Friday I was sitting in the church looking at our beautiful stained glass windows, praying for inspiration and a new way of hearing the story of Jesus' baptism. I have played with all the traditional questions of "why did Jesus need to get baptized" and "what does it mean to be baptized in the Spirit". I thought about pulling out my own baptism story, but I'm pretty sure I've told it at least twice during the last year. I thought about telling the story of my Pentecostal friend who was worried about not being able to speak in tongues at her bapstism, because otherwise, it wouldn't "count". And I even thought about abandoning the Gospel for the Old Testament story of creation and just focusing on that. But none of it felt right. So when all else fails, pray. And so I did. And as I was looking at our stained glass windows, I got distracted by their symbols.
The first window is for Advent...the time of preparation and waiting. It is the start of the new liturgical year. We sing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and read the story of John telling us to "prepare the way". The second window is for Christmas...the celebration of the inbreaking of God into our world through the birth of a child. We celebrate the naming of Jesus--the Lord saves, and read about angels and shepherds. The third window is for Lent...another time of preparation. But this time we're wilderness wanderers, reflecting on our call to obedience and the pending death of Christ. We read the Passion narrative and are told that the temple curtain is torn. The fourth window is for Easter...the celebration of rebirth. We celebrate our risen Lord through baptism and confirmation. We rejoice with Alleluias abounding. The fifth window is for Pentecost...the gifting of the Holy Spirit. Again, an inbreaking of God. A celebration of new spiritual gifts of healing, teaching, and preaching. We go into the world rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, which is symbolized by a descending dove. And in meditating on these windows, the words of Mark's gospel for Sunday came over me. Suddenly I had new eyes and ears for this gospel. So let's look at it again. John the Baptizer is proclaiming a baptism for the forgiveness of sins and telling people about the coming of one who will baptize in the spirit. This is the Advent moment if you will. Be prepared. Watch for the one who is coming. And people from all around are coming to hear this message--this annunciation if you will--and they are waiting. And then Jesus comes into the picture. Mark doesn't give us a birth narrative the way Matthew and Luke do, so in some ways, Jesus appearing on the scene is Mark's birth story...Jesus is coming to be "reborn" through baptism. And when he comes out of the water, God says "You are my Son". God's inbreaking into the world through Jesus--the Lord saves. Then it's almost as if the entire Lenten, Easter and Pentecost stories happen simultaneously for Mark...or maybe it's a foreshadowing of the events to come. Because as Jesus comes out of the water--out of death into new life--the heavens are torn open and the spirit descends on him like a dove. We see these events elsewhere...when Jesus dies on the cross, the temple curtain is torn; when Jesus is raised, it is into a new life, a heavenly life; and when the Spirit comes into the upper room, it is with a breath or wind like that of creation, descending like a dove. So maybe I'm stretching our liturgical seasons a bit here in trying to make this connection with Mark. But then again, I think there might be something to it. Mark is the shortest of the gospels, and he is known for writing in a way that foreshadows events to come. Maybe in this little opening piece of the gospel, Mark is telling us not only about the life of Jesus, but also the life of discipleship. We too have to prepare, wait, watch for the inbreaking of God, die to this life and be born anew, and then go out rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. It isn't a simple, stayed life, but one that is filled with the creative power of God. Which brings me back one of my original questions and the fact that I just couldn't ignore it. So what does it mean to be baptized in the Spirit? We know the Spirit is a creative force--it was there in the beginning as God's breath, breathing life into a formless void. We know that the liturgical action of baptism is an outward sign of an inward change--that somehow we are being called into relationship with God who knows us as "beloved". We know that the Spirit is transformative--it can enter into dark rooms and create light; it can energize us and send us out into the world just as it did for those early disciples in the upper room, and for those disciples of the early church. Being baptized with water in the Spirit drives us to participate in and proclaim with boldness the Good News of the Kingdom of God! This morning, I invite you to meditate on our beautiful stained glass windows. How do they represent the story of your life in Christ?
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AuthorI don't know what the future of the church is, but I know that we will continue to be a place of sanctuary and hope, working towards healing in the world. Archives
October 2017
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