Have you ever had one of those days, or
weeks that you would like to push rewind on, and start all over again?
Rather a day, a week or a second, I
believe we can all recall a time that we wish we could do over. Maybe we would
choose different words to say, change the actions we took, treat a relationship
differently, given up sooner or tried a little harder.
X- Box devices are common among kids &
youth today. Andrew has an X Box with a number of X-Box games, & the ones that really come
to mind when I think about how they work and rewind life’s moments are the race
car games. He will be driving along at
200 km/hour or so, and swerve and take out a fence or a few cars or a tree or
end up over a bridge & all he has to do is press a button & it erases
the entire segment & puts you right back where he were before the mishap,
even the car’s dints and scratches are erased, car is even clean. We always try
to emphasize with him, that this isn’t reality & you won’t be able to drive
like that, there will be other people on the road in the real world. (But I hope it is his dad that will teach
him to drive when the time comes.)
But life doesn’t work that way. We can’t
just erase the words we uttered in rage or the actions we took in revenge for
the hurt we felt or the muteness we held on to for way to long. We are
responsible for what we do and what we say and who we are. Maybe you are in a
relationship that you look back on, wondering what changed along the way?
Wanting to go back to the way it used to be. But we can’t go back, but we can
go forward in a new way. What can you & I do to change that relationship for
tomorrow?
At times, we don’t like who we are and we
want to be different people. We see in others what we want to be like and we
long to be them. That was exactly what the minister said yesterday. (we were are a funeral for a hear friend
yesterday in Ottawa & the minister when giving her message spoke about some
of Margaret’s characteristics & than she said I wish I was more like Margaret – her determination,
her passion for injustice, etc.. ) We often see in others quality traits we
wish we had. Well that is not going to happen. But we can begin to emulate
positive qualities that others have into our lives
Being and doing are very intimately connected.
“ Wishing is often a deeper feeling and we feel it deeper than the doing
things, differently. Our doing arises out of and reveals our being, who we
are, how we see ourselves, one another, and the world. Being and doing are
intimately connected.” Father Michael K. Marsh
-priest of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church – Uvalde, a parish in the Diocese of
West Texas.
Wishing to do things differently and be
differently really is the wish for the first day. Do you remember your first
day at your job, your new vocation? The first day you were a married person?
The first day you became a parent? The first day you really took your faith
very seriously? Maybe your First day of retirement? First days are milestone
moments, they are high moments, full of light and promise, newness, excitement,
innocence. In those first moments we don’t think about the past, but only the
present and the future. First days are
alive, and full of possibilities and hope and promise, mountain top
experiences. Just imagine the first day
of creation, when God looked around and there was light, the light of love, the
light of God. The peace and silence of no regrets, or guilt, no tears of
sadness, or hurt feelings. There was only light; the light of life, of love,
the light of promise and hope; and it was good. The first day is always a day
of creation.
Stephen Hultgren also relates that today’s
passages are about new beginnings. Mark writes of Jesus' baptism under the
heading of the "beginning" of the gospel of Jesus Christ
(1:1). This word recalls the reading from Genesis 1:1-5 today, "In the
beginning," God's Spirit once hovered over the waters, while God spoke
and called heaven and earth into being. So also at the baptism of Jesus, God's
Spirit came over the waters and his voice declared Jesus to be his Son. That
was the beginning of a whole new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation
21:5). Through Jesus' death and resurrection, which his baptism already
foreshadows, the new creation is fulfilled. For us, we are baptized into
Christ, and we all have the possibility of sharing in the new creation that
Christ brings. Through baptism, we have all been reborn. In Christ, and in our
daily return to our own baptisms, there is a limitless source for the renewal
and new beginnings of our lives as (Titus 3:5 states): “He saved us not
because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His
mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” .
Mark’s gospel account of Jesus baptism is
a more personal account than Matthew& Luke’s appeared to be. In Mark’s
account we her only of John & Jesus & the presence of God there. God’s
voice says “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. Matthew
& Luke’s account, in which it is documented that others were watching says “This
is my Son with who I am well pleased.”
Stephen Hulgren N.T. Lutheran College,
Australia – suggests that Mark is subtly telling us that already in His
baptism, Jesus future course is laid before Him; He will be the servant of God,
who will offer His life as a sacrifice. Like Isaac, He is the Son of promise, a
promise that nothing, not even death can break. In fact, it is precisely
through His death and resurrection that Jesus‘ Sonship & messiahship will
be confirmed & God’s promises fulfilled.
… Jesus baptism signaled a beginning, a
first day, a beginning as He was baptized and affirmed by God,
Infant Baptism and believer’s baptism
(adult) have always caused a fundamental divide among the reform protestant
churches. But what they do agree upon is that baptism is always done in faith.
By faith of the parents or of the one being baptized. Baptism is a “means of
grace”, meaning that this is one of the ways that God’s grace comes to us. Even
though the rite may involve just a little bit of water it marks a whole new
life the beginning of a new creation of forgiveness, of the presence of God’s
Spirit, of our union with Jesus, and our becoming part of the world-wide
Christian church! Working Preacher - Michael Rogness is Alvin N. Rogness Professor
Emeritus of Preaching and Professor Emeritus of Homiletics at Luther
Seminary.
Every
time we return to the baptismal waters we return to the first day. Creation and
baptism cannot be separated. They are intimately connected and mirror each
other. Listen to what Genesis says and how St. Mark describes Jesus’
baptism.
- In the beginning a
wind (or breath, or spirit) of God swept over the face of the waters.
- At Jesus’ baptism
the spirit (or breath or wind) of God descended on Jesus as he is coming
up out of the water.
- In the beginning God
said, “Let there be light.”
- At Jesus’ baptism
God said, “You are my Son, the Beloved.”
- In the beginning
“God saw that the light was good.”
- At Jesus’ baptism
God was “well pleased.”
Father
Michael K. Marsh- “Interrupting The Silence” sermon
When life gets you down, when you look in
the rear-view mirror and see what you should have done, or said, knowing you
cannot go back, go to the waters of your baptism, where God claimed you and
made you His own. May you be reminded
& renewed in the presence of God’s Holy Spirit abiding with you &sustaining you through all of
life’s experiences. Thanks be to
God.
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