St. Andrew’s Pictou, NS January 8^th 2006 The Baptism of the Lord

 

The Quality of a New Beginning

Genesis 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

 

There is a great life-recipe in today’s readings; more power and truth than could be conveyed in one day, but we will try.

 

The readings from the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Mark are like two book ends framing great truths for us that we desperately need to know.

 

The Genesis reading records in ancient scriptures the first day of the beginning of the world. We have a beginning, and we have a creation; indeed creating life is always a beginning:

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…

a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”

 

Wind, spirit, and breath are the same word.

 

So we have “a wind,” “a Spirit” or “a breath” that swept over the waters.”

We also have water.

 

In addition we have light:

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light.’”

 

Next we have the expression of pleasure: “And God saw that the light was good…”

 

In the Genesis reading we have six key elements:

1 Beginning

2 Creation

3 Wind, breath, or Spirit

4 Water

5 Light

6 The expression of pleasure for what has been created.

 

In the Gospel reading from Mark, we have those same six key elements conveyed in a different way:

1 & 2 The baptism of Jesus was both “a Beginning” and “a Creation.” The baptism marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; God created something new in Jesus Christ that had never been seen before.

3 The wind or Spirit is seen: “… just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.”

4 We have water in the Jordan River.

5 We have light in the way that Jesus was a new light for humanity; we have a new source of light in Jesus.

6 In Pleasure we have the voice of God the Father coming from the cloud saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 

We human beings use words and ideas whatever way we want to use them. What we might call a beginning, another person may call an ending, or vice versa.

 

One man came to me once distraught that he had been fired, but down the road he later saw this day of doom as a beginning to the rest of his life and career.

 

Someone recently described the days we have just experienced (Christmas, New Years) as “same old, same old.” They were just the same as any other day of the year.

 

We can all do that. We can call every day, dull, drab and with nothing special, or we can call every day a new beginning.

 

We can do either, but one choice will make our life better!

 

The concept of beginnings is refreshing and inspiring to the human spirit:

-they help us to let go of attitudes, feelings and opinions that hold us back form enjoying life and moving on towards the future in a healthy way.

 

We are challenged with a new Beginning. We are invigorated by starting a new job, moving into a new house, or making a new friend. We feel better when we know that we can start again.

 

Do you remember when we first met? (How many times have we said or heard someone say those words?)

 

This is January of 2006, the first month of a new year. We can asses last year and plan for a new year. Generally, we just don’t do that in March or October!

 

What exciting things will the New Year hold for us?

 

Today we marked a new beginning for Gage David Eston Connors. With the sacrament of Baptism we marked a new beginning for him.

 

Some babies are born and ignored. Gage from his beginning is honoured, celebrated, loved and blessed by God, family and friends as being one of God’s beloved.

 

Consider the quality of Gage’s beginning: healthy, being wanted, desired, loved, watched, and blessed with all that we can hope and pray that he will have a good life.

 

Gage’s baptism has all the same elements as did Jesus: a new beginning, he is the product of love’s creation, we invoked the Spirit of God, we had water, the experience gives us light, and there are greats hopes and expressions of pleasure about his life and future.

 

When we meet people, we gauge them according to what we think that they are worth.

 

We will ask ourselves if they are honest, trustworthy, reliable, kind, if they are good enough to marry our son or daughter, if they are good enough to be our friend or neighbour.

 

But there is another dynamic going on here. As he moves from boy to man, this little baby will also be gauging us to see if we keep the vows we have just taken concerning his baptism.

 

Gage will be gauging us!

 

Children are very perceptive; they can tell if you really like them or not.

 

More is going on a Gage’s Christening: evrytime we conduct a baptism, we in fact renew our own vows to follow Christ, to study and examine ourselves in the context of community, to learn and improve and live the Christian life as best we can.

 

Gage will be competent to gauge our behaviour and discern for himself whether you and I truly love him and whether we truly love our neighbour.

 

Our lives are full of beginnings:

-we begin breathing on our own after we are born,

-we begin eating real food at some point,

-we begin going to the bathroom on our own,

-we begin school, high school, community college or university,

-we being work, looking for a partner in life to love,

-we begin maturing, making friends, and on and on go our beginnings.

 

The quality of our beginnings will determine a great deal about our lives.

 

For example: I am surprised at how many people in a bad relationship tell me how their partner had such a bad time with their “previous.” They always say to me, “You should hear his/her story!” as if I am going to be impressed at the bad story and their rescue attempts.

 

I try to explain that rescuing another person is not a suitable metaphor for finding a husband or wife. I tell them that if they want to rescue people they should get a job as a paramedic. I point out that the ambulance attendants leave the injured at the hospital. They do not take them home!

 

Have you ever heard someone say, “We have such a great marriage. We love each other. We met at an accident scene on the Trans Canada!”

 

The quality of our beginnings will determine a great deal about our lives and our loves.

 

The word of God to Jesus on the day of his Baptism, was “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 

We are all called to do the same thing for Gage; we are called to bless him.

 

From the beginning, Jesus Christ lived in a way that gave pleasure to his father, the Creator, the one who brought and still is bringing light (You can see it in Gage’s face) to our lives.

 

Consider the quality of Gage’s beginning and the pleasure that he has brought to so many.

 

Can you imagine what a world it would be if we followed Jesus and lived our lives in a way that simply brought pleasure to each other?

 

AMEN                  Rev. Alan Stewart