Sunday Sermon from Christ Lutheran in Staunton, VA
The Festival of the Baptism of Our Lord
Psalm 29 and Mark 1: 4-11
Whoa. What a wreck of a Wednesday we had this week—an absolute train reck for our democracy. So allow me to quickly clarify one thing as I begin this message. If you come today to hear the voice of anger, the voice of righteous indignation, then you have come to the wrong place. That said, I welcome your anger today, but I will neither echo your anger, nor counter your anger with an opposing force of righteous indignation.
Now, first, as to my thoughts about Wednesday, my quick response is to say God “Bless Mitt Romney.” I will tell you why in just a minute.
Second, as to the question of what now? or what next? I have questions without answers. I have concerns with uncertainty. I know you do as well.
Most of all, and this is my third point and my main focus for proclaiming the good news, I have confidence in Christ Jesus my Savior. And I will approach our questions without answers, our concerns, and the anger that has boiled over with my confidence in Jesus.
I offer you those quick section headings. Now, let me say a little bit more about why I say, “God bless Mitt Romney,” share a few concerns and questions, and then tell you about my confidence in God and confidence in Christ Jesus.
In a Society of Friends meeting, in a Quaker meeting, you sit in silence, and you listen for the Holy Spirit, and you listen to the silence. When a brother or sister feels moved by the Spirit to speak, you listen to them. The Society of Friends has this beautiful gesture when someone speaks words where you recognize truth—truth in your friend, truth in their words that echos your own heart. When this happens, you simply say “My brother speaks for me.” That is all you need to say. Mitt Romney spoke for me on Wednesday. He spoke of truth, and he spoke of the importance of truth. So, if you listen now wanting to know what I have to say about Wednesday and politics, please go listen to Mitt Romney. My brother speaks for me. You can find it on CSPAN or search YouTube.
Jesus speaks for me as well, and today I choose to focus on Jesus. Jesus said to Pilate in the gospel of John. “In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” This takes place in Chapter 18, when Jesus speaks for himself before his crucifixion, before Jesus gets suffocated by an unjust crowd. Jesus gives his voice and his life to truth. “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Jesus’ invitation for us to listen to him addresses my concerns and questions without answers: I find a lot more people listening to words of anger than listening to Jesus. Also, related, I am not sure a lot of listening is happening right now. I often worry people have stopped listening. That people no longer believe in listening, unless it is the selective listening that involves seeking out those who agree with you. Even more problematic, the world has false prophets who channel their own anger and their own hate and have a knack for making scripture sound profane and ugly. And sadly some people flock to these false prophets. Also, I confess with these words in the last thirty seconds that I vent to you, and you graciously listen to me, for which I am grateful. I worry about false prophets stealing (my sheep) Jesus’ sheep. I also worry about anger stealing Jesus’ sheep. While that concern runs deep, it does not run deeper than my confidence in Jesus as he gives voice to truth.
Point # 3: If you have come today to hear a holy, divine word that gives you confidence then I encourage you to start with the Psalm. Psalm 29 sets up the voice of God breaking through the heavens at the Baptism of Jesus. Psalm 29, our psalm for this festival describes the voice of God.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders;
The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice;
the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.
The voice of the Lord bursts forth in lightning flashes.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
Psalm 29, assorted verses
Psalm 29 describes the voice of the Lord to fuel our imagination with splendor and thunder and lightning. So you can see the ground shaking and the ripple across the waters, not in anger but in splendor. “Splendor” may just be the most important adjective in the description. Lightning and thunder could drive fear into your heart as well. But, in this passage, the psalmist describes the power of the voice of the Lord as majestic, with splendor. Imagine that you stand on a covered porch marveling at the sight over the horizon of the thunder storm rolling through the landscape. The voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor that proclaims: “You are my son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
The voice of the Lord speaks a very personal message, Father to Son, but I can just imagine the earth shaking and the water rippling and the air sparking with electricity and people nearby saying “what is that?” It compares to what happens when you work outside on a bright spring day and the sudden sound of a loud crash catches you by surprise. When God speaks this word of splendor, he intends us to look up and look at Jesus, with awe and wonder and confidence.
The voice of the Lord and Jesus’ baptism by John marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The voice of the Lord shaking the countryside begins the ministry of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. The Holy Spirit fills Jesus, and the waters of Baptism fill Jesus, and the voice of the Lord fills Jesus. When Jesus speaks, the voice of the Lord speaks, and we listen. At least God intends us to listen. Here, we have God with us, the voice of the Lord now with us. We listen for it. And wow, do we ever need God right now. God knows we need confidence as we listen for God’s voice.
The voice of Jesus, the voice of splendor, the voice of truth and justice outshines the hate and anger of false prophets out there in the world. I know this, and I have confidence in this. False prophets before the civil war tried to use scripture to justify slavery, and Jesus and his followers proved over and again these false prophets emphatically wrong. False prophets used scripture to try to justify separation of the races and to justify discrimination, and Jesus and his followers proved them wrong. Jesus and his followers will continue to stand up against the evil of white supremacy. My confidence in Jesus proclaims this truth.
My confidence in Jesus continues to grow to resound with the voice of God breaking through the heavens. My confidence in Jesus, the beloved Son, grows with ministry of truth that helps me to recognize moments of agreement with people with whom I sometimes disagree. Mitt Romney comes to my mind. I disagree with some of the teachings and practices of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, which is Romney’s faith practice. I do not agree with all of Senator Romney’s political stances, but when he stood up there on Wednesday and rebuked his colleagues for perpetrating lies and emphasized the importance of truth. When he does that, I call him brother and begin a conversation with his words about our shared spiritual heart that listens to the truth and listens for the truth. Again, hear Jesus’ words “Everyone on the side of truth, listens to me.” The healing in our nation will happen not when we find people who agree with us, but when we figure out how to speak and listen to people who disagree with us.
Third, I have confidence in the voice of the Lord dwelling in Jesus because, as many of you know, I have spent the last nine months daily listening to the scripture and the psalms. How have I handled the stress of the last nine months? I have handled it with the book of psalms, and sharing the book of psalms, and the routine of scripture. If you have followed along the psalm readings, you have probably noticed that some psalm readings I have filled with deep meaning and personal reflection and you have enjoyed the insights of what these words mean. But, and this is the more important insight to share, other times it has appeared as the practice of routine. I have had moments of no insight, where perhaps the psalms sounded merely repetitive. The routine serves me well, even it if is rather droll, uneventful, to watch on Facebook. The routine helps when stress rises and gets me back to scripture and gets me back to listening. You have witnessed me (not sharing with you but) just listening to scripture myself. Jesus and God and scripture does not always give me the answers. Jesus and God and scripture does not always give me insights worth sharing. Still, I believe in working at it and trusting in him for those precious moments of truth, when it is as if the heavens open up and the glory of the Lord points a spotlight on Jesus, the Savior of the world.
Now, I will admit, I would like Jesus to give me answers. But I need Jesus to inspire confidence, and the voice of God and the blessing of God and the activity of God provides me with plenty of confidence, enough today I hope to share some with you. Jesus has overcome evil before with truth and light and life, and together with Jesus we will stand strong, united by his truth, and determined to bring peace into our hearts and our world.
Amen.
Pastor Robert McCarty,
Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Staunton, VA
