Immersed in Righteousness
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For January 8, 2023:
Immersed in Righteousness
by Chris Keating
Matthew 3:13-17
John’s eyes widen at the sight of his cousin standing in the long and growing line. The line snaked up and around the banks of the Jordan, moving steadily toward the river. Compelled by the urgency of his message of repentance, throngs made their way to be baptized. He has warned them that the one who is coming will bring a baptism of fire and the Spirit — and now he’s arrived.
Suddenly, John is faced with a surprising dilemma: Why should Jesus be baptized? He realizes that Jesus is going to offer something that surpasses anything John can administer. Moreover, why on earth would one without sin need a baptism for the repentance for sin? None of this makes much sense.
Within these four verses, Matthew offers a compact scene that raises the theological thesis of his unfolding gospel story. Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness — not only the forgiveness of individual sins, but also the redemption of all creation. Jesus stands in solidarity with those yearning for forgiveness, but he also comes to fulfill a broader, more expansive righteousness.
Clearly, this will be no ordinary baptism.
But when are baptisms ever ordinary? Clearly it was no ordinary baptism when fourteen South Africans drowned during a river baptism last month. Earlier last year, a Phoenix priest admitted that he had used the wrong words during thousands of baptisms — sacraments that the Catholic church now calls invalid.
Pastors, of course, are no strangers to the dilemmas surrounding baptism. Frantic grandparents call late on a Saturday night wondering if the pastor could “do the baby” tomorrow morning before their kids fly home. Another family asks if the baptism could happen on a Wednesday night in their living room. Others get irritated when they ask the newly ordained pastor, a woman, if she would mind if they asked the ancient pastor emeritus, a man, to baptize their nephew. “You’ll just ruin the whole experience,” they snap. The sacrament quickly becomes reduced to a commodity designed to meet individual needs.
While the story of Jesus’ baptism is not a template for our own, his willingness to be immersed in the grimy waters of humanity is a reminder that baptism is more than an individual moment of personal spiritual clarity. It’s our initiation into the household of God.
In the News
If ordinary baptisms cause headaches, then it’s no surprise that Jesus waits among the crowds, a sign of the higher righteousness that Matthew will highlight throughout the gospel. It’s a clear indication that his ministry, his life, and all that he will proclaim will be deeply connected to community. He stands in solidarity with saints and sinners. The waters of this baptism will ripple outward in broad arcs.
It’s a reminder, says Thomas Long, that Jesus’ baptism is “a symbol of his total involvement in the human condition.” (Long, Matthew, p. 33). But this may be a sticking point for those who prefer religion and faith to be a buffet line of personal choices. Those who have worshiped at the high altar of rugged individualism will be challenged by Jesus’ call to community.
We saw this in the early days of the pandemic. Robin Nelson notes how the pandemic both tore apart our natural inclinations to remain gathered in groups while also exposing the weaknesses of hyper-individualism. She notes that communities that were invested in “social safety nets” such as paid sick leave and vaccine education, were more adept at handling the pandemic and lowering loss of life.
Meanwhile, says Nelson, many communities within the United States saw a more inconsistent response that bore the hallmark signs of cultural myths such as individualism and dehumanization of other persons. “As a result, even though we now know how the virus spreads and causes disease and we have effective vaccines against it, the death toll from Covid is higher in the US than anywhere else.”
Similarly, conservative pushback against the recently passed Respect for Marriage law has been focused on the perception that individual religious liberty was under attack. Even though the bill confirms that religious groups would not be required to perform same sex marriages, opponents saw it as a an affront to “biblical definitions of marriage.” Groups see the bipartisan bill as part of a larger “threat” to religious freedom in America.
Jesus’ baptism remains a sign of God’s standing in our midst. Jesus shows up, knee deep in a large, messy, interconnected grace-filled pool of community. It’s just how God knits together community.
Last week, during the historic blizzard that impacted millions, 27-year-old Jay Withey of Kenmore, NY, found himself stuck in snow covered roads and dangerous temperatures. After knocking on more than a dozen doors pleading for sanctuary, Withey resigned himself to spending the night inside his truck. Along with his traveling companion and a woman they found stranded, the three hunkered down inside the vehicle while outside temps plummeted. By morning, Withey knew they needed to find warmth, water, and food.
“I look on a map on my phone, and I see there’s a school nearby,” Withey, said in an interview with The Washington Post. He told the woman: “I’m breaking into that school. I know there’s heat in there, I know there’s a bathroom, and I bet there is food.”
Withey’s decision to create this impromptu family may have saved dozens of lives. After breaking into the school, he returned to the streets searching for others who were lost. “My mission was just to keep going out and grabbing as many people as I can and to just keep going,” Withey said. “I just kept walking, and I walked until I cried and I couldn’t walk any further. I was just beat.”
Inside the school, he found blankets and made Christmas dinner from school pizza. The group stayed about 24 hours until it was safe to leave. Before he left, Withey penned a quick note apologizing for breaking into the building — but also borrowed the school’s snowblower so he could clear a path for the group. Bonded by tragedy, the group pledged to meet again for a party.
In the Scripture
While each of the Gospels narrate Jesus’ baptism, Matthew’s account is dripping with details unique to his gospel focus. Matthew has set the scene by introducing John and his milieu. “In those days,” Matthew begins, tipping the hat to the kairos of the moment. Something important is about to happen, and Matthew’s audience is summoned to full attention. The sense of anticipation continues to build with John’s introduction and character description. There is a deepening sense of the moment’s prophetic impact.
Unique to Matthew is the conversation between Jesus and John. Immediately John recognizes Jesus. A pit grows inside of John’s stomach, and he knows it is more than just the locusts and honey he had for lunch. But Jesus intercepts his move to prevent him from being baptized, reminding John that “ it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
It’s a stunning moment that raises all sorts of theological questions. If John’s baptism is for repentance, then why is Jesus repenting? Moreover, what exactly does he mean about fulfilling “all righteousness?”
Matthew is showing his theological hand. Righteousness, a common theme to which he will return, is the centerpiece of Jesus’ first words in the gospel. Fulfilling righteousness, scholars note, seems to explicitly link Jesus to Old Testament prophesies describing God’s desire to restore the world. Stanley Saunders (Connections, Year A, Vol.1, p.174) underscores Matthew’s intentions. “Whereas modern audience may think of righteousness primarily in terms of individual moral conduct, in Matthew, righteousness is focused on restoration and relationships made whole.”
Thirdly, Matthew changes Mark and Luke’s wording of God’s affirmation of Jesus’ identity. In the other gospels, God declares “You are my beloved Son,” where Matthew offers, “This is my beloved Son.” These words, repeated on the Mountain of Transfiguration, echo Psalm 27, and are the heavenly affirmation of Jesus’ authority. But that authority, it seems, is also connected to his humbling of himself to John’s baptism.
Standing with his toes in the river, Jesus seems to be saying to John, “Let’s get on with this work of building community.”
In the Sermon
Is baptism in trouble?
For one thing, the religious diversity of our churches means that even within denominations there is likely to be tensions and confusion about the sacrament’s meaning. And, despite decades of ecumenical progress, the larger Christian family remains painfully divided over the meaning and mechanism of baptism. Added to this is the overall decline of church membership, which results in fewer baptisms. No doubt many congregations have layers of dust accumulating around their baptismal fonts.
Perhaps this Sunday offers a chance for the preacher to rehydrate the congregation’s awareness of baptism. Rehearsing Martin Luther’s motivational “I too have been baptized,” provides one opportunity, but the texts this week are dripping with possibilities of deepening the congregation’s understanding of the implications of Jesus’ baptism as well as our own.
Thomas Long notes that there exists in Matthew 3 a rudimentary template for understanding the rites of Christian baptism. There are clear Trinitarian implications, allusions to the Old Testament, and a linking to Jesus’ pathway of ministry. Jesus rises out of the water commissioned to be God’s agent in the world, building a community of discipleship and faith.
Jesus’ baptism, set against the rugged backdrop of wilderness, acknowledges his role in standing with both the religious elites who have come seeking John’s baptism, as well as scores of brokenhearted, marginalized, fractured men and women. No surprise then that God would acknowledge and affirm Jesus as the beloved Son — for in Christ, God was at work repairing and renewing the world.
There are plenty of images that the preacher can link to this text. Here on the threshold of a new year, many congregations are engaging in the sorts of housekeeping duties required by communities — setting budgets, installing new officers, exploring new priorities. How are these congregational acts informed by the communal nature of what God is doing in baptism? How does our call to mission reflect our understanding that we have been united to Christ?
More precisely: how does our understanding of Jesus’ baptism inform our ethics and testimony in a world that is more individualistic than communal, more concerned with the needs of few than the welfare of many?
Several years ago, a new member in our church called me and said he would like to be baptized. It caught me off guard as typically we discuss this at the time families join the church. I checked to make sure that he wasn’t asking if he needed to be rebaptized. “My family went to several different churches when I was growing up,” he told me, “But I just found out they had never had me baptized.”
Adult baptisms are almost always moments filled with emotion, and this was no exception. I had promised him that I had no intention of carrying him on my shoulder to introduce him to the congregation. But I also let him know that in seeking to be baptized he was affirming his unique role within the community — and the community’s unique commitment to him as well.
On Monday, Greg emailed me a short note. He told me something to the effect that he was travelling for business. He said flying generally created intense waves of anxiety for him, but that as he settled into the airplane he thought, “I’m baptized. I matter to God, and am part of a community that cares for me. For the first time in my life, I know I’ve found my community.”
Baptism holds moments of great personal meaning, but they are also reminders of the mission we are called to undertake in Jesus’ name. That is the witness we are called to offer this Baptism of the Lord Sunday.
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SECOND THOUGHTS
Level Playing Field?
by Tom Willadsen
Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17; Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29
In the Scriptures
The Lord is doing a lot of speaking in today’s lessons.
Psalm 29 extols the power of the Lord’s voice. It recalls Creation, “the voice of the Lord is over the waters,” cf. Genesis 1:2. The parallels between the voice of the Lord and the Spirit are everywhere. Many parts of the United States have recently witnessed the destructive power of wind, as blizzards forced many churches to cancel in person worship the weekend of Christmas.
In the Isaiah lesson the servant described in the first portion of the reading is gentle and mild. In the second half of the reading the chosen people are depicted as a covenant people, or the people themselves are the covenant. The Hebrew is ambiguous, in a good way. The covenant of the Lord and the covenant people are the workers, doers and bringers of justice. The voice/Spirit of the Lord makes all of that happen. Imagine the impact of this bit of prophecy on the people during the exile in Babylon!
Today’s Acts passage is one of very few references outside the gospels to Jesus’ baptism by John. There is a strong emphasis on the universal nature of Christ’s message, “but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:35, NRSV) This is a turning point in the history of the Christian church, and the basis of this turning point in the turning point that was Jesus’ baptism. It is clear that Jesus’ baptism was the inaugural moment of his ministry.
In today’s gospel lesson, the heavens opened and a voice from thence said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” It is not clear whether those gathered at the Jordan with Jesus and John heard those words. They are a clear indication to the reader that something of central importance has happened. Yet it’s curious, if John’s baptism was for those confessing their sins (Matthew 3:6), why did Jesus, who was without sin, need to be baptized? Clearly we need to find an additional metaphor for baptism: Cleansing is good, but cleansing alone is insufficient in this case. When John raises a concern about his baptizing of Jesus, Jesus replies, “It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) Tying Jesus’ baptism to the Isaiah passage about the creation of a people of/for the Covenant places Jesus’ baptism as a communal act. His baptism was on behalf of the people, not a settling of his personal “sin account.”
In the News
The former President’s tax returns were released just before the turn of the year. The blogosphere has begun parsing them, spinning narratives, stoking outrage. Is anyone paying attention? It seems the former President’s greatest gift is delaying any kind of cooperation with civil authorities; his delaying tactics are bigger news, and frankly usually more interesting, than the information he conceals.
The blizzard that hit the eastern two thirds of the United States gave way to unseasonably mild weather and rapid melting of snow. Atmospheric rivers, however, have queued up off the coast of California and have pummeled drought-stricken parts of the Mountain West with historic snowfalls and flooding at lower elevations.
The new Congress has been sworn in. Republicans hold a razor thin majority in the House of Representatives; the Democrats’ razor thin margin in the Senate grew by an angstrom with the re-election of Senator Warnock in Georgia. At this writing it is unclear whether Congressman-elect George Santos, R-NY, will be seated. He lied about his credentials and background repeatedly while campaigning, but apparently lying on the campaign trail isn’t illegal. He is being investigated by authorities in New York State, and can expect to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee if he is sworn in.
Performance artist Laurie Anderson famously crooned “Language is a virus,” which is a fascinating metaphor. Viruses are not alive until they come to life in a host, then they can mutate in surprising, unexpected ways. Language is also always changing, mutating, and evolving. Miriam-Webster’s Words at Play website declared “gaslighting” the Word of the Year for 2022. Lookups of gaslighting to their website increased 1,740% in 2022. Miriam-Webster defines gaslighting in part as “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts….” In a world where disinformation and fake news are rapidly spread over social media — and studies shows that lies travel much faster than the truth through the blogosphere — gaslighting is a good way to understand our growing, societal distrust of news and news sources.
The words we use matter. The meanings of words change over time, sometimes dramatically and unexpectedly. Some gender-nonconforming people embrace being “queer” — others shun it as pejorative and hurtful. Language is, indeed, a virus. Lots of viruses.
2022 may be remembered for the resurgence of book banning in the United States. Many communities feared Critical Race Theory and though few could define it, used that fear to ban books that might make children, and let’s be honest, white children, uncomfortable about how other groups have struggled in earlier eras of American history. Slavery, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights Movement, all historical facts that might make white kids feel bad that others suffered as they never had to. Such discussions raise the specter of White Privilege, a term that makes white people immediately defensive, and makes us unable to hear the struggles of people who experience the United States in profoundly different ways. Can’t we all just get along? Of course we can, as soon as you stop accusing me of having privilege.
In the Sermon
Peter boldly proclaims that God shows no partiality. The peace offered through the teaching, healing, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is available to, and intended for, everyone. Everyone. Every day in classrooms across the United States students declare that our nation offers “liberty and justice for all.” While this is an ideal to strive for, it is hardly the lived experience of many of our citizens. I, for example, never had to instruct my sons how to behave in the presence of a police officer. All my encounters with the police through my 58 years have been civil and respectful. Why should I expect my white teenaged boys to have a different experience?
I have wrestled with the concept of White Privilege for years. I confess I was initially enraged by the term. I worked for my SAT scores and bachelor’s degree! No one handed me anything. How dare you?
Discovering that I did not experience society in the same way as people who sat next to me in class was eye-opening. I felt like a fish who finally realized he’d been in water all his life. Once I started noticing my privilege I started seeing it more frequently. The best, most concise definition I heard for White Privilege is “things I don’t have to think about.” Quick — name some things you don’t have to think about! That’s why it’s hard to see.
I found this on Facebook, so I know it’s true:
Peter told those attending Cornelius’s baptism that in Christ God shows no partiality. If we are going to follow Christ faithfully, we must also show no partiality, which begins by recognizing how our culture has favored us for generations. The level playing field we were led to believe in has been tilted in our favor, to the detriment of many other people, other kinds of people. Now’s the time to work to make things impartial. For everyone.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Acts 10:34-43
New Glasses
In Acts, Peter is making the case that the people of God can expand the circle to include people they think don’t belong. Anne Lamott recalls (in an interview with Tim Ferriss): “There was a guy who helped AA get started, who was not himself an alcoholic.” And he said to Bill Wilson, “Sometimes I think that Heaven is just a new pair of glasses.”
Lamott adds, “I think about that almost every day, because I can either have the glasses on that are like x-ray glasses, where I can just see everything that’s wrong with almost everything, really. Because I’m good at that. I’ve made a career of it. Or I can put on the glasses where I feel a lot of compassion for everybody. And I see how hard they’re trying. And I see that they got dealt a really shitty hand of cards and that they played it the very best they could. And I see with the better pair of glasses how much beauty is all around me. It blows me away. And it makes me free and it makes my life much more expansive. But I need to remember it, and the way I remember is to pray to have the good pair of glasses on.”
In Acts, we’re seeing Peter and the followers of Jesus put on new glasses.
* * *
Isaiah 42:1-9, Acts 10:34-43
Doing a New Thing
“The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare,” God says, through the prophet Isaiah. In Acts, Peter also announces a new way of being the people of God.
Where does the “new thing” begin, futurist Jane McGonigal wonders. She often asks groups of people the question, “When does the future start?”
She adds, “A person’s answer tells me something important about their state of mind. A shorter answer — less than five years — means they are either very sensitive to change, or open to it, or smack in the middle of change happening right now. An unusually long answer — like forty, fifty, or even one hundred years — suggests a number of things: Someone might feel stuck and frustrated with the pace of change in society or their life so that they can’t realistically imagine dramatic change anytime soon, perhaps not even in their lifetime. Or they might be a very patient person with a lot of grit and determination, planning for a very long road ahead. Or perhaps they see no need for major change and are happy for things to stay the same for as long as possible.”
She notes that ten years is the horizon for substantial social change.
“To consider just a few examples, it took, give or take a few months: ten years for the civil rights movement against racial segregation in the United States to go from its first boycott of segregated bus seating to the successful passage of the federal Civil Rights Act (1955–1964) ten years for the first international economic sanctions against South Africa’s segregationist apartheid system to lead to a new constitution that enfranchised Black South Africans and other racial groups (1985–1996) ten years for same-sex marriage to go from being considered controversial when it was legalized by a country for the first time (the Netherlands) to being supported in global surveys by a majority of people in a majority of countries (2001–2010).
And it took ten years from the first iPhone release until a majority of people on the planet had smartphones, creating a new era of always-on communication (2007–2017) ten years for Facebook to go from one user to one billion daily users, on its way to becoming the first product used by more than one in three humans on the planet (2004–2015) ten years for Bitcoin to go from being a hypothetical idea discussed in a scientific article to having a nearly US $1 trillion market capitalization.”
God’s new thing may be in our midst right now.
(From Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything — Even Things That Seem Impossible Today by Jane McGonigal.)
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Isaiah 42:1-9
Humble Servants
The world is coming around to the prophet Isaiah’s view of leadership. Harvard professor Amy Edmondson says that the ideal leader is much like the servant that Isaiah describes. “Many leaders balk at the idea of being humble, because they think, ‘Hey, I’m in charge here; I’ve got expertise and wisdom, so it seems inauthentic for me to be humble.’ That’s why I use the term ‘situational humility.’ The term reminds us that a truly wise person knows that they must be humble at least some of the time, depending on the situation. For instance, in situations we haven’t faced before — and there are more of them than ever before — we simply cannot have all the answers…In this environment, if you’re not appropriately humble about what could go wrong or how you might fail, you’re not being realistic. So, situational humility is actually realism.” She adds that leaders also need the skill of humble listening, “a stance that says, ‘When I’m listening, I am truly listening’. I’m not listening to see where you’ve got it wrong or why my idea is better; I’m listening with a stance of genuine curiosity, interest and absorption…”
We can all start small with these phrases: “I don’t know.” “I need help.” “I made a mistake.”
As Isaiah says, speaking of God’s plans, “New things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”
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Isaiah 42:1-9
Invisible Service
The prophet Isaiah speaks about those who serve God’s purposes, saying, “I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you.” The servant will not cry or lift up their voice, or even be heard in the street, and yet is faithful to God’s calling.
In that spirit, one of America’s greatest editors is completely invisible. Author Wendell Berry is famous for putting down roots in rural Henry County, Kentucky, and his partner in farming and his editor is his wife, Tanya Berry. Over their decades on the farm, “she has honed skills in farm work and the domestic arts, while serving as perhaps the most important fiction editor almost no one has heard of, married to one of the most important American writers almost everyone knows. All this started more than a half-century ago with her leap of faith that an artsy city kid could learn, from scratch, what was needed to make a farm home. She grew up mostly in California, moving around often, and the early years of their marriage took them from Kentucky back to California, then to Europe and New York — part of what she once assumed would be a cosmopolitan life with a writer and academic. But Wendell wanted to go home, and Tanya wanted to put down roots somewhere. “He needed to be home, and I was flexible because I didn’t belong anywhere in particular. So, I took this on with him,” she says.
Her insights are woven into his writing. “Wendell writes in longhand, with a pencil. With his short stories and novels, he reads aloud a first draft to Tanya for immediate feedback, and then goes back to work. From the handwritten pages, she types a draft on her Royal Standard, adding another round of editing. That’s followed by revised drafts until a manuscript is ready for the publisher.”
The people bringing God’s wisdom into the world may be unseen to us, and yet part of God’s delight.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Matthew 3:13-17
This text introduces baptism in the Christian context. One might expect that such an introduction would render discussion as to meaning mute. But, alas, that is not the case. The following illustrations touch on several different aspects of the sacrament.
* * *
Adoption (Through baptism we are adopted into the family of the church.)
A colleague of mine has two children, a brother and sister, that he and his wife adopted as toddlers from China.
The adoption process was long, difficult and tedious. They had to go to China twice. They visited several orphanages. They discovered which petty officials had to be schmoozed and which ones had to be flattered. They brought gifts to the nurses and the children.
Then, one day, the head of the orphanage they had chosen told them it was time to choose which child they were going to adopt. They already knew which ones they wanted, of course, but when they tell their children the story it goes like this:
“We came into the orphanage and there were so many wonderful children there. There were big boys and girls, and there were little boys and girls. There were pretty looking children and funny looking children. There were fat children and skinny children and happy children and sad children and there right in the middle of the room we saw these two children standing together.
“One was a boy and one was a girl and the nurse told us that they were a brother and sister. And, oh, they were the most wonderful, most beautiful, most marvelous, smartest, kindest, best children we had ever seen, not just in that orphanage, but in the whole wide world. And you know what?”
And then, as if on cue, the kids say: “It was us!”
“Yes, it was you!”
“And you chose us!”
“That’s right! We chose you!”
Those parents never tire of telling that story and their children never tire of hearing it. And woe to the parent who changes even a comma in the telling.
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Introduction (Baptism is the introduction of the baptized one to the church family.)
Few things in life can take the air out of the room like a bad or poorly delivered introduction of a speaker. If you get tapped to make an introduction, here are a few things that toastmasters says to avoid.
Rebirth (Baptism is sometimes seen as a rebirth into a new or different phase of one’s life.)
These four famous people all failed but gave themselves permission to try again.
Albert Einstein: Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow, and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He went on to win the Nobel Prize and changed the face of modern physics.
Thomas Edison: Teachers told Edison he was "too stupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.
Michael Jordan: He was cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn't let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Babe Ruth: You probably know Babe Ruth because of his home run record (714 during his career), but along with all those home runs came a pretty hefty amount of strikeouts as well (1,330 in all). In fact, for decades he held the record for strikeouts. When asked about this he simply said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
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Acts 10:34-43
Peter was slow to come around to the idea that the way of Jesus could include gentiles. But he received a vision that took him to the home of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who changed his mind. In this passage, Peter preaches a sermon of inclusivity to the friends, family, and household of the Centurion.
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Diversity And Inclusion
The website for the National Catholic Board for Full Inclusion tells stories of students who have been fully included in school activities despite their disabilities and how that inclusion has affected them and the students who included them.
Raymond, a student with a developmental disability, attends Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School, Scottsdale, AZ. His mother submitted this story:
Our son Raymond is in the sixth grade and about to enter the 7th at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School. This year, when baseball season began, we were excited for Raymond to join the team but we realized how complicated it could be. He’s not a good catcher, he does throw well, but likely wouldn’t be able to get a hit. We let all the “What Ifs” start to pile up. We spoke with the coach — an amazing mom with 4 kids — who said: “Please let him play. I will make it work.”
Our son was ecstatic to be a part of the team!
There were bumps along the way, to be sure — but way too many good ones that we would have missed had we refused! One of the brightest moments came when my son got up to bat at St. Thomas the Apostle School. He got a good solid hit… right to a player, who then slowly dropped the ball, allowing my son to get on base!
When Raymond’s mother thanked the coach for arranging the “fumble” so Raymond could get on base, the coach told her that the fumble wasn’t planned. It was a spontaneous act of charity by the 6th grade ballplayer so Raymond could get on base.
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We Dine Together
Every day in the United States and around the world, when the lunch bell rings at school, kids in over 10,000 schools spread out through the lunch room or area with one mission in mind: to find other kids who are eating alone and make them feel welcome and included.
These outgoing kids are part of a movement called We Dine Together, founded by Denis Estimon and featured on the CBS News series Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman along with his daughter, Meryl, and son, Emmet.
When Denis Estimon immigrated to the United States from Haiti with his family, he felt isolated and left out at school. He was in the first grade and English was his second language, one with which he was only passingly familiar. He was painfully lonely and he determined that, once he was able to overcome his isolation and loneliness, he would work to make sure other kids didn’t feel the same way he did.
Today, Denis is known as the founder and leader of We Dine Together to Be Strong, an international organization which, according to their website, “Aims to provide a proactive and comprehensive solution to schools + communities. We Dine Together is our catalyst-for-change initiative in schools. We believe lasting relationships and impact happen over the table. Each We Dine Together family is led by a Be Strong Student State Representative — leading change monthly in four key areas: Resilience Training, Acts of Kindness, Advocacy and Awareness — all while maintaining our mission, so no one eats alone.”
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The First Converts To Christianity
In the Great Commission Jesus commands his disciples to go into the world (not the synagogue or temple) and make disciples, baptizing them. He makes no distinctions about the race, gender, nationality, heredity, background, politics, or personal habits of those who are to baptized, only that they be disciples.
In fact, according to the book of Acts, the first two converts to the Jesus Movement were gentiles, and pretty sketchy ones by the Jewish standards of that time.
One was an Ethiopian (African) eunuch, a gentile man who was genitally mutilated, probably as a child or youth. If his race didn’t exclude him from entering the Temple, certainly his mutilation would have. He was, by first-century Jewish standards, unacceptable.
The other was also a gentile, a leader in the hated army of the oppressors, a Roman Centurion. As a centurion his responsibilities would have included enforcing Roman law, seeing to it that Roman taxes were collected, and keeping the peace. He was an officer in the army with authority over 100 soldiers whose job it was to assist him in keeping the peace. In modern terms, he was a cop.
And, yet, these were among, if not the first, converts to Christianity. With them, Luke makes a convincing case for inclusion and diversity in the Christian church.
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From team member Katy Stenta:
Matthew 3:13-17
Bathing Community
Bathing used to be a communal act. It is only in recent history that we bathe and shower separately. This means that baptism, as a ritual bathing, would have been understood to be intrinsically communal in nature. Jesus was baptized in the water, but this was after John was baptizing a set of people. Thus, when we baptize babies, we are not only baptizing them into a community, but we are calling to mind the communal act of baptism, which carried deep roots with it in the history of bathing.
* * *
Isaiah 42:1-9
Voice of Justice
The voice of justice can be bruised but never broken. In an era of banned books, Queer repression, expansion of police and brutality against People of Color and the subjugation of women’s rights — this is the good news. God, the one who created all things, promised that we are created for covenant and righteousness. And in the end, those who cannot see will see and all those imprisoned will be freed. The new things God declares will be more just, more righteous, more freed from the chains of imprisonment. The promise of the prophet is the Kingdom breaking into our time and place, showing us the world as it can be. Thus it is promised to us that our imaginings of justice are not in vain, but instead are a holy act. Thanks be to God.
* * *
Acts 10:34-43
No Nation Under God
Just because nations or people have different experiences, does not mean that God favors one over another. We may be a family, but there is no favorite child. We are simply treated differently because God respects our uniqueness and individuality. This is true even for communities — God does not reveal Godself exactly the same way for every culture. This, in fact, is a strong argument for translating the Bible into local languages. This variety of interpretation allows us to glimpse more of God in God’s complexity, not less. We are not meant to hold judgement over one another, to say who does and does not belong to the Kingdom of God, or in church. Too often we want everyone to look, act, and be the same, when the truth is God cherishes our complexity. Humans are complex, because God is complex. Are we not made in God’s image? Thus, Jesus reached out to the most forgotten, eating and drinking with us, and reminding us that God plays no favorites, but loves us all.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Let us ascribe to God glory and strength.
All: Let us worship God who dwells in holy splendor.
One: The voice of God is over the mighty waters.
All: The voice of God is powerful and full of majesty.
One: May God give strength to the people!
All: May God bless the people with peace!
OR
One: God calls us to the waters of our baptism.
All: With joy we hear God’s call to one in Christ.
One: God calls us to community and union with all.
All: We open our hearts to all of God’s children as our kin.
One: God calls us to take our place in the Body of Christ.
All: We join with God’s people to be together the presence of Christ.
Hymns and Songs
Fairest Lord Jesus
UMH: 189
H82: 383/384
PH: 306
NNBH: 75
NCH: 44
CH: 97
W&P: 123
AMEC: 95
Renew: 166
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT 370
Rise, Shine, You People
UMH: 187
LBW: 393
ELW: 665
W&P: 89
Lift High the Cross (verse 2, especially)
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
Children of the Heavenly Father
UMH: 141
NCH: 487
LBW: 474
ELW: 781
W&P: 83
Praise and Thanksgiving Be to God
UMH: 604
LBW: 191
ELW: 458
W&P: 140
We Know That Christ Is Raised
UMH: 610
H82: 296
PH: 495
CH: 376
LBW: 189
This Is the Spirit’s Entry Now
UMH: 608
LBW: 195
ELW: 448
Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song
UMH: 544
H82: 513
PH: 314
NCH: 270
CH: 245
ELW: 403
W&P: 327
Renew: 280
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Come, Be Baptized
CCB: 41
We Are One in Christ Jesus (Somos uno en Cristo)
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is a sacred community of three in one:
Grant us the grace to see beyond our lone selves
and embrace all people as your family;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are three and yet one. In you dwells sacred community as part of your nature. Help us to see the connection you have created among all people and all creation so that we may honor you and your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our focus on ourselves to the exclusion of others.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Out of the wondrous nature of your love you created us to be in communion with you and with one another. But we have forsaken you and have separated ourselves from others. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of your plan for a whole and complete creation. We see ourselves as being apart from others. We judge the value of things and of other people based on the benefit we receive from them. Forgive us our selfish ways and open our hearts to all your children. Amen.
One: God is always ready to bless our unity with all of God’s people. Receive God’s loving grace and reach out in joy and unity to share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O Triune God. You dwell in community within your own sacred nature.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Out of the wondrous nature of your love you created us to be in communion with you and with one another. But we have forsaken you and have separated ourselves from others. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of your plan for a whole and complete creation. We see ourselves as being apart from others. We judge the value of things and of other people based on the benefit we receive from them. Forgive us our selfish ways and open our hearts to all your children.
We give you thanks for creating us from your own self. You made us in your image and breathed into us your own Spirit. As you are in communion within yourself you made us to reflect that unity. Your Spirit calls out from within us to celebrate our connection with you and with others. We thank you for those glimpses we have of the great community that is creation. We thank you for the scientists and mystics who help us understand better how united we are not only as humans but as part of the vast system of the universe. We thank you for those who help us draw together in spite of the barriers that we and others have erected to separate us. We thank you for our baptism which makes us one with Christ and with all your children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and all of your creation. We pray for the wisdom to see the connections that exist between us and others. We pray for those who have been pushed aside and told they do not belong. We pray for those who struggle with loneliness.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 8, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Immersed in Righteousness by Chris Keating. Standing with his toes in the water, Jesus looks at John as if to say, “Let’s get busy with the mission God is giving us.”
- Level Playing Field? by Tom Willadsen.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Dean Feldmeyer, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
Immersed in Righteousnessby Chris Keating
Matthew 3:13-17
John’s eyes widen at the sight of his cousin standing in the long and growing line. The line snaked up and around the banks of the Jordan, moving steadily toward the river. Compelled by the urgency of his message of repentance, throngs made their way to be baptized. He has warned them that the one who is coming will bring a baptism of fire and the Spirit — and now he’s arrived.
Suddenly, John is faced with a surprising dilemma: Why should Jesus be baptized? He realizes that Jesus is going to offer something that surpasses anything John can administer. Moreover, why on earth would one without sin need a baptism for the repentance for sin? None of this makes much sense.
Within these four verses, Matthew offers a compact scene that raises the theological thesis of his unfolding gospel story. Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness — not only the forgiveness of individual sins, but also the redemption of all creation. Jesus stands in solidarity with those yearning for forgiveness, but he also comes to fulfill a broader, more expansive righteousness.
Clearly, this will be no ordinary baptism.
But when are baptisms ever ordinary? Clearly it was no ordinary baptism when fourteen South Africans drowned during a river baptism last month. Earlier last year, a Phoenix priest admitted that he had used the wrong words during thousands of baptisms — sacraments that the Catholic church now calls invalid.
Pastors, of course, are no strangers to the dilemmas surrounding baptism. Frantic grandparents call late on a Saturday night wondering if the pastor could “do the baby” tomorrow morning before their kids fly home. Another family asks if the baptism could happen on a Wednesday night in their living room. Others get irritated when they ask the newly ordained pastor, a woman, if she would mind if they asked the ancient pastor emeritus, a man, to baptize their nephew. “You’ll just ruin the whole experience,” they snap. The sacrament quickly becomes reduced to a commodity designed to meet individual needs.
While the story of Jesus’ baptism is not a template for our own, his willingness to be immersed in the grimy waters of humanity is a reminder that baptism is more than an individual moment of personal spiritual clarity. It’s our initiation into the household of God.
In the News
If ordinary baptisms cause headaches, then it’s no surprise that Jesus waits among the crowds, a sign of the higher righteousness that Matthew will highlight throughout the gospel. It’s a clear indication that his ministry, his life, and all that he will proclaim will be deeply connected to community. He stands in solidarity with saints and sinners. The waters of this baptism will ripple outward in broad arcs.
It’s a reminder, says Thomas Long, that Jesus’ baptism is “a symbol of his total involvement in the human condition.” (Long, Matthew, p. 33). But this may be a sticking point for those who prefer religion and faith to be a buffet line of personal choices. Those who have worshiped at the high altar of rugged individualism will be challenged by Jesus’ call to community.
We saw this in the early days of the pandemic. Robin Nelson notes how the pandemic both tore apart our natural inclinations to remain gathered in groups while also exposing the weaknesses of hyper-individualism. She notes that communities that were invested in “social safety nets” such as paid sick leave and vaccine education, were more adept at handling the pandemic and lowering loss of life.
Meanwhile, says Nelson, many communities within the United States saw a more inconsistent response that bore the hallmark signs of cultural myths such as individualism and dehumanization of other persons. “As a result, even though we now know how the virus spreads and causes disease and we have effective vaccines against it, the death toll from Covid is higher in the US than anywhere else.”
Similarly, conservative pushback against the recently passed Respect for Marriage law has been focused on the perception that individual religious liberty was under attack. Even though the bill confirms that religious groups would not be required to perform same sex marriages, opponents saw it as a an affront to “biblical definitions of marriage.” Groups see the bipartisan bill as part of a larger “threat” to religious freedom in America.
Jesus’ baptism remains a sign of God’s standing in our midst. Jesus shows up, knee deep in a large, messy, interconnected grace-filled pool of community. It’s just how God knits together community.
Last week, during the historic blizzard that impacted millions, 27-year-old Jay Withey of Kenmore, NY, found himself stuck in snow covered roads and dangerous temperatures. After knocking on more than a dozen doors pleading for sanctuary, Withey resigned himself to spending the night inside his truck. Along with his traveling companion and a woman they found stranded, the three hunkered down inside the vehicle while outside temps plummeted. By morning, Withey knew they needed to find warmth, water, and food.
“I look on a map on my phone, and I see there’s a school nearby,” Withey, said in an interview with The Washington Post. He told the woman: “I’m breaking into that school. I know there’s heat in there, I know there’s a bathroom, and I bet there is food.”
Withey’s decision to create this impromptu family may have saved dozens of lives. After breaking into the school, he returned to the streets searching for others who were lost. “My mission was just to keep going out and grabbing as many people as I can and to just keep going,” Withey said. “I just kept walking, and I walked until I cried and I couldn’t walk any further. I was just beat.”
Inside the school, he found blankets and made Christmas dinner from school pizza. The group stayed about 24 hours until it was safe to leave. Before he left, Withey penned a quick note apologizing for breaking into the building — but also borrowed the school’s snowblower so he could clear a path for the group. Bonded by tragedy, the group pledged to meet again for a party.
In the Scripture
While each of the Gospels narrate Jesus’ baptism, Matthew’s account is dripping with details unique to his gospel focus. Matthew has set the scene by introducing John and his milieu. “In those days,” Matthew begins, tipping the hat to the kairos of the moment. Something important is about to happen, and Matthew’s audience is summoned to full attention. The sense of anticipation continues to build with John’s introduction and character description. There is a deepening sense of the moment’s prophetic impact.
Unique to Matthew is the conversation between Jesus and John. Immediately John recognizes Jesus. A pit grows inside of John’s stomach, and he knows it is more than just the locusts and honey he had for lunch. But Jesus intercepts his move to prevent him from being baptized, reminding John that “ it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
It’s a stunning moment that raises all sorts of theological questions. If John’s baptism is for repentance, then why is Jesus repenting? Moreover, what exactly does he mean about fulfilling “all righteousness?”
Matthew is showing his theological hand. Righteousness, a common theme to which he will return, is the centerpiece of Jesus’ first words in the gospel. Fulfilling righteousness, scholars note, seems to explicitly link Jesus to Old Testament prophesies describing God’s desire to restore the world. Stanley Saunders (Connections, Year A, Vol.1, p.174) underscores Matthew’s intentions. “Whereas modern audience may think of righteousness primarily in terms of individual moral conduct, in Matthew, righteousness is focused on restoration and relationships made whole.”
Thirdly, Matthew changes Mark and Luke’s wording of God’s affirmation of Jesus’ identity. In the other gospels, God declares “You are my beloved Son,” where Matthew offers, “This is my beloved Son.” These words, repeated on the Mountain of Transfiguration, echo Psalm 27, and are the heavenly affirmation of Jesus’ authority. But that authority, it seems, is also connected to his humbling of himself to John’s baptism.
Standing with his toes in the river, Jesus seems to be saying to John, “Let’s get on with this work of building community.”
In the Sermon
Is baptism in trouble?
For one thing, the religious diversity of our churches means that even within denominations there is likely to be tensions and confusion about the sacrament’s meaning. And, despite decades of ecumenical progress, the larger Christian family remains painfully divided over the meaning and mechanism of baptism. Added to this is the overall decline of church membership, which results in fewer baptisms. No doubt many congregations have layers of dust accumulating around their baptismal fonts.
Perhaps this Sunday offers a chance for the preacher to rehydrate the congregation’s awareness of baptism. Rehearsing Martin Luther’s motivational “I too have been baptized,” provides one opportunity, but the texts this week are dripping with possibilities of deepening the congregation’s understanding of the implications of Jesus’ baptism as well as our own.
Thomas Long notes that there exists in Matthew 3 a rudimentary template for understanding the rites of Christian baptism. There are clear Trinitarian implications, allusions to the Old Testament, and a linking to Jesus’ pathway of ministry. Jesus rises out of the water commissioned to be God’s agent in the world, building a community of discipleship and faith.
Jesus’ baptism, set against the rugged backdrop of wilderness, acknowledges his role in standing with both the religious elites who have come seeking John’s baptism, as well as scores of brokenhearted, marginalized, fractured men and women. No surprise then that God would acknowledge and affirm Jesus as the beloved Son — for in Christ, God was at work repairing and renewing the world.
There are plenty of images that the preacher can link to this text. Here on the threshold of a new year, many congregations are engaging in the sorts of housekeeping duties required by communities — setting budgets, installing new officers, exploring new priorities. How are these congregational acts informed by the communal nature of what God is doing in baptism? How does our call to mission reflect our understanding that we have been united to Christ?
More precisely: how does our understanding of Jesus’ baptism inform our ethics and testimony in a world that is more individualistic than communal, more concerned with the needs of few than the welfare of many?
Several years ago, a new member in our church called me and said he would like to be baptized. It caught me off guard as typically we discuss this at the time families join the church. I checked to make sure that he wasn’t asking if he needed to be rebaptized. “My family went to several different churches when I was growing up,” he told me, “But I just found out they had never had me baptized.”
Adult baptisms are almost always moments filled with emotion, and this was no exception. I had promised him that I had no intention of carrying him on my shoulder to introduce him to the congregation. But I also let him know that in seeking to be baptized he was affirming his unique role within the community — and the community’s unique commitment to him as well.
On Monday, Greg emailed me a short note. He told me something to the effect that he was travelling for business. He said flying generally created intense waves of anxiety for him, but that as he settled into the airplane he thought, “I’m baptized. I matter to God, and am part of a community that cares for me. For the first time in my life, I know I’ve found my community.”
Baptism holds moments of great personal meaning, but they are also reminders of the mission we are called to undertake in Jesus’ name. That is the witness we are called to offer this Baptism of the Lord Sunday.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTSLevel Playing Field?
by Tom Willadsen
Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17; Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29
In the Scriptures
The Lord is doing a lot of speaking in today’s lessons.
Psalm 29 extols the power of the Lord’s voice. It recalls Creation, “the voice of the Lord is over the waters,” cf. Genesis 1:2. The parallels between the voice of the Lord and the Spirit are everywhere. Many parts of the United States have recently witnessed the destructive power of wind, as blizzards forced many churches to cancel in person worship the weekend of Christmas.
In the Isaiah lesson the servant described in the first portion of the reading is gentle and mild. In the second half of the reading the chosen people are depicted as a covenant people, or the people themselves are the covenant. The Hebrew is ambiguous, in a good way. The covenant of the Lord and the covenant people are the workers, doers and bringers of justice. The voice/Spirit of the Lord makes all of that happen. Imagine the impact of this bit of prophecy on the people during the exile in Babylon!
Today’s Acts passage is one of very few references outside the gospels to Jesus’ baptism by John. There is a strong emphasis on the universal nature of Christ’s message, “but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:35, NRSV) This is a turning point in the history of the Christian church, and the basis of this turning point in the turning point that was Jesus’ baptism. It is clear that Jesus’ baptism was the inaugural moment of his ministry.
In today’s gospel lesson, the heavens opened and a voice from thence said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” It is not clear whether those gathered at the Jordan with Jesus and John heard those words. They are a clear indication to the reader that something of central importance has happened. Yet it’s curious, if John’s baptism was for those confessing their sins (Matthew 3:6), why did Jesus, who was without sin, need to be baptized? Clearly we need to find an additional metaphor for baptism: Cleansing is good, but cleansing alone is insufficient in this case. When John raises a concern about his baptizing of Jesus, Jesus replies, “It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) Tying Jesus’ baptism to the Isaiah passage about the creation of a people of/for the Covenant places Jesus’ baptism as a communal act. His baptism was on behalf of the people, not a settling of his personal “sin account.”
In the News
The former President’s tax returns were released just before the turn of the year. The blogosphere has begun parsing them, spinning narratives, stoking outrage. Is anyone paying attention? It seems the former President’s greatest gift is delaying any kind of cooperation with civil authorities; his delaying tactics are bigger news, and frankly usually more interesting, than the information he conceals.
The blizzard that hit the eastern two thirds of the United States gave way to unseasonably mild weather and rapid melting of snow. Atmospheric rivers, however, have queued up off the coast of California and have pummeled drought-stricken parts of the Mountain West with historic snowfalls and flooding at lower elevations.
The new Congress has been sworn in. Republicans hold a razor thin majority in the House of Representatives; the Democrats’ razor thin margin in the Senate grew by an angstrom with the re-election of Senator Warnock in Georgia. At this writing it is unclear whether Congressman-elect George Santos, R-NY, will be seated. He lied about his credentials and background repeatedly while campaigning, but apparently lying on the campaign trail isn’t illegal. He is being investigated by authorities in New York State, and can expect to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee if he is sworn in.
Performance artist Laurie Anderson famously crooned “Language is a virus,” which is a fascinating metaphor. Viruses are not alive until they come to life in a host, then they can mutate in surprising, unexpected ways. Language is also always changing, mutating, and evolving. Miriam-Webster’s Words at Play website declared “gaslighting” the Word of the Year for 2022. Lookups of gaslighting to their website increased 1,740% in 2022. Miriam-Webster defines gaslighting in part as “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts….” In a world where disinformation and fake news are rapidly spread over social media — and studies shows that lies travel much faster than the truth through the blogosphere — gaslighting is a good way to understand our growing, societal distrust of news and news sources.
The words we use matter. The meanings of words change over time, sometimes dramatically and unexpectedly. Some gender-nonconforming people embrace being “queer” — others shun it as pejorative and hurtful. Language is, indeed, a virus. Lots of viruses.
2022 may be remembered for the resurgence of book banning in the United States. Many communities feared Critical Race Theory and though few could define it, used that fear to ban books that might make children, and let’s be honest, white children, uncomfortable about how other groups have struggled in earlier eras of American history. Slavery, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights Movement, all historical facts that might make white kids feel bad that others suffered as they never had to. Such discussions raise the specter of White Privilege, a term that makes white people immediately defensive, and makes us unable to hear the struggles of people who experience the United States in profoundly different ways. Can’t we all just get along? Of course we can, as soon as you stop accusing me of having privilege.
In the Sermon
Peter boldly proclaims that God shows no partiality. The peace offered through the teaching, healing, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is available to, and intended for, everyone. Everyone. Every day in classrooms across the United States students declare that our nation offers “liberty and justice for all.” While this is an ideal to strive for, it is hardly the lived experience of many of our citizens. I, for example, never had to instruct my sons how to behave in the presence of a police officer. All my encounters with the police through my 58 years have been civil and respectful. Why should I expect my white teenaged boys to have a different experience?
I have wrestled with the concept of White Privilege for years. I confess I was initially enraged by the term. I worked for my SAT scores and bachelor’s degree! No one handed me anything. How dare you?
Discovering that I did not experience society in the same way as people who sat next to me in class was eye-opening. I felt like a fish who finally realized he’d been in water all his life. Once I started noticing my privilege I started seeing it more frequently. The best, most concise definition I heard for White Privilege is “things I don’t have to think about.” Quick — name some things you don’t have to think about! That’s why it’s hard to see.
I found this on Facebook, so I know it’s true:
Peter told those attending Cornelius’s baptism that in Christ God shows no partiality. If we are going to follow Christ faithfully, we must also show no partiality, which begins by recognizing how our culture has favored us for generations. The level playing field we were led to believe in has been tilted in our favor, to the detriment of many other people, other kinds of people. Now’s the time to work to make things impartial. For everyone.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Acts 10:34-43
New Glasses
In Acts, Peter is making the case that the people of God can expand the circle to include people they think don’t belong. Anne Lamott recalls (in an interview with Tim Ferriss): “There was a guy who helped AA get started, who was not himself an alcoholic.” And he said to Bill Wilson, “Sometimes I think that Heaven is just a new pair of glasses.”
Lamott adds, “I think about that almost every day, because I can either have the glasses on that are like x-ray glasses, where I can just see everything that’s wrong with almost everything, really. Because I’m good at that. I’ve made a career of it. Or I can put on the glasses where I feel a lot of compassion for everybody. And I see how hard they’re trying. And I see that they got dealt a really shitty hand of cards and that they played it the very best they could. And I see with the better pair of glasses how much beauty is all around me. It blows me away. And it makes me free and it makes my life much more expansive. But I need to remember it, and the way I remember is to pray to have the good pair of glasses on.”
In Acts, we’re seeing Peter and the followers of Jesus put on new glasses.
* * *
Isaiah 42:1-9, Acts 10:34-43
Doing a New Thing
“The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare,” God says, through the prophet Isaiah. In Acts, Peter also announces a new way of being the people of God.
Where does the “new thing” begin, futurist Jane McGonigal wonders. She often asks groups of people the question, “When does the future start?”
She adds, “A person’s answer tells me something important about their state of mind. A shorter answer — less than five years — means they are either very sensitive to change, or open to it, or smack in the middle of change happening right now. An unusually long answer — like forty, fifty, or even one hundred years — suggests a number of things: Someone might feel stuck and frustrated with the pace of change in society or their life so that they can’t realistically imagine dramatic change anytime soon, perhaps not even in their lifetime. Or they might be a very patient person with a lot of grit and determination, planning for a very long road ahead. Or perhaps they see no need for major change and are happy for things to stay the same for as long as possible.”
She notes that ten years is the horizon for substantial social change.
“To consider just a few examples, it took, give or take a few months: ten years for the civil rights movement against racial segregation in the United States to go from its first boycott of segregated bus seating to the successful passage of the federal Civil Rights Act (1955–1964) ten years for the first international economic sanctions against South Africa’s segregationist apartheid system to lead to a new constitution that enfranchised Black South Africans and other racial groups (1985–1996) ten years for same-sex marriage to go from being considered controversial when it was legalized by a country for the first time (the Netherlands) to being supported in global surveys by a majority of people in a majority of countries (2001–2010).
And it took ten years from the first iPhone release until a majority of people on the planet had smartphones, creating a new era of always-on communication (2007–2017) ten years for Facebook to go from one user to one billion daily users, on its way to becoming the first product used by more than one in three humans on the planet (2004–2015) ten years for Bitcoin to go from being a hypothetical idea discussed in a scientific article to having a nearly US $1 trillion market capitalization.”
God’s new thing may be in our midst right now.
(From Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything — Even Things That Seem Impossible Today by Jane McGonigal.)
* * *
Isaiah 42:1-9
Humble Servants
The world is coming around to the prophet Isaiah’s view of leadership. Harvard professor Amy Edmondson says that the ideal leader is much like the servant that Isaiah describes. “Many leaders balk at the idea of being humble, because they think, ‘Hey, I’m in charge here; I’ve got expertise and wisdom, so it seems inauthentic for me to be humble.’ That’s why I use the term ‘situational humility.’ The term reminds us that a truly wise person knows that they must be humble at least some of the time, depending on the situation. For instance, in situations we haven’t faced before — and there are more of them than ever before — we simply cannot have all the answers…In this environment, if you’re not appropriately humble about what could go wrong or how you might fail, you’re not being realistic. So, situational humility is actually realism.” She adds that leaders also need the skill of humble listening, “a stance that says, ‘When I’m listening, I am truly listening’. I’m not listening to see where you’ve got it wrong or why my idea is better; I’m listening with a stance of genuine curiosity, interest and absorption…”
We can all start small with these phrases: “I don’t know.” “I need help.” “I made a mistake.”
As Isaiah says, speaking of God’s plans, “New things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”
* * *
Isaiah 42:1-9
Invisible Service
The prophet Isaiah speaks about those who serve God’s purposes, saying, “I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you.” The servant will not cry or lift up their voice, or even be heard in the street, and yet is faithful to God’s calling.
In that spirit, one of America’s greatest editors is completely invisible. Author Wendell Berry is famous for putting down roots in rural Henry County, Kentucky, and his partner in farming and his editor is his wife, Tanya Berry. Over their decades on the farm, “she has honed skills in farm work and the domestic arts, while serving as perhaps the most important fiction editor almost no one has heard of, married to one of the most important American writers almost everyone knows. All this started more than a half-century ago with her leap of faith that an artsy city kid could learn, from scratch, what was needed to make a farm home. She grew up mostly in California, moving around often, and the early years of their marriage took them from Kentucky back to California, then to Europe and New York — part of what she once assumed would be a cosmopolitan life with a writer and academic. But Wendell wanted to go home, and Tanya wanted to put down roots somewhere. “He needed to be home, and I was flexible because I didn’t belong anywhere in particular. So, I took this on with him,” she says.
Her insights are woven into his writing. “Wendell writes in longhand, with a pencil. With his short stories and novels, he reads aloud a first draft to Tanya for immediate feedback, and then goes back to work. From the handwritten pages, she types a draft on her Royal Standard, adding another round of editing. That’s followed by revised drafts until a manuscript is ready for the publisher.”
The people bringing God’s wisdom into the world may be unseen to us, and yet part of God’s delight.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:Matthew 3:13-17
This text introduces baptism in the Christian context. One might expect that such an introduction would render discussion as to meaning mute. But, alas, that is not the case. The following illustrations touch on several different aspects of the sacrament.
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Adoption (Through baptism we are adopted into the family of the church.)
A colleague of mine has two children, a brother and sister, that he and his wife adopted as toddlers from China.
The adoption process was long, difficult and tedious. They had to go to China twice. They visited several orphanages. They discovered which petty officials had to be schmoozed and which ones had to be flattered. They brought gifts to the nurses and the children.
Then, one day, the head of the orphanage they had chosen told them it was time to choose which child they were going to adopt. They already knew which ones they wanted, of course, but when they tell their children the story it goes like this:
“We came into the orphanage and there were so many wonderful children there. There were big boys and girls, and there were little boys and girls. There were pretty looking children and funny looking children. There were fat children and skinny children and happy children and sad children and there right in the middle of the room we saw these two children standing together.
“One was a boy and one was a girl and the nurse told us that they were a brother and sister. And, oh, they were the most wonderful, most beautiful, most marvelous, smartest, kindest, best children we had ever seen, not just in that orphanage, but in the whole wide world. And you know what?”
And then, as if on cue, the kids say: “It was us!”
“Yes, it was you!”
“And you chose us!”
“That’s right! We chose you!”
Those parents never tire of telling that story and their children never tire of hearing it. And woe to the parent who changes even a comma in the telling.
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Introduction (Baptism is the introduction of the baptized one to the church family.)
Few things in life can take the air out of the room like a bad or poorly delivered introduction of a speaker. If you get tapped to make an introduction, here are a few things that toastmasters says to avoid.
- Kidding around. There are no situations that permit comedy in an introduction speech. Plus, it can draw attention from the speaker to yourself, which is never the goal.
- Reading the speaker's resume biography, or appearing to. Neither should an intro be an overstatement of the speaker’s accomplishments.
- Cliches. Statements like “without further ado” or "this woman needs no introduction," sound wordy or awkward. If the speaker needed no introduction, you wouldn't have a role in that event.
- Excessive wordage. Keep the introduction to no more than three minutes. Lengthy introductions sound like speeches and can reduce the audience's enthusiasm for the speaker.
- Mispronouncing the speaker's name. It’s disrespectful, and it could hurt your credibility.
- Mystery. Give the audience a sneak peek of what they will learn and why they should pay attention without giving away too much about the speech or speaker.
- Drawing attention to yourself. Remember, you are an introducer, not a celebrity or a star.
Rebirth (Baptism is sometimes seen as a rebirth into a new or different phase of one’s life.)
These four famous people all failed but gave themselves permission to try again.
Albert Einstein: Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow, and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He went on to win the Nobel Prize and changed the face of modern physics.
Thomas Edison: Teachers told Edison he was "too stupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.
Michael Jordan: He was cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn't let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Babe Ruth: You probably know Babe Ruth because of his home run record (714 during his career), but along with all those home runs came a pretty hefty amount of strikeouts as well (1,330 in all). In fact, for decades he held the record for strikeouts. When asked about this he simply said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
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Acts 10:34-43
Peter was slow to come around to the idea that the way of Jesus could include gentiles. But he received a vision that took him to the home of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who changed his mind. In this passage, Peter preaches a sermon of inclusivity to the friends, family, and household of the Centurion.
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Diversity And Inclusion
The website for the National Catholic Board for Full Inclusion tells stories of students who have been fully included in school activities despite their disabilities and how that inclusion has affected them and the students who included them.
Raymond, a student with a developmental disability, attends Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School, Scottsdale, AZ. His mother submitted this story:
Our son Raymond is in the sixth grade and about to enter the 7th at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School. This year, when baseball season began, we were excited for Raymond to join the team but we realized how complicated it could be. He’s not a good catcher, he does throw well, but likely wouldn’t be able to get a hit. We let all the “What Ifs” start to pile up. We spoke with the coach — an amazing mom with 4 kids — who said: “Please let him play. I will make it work.”
Our son was ecstatic to be a part of the team!
There were bumps along the way, to be sure — but way too many good ones that we would have missed had we refused! One of the brightest moments came when my son got up to bat at St. Thomas the Apostle School. He got a good solid hit… right to a player, who then slowly dropped the ball, allowing my son to get on base!
When Raymond’s mother thanked the coach for arranging the “fumble” so Raymond could get on base, the coach told her that the fumble wasn’t planned. It was a spontaneous act of charity by the 6th grade ballplayer so Raymond could get on base.
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We Dine Together
Every day in the United States and around the world, when the lunch bell rings at school, kids in over 10,000 schools spread out through the lunch room or area with one mission in mind: to find other kids who are eating alone and make them feel welcome and included.
These outgoing kids are part of a movement called We Dine Together, founded by Denis Estimon and featured on the CBS News series Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman along with his daughter, Meryl, and son, Emmet.
When Denis Estimon immigrated to the United States from Haiti with his family, he felt isolated and left out at school. He was in the first grade and English was his second language, one with which he was only passingly familiar. He was painfully lonely and he determined that, once he was able to overcome his isolation and loneliness, he would work to make sure other kids didn’t feel the same way he did.
Today, Denis is known as the founder and leader of We Dine Together to Be Strong, an international organization which, according to their website, “Aims to provide a proactive and comprehensive solution to schools + communities. We Dine Together is our catalyst-for-change initiative in schools. We believe lasting relationships and impact happen over the table. Each We Dine Together family is led by a Be Strong Student State Representative — leading change monthly in four key areas: Resilience Training, Acts of Kindness, Advocacy and Awareness — all while maintaining our mission, so no one eats alone.”
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The First Converts To Christianity
In the Great Commission Jesus commands his disciples to go into the world (not the synagogue or temple) and make disciples, baptizing them. He makes no distinctions about the race, gender, nationality, heredity, background, politics, or personal habits of those who are to baptized, only that they be disciples.
In fact, according to the book of Acts, the first two converts to the Jesus Movement were gentiles, and pretty sketchy ones by the Jewish standards of that time.
One was an Ethiopian (African) eunuch, a gentile man who was genitally mutilated, probably as a child or youth. If his race didn’t exclude him from entering the Temple, certainly his mutilation would have. He was, by first-century Jewish standards, unacceptable.
The other was also a gentile, a leader in the hated army of the oppressors, a Roman Centurion. As a centurion his responsibilities would have included enforcing Roman law, seeing to it that Roman taxes were collected, and keeping the peace. He was an officer in the army with authority over 100 soldiers whose job it was to assist him in keeping the peace. In modern terms, he was a cop.
And, yet, these were among, if not the first, converts to Christianity. With them, Luke makes a convincing case for inclusion and diversity in the Christian church.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Matthew 3:13-17
Bathing Community
Bathing used to be a communal act. It is only in recent history that we bathe and shower separately. This means that baptism, as a ritual bathing, would have been understood to be intrinsically communal in nature. Jesus was baptized in the water, but this was after John was baptizing a set of people. Thus, when we baptize babies, we are not only baptizing them into a community, but we are calling to mind the communal act of baptism, which carried deep roots with it in the history of bathing.
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Isaiah 42:1-9
Voice of Justice
The voice of justice can be bruised but never broken. In an era of banned books, Queer repression, expansion of police and brutality against People of Color and the subjugation of women’s rights — this is the good news. God, the one who created all things, promised that we are created for covenant and righteousness. And in the end, those who cannot see will see and all those imprisoned will be freed. The new things God declares will be more just, more righteous, more freed from the chains of imprisonment. The promise of the prophet is the Kingdom breaking into our time and place, showing us the world as it can be. Thus it is promised to us that our imaginings of justice are not in vain, but instead are a holy act. Thanks be to God.
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Acts 10:34-43
No Nation Under God
Just because nations or people have different experiences, does not mean that God favors one over another. We may be a family, but there is no favorite child. We are simply treated differently because God respects our uniqueness and individuality. This is true even for communities — God does not reveal Godself exactly the same way for every culture. This, in fact, is a strong argument for translating the Bible into local languages. This variety of interpretation allows us to glimpse more of God in God’s complexity, not less. We are not meant to hold judgement over one another, to say who does and does not belong to the Kingdom of God, or in church. Too often we want everyone to look, act, and be the same, when the truth is God cherishes our complexity. Humans are complex, because God is complex. Are we not made in God’s image? Thus, Jesus reached out to the most forgotten, eating and drinking with us, and reminding us that God plays no favorites, but loves us all.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Let us ascribe to God glory and strength.
All: Let us worship God who dwells in holy splendor.
One: The voice of God is over the mighty waters.
All: The voice of God is powerful and full of majesty.
One: May God give strength to the people!
All: May God bless the people with peace!
OR
One: God calls us to the waters of our baptism.
All: With joy we hear God’s call to one in Christ.
One: God calls us to community and union with all.
All: We open our hearts to all of God’s children as our kin.
One: God calls us to take our place in the Body of Christ.
All: We join with God’s people to be together the presence of Christ.
Hymns and Songs
Fairest Lord Jesus
UMH: 189
H82: 383/384
PH: 306
NNBH: 75
NCH: 44
CH: 97
W&P: 123
AMEC: 95
Renew: 166
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT 370
Rise, Shine, You People
UMH: 187
LBW: 393
ELW: 665
W&P: 89
Lift High the Cross (verse 2, especially)
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
Children of the Heavenly Father
UMH: 141
NCH: 487
LBW: 474
ELW: 781
W&P: 83
Praise and Thanksgiving Be to God
UMH: 604
LBW: 191
ELW: 458
W&P: 140
We Know That Christ Is Raised
UMH: 610
H82: 296
PH: 495
CH: 376
LBW: 189
This Is the Spirit’s Entry Now
UMH: 608
LBW: 195
ELW: 448
Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song
UMH: 544
H82: 513
PH: 314
NCH: 270
CH: 245
ELW: 403
W&P: 327
Renew: 280
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Come, Be Baptized
CCB: 41
We Are One in Christ Jesus (Somos uno en Cristo)
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is a sacred community of three in one:
Grant us the grace to see beyond our lone selves
and embrace all people as your family;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are three and yet one. In you dwells sacred community as part of your nature. Help us to see the connection you have created among all people and all creation so that we may honor you and your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our focus on ourselves to the exclusion of others.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Out of the wondrous nature of your love you created us to be in communion with you and with one another. But we have forsaken you and have separated ourselves from others. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of your plan for a whole and complete creation. We see ourselves as being apart from others. We judge the value of things and of other people based on the benefit we receive from them. Forgive us our selfish ways and open our hearts to all your children. Amen.
One: God is always ready to bless our unity with all of God’s people. Receive God’s loving grace and reach out in joy and unity to share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O Triune God. You dwell in community within your own sacred nature.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Out of the wondrous nature of your love you created us to be in communion with you and with one another. But we have forsaken you and have separated ourselves from others. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of your plan for a whole and complete creation. We see ourselves as being apart from others. We judge the value of things and of other people based on the benefit we receive from them. Forgive us our selfish ways and open our hearts to all your children.
We give you thanks for creating us from your own self. You made us in your image and breathed into us your own Spirit. As you are in communion within yourself you made us to reflect that unity. Your Spirit calls out from within us to celebrate our connection with you and with others. We thank you for those glimpses we have of the great community that is creation. We thank you for the scientists and mystics who help us understand better how united we are not only as humans but as part of the vast system of the universe. We thank you for those who help us draw together in spite of the barriers that we and others have erected to separate us. We thank you for our baptism which makes us one with Christ and with all your children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and all of your creation. We pray for the wisdom to see the connections that exist between us and others. We pray for those who have been pushed aside and told they do not belong. We pray for those who struggle with loneliness.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, January 8, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
