Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome
Hello and welcome to worship. Today we mark Jesus’ baptism at the start of his ministry. We’ve very little material about Jesus’ childhood and so we jump, in our Sunday readings, from the visit of the Magi straight into his baptism and public ministry. We like to think of baptism as something the Church does yet, as we read today, it was a rite first offered by Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist. John was a fiery preacher who didn’t seem to get nuance. He told people what’s what; his condemnation of Herod for marrying his sister-in-law led to his death. He divided the wheat from the chaff so it’s surprising Jesus went to be baptised. We’ll think about why that might be the case, and we’ll ponder Isaiah’s beautiful words of assurance. So, let’s join together in worship.
Call to Worship
With all of creation we come to worship and raise God a song on high! We glorify God’s unmeasured strength and unbounded love and raise God a song on high! At God’s voice the clouds come, the thunder roars and torrents fall, and we raise God a song on high! As creation quakes in God’s presence we know that the voice which sets the planets spinning also speaks, in gentle breath, with the peace which sustains us and so we raise God a song on high!
Hymn Summoned by the God Who Made Us
Delores Duffner OSB GIA Publications OneLicence # A-734713 Performed by Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir accompanied by Andrew Ellams. Used with their kind permission.
Summoned by the God who made us rich in our diversity,
gathered in the name of Jesus, richer still in unity:
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways,
sing a new church into being one in faith and love and praise.
Radiant risen from the water, robed in holiness and light,
male and female in God’s image, male and female, God’s delight:
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways,
sing a new church into being one in faith and love and praise.
Trust the goodness of creation; trust the Spirit strong within.
Dare to dream the vision promised sprung from seed of what has been.
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways,
sing a new church into being one in faith and love and praise.
Bring the hopes of ev’ry nation; bring the art of ev’ry race.
Weave a song of peace and justice; let it sound through time and space.
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways,
sing a new church into being one in faith and love and praise.
Draw together at one table all the human family;
shape a circle ever wider and a people ever free.
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways,
sing a new church into being one in faith and love and praise.
Prayers of Approach, Confession and Grace
You tell us, O Most High, not to be afraid, to trust in Your redemption, to hear You call us by name, and to know we’ll not be overwhelmed by flood nor consumed by flame. For these promises we thank you. You tell us, Eternal One, that we are precious in Your sight, that we are loved, that You formed and made us. For this gracious love we thank You.
Yet there are times, Lord Jesus, when we forget Your promises, when we ignore You standing at our side, and prefer to go our own way rather than trust in Yours. Forgive us, good Lord, and give us time to turn back, time not only to know Your love but to spread it, time not just to experience Your grace but to share it, time not just to rest in Your assurance but to help others to be safe.
Remind us, Most Holy Spirit, that we are created for glory, even as we are mix of saint and sinner, wheat and chaff, give us the grace to accept our forgiveness, to forgive others, and to forgive ourselves. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
You speak to us, O God, in ancient words and contemporary interpretation, in the majesty of creation, and in the minutia of our lives,
shine in our hearts and lives, that as we hear we may follow. Amen.
Reading Isaiah 43:1-7
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 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, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight and honoured and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 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.”
Hymn All on Earth and All in Heaven (Psalm 29)
Michael Morgan © 2011 Faith Alive Christian Resources OneLicence # A-734713 sung by the choir of the Mt Cross Lutheran Church Camarillo, California & used with their kind permission.
All on earth and all in heaven raise to God a song on high;
strength unmeasured love unbounded, God alone we glorify.
At God’s voice the clouds assemble thunder roars and torrents fall;
Earth shall quake before God’s presence, mountains tremble at God’s call
Trees shall bow in awe & wonder, bend their branches to the ground;
from God’s lips one word in anger wreaks destruction all around.
But the Word which sets in motion such travails can make them cease;
that same voice which tumult beckons in a gentler breath speaks peace.
Reading St 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 strap 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.”
Hymn Christ Is Our Light! The Bright and Morning Star
© Leith Fisher performed by Mr Gooch, Mr Muirhead and Ellie N from Strathallan School and used with their kind permission.
Christ is our light! The bright and morning star
covering with radiance all from near and far.
Christ be our light, shine on, shine on we pray
into our hearts, into our world today.
Christ is our love! Baptised that we may know
the love of God among us, swooping low.
Christ be our love, bring us to turn our face
and see in you the light of heaven’s embrace.
Christ is our joy! Transforming wedding guest!
Through water turned to wine the feast was blessed.
Christ be our joy; your glory let us see,
as your disciples did in Galilee.
Sermon
Our contemporary world is concerned with many things but, perhaps most deeply, with questions around identity and purpose. Who are we? What are we here for? How do we find meaning in life? These are questions that folk wrestle with seeking answers in social movements, politics and, sometimes, in faith. We may find meaning in identities based on how we love, where we were born or live, how we vote or how we live. And, in finding those identities we strive to find meaning. We’re tempted to think of all this as a modern phenomenon but, as our readings show, these concerns were ones which preoccupied the ancients too.
In our Isaiah passage the prophet addresses a bruised and battered, dislocated and despondent people. The Jews were living in exile with little hope of return. The people are reminded, after harsh words in the previous chapter, that they are precious in God’s sight – they may feel insignificant at the margins of a mighty empire but they are held in God’s own hand. The prophet reminds them that they belong to God and, despite their sins, cannot be separated out from God. Their identity is as God’s people, their purpose to glorify God and be a light to the nations; despite their sins and the prophet’s view that the exile was a divine punishment, they were loved and redeemed.
Psalm 29, which we sang in paraphrase form, is one that benefits from looking at various translations. The Psalm’s opening line might be addressed to “heavenly beings” to “sons of the mighty” or to “mighty ones”. The paraphraser in our sung version hedged his bets and rendered the line “all on earth and all in heaven” which covers bases nicely. Calvin thought the Psalm was addressed to haughty humans rather than the heavenly beings some versions have. Calvin thought the Psalm was a reminder to see beyond the forces and powers that control the world and to turn to God the world’s true sovereign. The Psalm, for Calvin, is addressed to those who see their identity as being based in wealth and power, who derive meaning from amassing riches; he saw it as a wakeup call to consider their true identity and purpose – in glorying and following God not amassing wealth and oppressing the poor.
Calvin’s reading is a good counter point to the powers and principalities that exist today – where haughty (normally men) accumulate wealth and power and behind systems used to keep them in power. The rise of Christian nationalism drove Mr Trump back to the White House (along with a Democratic Party that allowed itself to be portrayed as elitist whilst, multi-millionaire, Mr Trump was seen as ordinary!). Maybe Mr Trump and his followers need reminding that glorifying God is rather more than voting for a particular party. The powers of racism that swirl around us and infest politicians ever more eager to pander to the press barons also need reminding that God alone do we glorify. Those who follow God are always tempted to put other things before God – whether that was the temptation to worship idols and pagan Gods in the ancient near east or the temptation to compromise with the Nazi state in 1930s Germany. It might be the temptation to see right wing populists as divinely ordained or it might be the temptation to see Christianity as having nothing to do with secular concerns and only focused on the spiritual. Maybe the political thunderstorms and tempests of our own age are signs that God is at work just as the Psalmist saw God at work in nature’s unleashed power. The Psalm reminds us to speak truth to the mighty – the truth that only God is to be worshipped, only Jesus is Lord.
Which brings us to Jesus and his baptism. It’s a puzzling episode in some ways. John’s baptismal practice was about repentance, separating out the good from the evil, the wheat from the chaff. With John you’d know if you were good or evil – he made it very clear. So, we have to wonder why Jesus submitted to baptism from his cousin – a baptism that was about, according to John, turning away from evil and towards God.
In Luke’s gospel the baptism narrative comes after the genealogy but before the temptations. We skip over the genealogies as they are rather boring and repetitive. Unlike Matthew, Luke doesn’t include the women in the Messianic line. We’ve no idea of some of the men he names whilst some of the others were nasty characters. Abraham who pimped his wife and tried to murder his son is there. So is Judah, who tried to get out of his responsibilities to a woman he made pregnant. David the murdering rapist is there too. We can assume, therefore, that Jesus’ ancestors were a motley crew; a mixture of good and bad and, like us, something in-between. Jesus was born into a world of personal and systemic sin. He’d know this with those ancestors, with the occupation of Rome, with heartless taxation and injustice. His identity, therefore, included this list of ancestors as well as being a Jew living under cruel occupation.
His baptism shows he understood this; in submitting to baptism he identified with the world in all its fallenness and in all its glory – a world in need of redemption just like the Jews in Isaiah’s day.
Later, Jesus is driven to the wilderness to face temptation – something we come back to in Lent. In a world where sin is baked in, where oppression is part of our systems and structures, Jesus rejects the temptation to just make the best of things. Jesus cannot escape the tragic structure of the world – he’s Son of Adam, Son of God, after all. But he ensures he bends his will to God’s. By accepting John’s baptism, Jesus rejects John’s dualism of good versus evil, wheat or chat, saint or sinner and shows, as his genealogy shows, that life is complex. No wonder he was accused of being a glutton, a drunk, a friend of sinners, outcasts and collaborators. Jesus was part of an interconnected web – ancestors and friends, systems and structures, that he identified with, worked in, and redeemed.
In our own day we might ponder who we are and whose we are. We might wonder what makes us worthy. Like the Jewish exiles we may feel estranged in our culture which, at best, ignores us and, at worst, sees us (with good reason) as dangerous. We might be tempted to find our identity, and safety, in what our money can buy. The need to be secure is as important as it ever was. Employers transfer pension risks to the workers rather than bear it themselves, rent costs more than mortgages – yet one needs to earn a lot of get a mortgage. A move way from a unionised workforce means it’s easier than ever to lose one’s job. Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shows how precarious things are not in faraway places but in countries very near us. Yet, we’ll only find true security in God; the Psalmist reminds us to ascribe God glory (and by implication that means not ascribing it elsewhere!). Over the floods and thunders, the waves and flames, God is there providing our identity and security, our place under the sun.
As Christians our prime identity is secured in our baptism. Jesus’ baptism served to identify with his mixed ancestry, his humanity in that time and place, and with God’s will. Ours serves to identify us as God’s and God’s alone. Despite our sins God loves us; our identity is assured in God’s promises. At baptism we were marked by and claimed for God; great promises were made – God keeps His! Let’s pray:
Eternal God, help us to ascribe You the glory that is Yours, not to pander to divine capriciousness – You have no need of our praise after all – but to remind us of our place, our need for security, and our duty to trust in, and serve, You. Remind us of our baptism, of promises made and forgiveness given, and remind us, O God, that we are no longer our own, but Yours. Amen.
Hymn When Jesus Came to Jordan
Fred Pratt Green © 1980 Hope Publishing Company OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by the choir of North Stoneham and Bassett Parish Church & used with their kind permission
When Jesus came to Jordan to be baptized by John,
He did not come for pardon, but as his Father’s Son.
He came to share repentance with all who mourn their sins,
to speak the vital sentence with which good news begins.
He came to share temptation, our utmost woe and loss,
for us and our salvation to die upon the Cross.
So when the Dove descended on him, the Son of Man,
the hidden years had ended, the age of grace began.
Come, Holy Spirit, aid us to keep the vows we make,
this very day invade us, and every bondage break.
Come, give our lives direction, the gift we covet most:
to share the resurrection that leads to Pentecost.
Affirmation of Faith
We believe in the one and only God, Eternal Trinity, from whom, through whom and for whom all created things exist. God alone we worship; in God we put our trust.
We worship God, source and sustainer of creation, whom Jesus called Father, whose sons and daughters we are.
We worship God revealed in Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh; who lived our human life, died for sinners on the cross; who was raised from the dead, and proclaimed by the apostles, Son of God; who lives eternally, as saviour and sovereign, coming in judgement and mercy, to bring us to eternal life.
We worship God, ever present in the Holy Spirit; who brings this Gospel to fruition, assures us of forgiveness, strengthens us to do God’s will, and makes us sisters and brothers of Jesus, sons and daughters of God.
We believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, united in heaven and on earth: on earth, the Body of Christ, empowered by the Spirit to glorify God and to serve humanity; in heaven, eternally one with the power, the wisdom and the love of God in Trinity.
We believe that, in the fullness of time, God will renew and gather in one
all things in heaven and on earth through Christ, and be perfectly honoured and adored. We rejoice in God who has given us being, who shares our humanity to bring us to glory, our source of prayer and power of praise; to whom be glory, praise and adoration, now and evermore. Amen.
Intercessions
We bring our prayers to God, the Eternal Trinity.
Eternal One, we pray for those who feel insecure; for refugees fleeing war, oppression and poverty, for those waiting for the next bomb to drop and cling to life, for those whose loves and lives attract anger and hate, for those meeting in secret to worship this day for fear of the powers. May we, through our gifts, faith, and life change the world.
Lord Jesus, we pray for those baptised this day, those making promises for themselves – often at great risk – and those parents making promises on their child’s behalf, remind them of Your faithfulness and love, prepare them for lives of discipleship that they, with us, through our gifts, faith, and life, we may change the world.
Most Holy Spirit, remind us to look beyond our own identities, our own searches for safety, our own riches and wealth, to see that it is God alone that we worship, God alone in whom we must trust, that through our gifts, faith, and life, we may, change the world.
Eternal Trinity of Love, we hold before you now, in the silence of our hearts, all who are in need….
May we, through our gifts, faith, and life change the world. As Jesus taught, so we pray…Our Father…
Offertory
Part of our identity as Christians involves giving. St Paul reminds us that God loves cheerful givers – though I’m sure grumpy ones are welcome too! Giving changes us, it reinforces our identity as being part of God’s people, and it changes the world. We give with love of our time, talents and treasurer; we give in many ways to many different people and causes. We may give in the plate in church or by standing order, we may give by remembering the Church in our wills. However we give, let’s give thanks for the ways in which such giving brings change:
Loving God, thank you for the gifts you shower up on us, and for the ways in which you provide for us to give; help us to remember that giving changes us – helping us control our selfish desires. Help us to remember that giving reminds us that we are Yours. Help us to remember the difference that our giving makes to the lives of others. Bless these gifts and all that is given in this placethat we may continue as Your people and, as we are changed, change the world. Amen.
Hymn The Silent Stars Shine Down On Us
Herman G Stuempfle (1923-2007) GIA Publications OneLicence # A-734713 Sung by Paul Coleman
The silent stars shine down on us with bright but sightless eye,
unmindful of our little earth, of us who live and die.
Are we but grains of stranded sand beside a cosmic sea
that lie unvalued and unseen in such immensity?
Creator of all stars you came to grace our transient race.
In Christ you spoke a word that broke the silences of space.
Still through that word you call our hearts to know that we are known,
to trust we do not walk through time unvalued and alone.
We see the star the wise men saw and hope again is stirred.
We track the footprints left in time by your incarnate Word.
We see them climb a lonely hill where Love is left to die –
the Love that formed the farthest star and hears the faintest cry.
O Christ, the bright & morning Star whose radiance does not fade,
whose glory filled the universe before the planets played:
come, heal our hearts of blinding doubt till faith shall end in sight.
Shine down upon our darkened earth and conquer sin’s long night.
Blessing
May the One who made the silent stars shine,
the One who understood his past, present, and future,
and the One who calls our hearts to follow,
shine upon you, allow you to understand your contexts,
and give you the grace to follow,
and the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be with you evermore. Amen.