Emily Schaming
There
is a story told about Nikita Khrushchev during his years as leader of the Soviet
Union. Khrushchev was often heard to denounce the policies and atrocities of
Joseph Stalin's government. During one such speech in which he censured Stalin
in a public meeting, he was interrupted by a heckler from the audience who
shouted, "You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop
him?"
"Who
said that?" roared Khrushchev.
A
stillness filled the room as no one dared move or speak. Then Khrushchev
replied, "Now you know why."
We
all live with fear. There are even hundreds of medically recognized phobias,
diagnosable fear; levophobia: the fear of objects on the left side of the body,
graphophobia: the fear of writing in public, calyprophobia: the fear of obscure
meanings, auroraphobia: the fear of the northern lights, and even phobophobia:
the fear of being afraid. We live in a world where fear is the norm, where scary
things happen all the time. As I wrote this sermon, the top three headlines on
the CBC news website were "3 die, 2
wounded in Nunavut shooting, Cars buried in massive Colorado avalanche and
Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan." Violence at home, natural
disaster, wars in other countries, there is much to fear. When we give the
matter deeper consideration, our fears are not just about the uncertainty of the
weather, or the possibility of violence in our communities. Those fears stem
from something deeper, from our fear that -as Hobbes put it- our lives are
merely, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." So often we are
afraid of the end of what is familiar to us. Even though we are people of faith
we find ourselves thinking, "I don't know what's going to happen next in
the world, and that makes me afraid." In the Christmas story there is a
strong sense of that kind of fear. King Herod is so scared of the changes that
might be brought about by the birth of Jesus that he orders the death of all the
boys in the region under two years of age. Herod commands the visitors from the
East to tell him where the child is. His fear of a potential rival is so great
that he thinks he is a threat as an infant!
Where
do we find an antidote to this kind of ordinary human fear? A minister of a
church in a dangerous part of a large American city was always amazed by a
certain woman, a member of his church, who seemed to have no fear about coming
to meetings and services at the church at night, even though she had no car and
would have to walk home through the dark and frightening streets. One night,
after a prayer service at which this woman had been present, the minister was
locking up the church, and he happened to see her walking from the church down
the street toward her apartment. As she walked, she was holding her hand out, as
if some unseen companion were walking with her and holding her hand, and as she
walked, she was humming a familiar spiritual, "Precious Lord, take my hand,
lead me on. Hold my hand, lest I fall. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me
home."
The
Bible tells us again and again that we need not fear. "Do not be
afraid", it says. It is what the angels told the shepherds on the hillsides
of Bethlehem, "Do not be afraid". It is what Isaiah tells us in
today's reading, "Do not fear." And we are shown, through the acts of
John the Baptist and Jesus how we might overcome our fears, even as we feel we
are walking through Isaiah's floods and fire.
Today
we read the story of Jesus' baptism. Jesus' baptism is the inauguration of his
public ministry, and through his baptism he is able to ally himself with what
Luke calls, "all the people". He becomes one with the faults and
failures, pains and problems, all of the hurts and fears of the people who had
come to the Jordan River that day. By joining them in the waters of the river he
takes his place beside us and among us. Not long into his ministry, religious
leaders accuse Jesus of being a "friend of gluttons and sinners". And
He is. With his baptism, Jesus openly declares that he stands with us in our
fears and anxieties. He intentionally takes sides with people in their times of
great need.
How
does Jesus deal with this decision to become an advocate for all those who need
him? What does Luke's brief account of the baptism tell us Jesus does? After he
is baptized, Jesus prays. It is when he prays that heaven opens, the Spirit
descends in the form of a dove, and God's voice speaks. "You are my Son,
the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Martin
Luther said that baptism is something that is done in church one day but takes
the rest of our lives to complete. Baptism was not the culmination of Jesus'
ministry, but rather it's beginning. God was pleased that Jesus chose to be one
of us through his rebirth in the Jordan. The result of this commitment was that
it was something that Jesus would eventually give his life to complete. But his
commitment also meant spending the time he had on earth ministering to people,
transforming their lives, baptizing them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. We
know scarcely anything about Jesus' life before his baptism, but his short years
after it were filled with a ministry that still inspires us to change our lives
thousands of years later.
Whenever
I think of a before and after effect, it inevitably reminds me of television. I
have to confess that I am somewhat addicted to the TV shows in which people have
their homes made over. The best part is always the end, when a voiceover says
something like, "Melinda and Joe's home used to be a disco nightmare, but
underneath that purple shag carpet, we discovered a tranquil spa retreat,"
while before and after pictures are displayed across the screen. For me there is
something endlessly fascinating about taking something that was a mess and
making it beautiful. And this is what the message of Jesus' baptism can do for
us. Take lives that are messy, dirty and filled with unfinished projects and
make them pure and beautiful. John the Baptist told the people gathered at the
Jordan that he would baptize them with water, but that someone was coming who
would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Indeed, someone who would
baptize us with the Holy Spirit and
with fire.
This
is quite a statement. Baptism with water is one thing, something many of us have
experienced. But the Holy Spirit and fire seem a lot more risky. The book of
Acts links Baptism in the Holy Spirit with great spiritual power, and also makes
it clear that the Spirit's power comes into conflict with worldly authorities
and values.
What
does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Some think only of speaking in
tongues, dramatic cures and ecstatic experiences. These are certainly part of
humanity's experience with God, but God's fire can come to us in many ways. We
can experience it in meditative silence, in song or dance, playing with
children, in our experience of nature, or in service to others.
D.L Moody once said, "I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled."
The
start of a new year is akin to baptism. We feel refreshed and renewed as though
we have new opportunities to do great things. We make promises to ourselves and
to God that this is the year we will quit all of our bad habits, give more to
others and take less for ourselves. And that can be a good thing. I think that
New Year's resolutions, although not always well kept are a positive tradition.
I enjoyed Stuart McLean's resolutions on his Vinyl Café radio show, which
included his resolutions to always buy the most expensive tomatoes and to keep
all of his pencils sharp. But I think if we work with God, we can perhaps make
even grander resolutions than these.
Let
us resolve in this New Year to cast away the fears of our pasts, to wade into
the waters with Jesus in hope of a new beginning. Let us resolve to meet God, to
take risks, to embark on new adventures in our spiritual lives. This might be
exciting, but may also increase our anxiety; we may feel like turning back from
the pathway. It is hard to give up our fears; we are scared that we might lose
money, friends or status. There are no guarantees when we follow Jesus' way, but
there is the companionship of God and faithful friends, and these are our
healing, guidance and sustenance for the adventure. "Heaven is open,"
Daniel Chalmers says of Jesus' baptism, "And it is risky in the world. It
is risky because at any moment you may be baptized by the Spirit of God, and
your life may take dramatic new turns, and you may find yourself in a
wilderness. God is running loose in the world." Let us pray that this year
we may rush out to meet God's Spirit and fire, reassured by the words of Isaiah,
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are
mine."