Baptism of Jesus

Gathered through the power of the Holy Spirit, we worship God with gladness. We encourage you to pray over the words that follow, and follow the links within the liturgy. Prayers in this service are adapted from Celebrate God’s Presence (UCPH). Thanks this week to Jenny, Kathy, and Heather!

PRELUDE: “Worship the Lord” (Kaan/Klusmeier)

OPENING PRAYER:

All who thirst, come to the water
and drink deeply of these living streams.
Come, all who are weary;
come, all who yearn for forgiveness.
As the waters of the Jordan washed over Jesus,
so the Holy Spirit washed over you and me.
Our gracious God beckons and blesses us.
Let us give praise for new life in Christ. Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE: “When Jesus comes to be baptized”

When Jesus comes to be baptized,
he leaves the hidden years behind,
the years of safety and of peace,
to bear the sins of humankind.

The Spirit of the Lord comes down,
anoints the Christ to suffering,
to preach the word, to free the bound,
and to the mourner, comfort bring.

He will not quench the dying flame,
and what is bruised he will not break,
but heal the wound injustice dealt,
and out of death his triumph make.

O Spirit help us be like Christ:
to live in love and charity,
to walk in truth and justice now,
and grow in Christian dignity.

We praise you, God, source of all life,
we praise you, Christ, eternal Word,
we praise you, Spirit, gracious gift;
your triune presence fills our world.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

We seek baptism,
a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.
We seek repentance,
the words to express the many ways
we have fallen short of your desire for our lives, O God.
We seek forgiveness,
to begin anew—to be reconciled
with the Most High and everyone wronged
as we make our way in the world. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

God will give us what we need:
strength for today,
hope for tomorrow,
and forgiveness
for all that is past.
Amen.

SPECIAL MUSIC: “You Are My Child” (Osther)

FIRST READING: Psalm 29

Ascribe to God, you powers of the heaven,
ascribe to God all glory and strength!
Ascribe due honour to God’s holy name,
and worship in the beauty of holiness.

God’s voice is over the waters –
God’s glory thundering across the great waters.
God’s voice is power, God’s voice is full of majesty.
God’s voice shatters the cedars,
splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
God’s voice makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Mount Hermon stampede like a wild young bull.
God’s voice forks into tongues of fire,
God’s voice shakes the wilderness,
sets trembling the wilderness of Kadesh.
God’s voice causes the oaks to whirl,
stripping the forest bare;
and in the temple all cry: Glory!

God sits enthroned above the waters,
God is enthroned as sovereign forever.
You give strength to your people, O God.
Now give to your people the blessing of peace.

SECOND READING: Acts 19.1-7

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[b] and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

HYMN: “Herald! Sound the note of gladness!”

Herald! Sound the note of gladness!
Tell the news that Christ is here;
make a pathway through the desert
for the one who brings God near.
Sound the trumpet!
Tell the message!
Christ the Saving One has come!

Herald! Sound the note of judgement,
warning us of right and wrong,
turning us from sin and sadness,
till once more we sing the song. R

Herald! Sound the note of pardon!
Those repenting are forgiven;
God receives these wayward children,
and to all new life is given. R

Herald! Sound the note of triumph!
Christ has come to share our life,
bringing God’s own love and power,
granting victory in our strife. R

REFLECTION

It began with a vision, as these things often do.

Sometime after the Council of Jerusalem, St. Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia, and in this vision, the man spoke:

“Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

So he does. Paul begins this leg of his journey in Philippi, where he meets Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. Her heart is open to the Good News that Paul shares, and she is baptized—her and her entire household.

Thus begins Paul’s entrance into Europe, an initial success that will soon become something else altogether. The latter half of Acts 16 reads like a Hollywood screenplay—an accidental healing, some swift justice, a violent earthquake, and a surprizing conclusion where Paul and his companion Silas talk their jailer off a ledge and help him find new life in Christ.

Their travels continue—Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth—to places that will become synonymous with Paul’s ministry, and places that will illustrate the challenges he faced. By the time Paul reaches Ephesus, it becomes obvious that he’s a step behind another evangelist, Apollos. And this is where we pick up our story:

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we haven’t even heard that there’s a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.

“We haven’t even heard there’s a Holy Spirit!” This confession has to be one of the most delightful responses in scripture. You can almost hear Paul’s internal “Oh my goodness!” as he struggles to understand what they do know, and what they have done to adhere to the faith. And the point of the story, it would seem, is to allow us (and them) to understand the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism. With this they receive Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit descends, and the story continues.

I will leave off a discussion about the baptism Jesus receives at the hands of John the Baptist, and why the one-without-sin would submit to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Instead, I want to dwell a moment longer with the unfortunates who didn’t even know that there was a Holy Spirit. They didn’t know, they said, because no one told them.

It’s important to note here that Paul didn’t ask them if anyone told them about the Holy Spirit. He asked if they received the Holy Spirit, which is a whole other matter. Experiencing the Holy Spirit, as they finally would, is quite different from being informed. Paul didn’t want to know what information they had, he wanted to know what experience they had—in this case, an experience of the Holy Spirit. In other words, they didn’t have the answer because they couldn’t understand the question. How could they? They didn’t know the Holy Spirit.

I share all this for a couple of reasons. First, to illustrate that our faith is based on experience and not just knowledge. It’s helpful to understand the basic tenets of the faith, but more important to feel the tug of the Holy Spirit as we pass through this life. To know that Jesus walks beside us, and to feel the presence of a loving God. They received the Holy Spirit and then began a new life in Christ Jesus.

The second reason is topical, here at the end of a very long and troubling week. What we witnessed in Washington was alarming, infuriating, tragic, and sad all at once. I feel like I still lack the words to sum up what happened, and put it into some sort of faith perspective. Obviously it’s a story about sin and human failure, and the power of words to distort and inflame. But it’s also a story about mistaken belief, and the extent to which people can be manipulated to say and do things they might otherwise never say or do.

It also leads me to ponder populism, which we increasingly associate with the right, but can belong to either end of the political spectrum. With populism, people join a movement—always a powerful thing—and then paint their hopes (and fears) on the populist leader. The populist leader can then direct their followers in an appropriate direction, often for good, or they can do the opposite.

The malevolent populist will use vague and misleading rhetoric to inflame his followers, and direct them toward a particular goal. And goal may not be the right word here, because the populist may only want chaos, or to maintain power. The point here is that those who follow the populist may or may not understand or follow the goal. Instead, they may simply have taken the rhetoric and interpreted it in such a way that they come to believe that the populist will deliver on those hopes and fears.

What I think I’m trying to say here, is that it’s easy to write off everyone who falls for the malevolent populist, and to deride people who seem to finally (!) understand the danger that this particular populist poses. It’s harder to try to imagine that many were truly conned, or fell into a cult, or were manipulated by mass media and social media. Of course, some are criminals and should be treated as such. And some are enablers and should be banished from public life. But many—too many—were misinformed about the goal or the nature of the project, and will someday suffer the regret of being part of such a terrible era.

There are many more things to say, of course, and these will be said in time. One topic is white privilege, and the extent to which Wednesday was a master class on the way protest is met depending on the race of the protestors. And there are other learnings. For today, we pray for America, and we pray for the families of those who died, and we pray for peace.

Finally, we pray for the Holy Spirit. We pray that the Holy Spirit will enter and transform hearts, that the Holy Spirit will reveal a way forward in troubling times, and we pray that the Holy Spirit will provide comfort in an anxious time.

And may we, who know the Holy Spirit, pray always that others receive the same gift. Amen.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Let us bring the needs of the church,
the world, and all in need,
to God’s loving care, saying:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of heaven and earth,
through Jesus Christ you promise to hear us
when we pray to you in his name.
Confident in your love and mercy
we offer our prayer.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Empower the church throughout the world in its life and witness.
Break down the barriers that divide,
that, united in your truth and love,
the church may confess your name,
share one baptism,
sit together at one table, and serve you in one common ministry.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Guide the rulers of the nations.
Move them to set aside greed and self-interest
and bow to your sovereign rule.
Inspire them to strive for peace and justice,
that all your children may dwell secure,
free of war and injustice.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Help our friends and neighbours to the south.
Give them a sense of common purpose
and a desire to strive together
to solve the many problems that confront them.
Help them erase the lines of hate and mistrust,
and show them your way of peace.
Lord in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Hear the cries of the world’s hungry and suffering.
Give us, who consume most the earth’s resources,
the will to reorder our lives,
that all may have their rightful share of the food,
medical care, and shelter,
and so have the necessities of a life of dignity.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Renew our nation in the ways of justice and peace.
Guide those who make and administer our laws
to build a society based on trust and respect.
Erase prejudices that oppress;
free us from crime and violence;
guard our youth from the perils of meaninglessness and materialism.
Give all citizens a new vision of a life of harmony.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

Strengthen this congregation in its work and worship.
Fill our hearts with your self-giving love,
that our voices may speak your praise,
and our lives may conform to the image of your Son.
Nourish us with your Word and sacraments
that we may faithfully minister in your name,
and witness to your love and grace for all the world.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

HYMN: “O radiant Christ, incarnate Word”

O radiant Christ, incarnate Word,
eternal love revealed in time:
come, make your home within our hearts,
that we may dwell in light sublime.

Our bartered, busy lives burn dim,
too tired to care, too numb to feel.
Come, shine upon our shadowed world:
your radiance bathes with power to heal.

Your glory shone at Jordan’s stream,
the font where we were born anew.
Attune your church to know you near;
illumine all we say and do.

O Light of Nations, fill the earth;
our faith and hope and love renew.
Come, lead the peoples to your peace,
as stars once led the way to you.

BLESSING

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way,
and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Amen.
—1 Thessalonians 5:23

God be with you till we meet again;
loving counsels guide, uphold you,
with a shepherd’s care enfold you;
God be with you till we meet again.