Baptism Of Jesus 2009

BAPTISM OF JESUS 11 January 2009 Readings: Genesis 1:1-5; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11 Some background... Greece is divided into two parts. But for a tiny strip of land, the southern part of Greece would be an island. That strip of land was a major crossroads of the Roman Empire. That’s where the City of Corinth was. Ephesus was on the coast and was the largest city in Asia Minor – now West Turkey. The ‘average’ travel time from Ephesus to Corinth was 6-10 days. About the year 49, Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because ‘Jews were in a state of constant tumult at the instigation of one Christus.’ This was probably ‘Christ’. The reading from Acts mentions Paul and Apollos. Paul was a tentmaker. Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, where they had recently come from Italy. Aquila was also a tentmaker. It is not clear whether Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians before meeting Paul. After eighteen months, Paul, Aquila and Priscilla all went together to Ephesus, where Priscilla and Aquila remained. Ephesus had believers who had been baptised by disciples of John the Baptist. They were following a teacher named Apollos. Apollos had left Ephesus for Corinth, with a letter of introduction from Aquila and Priscilla. Apollos was a learned and eloquent Jew from Alexandria in Egypt. He knew the Hebrew Bible and what he taught about Jesus was right, but he only knew about John’s message about baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak, they met with him afterwards and explained what had happened to Jesus since the time of John the Baptist, and all that it meant.

New Testament reading: The Acts of the Apostles 19:1-7 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, ―Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?‖ They replied, ―No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.‖ 3 Then he said, ―Into what then were you baptised?‖ They answered, ―Into John‘s baptism.‖ 4 Paul said, ―John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.‖ 5 On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7 altogether there were about twelve of them. (New Revised Standard Version.)

SERMON I shall briefly explain some discussions over baptism between the Church of England and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. I shall discuss the Holy Spirit and what baptism means. But first I shall talk about the Gospel reading and mention the windows in the photos you have Baptism of Jesus In today‘s Gospel reading Jesus seems to have been baptised by immersion as the reading refers to Jesus coming up out of the water. At that moment, the heavens were torn apart and the Spirit descended like a dove. The dove symbolises the Holy Spirit (see the pictures below). Note the halo in the dove on the picture on the right. The vessel in John‘s hand may be a shell (see the picture below- right). The artist depicts John the Baptist on the river bank in the act of pouring water over 1 Paul Heatherington

Jesus‘ head. This is baptism by affusion, rather than immersion. John is pictured with a cross which foreshadows the bloody ‗baptism‘ Jesus‘ was to suffer on the cross. In religious art John the Baptist is often pictured with a cross.

Organ Aisle

West window

Paul in Ephesus Now let‗s jump to about twenty years after the Resurrection when Paul is in Ephesus, where he found followers of Jesus. They were probably Jews baptized by John the Baptist's disciples. The men had not only not received the Holy Spirit, they had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. John‘s baptism was a ‗baptism of repentance‘ which merely looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. And so, Paul baptised the twelve men ‗into the name of Jesus‘ and laid his hands on them. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues. Speaking in tongues is where someone falls into an ecstasy and pours out unintelligible sounds. Pushing at the Boundaries of Unity The Church of England and the Baptist Union have been considering a report Pushing at the Boundaries of Unity. This report flows from discussions over ten years. The discussions are not about uniting the two churches; it concerns how the two churches might rub along. The report is challenging to Anglicans and Baptists. Most Christian churches practice infant baptism. The Church of England baptises those who accept Jesus as Lord and also children who are to grow up within the family of the Church. Christian initiation is not a single event in the Church of England. It is an extended process which involves several steps. Initiation is not complete until those baptised in infancy make the baptismal promises their own. First communion and confirmation are part of the extended process of initiation. An obvious problem arises where a child is baptised and the parents and godparents don‘t follow through with their promises so that those who are baptised as infants are brought to confirmation. That said, church members, as well as parents and godparents, have obligations to nurture children who have been baptised. A person who has been baptized with water in the name of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in one church should not be baptized again.1 Through the Holy Spirit in 1

Pushing at the Boundaries, 68-69 ‗Re-baptism is inconceivable, impossible, a contradiction in terms, a complete nonsense‘.

2 Paul Heatherington

Baptism we become members of the Church of Christ, not just the church in which the baptism takes place. However, the Baptist Church sometimes ‗re-baptizes‘ those who have previously been baptized as infants. This is because a personal profession of faith is absent in infant baptism. The report: invites the Church of England to reflect on the consistency of its teaching and asks Baptists to consider whether they might recognise infant baptism and, among other things, stop the practice of ‗second‘ baptisms. Baptism As we celebrate Jesus‘ baptism, it is a good time to reflect on our own baptism. Some background from the Hebrew Bible may help. Ethan2 (the Ezrahite) renowned for his wisdom, may have written Psalm 89: ‗Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them... you founded the world and all that is in it.‘ God called Moses to free the Israelites. But first, Moses needed to be saved from Pharaoh's edict, which required male Israelite babies to be killed at birth. Pharaoh's daughter drew Moses out of the water from a waterproof basket. Moses means ‗drawn out of the water‘. Through the waters of the Red Sea, God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, with Moses leading them. Through the waters of the River Jordan Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land after Moses died. To summarise, it is through water that the Jews came to freedom. Jesus was baptised by John to identify himself with those he came to rescue. John was a signpost to Jesus who was to ‗baptise...with the Holy Spirit‘. Through the water of baptism we share Christ‘s fate by symbolically dying and coming to new life in him. The Holy Spirit God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is central to life as a Christian. The word `spirit' comes from the Latin ‗spiritus‘, meaning `breath' or 'breeze' – something physical but unseen: the air we breathe, what we smell. Seven weeks after Easter, we celebrate the birthday of the Church at Pentecost (Whit Sunday), when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus‘ disciples. Something very special happened at Pentecost. However, the Holy Spirit did not then come into existence. In the reading from Genesis, ‗A wind from God’ may be translated ‗the Spirit of God‘. ‗The Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters and God said, ‗Let there be light‘; and there was light.‘ God breathes and speaks, and things come into being. Gifts of the Holy Spirit When we say the Creed we affirm our belief in the Holy Spirit, which stirs the first desire for God within us. The Holy Spirit leads us to the Cross and reassures us we are forgiven when we miss the mark, which is what sin means in Greek. The Holy Spirit grants a variety of gifts: the gift of communicating the Gospel, gifts of healing, gifts of praying, gifts of teaching and learning, gifts of serving, gifts of guiding and following, gifts of inspiration and vision. God‘s gifts also include the ability to work with our hands. We are all called to discover the gifts we have received and to use them to build up the Church of Christ to serve the world to which the Church is sent. Our task

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Rosie Junemann celebrated her birthday on 9 January 2009. At 12.25am on Saturday 10 January 2009 Rosie became Granny Rose. The baby weighed in at 6lb 12oz and is to be named Ethan Harry.

3 Paul Heatherington

Paul‘s view was that a person says, ‗Jesus is Lord,’ only when this is made possible by the activity of the Holy Spirit.3 The Holy Spirit allows all who follow Jesus to tell the world that Jesus is Lord. In the Lord‘s Prayer we say ‗Thy kingdom come on earth‘. A new world has opened up and our task is to help make it happen. Baptism is the ‗beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives.‘4 It‘s not ‗I was baptised‘ but ‗I am baptised‘. The Creed expresses our belief in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may be active in us. Prayer In my baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you gave me unique gifts. May your Holy Spirit dwell in me. Grant me the courage to use your gifts to build up the Church of Christ to serve the world. As I make my way in life, grant me the grace to trust you more and more each day. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

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1 Cor 12:3 see also Rom 10:9 Christian Initiation: Common Worship (London: Church House Publishing, 2005), 62

4 Paul Heatherington