The First Sunday After The Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Today's Scripture Readings

Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Psalm 29 (BCP., p.620).


Acts 19:1-7 (NRSV)

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied-- altogether there were about twelve of them.

Mark 1:4-11 (NRSV)

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And 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. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He 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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And 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. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Blog Reflection

Of this Feast of The Baptism of the Lord, St. Maximus of Turin wrote:

For when the Savior is washed all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages.  Christ is the first to be baptized, the, so that Christians will follow after him with confidence. (The Liturgy of the Hours: Volume 1, Advent and Christmas Seasons, p.613).

Today, we celebrate how Jesus gave us this wonderful Sacrament of Baptism.  Episcopalians and Anglicans take our Baptism very seriously.  We renew our Baptismal Vows at various times of the year.   Today's Feast, Easter, Pentecost, All Saints and at any service where we celebrate Baptism, Confirmation, the Reception of New Members and we even have a Rite for the Reaffirmation of our Baptismal Vows.  These services can be found in The Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 415 through page 419.

We continue to worship in a Church and live in a society that is divided by titles and labels.  Many titles and labels do carry some truth.  In the case of the Church, we have the four orders of ministry.  Bishops.  Priests.  Deacons.  Laity.  I am a Religious and a Monk in training.  There is a vocation and an identity within those titles and labels.  However, our identity does not begin or end there.  A vocation within the Church and outside of the Church is a path by which God empowers us to walk in the way God marks out for each of us.  A vocation is a means God uses to remake us into the person that God wants us to be; but our end is not in this world.  This is why sometimes it just bothers me to pieces when Church leaders are so eager to push their "authority" claiming it to be a matter of "ministry" or "protection" as a "shepherd."  Human authority even in the Church can make mistakes. Human authority can injure and be destructive to a person's faith if that authority is used carelessly and recklessly.  A clerical mistake in the Name of Christ, is still a mistake.  A mistake in which there should be more accountability by both the Church, its many leaders and its laity.  A Church that refuses to grow out of error, is a Church that stops letting the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth.

When a Christian of any vocation uses the Bible as a means of "authority" on an unsuspecting soul, especially a confused LGBT teen, or questioning adult, the fall out is disastrous to put it kindly. 

In our society at large, we have issues of racism, sexism, heterosexism, gender discrimination, prejudice towards people who are mentally, physically and/or psychologically challenged, the unemployed, the sick, the immigrant, senior citizens, etc.  All of this happens, because we use these labels to determine who benefits at the others expense.  The rich get richer and more powerful; while the middle class becomes poorer.  Those who are sick cannot get adequate health care or Social Security, because the really well off and the powerful control those in political power.  Even Christians sense that we are privileged to the point that we can determine that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Wiccan's and more, just should not be able to have their own opinions or practices apart from ours.  In so doing, we render the Gospel of Jesus Christ powerless, by our asserting our own control.  God, the Holy Spirit is beyond all human control and certainty.  God is greater than our smallness and isolation.  God is God and we are not.

As we celebrate The Baptism of the Lord, we can rejoice as that God has identified us.  When Jesus came up from the River Jordan, God did not say: "You are my Beloved Jew (Christian, etc) with whom I am well pleased."   God also did not say: "You are my Beloved white man."   Nor did God say: "You are my lesbian daughter, and you have no right to love who you love."   No.  In Jesus, God identifies each of us as God's Beloved; with whom God is well-pleased.  Jesus is God's prefect revelation in the Word made Flesh.  Jesus is God's human perfected in our imperfection, uplifted, made Divine and redeemed in Christ.  All of us are also God's Beloved in Christ; and with us God is well-pleased.

Perhaps this week, we can all take some time to meditate, pray and act on that thought.  It just may be the sweetest and most wonderful thing that happens in this New Year of 2015.

Amen.


Prayers

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday After the Epiphany/The Baptism of the Lord.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.214).

Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.  (Prayer for the Church.  The Book of Common Prayer.  p.816).

First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 42:1-9 (NRSV)

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the LORD, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.

Psalm 29 (BCP., p.620).


Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Matthew 3:13-17 (NRSV)

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Blog Reflection

One of the greatest challenges of our times, is to find an appropriate balance.  This is as true in the practice of our religion as it is with any other part of our life.  St. John Cassian in the Second of The Conferences wrote about the importance of the Monastic grace of discretion.  This act of God's favor, helps us to avoid either doing too much or too little.   It is quite possible to pray too much, fast too much and do other things so much so, that we fall out of balance.   Not only our bodies and our minds, but also our spirit.

What does this have to do with today's feast of the Baptism of the Lord?

In our Christian Faith, we stress too much the need to repent and be redeemed from our sins, or we over do not caring enough about what we do, and the consequences we bring upon ourselves.   Much of what we do in either extreme comes from where our heart is, and what we are listening to.  Are we listening too much to our hectic schedules of things to do, places to be; while neglecting to listen deeply to God within our hearts?

This celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, tells us that Jesus listened much more to God within His heart.   When He first came to St. John the Baptist, he says to Jesus: "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"   Jesus' response: "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" tells us that though things were out of order in the deepest degree, God did amazing things at that moment.  God's response to Jesus' obedience to the will of God, was to receive the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God is heard saying: "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."   In an act of total contradiction to how things ought to be, God's power and grace shows through Christ's act of deep humility.  The glory of God is manifested (an Epiphany) in Christ Jesus.

As Episcopalians and Anglicans, we are so blessed that our tradition values the Sacrament of Baptism.   As I was making the decision back in 1994 to move from Protestant Evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism, one of the driving issues for me, was reverence for the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.   When the time came for me to consider a move to The Episcopal Church after my husband Jason and I met, again, I found myself with the greatest concern over respect for the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.   In the Episcopal Church, our Baptism is prefaced with our Baptismal Vows and Covenant found in The Book of Common Prayer on pages 292-294.   It is not enough to be sprinkled with holy water, and given a pretty candle.  There is a recognition of our responsibility to the Sacrament we have shared in.  We are received by faith, and in faith, by God's grace we are empowered to live in the hope and knowledge of salvation.  Our faith is evidenced not so much in our words, but in our response of obedience to the will of God.

As Benedictines, our Vows of Stability, Conversion of Life and Obedience are intimately linked to our Baptismal Vows.  Our life grounded in God, with the commitment to allow the Holy Spirit to change us, by obedience to the will of God in our Superior, is living into our Baptismal Covenant.   Yet, it is important for us to understand that The Rule and all of the things we do, is to help us to search for union with God in a life of continuous prayer.

It is easy for us to focus on the work of striving for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being as an end in itself.  The work of inclusion of LGBTQ people, ending racism, sexism, religious based discrimination, and the many other issues I write about here, are not ends nor are they means to an end.  They are part of deepening our relationship with God, by learning to serve one another out of reverence for Christ, present in all persons.  When Jesus heard the words: "This is my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased" those words were meant for each one of us.   In Christ, we are God's Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Our life of prayer, praise, living with our spouses, our friends, communities, working for a greater equality of all people, is because in Christ, all of us are God's Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

We balance our life of prayer, study, work and leisure as God's Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

In Christ, we are adopted as God's own, and given new life with new possibilities.  If we are to know what those are, we must be listening to God within ourselves, and in Christ as we meet Him in one another.  

Even when we fail to live in obedience to God, God's grace in Christ forgives and redeems us, again and again, because in Christ each of us have been claimed as God's Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Therefore, no violence, bias, oppression or scapegoating is appropriate.  All of us are a sacred space in which God in Christ has chosen to dwell by the power of the Holy Spirit.   We are God's Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Amen.


Prayers

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.214).

Grant, Lord God, to all who have been baptized into the
death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, that, as we
have put away the old life of sin, so we may be renewed in the
spirit of our minds, and live in righteousness and true holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.  (Prayer for All Baptized Christians, Book of Common Prayer, p.252, 253).  

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten
the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen.  (Prayer for the Mission of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p.257).

The First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 43:1-7 (NRSV)

Thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

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 shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my sight,

and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you;

I will say to the north, "Give them up,"

and to the south, "Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from the end of the earth--

everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made."

Psalm 29 (BCP., p.620)


Acts 8:14-17 (NRSV)

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (NRSV)

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Blog Reflection

I would like to begin by pointing out the similarity between the First Sunday after the Epiphany which appears two weeks and five days after Christmas, and Pentecost Sunday.   They are both point us to the Third Person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit.  They also display another comparison that we might want to pay attention to.  They both talk about the intimate connection between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and a defining moment in Salvation History.

The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ appears to be a turning point in the revelation of God.  Jesus who's Epiphany we celebrated last Sunday with the visit of the Magi, now shows another manifestation.   Jesus was no ordinary guy taking a bath.  He was the fulfillment of the promise of God.   Such a fulfillment would not conclude with this revelation of God in Christ. On the contrary, would be one of many narratives of God becoming tangible, while still remaining mysterious.

Though the reading from Isaiah has it's own context and history which should not be disregarded, it does shed some light on Jesus' Baptism and what that would mean for those who would follow in his footsteps.    In the reading, the Second Isaiah is drawing from the historical significance of Israel's redemption through the Red Sea.   He is recognizing that in the midst of hardships and disappointments, we tend to forget that God has acted on our behalf in the past, and is still present now.   Though God is doing something new in the here and now, we need not cling to what is behind us completely, but, we must place our hands in God's and move forward.  We must move forward with God, even though we are approaching what is unfamiliar and what most disturbs us.  Stability in God is about being true to where God is leading us, even if it challenges and/or changes what we have previously understood.

In his sermon on the Baptism of Christ, Saint Maximus of Turin wrote:

I understand the mystery [of Christ's Baptism] as this.  The column of fire went before the people of Israel through the Red Sea so that they could follow their brave journey; the column went first through the waters to prepare a path for those who followed.  As the Apostle Paul said, what was accomplished then was the mystery of Baptism.  Clearly it was Baptism in a certain sense when the cloud was covering the people and bringing them through the water.

But Christ the Lord does all these things:  in the column of fire he went through the sea before the people of Israel; so now, in the column of his body, he goes through Baptism before the Christian people.  At the time of the Exodus the column provided light for the people who followed; now it gives light to the hearts of believers. Then it made a firm pathway through the waters; no it strengthens the footsteps of faith in the bath of Baptism. (Liturgy of the Hours, Volume I, Advent and Christmas Seasons. p.613).  

In the reading from Acts we see an intimate connection between Baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.   From a Sacramental point of view, we can see the relationship between Baptism and Confirmation.   On a spiritual level, the grace of God through the waters of Baptism that cleanses us from sin and makes us part of the family of God, is later Confirmed by that same magnificent grace through the Apostolic ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit.  As is the case in our Baptismal Covenant on page 416 and 417 that grace is bestowed upon us, but not without our own commitment to Christ and the Church, which includes the love of neighbor and striving fore peace and justice among all people, and that we respect the dignity of every human being.   This commitment is not something we take upon our own accord, but we ascent to do so, with God's help.

How do we look to God's help to fulfill our Baptismal Covenant?   How do we love our neighbors and respect the dignity of every human being?

We have witnessed some very powerful events over this past month about how wealth and power are far more important to many, than upholding the dignity of human life.   When it is impressed upon us that it is much more urgent to address the issue of violence on video games, but not reduce the large number of assault weapons and high clip magazines in the hands of those who threaten the well-being of all of us, it is clear that life and dignity are not a priority.   When Christianists continue to use violent rhetoric towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, individuals of different races, classes, cultures and religions, and Christians do not question but accept that kind of thing, our Baptismal Covenant does really mean more than a ritual we do not pay attention to.

As Jesus approached John to be Baptized, the question arises: If Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be Baptized? 

William Barclay in his book: The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke gives us some food for thought. 

For Jesus the emergence of John was God's call to action; and his first step was to identify himself with the people in their search for God.

But in Jesus' Baptism something happened.  Before he could take this tremendous step he had to be shure that he was right; and in the moment of Baptism God spoke to him.  Make no mistake, what happened in the Baptism was an experience personal to Jesus.  The voice of God came to him and told him that he had taken the right decision.  But more--far more--that very same voice mapped out all his course for him.

God said to him, 'You are my beloved Son;  with you I am well pleased'.......The Baptism shows us Jesus asking for God's approval and receiving the destiny of the Cross (p.45,46).

As the Holy Spirit confirms Jesus and the voice of God declares him as God's beloved, and approves and gives him a destiny, so does God do for us.   Like Jesus who has the cross as that destiny, so do we.   The Cross which will call on us to surrender our prejudices and selfishness for God's will in others who are different from ourselves.   In other words, once we are given the destiny of the Cross, we also have the hope of the resurrection; meaning, new life.   A life by which the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed so that She can move on our hearts and the hearts of others to end violence, oppression and the marginalization in society and the Church. 

We are challenged here to recognize others as God's beloved in Christ.  Whether they share our religious point of view or not.  Whether they share our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression or not.  Our race, cultural background, physical/mental challenge, language, wealth status, economic status do not make us any less beloved of God.   If we are to live up to the promise in our Baptismal Covenant, then with God's help we must recognize in all persons, including ourselves, God's beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Amen.


Prayers

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.  (Collect for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, p. 214).


O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).

Monday of the First Week in Lent: Who Do You Go to the Desert With?

Today's Scripture Reading

Mark 1: 1-13 (NRSV)

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And 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. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He 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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And 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. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 

Blog Reflection

Henry J. M. Nouwen in his book, The Wounded Healer writes: "The great illusion of leadership is to think that a man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there" (p. 72).

During this Season of Lent we are being led into our time in the desert, by One who knows all too well what it means to be out there.  Unlike, the scene a couple weeks ago of a group of men testifying before a Congressional House Panel about the dangers of contraception for women, when they have no understanding of the experiences of women; Jesus has actually been in the desert and witnessed the dangers and knows exactly what we are getting into.  He knows what it is to be a Baptized believer set loose in a world of spiritual, physical and psychological challenges.

We can infer from the reading from St. Mark's Gospel, that Jesus' experience of the desert follows the experience of John the Baptist.  Therefore, is it possible that Jesus looked to the experience of his baptizer as his model for going into the desert with complete trust in God?  How else could Jesus have known that it was the Spirit who led him out there, and that there would be angels waiting on him as he faced the wild beasts?

In today's commemoration of the Priest and Preacher George Herbert, the Episcopal Church gives us the Gospel reading of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5: 1-10.  This Gospel reading follows Matthew's account of Jesus' temptation.  How else might Jesus have known that it was the poor in Spirit who would inherit God's reign if he had not faced his own Spiritual poverty and need for God, as he hungered for food, was tempted by the illusion of world domination, and putting God to the test?    

Jesus' experience of his temptation in the wilderness is our model during this Lenten Season.   Jesus knows of what we face, and by God's Holy Spirit, Jesus attends to our needs by the assistance of angels just as they attended to him.  

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer Christians, we are led by the Spirit into the wilderness of a Church and a world where the wild beasts of those afflicted by attitudes and behaviors of prejudice and violence are waiting.  They wait with their erroneous interpretations of Scripture, the untested version of Church Tradition, and a blind understanding of Reason to attempt to harm us.  They would rather stay in their own cocoons where they are protected from a more educated and critical understanding of the Bible, the history of the Church, and the actual experiences of others, through which Reason is applied to a renewed understanding of human sexuality and gender identity/expression. 

At the same time, if we as LGBT Christians do not leave the illusionary world of "by the bars and internet alone will we find love," or of unhealthy and uncontrolled sexual appetites, to allow the Gospel to heal our hurts and forgive ourselves and others; we become only an extreme version of those who hate us, on the our own side of the social and political isle.  We are challenged by the Gospel and the Cross, do to a lot better than that.

The Holy Spirit may be challenging a number of us LGBT Christians to recognize the goodness that exists in our hearts and our desire to share our love with another person physically and romantically.   To do that, we must go with the Spirit into the wilderness where we will face the wild beasts of oppression and prejudice and resist the temptation to respond to them with the same attitudes and biases that feed separation and segregation.  We can go there with Jesus who knew what it was like to be around people in his own country who did not accept him, but loved them any way.  We can look for others who are marginalized and oppressed and become part of the missionary work of showing that God does not hate or reject anyone.  But, welcomes everyone and gives them the opportunity for healing and reconciliation.

This Lent, we are challenged to go in to the desert with Jesus and trust in the Holy Spirit to help us face the wild beasts, and experience being waited on by the angels.  So that we may come to the celebration of Easter as God's risen people, ready and able to do the Apostolic work of new life in Christ in our world.


Prayers

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (First Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).

Our God and King, you called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (George Herbert, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 247).

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for our Enemies, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).    

The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ: We Are God's Beloved

Today's Scripture Readings

Genesis 1: 1-5 (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Mark 1: 4-11 (NRSV)

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And 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. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He 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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And 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. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  

Blog Reflection

What will it take to get Christians to consider what it takes to be authentic?

As I hear the small tidbits of news about the Republican debate in New Hampshire, I am most disturbed by the news that there was an all out attack on LGBT people in the debate exchange.  I am equally concerned that the State of New Hampshire is considering a bill to repeal marriage equality there. 

This whole past year as the debates have unfolded, we have heard rousing cheers at the thought that we just might have to let an unemployed sick person die because they have no health insurance.  "Sometimes that's just how life is" replied one of the candidates.

When Christians become too comfortable with being uncharitable and empathetic towards those who are less fortunate and underprivileged, the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a dead story.   No wonder Bibles get so dusty.

Last year after Creating Change 2011 I chose the description of this blog.  I wanted to connect us to our Baptismal Covenant that we renew on this Baptism of Christ.  I wanted us to think about the last request about striving for justice and peace and respecting the dignity of every human person.  It is so interesting how the word "every" becomes "not you."

While I cannot explain how God reveals God's Self in Christ what I can say with conviction is that I believe it.  I also believe that in the very Person of Jesus Christ is all of humankind interacting with us and God in both prayer and community.  What Christians need to understand is that every human person is represented in the Divine God head and the humanity of Jesus the Christ.  There is no such thing to God as a worthless and unloved person.  Humans and Christians might make it appear that God plays favorites.  That is far from how God sees things.

When Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized, Matthew's Gospel tells us that John said: "It is I who need baptism from you."  John recognizes that standing before him is the one he prophesied about.  Yet, Jesus in his humility recognizes his responsibility to fulfill what God requires of him and that is to be baptized as one who is like all humankind.  In Matthew's Gospel and in Mark, Jesus emerges from the waters of his baptism with the words: "Behold, my beloved in whom I am well pleased."

We are God's beloved and with us God is well pleased.  I have been writing that every year on this Baptism of the Lord and I will continue to write it.  It has to sink in that all of us are God's beloved and with us God is well pleased. 

All of us are broken. Wounded. Marginalized in one way or another.  We all miss the mark and do not quite get it.  On this day everything we are and are not is recognized by God through our Baptism into Christ.  Everything about us both good and not so good is so important to God.  God sees in us God's beloved with whom God is well pleased.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul wrote:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3: 27.28 NRSV).

Does this knowledge of our being beloved of God give us any right or privilege to look down on anyone else who is not quite like us?  No.  Jesus who is God's Incarnate Word through whom all things were made (see John 1: 2,3), humbled himself rather than sought equality with God (see Philippians 2: 5-11).  Jesus saw the beauty and wonder of God's creation in the hearts and souls of all who came to him.

There is no justification for taking away the marriage equality of LGBT people, nor seeking to pass constitutional amendments. 

There is no excuse for being happy about someone dying because they cannot afford health care. 

There is no righteousness in targeting Muslims and Jews and other religions or those who are of no religion at all. 

There is no witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in taking away a woman's options for reproductive health care.

If all of us could only stop for a brief period and remember that all of us are God's beloved with whom God is well pleased; perhaps we would respect and take care of one another better than we do.  The dead Gospel would truly come alive in the world if Christians were to make justice and equality for all people the purpose and mission of our prayers and life.   All of us are connected to each other in God's beloved with whom God is well pleased.  As each of us are God's beloved with whom God is well pleased, so are those without equality, justice and full inclusion in the Church and society.


Prayers

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, page 214).

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, page 818).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, page 823).  

First Sunday After Epiphany: The Baptism of Jesus Christ: In Jesus Christ We are God's Beloved with Whom God is Well-Pleased

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 3:13-17 (NRSV)

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Blog

One of my favorite parts of the Book of Common Prayer has become our Baptismal Covenant.  Found on pages 292 to 293 of the Book of Common Prayer, after we reaffirm our profession of faith in the Apostle's Creed we are asked the following questions.

Will you continue in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

Will you seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?


Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human person?

To all each of these questions we respond with: "I will, with God's Help."

And then it is completed with the following prayer:

May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and bestow upon us the forgiveness of our sins, keep us in eternal life by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Among the many big tensions among Christians have been the difference between being chosen vs. elected.  The Calvinists started by John Calvin claimed that some individuals are elected by God as "predestined" for salvation.  The Weslyans whose work is claimed by John Wesley who started the Methodists have preferred the word "chosen" meaning that all who are saved through the death and resurrection of Christ are among God's chosen.   The Out in Scripture commentary for The Baptism of Jesus Christ offers some thoughts on this matter.  

Through the ages scholars have surmised the identity of the servant in Isaiah 42:1-9. Two interpretations have emerged; one identifies the servant with a heroic individual, and the other with the collective Israel. Contemporary readers, inclined toward the latter interpretation, might substitute the collective Israel with the LGBT communities of our respective contexts. We might ask then with Israel, how do we understand ourselves as chosen by God, as delight to God’s being (the Hebrew nephesh has a more wholistic meaning than the translation “soul” suggests) and endowed with God’s spirit (Isaiah 42: 1)?

There is much joy in this passage, joy found in struggle. A female-identified God takes a female “you” by the hand (verse 6). Gender boundaries have become fluid.  The goal of the struggle, namely to “establish justice on the earth” is all that counts — justice for all everywhere (verse 4). Such a universal promise offers hope, even though some might find God’s impartiality (see also Acts 10:34) hard to bear because it means that God is impartial to LGBT people as well. There clearly remains a tension between God’s universal promise and God’s choosing a particular people.

Chosenness has long been understood as entitlement that has resulted in violence and terror for many. What would it mean if we instead understood chosenness as belovedness? Such theology offers rich possibilities as it takes the emphasis away from the supposed qualities of those who are loved and emphasizes instead the gracious gift of love itself.  Still the idea of choseness raises serious questions as to who is left out of choice and left out of love. The Isaiah passage adds an important criterion: the bringing of justice – leading us to claim that if we love, we make justice.  Feeling loved leads to more self-esteem and consequently a better ability to act justly and to extend love beyond the confines of a chosen few.

Among the remarks that I appreciate from this commentary is those that express concern about the notion that being "chosen" allows a sense of privilege for some to marginalize and justify cruelty to others.  Even without adding the issue of religion with in the debate about health care reform, we can certainly see an attitude of corporate and political greed on behalf of those who are healthy and wealthy vs those who are unhealthy or challenged and middle class or poor.  The Health Care Reform, the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and the President last year gave a great degree of hope to so many people who are sick and struggling.  The news that the new Congress wants to repeal it, brings attitudes of fear and concern for those who are sick and in need of help from some where.  What has truly been troubling me is how those who interpret the Bible and the U.S. Constitution selfishly and literally justify their efforts to leave the sick and the poor with little or no hope to get help to get off ground zero and begin to live independently.  This hardly reflects a mindset of "loving our neighbor as ourselves."  To add more insult to injury, this past week at least two individuals died late last year because of Arizona's law taking away the opportunity for organ transplants. 

As more States work to provide marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the Minnesota Family Council and the Family Research Council work to further marginalize LGBT people by offering classes to help Minnesota's new Republican Legislature to work to put a Constitutional Amendment against same-sex marriage on the ballot for 2012.   Not only do conservative Christians continue to discriminate against LGBT individuals, they justify it by their interpretations of the Bible, however erroneous they are.

The difference in thinking here is the distance between believing that certain Christians or individuals are "elected" or even "chosen" vs that all of God's children are beloved in Jesus Christ and with us God is well-pleased.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians that we were in fact "destined for adoption as God's children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of God's will, to the praise of God's glorious grace that God freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6).

In today's reading from the New Testament we read:

Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

In his book: Gay Unions: In the Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason, the Rev. Canon Gray Temple writes:

1. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin.

Where?  The sentence, "Homosexuality is a sin" does not occur in the Bible, neither does the word "homosexuality"-- for reasons explained earlier.  The Bible does not recognize anything as abstract as "homosexuality."  It simply condemns specific actions that our gay sisters and brothers don't contemplate.

The Bible condemns several things that we no longer consider sinful.  The Bible considers lending money at interest a violation of God's commandment and (in Ezek, 18:13) an abomination.  The same with eating shrimp or weasels.  On what basis do we privilege one set of prohibitions over others?  In no debate in which I've taken part has any opponent answered those questions.  All too often their importance goes unrecognized.  (Page 138-139).

Out in Scripture concludes their commentary for this Feast with the following remarks.

The gifts of the spirit of God and divine love are the ritual outcomes of Jesus’ baptism. As a result we too become agents of God’s spirit, mercy and justice in the world – part of the baptismal covenant we often don’t remember. What difference does our lives of faith look like when we truly live our baptismal covenants?

As baptized LGBT people of faith, we are called not to shrink from our baptismal covenant.  Even though there are those who attempt to push us outside the community, we are the community of the baptized, we are beloved.  Our baptisms call us to work for opening up the blessings of baptism for all within Christ’s body.  Such blessings, it seems, include marriage and ordination for LGBT people who are called to, but denied these rites.  At the same time, we are called to look beyond our own chosen community to live in love and justice with God’s children of all religions and faiths.

As LGBT individuals we are among God's Beloved with whom God is well-pleased.  The love we have for ourselves with all our sexual and gender diversity, our significant others, our friends, families and even those who fight against our equal rights shows that God is very much at work in and through us.  The reason that conservatives are becoming so much more arrogant about stopping us from gaining ground, is because we have been advancing.  At the end of the lame-duck session of Congress we finally repealed even if only legislatively the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.  This significant victory for the LGBT communities tells us and those opposed to our efforts that more and more people are accepting of us and our relationships as alternatives.  And that having alternatives is not so awful as some previously thought.  We have advanced the idea that respect for diversity is within the reach of humankind, and even the most obstinate of thinkers.  What we are also finding out is that with every step forward we take, there are those within the Church and society who just are not happy with themselves unless they work to bring happy people down to their level.

As God's Beloved with whom God is well-pleased in Christ, we have been asked: "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human person?"  If we answer truthfully: "We will, with God's help" then we must be prepared to recognize within ourselves, our own obstacles of prejudice and ill feeling towards others unlike ourselves.   That is very difficult.  Even LGBT individuals whether they are believing Christians, or unbelievers in any religion have some ideal about how others ought to be more like how we are, think of behave.  The fact is, God has created and redeemed within all humankind through Christ, a beautiful garden of all kinds of colors, races, religions, sexual orientations, genders, gender identities/expressions, cultures, abilities/challenges, languages and classes that need to be respected and helped if God's garden is to grow and bloom.   Through our Baptismal Covenant, God has called all of us to acknowledge and participate in God's creative and redemptive work of grace, so that what started as a huge bag of different seeds, will bloom and grow into a beautiful and diverse people of inclusion, diversity and opportunity for all God's people.  Amen.

Diane Butler Bass author of the book: Christianity for the Rest of Us wrote a blog about mentioning the tragic assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford in Tuscon, Arizona yesterday.

Sunday January 9 is the day on which many Christians celebrate the Baptism of Jesus: "When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.'"  Jesus' baptism in water symbolizes life, the newness that comes of cleansing.  But there is a darker symbol of baptism in American history: that of blood.  In 1862, Episcopal bishop Stephen Elliot of Georgia said, "All nations which come into existence . . . must be born amid the storm of revolution and must win their way to a place in history through the baptism of blood."  Baptism as water?  Baptism as blood?  Baptism accompanied by a dove or baptism accompanied by the storm of revolution?

American Christianity is deeply conflicted, caught between two powerful symbols of baptism, symbols that haunt our political sub-consciousness.  To which baptism are we called?  Which baptism does the world most need today?  Which baptism truly heals?  Do we need the water of God, or the blood of a nine-year old laying on a street in Tucson?  The answer is profoundly and simply obvious.  We need redemption gushing from the rivers of God's love, not that of blood-soaked sidewalks. 

If we don't speak for the soul, our silence will surely aid evil.  

 

Prayers

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday After the Epiphany. The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, Book of Common Prayer, page 214).


O Brother Jesus, who in your baptism
         left us a sign of your love and acceptance.
    Grant we beseech you, so to honor your calling,
        that we may ever perceive our own preciousness in your eyes
        and be moved to share the pain of those on the margins,
        that we may in all of life promote
        the dignity and freedom of every human being.
    In your Holy Name we pray. Amen. (Prayerfully Out in Scripture).