Cleansing Water, Refining Fire
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
I was at a district pastors’ gathering this past week when I heard a discouraging word. Our district superintendent was doing a devotional, and she mentioned that less than a week into the New Year she had already heard several times that people were not looking forward to this year. The topic was usually introduced with an air of resignation or despair: “What a year it is going to be.”
She then suggested a long list of things people were worried about, and about which they had little hope of it being anything other than a disaster. I’m sure you have your own lists, but let me share a few she shared that I expected to hear, as well as a few I had not.
We are still almost a year away from electing a new president, a new governor, a new senator, and lots of federal and state representatives. Without taking sides or arguing for or against any candidate, we have already witnessed polarizing candidates, hot button issues, thinly veiled fearmongering,bullying, character assassinations, half-truths and out-right lies, and very little substance. Campaigning, as it is currently practiced,is no longer about fitness for governing, but only about winning. Politics has become the latest version of a reality game show,withall the scheming it takes to keep from getting kicked off the island. When we assess what has already happened, and project this trend out to Election Day, the only reasonable response is to say, “What a year it is going to be.”
Apart from the business of politics, there is the news at home to worry about. Without taking sides or arguing issues, a list of things that people will worry about this year includes thework of some police officers, gun control, urban violence, immigration, Black Lives Matter, militia stand-offs, gender identities, marriage equality, stock manipulations, offshore tax shelters, unions, ethics, and lobbyists. Discussions are no longer about shining light to chase away the darkness, but more about how much heat and fire we can hold to the feet of those who disagree with us. “What a year it is going to be.”
Apart from the business of politics, and the worries at home, there is the news abroad to worry about. Without taking sides or arguing issues, a list of things that people will worry about this year includes terrorism at home, North Korean saber rattling, Russian posturing, Chinese military build-up, Middle East conflicts, refugee camps and relocations, climate change, and the global economy. Instead of working together for a common good, narrow national interests have become lines drawn in the sand, ensuring conflict ahead. “What a year it is going to be.”
And if this wasn’t enough, there are concerns unique to United Methodists that many find depressing. Without taking sides or arguing issues, a list of things we will worry about this year center around what ourGeneral Conferenceto be held in May will decide ondenominational organization, homosexuality issues, ordination pathways, membership declines, property rights, cultural accommodations, and the possible schism we face if the extreme positions ignore the core of what we believe and the Christ we follow. Instead of humbling ourselves to discern the will of God, there will be posturing and politicking that is largely indistinguishable from the ways of the world. “What a year it is going to be.”
And, because this was a district meeting, there are concerns unique to the Missouri Conference that have many people worried. There will be the election of new bishops this year. And because our bishop has reached his term limits with us, he will be moving on to a new conference, and we will be getting a new bishop, who – based on our experience with bishops – will have a leadership style and emphasis which will be different from any of the others we have had before. We also continue to face the challenges of rural church closings, membership decline, aging clergy, the cost of seminary, secular encroachment, creeping congregationalism, and fall out from last year’s decisions concerning the camping program. “What a year it is going to be.”
I listened to the district superintendent, who didn’t go into all this detail that I just did, and I can see why some people might have an air of resignation or despair concerning this coming year. There is a lot to be concerned about. But I also have to confess that I just don’t understand the resignation or despair. I surely don’t embrace it; and I don’t think you should embrace it, either.
And it is because of our reading for today. This is more than simply a story of a moment in the life and ministry of John and Jesus, where Jesus gets wet and the heavens open up. This is a story which declares that we should not ever be resigned or despair, because we are the people of the cleansing water and the refining fire!
We remember that John came proclaiming a baptism of repentance. Repentance is all about re-orienting ourselves towards God. To mark this change in our spiritual direction, John declared that he came with water to wash away the old life, to wash away the old sins, to wash away the old ways of doing things. This baptism is a pronounced step in turning our lives towards God, from whom all blessings flow.
As important as our repentance is, John also declared that this is not enough. John proclaimed that his simple baptism was only a starting point. The good news is that there is one coming, and in fact is here, who is more powerful that John. The sign that Jesus has come to be with us in our walk towards God is his baptism. Jesus has no need to repent, but he wanted us to know that he walks with us on our journey to God.
Jesus Christ, the messiah and our savior, is the one who comes with a refining fire that is more powerful than any baptism of repentance. Washing away the sin is a good start, but if nothing else changes in our life, we will need to be washed again and again and again. And that, my friends, is a recipe for resignation and despair.
It is not enough to receive John’s baptism. We need the refining fire. This refining fire is the power of holiness, the power of love, the power of grace. It is the power that is nurtured in prayer and worship. It is thepower that reveals its form in humility and vulnerability. It is the power that is yielded through hospitality and generosity. It is the power that is completed in mission and service that invites others to live into the kingdom of God.
The power of refining fire does more than wash away our sins for a moment. It works to remove our bent to sinning. It takes away that which is unholy in us so that we may grow into the image of God that lies at the core of our truest self.
What we tend to forget is that this refining fire is not just a personal fire to warm our hearts. This is the refining fire of the Holy Spirit, which can move and dwell within all of us, uniting us as disciples of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. When we remember this, and claim this, and live into this, this refining fire can move into and throughout the world. When we remember this, there is no reason on earth for us to despair. There is no reason to ever give up hope in God.
To persons outside of this fire, what I just said sounds delusional and “pie in the sky.” But I think it sounds more like what Jesus said at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are a declaration that the truly blessed people are those whom the world considers to have reason to despair. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who suffer injustice and unrighteousness. In other words, blessed are those whom the world thinks should despair and resign from life.
They are blessed because these are the people who have had their belief in worldly powers and politics washed away. These are the people who have known that the only way through these problems is through the refining fire and power of God, who has come to us in Jesus Christ. And when you have the cleansing water and the refining fire, the only appropriate response to the challenges before us is, “What a year this will be, because God is with us!”
When I look ahead at this year, I know we have every reason to be excited and hopeful. This will be the year when we offer the cleansing water and refining fire of Jesus Christ to the neighbors around us. Instead of offering more of what the world offers, we will help them see how God is already at work in their lives, and how God may be calling them into a new relationship with God and their neighbors. When we do this, the only reasonable response is, “What a year this will be, because God is with us!”
This will be the year when we will reach out to the retirees in our community, both those who are already here and those who are moving here for all the quality of life reasons we sometimes take for granted. Instead of offering more of what the world offers, we will help them live into and fulfill the experiences of their life which have prepared them for new ministries and relationships. When we do this, the only reasonable response is, “What a year this will be, because God is with us!”
This will be the year when we start to celebrate 100 years in this sanctuary, and 200 years in this community. Think about that for a moment. Two hundred years ago, six people met in a home with a Methodist pastor and dedicated themselves to following Jesus Christ, and offering him to their community. They certainly never envisioned what we have become today, but they had experienced the cleansing water and the refining fire, and walked with Jesus into the future they trusted to God.
One hundred years ago, our spiritual ancestors tore down a perfectly usable building to create this magnificent holy space where people can still come to learn about Jesus, to walk with Jesus, and to be sent out by Jesus. Our celebration will be more than just a fond remembrance of how God has been with us, but an affirmation that Jesus continues to walk with us into the future we trust to God. When we do this, the only reasonable response is, “What a year this will be, because God is with us!”
This will be the year when we will continue to offer what is good and right and holy. We will eat together, worship together, pray together, study together, and work together – all with an understanding that we do this together as the Body of Christ. And as the Body of Christ, we will feed the hungry through Neighbors Helping Neighbors. We will provide shelter through Harvest House. We will build homes through Habitat for Humanity. We will work with the marginalized through Unlimited Opportunities. We will reach children through Kids Hope, and Kids Coats, and Vacation Bible School, and Sunday School, and Children’s Church, and more. We will visit the sick and the imprisoned. And when we have done all this, the only reasonable response is, “What a year this will be, because God is with us!”
It can be hard to remember all this, however, when we leave the worship service and encounter the tsunami of resignation and despair that washes over us in the world. Even as we reaffirm our baptism – which,significantly, is not the baptism of John, but a baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, combining the cleansing water with the refining fire – we can be subject to forgetting that Jesus walks with us, and we lose confidence in the Holy Spirit to guide us.
So I want to give you two things this morning to help remind you when you are tempted to despair and to be filled with an air of resignation. The first is a glass bead, to represent a drop of baptismal water. These will be available at our communion stations to pick up when you come forward. Carry it in your pocket or in your purse, or place it where it can remind you that you are baptized.
The second is a laminated shower tag. You can hang this over the shower head in your bathroom and see it every day. There are enough for one per household or bathroom, as your family may need. They are scattered around the sanctuary and in the reception area where the coffee pots can be found. On this tag is a prayer you may pray as the water washes over you to help you remember that you have the cleansing water and refining fire.
There is one more thing to remember this morning. If we think this year will be about what we do, then there will be reason to despair. But if we know that it is the all victorious love of Jesus at work through us, we will be able to declare, “What a year this will be!”
UMH 422“Jesus, Thine All Victorious Love”