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CHILDREN'S EDUCATION |
SERMONS The
First Sunday after the Epiphany: I grew up in the decades of the 1960's and 1970's. It was a time of turmoil and uncertainty; a time not unlike today. It was a time in which many people left school and careers in order to "find themselves." One friend of mine left law school after two years to travel in Europe searching for himself. Several of us thought that if you had to lose yourself somewhere, Europe might be nice. But the question that my friend was asking was an important one. It remains an important question for people today. It is a question that each of us must answer at some point in our lives, either consciously or unconsciously. It is the question of identity. Who am I? Who are you? Segments of our culture offer us a variety of answers to this question. Who am I? You are what you know, some say. You are a mind. To be anybody you must have an education. What is important is how much you know, how many degrees you have earned. Who am I? You are how you look, some say. You are a body. To be anybody you have to be slim with perfect skin and perfect hair and perfect teeth and wear the right clothes. You have to be desirable. What is important is how good you look. Who am I? You are what you do, some say. You are a worker. To be anybody you have to have a good job, one with prestige and a good salary. What is important is your job. Who am I? You are what you own, some say. You are a consumer. To be anybody you have to live in a fashionable house in a good neighborhood, drive a really cool car, and own the latest of everything. What is important is what you have. Who am I? It is an important question; one of the big questions each of us must answer. It is a question that Jesus had to answer as well. Jesus found his answer in the waters of the Jordan, as we read in today's gospel account of his baptism. Jesus has joined with the crowds going down into the Jordan river valley to hear the preaching of John the Baptist, and to be baptized by him. After he is baptized, as he is praying, he receives his answer. "You are my Son, the Beloved," God tells him. "With you I am well pleased." Who am I? We also have received our answer in the water. You are the baptized. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own forever. You are sons and daughter of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, heirs of the kingdom of heaven. You are Christ's very Body on earth. You are the Church. You are Christ's hands and feet, his eyes and ears and mouth. At baptism you are given an identity. And at baptism you are given a name: Christian. That identity-that name-is not earned, it is given. It is a gift-unearned, unmerited, undeserved-like salvation itself. I n doing this, the Church is making a radical statement about who we are, and about how we get to be who we are. Your identity, the church is saying, is a gift. It is something that is given to you, not something that you can earn. Martin Luther is one of the giants of the Reformation; a great saint of the Church. In times of great struggle and doubt he would reach up and touch his forehead and say to himself, "Martin, be calm, you are baptized." The baptismal fonts of many churches always contain water. It is the custom of some people, on entering those churches, to dip a finger in the water and raise it to their foreheads. It is a reminder to them of their baptisms, a reminder of who they are. In the midst of life - in the midst of the competing messages that we receive from the world around us - it is easy to forget who we are, and whose we are. The church is here to remind us - and we are here to remind each other-that we have been bought with a price. That someone greater than we has named us and has claimed us, and seeks us and loves us with only one end in mind-that he might love us for all eternity. Remember your baptism and be thankful, for this is who you are. David
Christian Isaiah
42.1-9
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Chapel
of the Cross · 674 Mannsdale Road · Madison, Mississippi
39110 · (601) 856-2593
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