January 10, 2021 - Baptism of Jesus
Mark 1:4-11
Baptism & Light
Water. Our most essential resource. Not oil. Water. Our bodies are made up of 70% water. We need water for our basic necessities, drinking, cooking, cleanings, even recreation. People have fought wars over bodies of water and are still fighting for fishing rights and clean water. It’s no accident that water is involved in so many religious rituals, for purification and cleansing, for immersion, and for ritual baths of the dead. Water is sacred to all people and this is symbolically expressed in our rituals.
Think about our creation story in Genesis, the first book of our bible. Contrary to what is sometimes said, it did not start as an empty void. We read that it was formless and empty but that darkness was over the surface of the deep, and that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. In our bible, our world begins with water.
But when we begin to read about the actions of creation in that story, God’s first act has nothing to do with water. God’s first words are, “Let There Be Light” and there was light and it was good. It wasn’t until the second day that God separated the waters. So, what I want to talk about today is this relationship between light and water, or more specifically, light and our Christian water ritual of baptism. Today is the perfect day for that, a day when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, which is always the second Sunday of January, in the season of Epiphany, a time when we celebrate light.
Let’s take a look at the story Bert read for us. When John baptized Jesus, three things happen: the heavens are torn open, the Spirit descends, and a voice speaks. When I hear that the heavens were torn open, I imagine light. I imagine the clouds being pushed back and parted to allow the light from the sun to shine through. When I read that the Spirit descended like a dove, again, I imagine more light, maybe a light in the form of a bird descending from the sky. Then there’s those words that offers a message that I feel is full of light: ““You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Light, light, light. When babies are born and become a part of a family, they are a bright light to everyone they encounter. When we baptize a baby, we acknowledge that light. We are saying, “Welcome to the world. Welcome to our community. We will care for you and we will teach you our faith. We will guide you, support you, and love you.” When we baptize adults or, in our own tradition, when we confirm adults, we are still offering the same message, but the one being baptized or confirmed is offering their light back to the community. They are saying, “Here I am. I accept your care and your teaching and I am ready to be or continue being a part of this faith and of sharing what I have with this faith community.”
Water is important for our basic needs, for recreation, for cleanliness, for health, but I think light is important for our souls, for our mental health. Those who lives in parts of the earth where the nights get very long, feel the absence of light. It’s believed that this is one of the main reasons for the Christmas holiday happening near the solstice, to bring light into the darkness. I have convinced Jeff to keep up our outdoor lights for just a while longer this year, prolonging that sense of light. We don’t have sacraments that focus on light, but I think we tend to create them in our lives. Lighting and extinguishing candles, singing around campfires, soaking in the sun on a beach, naming the stars and watching the moon go through its phases, fireworks and sparklers. We post pictures on social media of breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, we let loose paper lanterns, we add night lights to our home for safety and security. We talk about the twinkle in someone’s eyes or the brightness of their smile, or the glow surrounding them.
This week, on January 6, Epiphany, the day the church recognizes the arrival of the magi and the day the church celebrates light, is being seen as one of America’s darkest days. Our neighbour to the south, my home country, is in turmoil. My hope has always been that the events of 2020 would help us all to learn and grow and that some good would come out of it. I still have that hope but I also know that the events of 2020 have exposed cracks that have been ignored for far too long, so of course, they’re going to spill over into 2021. The events feel apocalyptic in the true meaning of the word, an unveiling, an uncovering, a revealing.
I’m going to take this opportunity to say that I truly believe that baptism is an opportunity to see light in every person. What those rioters did in D.C. was wrong. It caused fear, trauma, destruction, and even death, and the way it was handled by a sitting president was unbelievably ignorant, but, this is hard to say, but I actually resonated with a few words offered by President Trump. He told the rioters, after finally being convinced to ask them to stand down, “I know your pain. I know your hurt…We love you. You’re very special.”
Now this message was offered to people who supported him, who he incited to commit these acts. The words were very different when black people were peacefully protesting on the steps of the capitol. These words should have been for the many people abused and hurt during this presidency, but I think it’s a message we can’t ignore. These people who incited others to violence and who committed acts of violence need to be held accountable, but we also need to try and understand. Jesus instructed us to love our enemy, and not just when it’s easy. I think Jesus also believed in that light that shines in every single one of us. It’s not reserved for those people we deem worthy of it. We are born with it; it never goes away; it can never be taken from us. Even the worst person that comes to mind, carries that light. Call it love, call it grace, but it is freely given and not earned.
Loving our neighbour is a lot easier to discuss than loving our enemies. I am angry about what happened. I want to point my finger and place blame. I want to condemn white privilege and Republicans, and it’s OK to have these feelings and it’s OK to speak out against these events, but we also don’t want to add fuel to the fire and incite more violence. We don’t want to increase these people’s feelings of unfairness, of loss, of anger, of fear in a world that doesn’t seem like their own anymore. Why are they following a narcissist who really cares only about himself? Why are they abandoning traditional press and turning to alternative right wing messages? What is it that is motivating them to protest and riot, damaging property and threatening people’s physical safety? Again, I’m not saying these people shouldn’t be held responsible; I believe they should, but I don’t believe they should all be painted with one brush and condemned and judged and called evil. Their actions might be evil but, as Christians, we believe them all to be children of God. They are all filled with light and love and promise and hope and fear and pain, anger and confusion, just like you and me. When we start setting people apart and seeing them as different, as demonic or less human, we devolve into more violence, more oppression, and definitely further from peace.
Today I leave with this: Remember that we made of mostly water but that we are filled with light. Remember that our neighbour is filled with that same light. That light can be tender and timid, powerful and strong, warm and bright, but it never goes out. Remember that the more we share our light, the more it will grow, in ourselves and in others. Jesus called himself the light of the world. He shone that light wherever he went and shared with anyone who needed it. Imagine if we all did the same.
Friends, go out into this world, and share your light. Go out into this world, and seek the light inside of others. Nurture those light; love those lights. May Christ be a light in our own lives and be visible to all those we encounter. Amen.