January 7, 2011

Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7; Psalm 29: 1-2,3-4,9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17

The contrast between the old and the new is a consistent feature of the New Testament.

Everything before Jesus is "old;" he came to usher in the "new."

This is expressed both by what Yahweh does—law in the past, love now—

as well as how he does it—sending prophets in the past, the Son in the present.

The notion is picked up in the Gospel;

in the past Jesus would have baptized John,

but now John, "to fulfill all righteousness" baptizes Jesus.

If we see ourselves as Gentiles, then we will know that God’s love and mercy is ours only by his gift, not by our deserving.

If we think of ourselves as God’s chosen people today,

then, too, we are God’s because he chose us.

In either case, our lives will reflect who we are and whose we are.

C.S. Lewis wrote the following in a "The Weight of Glory," a sermon preached June 8, 1941:

"…the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship,

or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another,

all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people….it is immortals who we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit

—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors."

If that is so in any fashion, if that is what we are, and what others are,

because of what God has chosen us to be in Christ,

then our task is clear: to manifest who we are in Christ so others may become what they have been chosen to be in Christ.

Today we celebrate not only Jesus baptism’, but also ours!

As we once again make our baptismal vows Let us make them with full awareness that they commit us once again to living the life Christ calls us to

so that we can be beacons of light for those searching for their God