Reminders

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

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

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

We all need reminders.  The first lesson is a reminder, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”  That’s exactly what the people of Israel needed as a reminder.  They had been sent into exile by God.  They hadn’t been doing to very well with the whole, loving God and loving neighbor thing… but in spite of that, God still insisted, they BELONGED… since the making of the covenant with Abraham, they belonged.  Even now… in spite of all the mess… and it was quite a mess… and yet in spite of all of that they still belonged to the same God who created all things!  Nothing could ever change that.

We need reminders too, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”  In Baptism, we are passed through the waters and God makes a covenant with us.  We too are made to BELONG to God.  And even now… in spite of not always doing a great job at the whole loving God and neighbor thing… we too STILL BELONG to the same God who created all things.  Nothing can ever change that for us either and that’s because covenants are God’s work, not ours.  Regardless of how well or how challenged we are at keeping our promises, God keeps Divine promises perfectly.  Belonging to God is a forever thing.  It will never go away.  

When Isaiah spoke these words, Israel had been scattered throughout the world… given a cosmic “time out” for not listening to God.  But they still BELONGED to God and just like a loving parent, their need for a “time out” did not remove God’s love for them.  What the people of Israel needed when Isaiah spoke these words, scattered all over creation as they were, was to be reminded that they would be GATHERED together again… and God also specializes in GATHERING!  That first reminder continues, “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up,’ and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’”

God GATHERS us together in Baptism as well.  God gathers us from different walks of life, from different sides of the track, from different ethnic backgrounds, from the North and from the South… from the East and from the West… from the Lutherans and from the Episcopalians and every other sort under the sun!  It is that GATHERING which God has done… it is that BELONGING which God has made, that prompts the heavens to open and the voice of God to call down and say to YOU… “YOU are my Child! YOU are Beloved!  With YOU I am well pleased.”  You are beloved simply because God has made you BELONG!  God is WELL PLEASED with you because God has GATHERED YOU IN!  So the question for us is not whether or not we belong or whether or not we’ve been gathered in.  Clearly we have, with an unbreakable Divine love we are!  The question for us is… what now!?

What now?  Because we also need a reminder that we belong to God for a purpose.  God GATHERS us together for a purpose.  We’re gathered together for abundant life!  To be fed and nourished at God’s Table.  To care for one another… and receive care when we desperately need.  We’re gathered together to share each others joys and sorrows.  We’re gathered to wipe one another’s tears and we’re gathered to work on God’s Kingdom… so that God’s Kingdom might come, and God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!

That may seem like an overwhelming task.  I would be the first to acknowledge that the world seems far away from the Kingdom of God these days.  The Kingdom of God where everyone has enough… enough food, clothing, shelter, security, dignity and purpose.  I’d be the first to look around and say that communities of caring and compassion and kindness are often hard to find and never make the evening news.  How is it then, that we can do what God has gathered us to do… beloved or not!?  

It turns out that it’s not just Jesus who had the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove in his Baptism.  With each and every Baptism, prayers are offered just like Jesus prayed.  With each and every Baptism, the heavens open up and the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove, just like it did for Jesus.  So when God gathers us all into a community with other Beloved children of God, ALL those folks that God has gathered… they… YOU… You ALL have been empowered by the Holy Spirit!  

And so, with the Divine embrace of BELONGING… brought together into a fellowship of Holy GATHERING… and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we end up right where we began today for one more reminder from God… Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.   I have called YOU by name; YOU are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.  Do not fear, for I am with you.  Amen.