Loving God, through water and the Spirit you make us your very own, telling us that we are your children and giving us your light.  Grant us the faith to see your power at work, even in the midst of chaos, and the trust to be able to live our lives in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Have you ever felt as though you were living in the midst of chaos?  Have you ever felt as though everything around you is getting quite out of control and unpredictable?  Has it ever felt as though you are in the midst of unpredictable and dangerous waters and shrouded in darkness?  If you have experienced these things, then you have some sense of what tohu wabohu is – the formless void.  And in this primordial chaos, creation begins.

    It’s kind of like many renovation projects, where everything looks like chaos for a while until it all starts to come together.  For anybody who came into the church during the bathroom & kitchen renovations in December, you would have seen tools all over the place, pieces of the bathrooms & kitchen standing in the hallway, toilets on the sidewalk, and just a general appearance of chaos at the bottom of the stairs.  However, within a few short days, everything started to come together again – order in the midst of chaos and the new replacing the old.

    While there are some people who may actually go looking for chaos, generally speaking, it’s not a very nice place to be.  However, even in the very beginning, in the midst of the formless void, God is there.  The Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.  “A wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).  In this case, I like the old translation better, although both are perfectly accurate.  In Hebrew, the word for spirit, wind and breath is exactly the same: ruach.  And so, God’s ruach was there, sweeping over the waters.  Remember this, when you are in the midst of chaos.  Remember that God is there.

    Remember, too, what it takes to bring the chaos under control and begin to create some order.  All it takes is for God to speak.  In today’s Psalm, we heard all about the power of the voice of the Lord.  Sometimes it bursts forth in thunder and lightning.  Sometimes it snaps the trees off and “makes the oak trees writhe” (Ps. 29:9).  Sometimes it shakes the wilderness.  And sometimes, God speaks light and creation into being.  God says, “Let there be light,” and there is light (Gen. 1:3).

    None of this, by the way, needs to be kept separate from the many discoveries and theories that have been proposed regarding the origins of the universe.  Genesis is not a scientific manual on how creation happened, but it does have a lot to say about who is behind it.  Within the poetic framework that Genesis presents, there is room for many details to be incorporated and added to our understanding.  For us, though, as Christians, the message remains the same.  The earth and all that is in it belongs to God and was created and is sustained by God’s most powerful word.

    If we were to summarize today’s first reading from Genesis with just a few key words, it might go something like this: Water, Spirit, voice, and light.  This same pattern is to be found in the baptism of Jesus, just as it is in our own baptism into Christ.  Keep in mind, too, that in Hebrew thought the water – or “the deep” – was associated with chaos.

    In the case of Jesus and his baptism, it’s hard for us to know how much he might have experienced that would have felt like chaos.  We do know that his public ministry did not begin until after his baptism by John.  And so, he spent quite a few years growing in wisdom and stature (Lk. 2:52) and working as a carpenter.  We also don’t really know how clear a sense Jesus would have had of his mission before he comes to be baptized.  Surely he must have had some doubts along the way.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t be truly human.

    However, as Jesus comes for baptism in today’s gospel, the water, the Spirit and the voice are fairly obvious.  He would have been immersed in the Jordan River, emerging from the water to breathe the air once again.  In this case, the Holy Spirit shows up looking like a dove and descends on Jesus from heaven, where it looks as though the sky has been torn open.  And in this case, with the Spirit comes the voice of God: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:11).

    What power there must have been for Jesus in hearing these words spoken at his baptism.  If he had any previous doubts about his identity and mission, surely this experience would help him immensely.  He knew the Spirit had come upon him.  He knew that he was the Father’s Beloved.  He knew the life of service that lay ahead of him, and his future place as Messiah and King.  He knew that he was the Light of the world, and as he went forth from his baptism, he carried that light within him, ready to face the challenges that lay ahead of him.

    There are times, it would seem, when it is hard for us to make the connections between Jesus’ baptism and our own.  Yet, the same pattern of water, Spirit, voice and light is there for us, too.

    The water, of course, can have that element of chaos to it, especially if one is immersed in the water or if the one being baptized chooses to scream at that moment.  The water is also the visible element that is used together with God’s word in order to welcome us into God’s family of faith.

    As for the Holy Spirit, while we do not usually see the Spirit coming down from heaven, the Spirit is always prayed for and given when somebody is baptized into Christ.  The Spirit is our Helper and our Teacher, who helps us to grow up into Christ and gives each of us gifts for ministry.  We are, of course, free to ignore the Holy Spirit, but this is our action, and not God’s!

    Similarly, God does speak when each of us are baptized, but it is up to each of us whether we choose to hear or not.  Of course, I don’t mean a voice from heaven or anything like that.  Instead, God speaks through the Scriptures, and God speaks through human beings, and God speaks through water and through bread and wine, and in other ways as well.  God tells us at our baptism that we are beloved children of God and that because of our faith in Jesus, we will share in his life, death and resurrection.

    And so today, remember whose you are.  Remember how the light of Christ was passed on to you at your baptism.  Remember how Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12), but also said to his followers, “You are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14)!  Picture that light of Christ within you, filling you with his love.

    Those times that feel like chaos may well still come.  However, the same one who claims us in baptism has the power to speak to the storm and to say, “Peace!  Be still!”, and it is done.  God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us, has filled us with the light of Christ, and continues to mold us into God’s new creation in Christ.  Let us then go forth in confidence, trusting in the one who created us, redeemed us and made us holy through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Baptism of Our Lord (B)                            Genesis 1:1-5
January 8, 2012                                Mark 1:4-11
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                        Psalm 29
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved