BaptismofOurLordC, Sullivan Park
Care Center, January 13, 2013 by Annette Fricke
The snow
falls silently and softly to the ground and onto everything not sheltered. It blankets all with its cold caress. People hurry to and fro outside the walls of
this place where you reside and some do come to visit. However, in this season of winter, people
sometimes forget to slow down, and they don’t think to visit, and being here
can get lonely. Some people get into car
accidents like the three car accident on the South Hill on 29th on
Friday. People sometimes forget to take care of themselves and care for others
as well and end up doing the opposite.
Sometimes we are tempted to go about taking care of business in a way
that does not do justice, it is simply task-oriented with no special thought as
to intention or consequences, with no thought except maybe to complete the task
and get it over with. Sometimes we
delude ourselves into thinking that we are controlled or that we are in control
when in fact, it’s probably a bit of both.
We see a statement that declares, “Our destiny is determined by our
decisions.” Well, yes it is, but not
entirely. I don’t pretend to know how people get to where they are today and
yet because of that, I think we are all called to live in the present and to
make the most of the present moment. A resident of mine declares, “I would not
have bought a new car had I known I would have a stroke.” Here are the details:
his mind has not been affected by the stroke, but his body has. Sometimes, my
co-workers and I forget that not all of our residents have dementia and really
do remember the details of how they are treated and what we say and do that
triggers feelings in them. As a caregiver in a similar place as this, I
appreciate the perspective you have to offer.
Most of us
have probably read the accounts of Jesus’ baptism as found in the gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John many times in our lives. I don’t know about you, but I forget the
details. I forget how Luke and Matthew’s
accounts use the same source for their gospels, which goes to Mark and to a
source before Mark. Yet, I know it is
the nuances that make each gospel story unique in what gets emphasis and what
does not. And it is always interesting
what the crafters of the lectionary readings leave out. This morning’s gospel leaves out the context
of John the Baptist being imprisoned by Herod. We are commemorating the Baptism
of Jesus today and yet Luke gives us very few details. It is almost a non-event when Luke says that
the people were baptized and then Jesus was baptized, “When all the people were
being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.” Robert Brearley notes, “Jesus got in
line with sinners and was baptized with them.” Simple---kind of like all of us:
we were baptized, period. Luke’s
emphasis is not on the people’s
baptisms nor on Jesus’ baptism, but rather on what follows. And that is why we
need to pay attention to the details. Those
of you who have read Luke many times may have noticed the detail that Luke
talks a lot about the working of the Holy Spirit in both his gospel as well as
the book of Acts. As Richard Jensen
observes, only in Luke is the Spirit of God described as a bodily descent of the dove upon Jesus. Bodily descent has the
character of permanence. The Spirit will remain with Jesus, unlike the prophets and kings of old
when the Spirit would only last the length of their ministry or kingship. The
Spirit in those cases was temporary. Take
notice of the details!
Take notice
of another detail: according to v. 21, Jesus had been baptized and was praying. Where do we first hear about prayer in the
gospel of Luke? That would be chapter 1,
verse 10 where we are told that the whole assembly of the people was praying
outside the sanctuary. The angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and said that the
baby John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we read about the Holy Spirit will do
even greater than that by coming upon Mary whose child will be holy, he will be
called the Son of God. And then we are
also told that nothing will be impossible with God. All of this is in chapter 1, where Luke
establishes from the very beginning the distinction between John the Baptist
and Jesus. The difference is in the
details. These visitations of the Holy
Spirit seem to be private visitations whereas, at Jesus’ baptism, the working
of the Holy Spirit is very public. You
can see now some of the reasons that historically may have been behind the
Eastern Church’s melding all three stories of Jesus into one feast: the
visitation of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, and the changing of water into
wine at the wedding in Cana. You can see now the Lutheran emphasis I was taught
in the seminary, that baptism is a public act and there should be no private
baptisms.
It is never
about me and mine and what I want. It is
never about my will. It is always the
community that surrounds us, the saints in heaven, and God. All of this points to God and our
relationship with others in our lives, even if they are now a fading memory. God loves us so much that we have nothing to
fear, not even our death when the time comes. God stands with us, just like
Jesus so many years ago waiting in line with every other Joe, Barbara, Harry,
and Mary and their neighbors. God is not
against us, but has proven in Jesus, that the love of God is far greater than we can ever imagine.
I share with
you the words of an Epiphany hymn: Songs of thankfulness and praise, Jesus,
Lord, to thee we raise; manifested by the star to the sages from afar, branch
of royal David’s stem in thy birth at Bethlehem: anthems be to thee addressed,
God in flesh made manifest. Manifest at Jordan’s stream, prophet, priest, and
king supreme; and at Cana wedding guest in thy Godhead manifest; manifest in
power divine, changing water into wine; anthems be to thee addressed, God in
flesh made manifest. Grant us grace to
see thee, Lord, present in thy holy word; grace to imitate thee now and be
pure, as pure art thou; that we might become like thee at thy great epiphany,
and may praise thee, ever blest, God in flesh made manifest.
The snow falls silently and
softly to the ground and onto everything not sheltered. It blankets all with its cold caress. People hurry to and fro outside the walls of
this place where you reside and some do come to visit. I don’t pretend to know how people get to
where they are today and yet because of that, I think we are all called to live
in the present and to make the most of the present moment. I think we can begin
like the first verse of that hymn written in the 1800s. We can sing songs of thankfulness and praise
to Jesus, for all that we have and for that grace bestowed on us by God who
loves and cares for us so much that he also sent the Holy Spirit and invited us
to pray and to strengthen us on our journeys here on earth. In the words of The
Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw "Religion is spirituality shared. I
know there are many people who say they are spiritual but not religious because
they do not like the idea or experience of organized religion. Often they have
been hurt by their religious institution. I can understand that because, like
so many others, I have also been gravely disappointed by institutional faith.
But I also know that my spirituality alone is only half the truth. Unless I share
it in community I will not complete the dance of wisdom. Spirituality
encounters the self. Religion encounters the other. Both encounter the
wholeness of God." Amen.
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