WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.559 You know, I was over here thinking about the fishing for men or fishing for people. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:27.199 I kind of feel like if we were to get ourselves a little rod with some fishing line, and we were to put some cinnamon rolls on the end of that thing, I think we might be more successful than we're thinking, you know. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.920 We might catch some is what I'm saying. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.079 So uh we are in the season. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:40.799 The season of the polar plunge. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:55.840 Has anybody uh ventured into this polar plunge thing where uh you go and you find, well, hopefully the coldest body of water you are near, and you initiate the new year by jumping into this body of water. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.759 Anyone given that a go yet? 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.240 Yeah. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:58.880 Yeah? 00:00:59.039 --> 00:00:59.840 Oh yeah, Dr. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:00.479 B has. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:01.920 Where? 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:04.480 In the fjords? 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:06.159 Yeah, how was it? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:07.439 Brutally cold. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:11.200 Were you born anew? 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:13.840 As fast as I could. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.400 I got the heck out of there, is what I'm hearing. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:18.719 Yeah. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:21.920 Well, I mean, because that's sort of the the thought, right? 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:29.280 Is that that there it's just sort of just such an invigoration and that people feel like, oh, they've been reawakened. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:33.519 And some people even say the body reacts well to it. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.079 Um I don't believe them. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.040 But they say that. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:41.920 And you've done it twice. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:42.719 Uh all right. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:55.359 What what's the uh what was Einstein's thing, doing the same thing over and expecting different results, that was it, right? 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:06.560 Uh you know, it so the way my mind kind of works just a little bit, because some of our Methodist materials were talking about the polar plunge and relating it to baptism. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:24.960 And I just I get this image of John the Baptist in you know some Lake Michigan or something in January 1st, and he's rushing people through these baptisms because he's freezing in the water, and then she gets into some conversation with Jesus about whether or not this should really happen or not. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:26.879 And he's like, let's just do this. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:32.479 I gotta get out of the see, now you're you're in my mind now. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:35.360 I'm sorry. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:43.919 But as I tell my bosses, all the walls are padded, so you should be just fine in there. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:51.039 But it to me, it it it it is an interesting introduction to this Sunday on the Christian calendar. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:54.319 It's uh the baptism of Christ Sunday. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:04.800 And for us as as Christians, it's often a reaffirmation of our faith or an opportunity to reaffirm our faith by thinking about our baptism, right? 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.360 What did what does that really mean? 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.520 And and are we living up to what it is and a full understanding? 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:21.599 Is there opportunity for some reawakening of our faith uh that is available to us because of the way the uh calendar runs? 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Um so just talking again about baptism itself and some of the different belief systems around it, Katie was giving us some of that. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:36.080 Uh there's definitely in baptism this sense of a cleansing, right? 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:46.319 It it's it's it's sort of obvious, it's in some of the language in our scriptures, but you you bring in water, and then cleansing is not too far behind, right? 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:51.199 So that part of the image and the understanding is pretty easy to come to. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:56.319 We've also got this sense of a commitment made to God, right? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.960 That's part of what baptism is as well. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:05.039 I'm going to make this commitment and I'm going to show God that I am part of this body. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:07.360 I want to be part of this body. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:13.919 We have with infant baptism a little bit of a nuance here. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:21.199 It's more of an understanding of, I'll call it the light word I would use would be an initiation. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:28.800 You know, that this is an official, we are moving into the body because of that commitment. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:31.279 And I say initiation as a light word. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.959 I think our Catholic brothers and sisters would say it's a little more substantial than that. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:05:00.560 But then I think another way for baptism to be understood, we United Methodists, probably the most important part is that that reality of grace as our core belief, that God's unending love for us in grace is what we're celebrating. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:26.399 And so because we're doing it that way, it's important that we are in a public place so that we can, all of us who witness that baptism, be able to make a commitment to it, not just our own baptism in reaffirmation, but the baptism of somebody else so that they can know God's grace because of the way we act, the way we behave. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.680 They're going to know God because I share God's love. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.439 All of those are components of baptism. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:42.319 But they do pose the question, each and every one of them, of so why is Jesus getting baptized? 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:47.360 As we understand and know him, he's got all those bases covered. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:58.720 In fact, part of why we get baptized is that we might move into a sense of being known by him, sharing body with Christ. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:12.879 Where we land often when we talk about Christ's baptism is about the importance of Jesus' willingness to be amongst us. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:07:02.480 That willingness to come and be human and to know what that is, to know the highs, to know the lows, to know the realities of what our life is, that this is a core belief of we Christians that the God that we worship loves us with such a depth that that God sent God's Son to be amongst us, that we might know that He knows, that God knows what it's like to be a human being in this world, what it's like to feel hurt, what it's like to feel lost, what it's like to feel joy, what it's like to know love. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:10.800 That's a unique uh approach, especially given these the many of our scriptures are 2,000 years old. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:34.720 This idea that our God is somebody that loves us and loves us with such a depth that that was, I imagine, a lot of why people were drawn to it, a lot of why it resonated with people, a lot of why people uh felt this was truly how God was, and the God that they wanted to know. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:59.920 I like this idea personally too that we don't have a God that comes to rule the world and rule over us, but in fact wants us to flourish, wants us to grow amidst all of that has been offered to us in creation and in God's love. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:16.560 We can take comfort, we can take confidence that Jesus amidst all of this would know all the joys, all the pains, all the celebrations, and that we can know that he knows that, that God knows that. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:30.160 It's a big part of why we celebrate on this day of Jesus' baptism, maybe even why we uh uh um raise it to the heights that we raise it. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:38.000 It is the day that we celebrate God coming to earth and the love that's innate in the midst of that. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:45.679 But it does bring to me kind of a concern about our world. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:52.960 You know, as we enter into a new year and we're starting to think about, okay, what's this year going to be about? 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:03.679 My being the pastor here, I kind of extend that to think, okay, what's this year going to be about for this church? 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:16.000 And so it highlights this concern for me, this moment in which we're celebrating that Jesus is sharing that depth of love, getting baptized amongst us. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:22.480 What is this world that we are getting baptized into? 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:30.240 I think about the world and how we've created it, how we've established it. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:38.960 And when I say we, we should acknowledge, I'm talking about uh in worldly sense, the United States. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.039 You know, we are a big influence on the rest of the world. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:47.120 When I say we, I'm talking about the Christian body. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:54.559 We are again a high influence on the world and have been for centuries. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:00.320 We have had as much influence on the movement of the world as any other religion. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:12.159 So when I talk about this world that we've created, that we've established, I'm talking about we as in we, it's us that have made this world. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:19.120 And this world that we are in the midst of, to me, is in a really strong place of fracturing. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:31.200 We are broken up and at odds with each other in ways that, well, you know, I'm 32 and I haven't seen this in my life. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.000 Low these 32 years. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:45.200 No, I mean you guys all know. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.559 58 years. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.159 So some of you are like, oh, you're just a kid. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.200 Others of you are oh, you might as well cash it in. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:54.720 I know who's out here. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:04.480 I'm gonna count it as enough years to be able to go, holy, you know, this seems like a fractured time. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:08.000 This seems like a difficult time. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:13.200 It's hard not to go into these existential concerns about our nation, about the world. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:14.720 We are so fractured. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.320 We're fractured politically, almost on purpose. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.879 We are split at least in halves, but I bet you it's even more layers than that. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.759 And those fractures are strong. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.519 You know, we are not living in grace with each other. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:34.879 We are not living in disagreement, especially politically. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:40.720 I think the the technological world hasn't helped any of this either. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:51.039 This place where we can kind of live in a certain amount of anonymity, but also this world where we get sent the stuff we already agree with. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:52.000 Right? 00:11:52.080 --> 00:12:00.960 It it's it's problematic and it's enhancing this fracturing that I feel like the world is going through. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:02.960 And that's I get concerned. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.360 We baptized into this world. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:10.000 Well, shoot, how does God feel about that? 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.480 I think about the fracturing of our churches. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:30.639 It's not just the non-Christians that are wrestling, it's the Christian world that are wrestling with each other with disagreement and not loving disagreement, not gracious disagreement, but strong disagreement. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.039 We walk that journey in this very church ourselves. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.559 And families. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:54.960 Maybe it's your family that is suffering some of that fracturing, or maybe you just know about some other families that are living through that, but the fracturing is all the way at that intimate, intimate level. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.759 And I have a concern about that. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:06.879 My heart is reaching out to uh um what lay in our future. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:27.519 I wonder if bapt the baptism of Christ, at being often a time to remember our own baptism, maybe even reaffirm our own baptism, we might ask ourselves, what does it mean to be baptized into this world, a world that is at odds with itself often? 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:41.279 If we're to embrace this entering into the body of Christ, what does that look like amidst the fracturing that we've established in this world? 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:52.240 I think I think our world in this passage comes with an invitation. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:14:07.519 This passage in which we see Jesus uh uh accept a role of being human and to model it for the rest of us, a model of the depth of God's love for us. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.759 I think that passage is also this invitation. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:20.080 It's an invitation for us to look at this world in the way God sees the world. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:29.440 I imagine that the age of Jesus' walking this earth was met with its own fracturing. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:44.960 So when Jesus got baptized, I imagine there were still some of these concerns, and yet God was willing to look to this world with godly eyes and send Jesus anyway. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.440 What does that mean to look at the world with godly eyes? 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:55.200 Well, for sure, God sees the shadow sides of our world. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:56.080 Right? 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:03.200 Richard Rohr, he says it fairly well in a daily devotion that I am working with. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:14.960 He writes, certainly God sees sin, sorrow, the shame, the pity, the terror, the sheer horror of it all, the pathos of the world. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:22.960 God does see our dark side, our shadow side, but also God also sees beyond the world. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:29.919 God is able to see the world as it truly is, as God intended for it to be created. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:37.919 Richard Rohr writes again, God sees beyond through and past the covering of the fig leaves, little Adam and Eve. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:39.200 Metaphor there. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.240 He sees past the fig leaves to our real selves. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.120 God sees creation without deceit. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:58.559 God beholds the world as it really is, a beloved community, a feast of abundance sparkling in the light and glory of love. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:02.559 I'm gonna say that part again. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:14.879 God sees the world, beholds the world as it really is, a beloved community, a feast of abundance, sparkling in the light and the glory of love. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:30.559 I wonder how good we are at looking with those godly eyes and looking for that godly presence, that godly reality of our existence. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:33.919 We're invited to live into that way of seeing. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:49.519 Richard Roorigan, and God invites us to see that goodness also with our own eyes, to see differently, looking beyond, under, through, and past the shadows. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:58.960 As we walk our days, how committed are we to seeing the world in this way? 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:09.680 How willing are we to train ourselves to look for these parts of our world? 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:26.559 There are visionaries among us, prophets, saints, heroes, people who describe and point us to the world that we can be, to the world that we are. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:52.240 But often it takes our commitment to see the world in that way, our commitment to following those visionaries, to listening to those visionaries, to be the magi who have their epiphany at the birth of Christ because they followed the star. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:09.359 Diana Butler Bass, Christian historian, also speaks to this following, which this sermon automatically became Nancy's favorite, because I did Richard Rohr and Diana Butler Bass. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.240 Am I right? 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:11.359 All right. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:13.599 These are the ones we share. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:19.920 She writes, the wise men awaited a sign in the sky, a star to guide them on this journey. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:27.759 Revelations break in, signs appear in dreams, light shines forth, and glory hovers all around. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:32.079 Such things are from the realms of miracle, awe and wonder. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:36.480 They surprise and disrupt the normal course of existence. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.640 Epiphanies are not of our making. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:48.240 But it would be a mistake to believe that we are only passive recipients of Epiphanies. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.119 We need to be alert for their arrival. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:59.759 Revelations can be missed if one isn't attentive or attuned to the possibilities of sacred surprise. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:14.319 We need to be like those magi looking for and following those stars that lead us to that blessed part of our existence. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:26.319 Maybe a reaffirmation of our baptism should include this commitment to seeing the world as God sees it, as Jesus saw it and taught us how to see it. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:59.759 I imagine any one of us could name someone or some source that brings that wisdom to us, that helps us see the world differently, that balances ourselves and our lives, not through the lens of this fracturing with its quest for power, with its quest for money, with its quest for material things, driving anxiety amongst us, pitting us against each other, fracturing our community. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:09.599 The question is how much space are we giving to this other wisdom in our lives? 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:18.160 The star that's been placed in our lives, are we following it? 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.440 Are we even looking for it? 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:32.240 Today, second Sunday of twenty twenty six, I bring to you an invitation. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:47.440 There is a star that I do my best to follow, wisdom that has nourished me, and it's in a daily devotion from the Center for Action and Contemplation. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:21:02.240 You've heard me quote Father Richard Rohr before, even today, and he has authored this devotion for years now, and I'm blessed for the daily centering that it offers me. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:16.319 And it's with real appreciation and enthusiasm, maybe even excitement, that I read that their theme for this year is good news for a fractured world. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.720 Good news for a fractured world. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:27.119 If you're like me, you are anxious for just such good news. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.519 You are anxious for that word. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:37.200 My invitation is I want you to join me in reading this devotion each day. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:42.960 Following this star, largely because of theme. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:49.920 I believe it's something that our society, our church, needs to embrace. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.359 We need to get a hold of ourselves and our view of the world. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:22:05.839 It's such a critical time, but also because we need to be people focused on God amidst all this other clatter. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.759 With the hope that we can be part of God's reign. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:24.880 God's reign in this world, because it is a reign of hope, it is a reign of justice, it is a reign of healing, of peace. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:30.640 It is a reign, in a word, of love. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:38.240 You poor people. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:45.519 You uh because I get to be the one that talks every week. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:53.440 You guys get subjected to the directions I feel like God is calling me, and then I push it on to you. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:01.680 But maybe, just maybe, God isn't just calling me. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:04.720 Amen.