January 7, 2007
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
It was a Monday evening and I as held the large floppy brown pound puppy in my arms, trying not to laugh, I said to it, “Snofalopogus, I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit” all of course with imaginary water. It was my last year of confirmation and in our groups we were to baptize stuff animals, so we would have a better idea of what it means to baptized. We were instructed not to laugh at this task, but instead to take it seriously reflecting on what we learned from our 2 years in confirmation as well as what we think baptism means to each of us. My group picked me to be the Pastor for this activity, God only knows why, but there was something that happened when I held Snofalopogus in my arms, “baptizing” it. It is really the first time I remember thinking, ok so maybe this whole Pastor gig isn’t so bad.
In today’s Gospel lesson we hear the Luke’s account of setting apart Jesus from the rest of the crowd who was gathered to be baptized. In the Gospel we hear the author of Luke recounting what happened when Jesus was praying after he was baptized. The writer never puts the focus on Luke as the one who has baptized Jesus, in fact this Gospel never says it was John the Baptist, even though you could can make the claim that it was John who did baptize Jesus. The main focus in this text was the setting apart of Jesus as God’s son. It is the claim God put on Jesus that day in front of the gathered community.
While the writer begins with a community gathered to be baptized, the end outcome is the voice of God coming through the heavens, setting apart Jesus and calling Jesus as God’s Son. The end outcome of this Gospel text is not the community coming together, all being called to the same thing in life. Instead, God calls apart Jesus from those who are gathered. God calls apart God’s Son so that those who are gathered can realize Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Son. Jesus is the one the have been waiting for, Jesus is the one who has come to baptize them with fire and the Holy Spirit.
This Gospel story pulls out the common theme we have with Jesus in our own baptisms. We have been set apart and claimed by God. We had been set apart as a child of God, a child with our own calling in life. As a child of God we have our own individual, unique, callings to live out. We have our own callings in our lives that have set apart us apart from the rest of the gathered community. We are set apart in our baptisms, claimed as God’s child, welcomed into the community gathered around us. We are welcomed into God’s family, united with Christ through our baptism.
In the family we are welcomed into it is not just the community of Advent, or whatever church we are baptized in, but instead it is the whole family of God, all of Christendom. We are baptized into the community, given a light to shine, so that everyone may see it and glorify our Father in heaven. We are given a candle to remember that we each have our own light inside of us. We each have a unique light inside of us, a light, which separates us from those who are around us. We are set apart from our other brothers and sisters in Christ. We are set apart from the gathered community just as Jesus was set apart from the gathered community the day he was claimed as God’s Son
Every single one of us has a light inside of us, a light completely unique. We are called to carry that light to different places, to different people, in different ways, in different circumstances. We are set apart in our baptisms in how we called to carry the light of God to the world. Each of us are called to carry the light of God in various and different ways, while it might take us awhile to figure out how our light is suppose to shine for others, we are still called in our baptisms.
In May of 1982, I was set apart from the community gathered around me on the day I was baptized. I was called, claimed, and gathered in what my Dad refers to as the longest service ever, since it was also confirmation day. Then when I was 17 I felt my calling, into Ordained Ministry. I realized the life experiences I had from baptizing Snufalopogus to helping in the Youth Sunday services at my home congregation were all factors into my sense of calling into ordained ministry. When I was in Colorado for the National Assembly of the ELCA, where the larger church body comes together to decide on the new rules, regulations, doctrines, etc. for the church, I finally understood what I was called to do. I spent the weekend talking with other ministers, youth who knew they wanted to be ministers, and people who were studying to be ministers. That week in Denver was a growing experience for me, it was the first time when I really heard what God was calling me to do with my life. As I boarded the plane to return home, my friend Chad looked at me as he was sitting down and said, “Katie, are you going to be a Pastor?” and I said “yes, I am.” That was it, no big lights and glamour, or even heaven opening up and God’s voice coming down to me. When I baptized that already happened. When I was baptized I was called into this ministry. I was called to bring the light of Chirst to those around me, called to bring the light to those I would come in contact with on a daily basis.
Some of you know what you were set apart to do. Some of you have no idea, and are still waiting to figure it all out. Don’t worry, you will someday. And remember hindsight is always 20/20. God has called each of us in our baptisms, God has set as apart from those who are gathered, like he set apart Jesus from the community that day at the Jordan. In our baptisms we are reminded of the light of God we each have inside of us. It is our reminder how we are all uniquely created by God each for a different purpose and calling in life. We are all called to shine our light of God in different ways. We are called to shine God’s light to all people, in all circumstances we are presented in life. Not for our own glory, but for the glory of the one who has called us and set us apart.
