Okay did they start a church?  Doesn’t say that.  Was their lives changed?  Doesn’t say that either. It did say that they went home by a different road.

When I struggle with scripture, I often find clarity in my conversations with people who have a love for God and faith in Jesus.  If you have ever been part of a bible study you probably have experienced this.  A question comes up, it is dealt with on a surface level then someone says something that sparks a conversation.  What comes next is a God-thing.  The Holy Spirit begins to work in and through the conversation and a truth emerges that no one can lay claim to as an individual.  It is in the community that we hear from the voice of God.  I often try to seek out the wisdom of others.  I may be the pastor of this this church but that doesn’t mean I have all the answers. The wisdom is in the gathering. Think about those people in our gathering, now and those who have gone who you would consider good strong Christian people.  What is it about them that is so special?   I thought about this and some traits came to mind.  Knowledge, compassion, self-sacrificing love.  I thought of the fruits of the spirit. All good things but it seems like there was something more. The intangible, the indescribable part that I try to grasp at is that those wonderful people reveal Christ in them. They let the love of Christ flow through them.  They unfiltered, uninhibited, and unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God

Scripture says that wise men came asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 

There are people who are, and have been since his birth, afraid of Jesus.  Why?

Why would a king be afraid of a baby?

Why are people threatened by the Good News about Jesus Christ? Jesus was born into this world.  That was the easy part.  Everybody who ever amounted to anything was born.  Everybody who failed to reach their potential was also born.  Having life is indeed a miracle and a gift of God but let’s be honest, that’s the easy part.  The hard part is living.  It wasn’t that Jesus was born of a virgin that troubled Herod.  The troubling part to Herod was that this baby was born to be king of the Jews.  Herod thought that was his job. And he didn’t want to share.

So Herod gathered some intelligence. He did some investigating all because he wanted to honor the new baby but we really know that he wanted to destroy the threat to his rule. He told the wise men to report back to him when they found him.

The wise men found Jesus.  And they worshiped him. They presented him with gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh. They must have stayed more than your typical visit to a baby because they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. Perhaps they told Joseph about their dream. Perhaps Joseph had his dream about the same time and began the preparations to flee to Egypt.  Perhaps it was the gifts they brought that sustained the Holy family during their time as refugees.  Whatever happened at that visit by the wise men from the east, life was certainly different afterwards.  Not only did Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt, the wise men took a different route back to their home country. Jesus was just a baby and He was already changing things.  Jesus was disrupting the order of things.  Of course babies do that anyway.  But this baby was different.  The wise men, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds all knew that this was God in the flesh. There was an ever-widening circle of people who being let in on this wonderful news. 

What if his identity, his nature was never revealed?  What if God came and was silent?  What would have changed?  We cannot possibly know. The thing is, it was the epiphany, the revealing of his divinity that changed and is continuing to change the world.  When you came to believe that Jesus was the son of God and put your trust in him, the Holy Spirit took up residence in you.  Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Christ was born in you. At your baptism you died to your flesh and were born of the Spirit. 

The epiphany is God’s divinity revealed in Jesus Christ after he was born.  If Jesus was born in you at your baptism don’t you think it’s time for an epiphany?  Don’t you think it’s time for you to reveal the Christ that is living in you? 

Let me tell you. Some people won’t like it.  There are Herods out there that will try to kill it as soon as you reveal it.  Christ’s message is radical.  Christ’s presence in this world is disruptive.  Folks that have a stake in keeping things just as they are will try to silence you and discourage you.  But you don’t have to take abuse.  Take a different road. You are not in this alone. This is a body of Christ’s believers.  Next week is the celebration of Jesus baptism.  A perfect time to be baptized into God’s holy church.  If you feel God’s call to live the life he has intended for you, I invite you to see me about beginning your journey.  If you are already baptized and are not yet a member of this gathering, I invite you to take a deeper, more public commitment to this body of believers and become a member. 

How is it with you today?  God lives in each of us. The question we face as a believer is how much of God are we willing to reveal in our lives.  How much are you willing to reveal?  

Triple Refuge

Matthew 2:13-23

This ceramic figurine was painted and cured in 1969. I know that because that is the date that is etched in the bottom. 

How does a ceramic figurine survive for over 40 years?  It survives because it is cared for and protected. It is cared for and protected because there is some value or some meaning seen in this lump of formed silt that was painted and hardened.  This little figurine has been a part of my Christmas all the years of my life.  It wasn’t until adult hood that I realized that it wasn’t a part of the Christmas story.  This is what happens next.  It’s Mary on a donkey with her baby.  They are going somewhere.  Where were they going?  It was home from the hospital after his delivery.  They were headed to Egypt. We think about images of a serene Bethlehem has we sing our Christmas hymns.  I thought of the song Silent Night as I looked at this object.  But whatever serenity there might have been whatever peace Mary and Joseph had in their hearts, they needed it for what was coming. The king wanted their special little baby to be killed.

  “There are approximately 2.3 million refugees who fled the war in Syria to neighboring countries over the past 1,000 days.” He added that UNHCR expects this figure to “jump to 4.1 million in 2014.”  “Children are suffering from the psychological impact of the conflict in Syria and have lost their sense of wellbeing and psychological and social stability, not to mention social skills.”

“Fifty two percent of the Syrian refugees are children, with 290,000 in Jordan and 385,000 in Lebanon,”

http://www.aawsat.net/2013/12/article55326069

Whatever we may think about the situation in Syria, the fact remains that there are mothers and fathers who love their children trying to make them safe in a very dangerous situation right now.

The scripture we read today from the Gospel according to Matthew has at its center, the Holy Family becoming refugees in a foreign country. His parents fleeing to save his life. It was not yet Jesus time to offer his life for the sins of the world. He needed to grow up and accomplish other things first.

Jesus suffered in his earthly life as he faced his own temptations. He became like us.  God became human, born in a barn, placed in a manger and lived a human life. Almost immediately was forced to live a life as a refugee in Egypt. He knows what it’s like.  When he commands us to care for the least of these, he means it.

Jesus defeated the devil. Jesus destroyed the devil’s power by dying on the cross and pulling himself up out of death to live for ever and ever. Yet the evil in humanity persists.  All around the world there is suffering because of the evil deeds and intentions of humanity. Jesus came as the light in this dark world.

Jesus freed us from the fear of death because he offers us eternal life.  Even though we die, we will live eternally in him.  So we have nothing to fear in this life when we trust in him. When we go as bearers of Jesus Light into the world of darkness we go knowing that no matter what happens we live eternally.  That gives us the freedom to serve Him without abandon

Becoming like us, defeating evil and offering us eternal life: Three wonderful things that Jesus did for us.

How did the infant Jesus survive to be able to accomplish all this?  Because Joseph, the man God chose to be Jesus father, listened to God.

Joseph had three dreams.

The first one Joseph had in this portion of scripture was the one that warned Joseph to flee.  It warned Joseph of the danger that his family was in. It is time to withdraw, to retreat.

The second dream was a message to come home, come back, and re-engage.

The third dream was another warning about danger so Joseph altered his original plans and made their home in Galilee.

Those months and years, that Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived as refugees, were necessary.  Sometimes life throws us a curve ball.  Sometimes life throws a pitch strait at our head. It is in those times that we need to take a step back. Sometimes we need to withdraw, take refuge until the danger passes. But God doesn’t call us into withdrawal or retreat or isolation to stay there. God may set us aside for a time but there will be a time when he expects to reenter the arena, to re-engage in the battle, to begin to fight the good fight and to live the good life for Him.

Joseph brought his family back. There was an estimated 1 million Jews living in Egypt at that time.  It is likely they made a life for themselves there living in that community.  They could have stayed. It wasn’t home it wasn’t what they were used to but it could have been good enough. But Joseph brought his family BACK.

When we come back, when we reengage, life is invariably different.  God is doing a new thing constantly. Just because all things are being made new does not mean that we are not without comfort.  We may not be refugees any more but we are not without refuge. In fact whether we are retreating or advancing we always have a refuge, not only that we have a triple refuge. First:

Jesus

We seek refuge in Jesus Christ, The Person himself, the one who is seated at the right hand of God the father and reigns forever and ever. We go to him, we speak with him.  Jesus promises his presence.  We are taught from the time that we can listen that God loves us and that love looks like Jesus Christ. No matter what circumstance, no matter what danger we face Jesus is our Lord and nothing can snatch us from his hand. We receive his council. Those that where his disciples wrote down what he taught.

Scripture

That is the second refuge of the triple refuge.  We seek refuge in the Holy Scriptures. We search the scripture to know the mind of God.  We read about how God has interacted with humanity over time.  In scripture we see the story of God with humanity growing, building and finally where it is all headed. When Scripture is a part of our life it transforms us.  Whether we have a Bible with us or not the scripture that we carry with us cannot be taken away.

The Church

The third refuge is the church, the gathered community of believers who have been called out and who have responded to God and said yes. The church is those who have said “I will let you live in me.  I will be made into something new.  I will be the bearer of God’s light.”  The Church is a gathering of those who know what it is to take refuge in Jesus and his teaching.

Joseph brought his family to Galilee.  There they lived.  It is suspected that Joseph died sometime during Jesus childhood, because we have no mention of him after the trip to the temple when Jesus was 12. Jesus likely took over the role of being the village craftsman. Jesus probably took care of Mary and his younger siblings until he was about 30. Jesus was born to be the savior of the world but he took care of his family responsibilities first. He was set aside for a time, then his time to act came.

Paul was called by Jesus to follow him.  Paul withdrew to Arabia for 3 years before he reengaged in the mission of Jesus Christ.

So, how is it with you today?  You may be withdrawing, or advancing or in the process of moving from on to the other.  Where ever you are on your spiritual journey, may you always know that you can find refuge here. Would you pray with me?