Adam J. Copeland

FPC Hallock

January 10, 2009

Baptized to Serve

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22; Isa 43:1-7; Acts 8:14-17

Recently, I spoke to a pastor about a workshop she was organizing at a Presbytery conference. The workshop, she said, will address the fact that many folks in the U.S. aren’t growing up with the same exposure to church culture as they used to. In the past, it was more or less assumed that somebody who came into a worship service would at least know how to read a bulletin, find a Bible, and look up the scripture reading. Now, though, we, can’t assume a visitor could distinguish a hymnal from the Bible, so churches need to consider new ways of making worship welcoming to guests.

Maybe we don’t think too much about this in Hallock, but this pastor on the east coast sees it as a really big issue for her presbytery. How do we help new visitors feel welcome if the only time they’ve been in a church is for a funeral? Or another way to think of it: if you’d never been to worship before, what would our regular worship service look like? If you were an alien from outer space scouting out Hallock Presbyterians, what would you report about worship to your mothership?

Well this morning at least, an alien would have even a more difficult time than usual. The gospel reading is on Jesus’ baptism, the epistle reading declares the power of the Holy Spirit in baptism, the Isaiah passage is all about God’s creative power and redemption. And, as if those weren’t enough theological high jumps, today we ordain and install Elders and Deacons to leadership in the church. That’d be quite a lot to explain to a worship newbie.

Now there’s no way one sermon can really address all these issues, and it’s probably not even a good idea to briefly skim the surface. But, if we had to put this morning in one sentence to a first time visitor we could say: We are all called into ministry through our baptism (some called particularly to be Deacons and Elders) and our ministry is empowered by prayer and the Holy Spirit.

Whew, that’s a bit of a mouthful (and I’m not sure it’s actually one sentence). So one more time, we’re (1) called into ministry through our baptism, (2) some are called to particular service as Deacons and Elders, (3) and all our ministry is empowered by prayer and the Holy Spirit. Ok, let’s break this down.

What do we mean when we say all are called into ministry through our baptism? To say that we’re ALL called into ministry is to say something at the heart of the Reformed faith. To use a sports analogy on this first weekend of pro football playoffs, we Christians are all professional players in the faith, we just have different gifts, or positions. We don’t say: ahh, that Brett Farve plays a more important position than me, so my different position is less worthwhile. We don’t say: you guys and you alone are the professional Christians and we’re just fans who watch the others. No, we all are called into ministry. We all have our positions to play.

Pastor and elders and deacons, yes, and every Christian everywhere is called into service. Martin Luther is famous for saying that every person, no matter his or her profession, should serve God. Luther said something like: the prince should think, Christ has served me and I should follow him, so I should serve my neighbor and protect them as a prince. But also a Christian tailor should say: I make these clothes because God has told me so, so I can earn a living, and serve my neighbor. Likewise, a Christian teacher or farmer or as Luther once said, even the “beer barrel maker” lives life to serve the other.

Ok, well, we got that — we are all called into ministry in one way or another — but how about baptism? What does that have to do with baptism?

Baptism marks the start of this call to ministry. In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry. And in our baptisms, we are called to follow Christ and serve others.

Luke says that the people gathered by the river were filled with expectation because they thought John the Baptist might be the Messiah they had been waiting for. John set them straight, saying the one more powerful than he was still coming. Then, Jesus is baptized and, out of the heavens, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and a voice booms from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

We are baptized into that Son, sprinkled (or dunked) in the same water that flowed from Jesus’ forehead. And though the liturgy is a bit different from place to place, the meaning is the same. At our baptism someone called us by name and said, “You, too, are God’s child. You too are beloved.”

And so we say that out of our baptism we are called to ministry, because our ministry is in response to the grace marked on our baptism day. The verse right after today’s reading of Jesus’ baptism: “Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work.” Jesus is baptized then, boom, immediately he starts his response and begins his public work.

We love because God first loved us. Responding to that love marked by our baptism, we minister to one another.

After explaining this to someone attending worship for the first time, or to that alien from outer space wondering about our Christian beliefs, they might think. “O for sure, that’s nice. Baptism signifies God’s grace and you respond to that through ministry of all sorts. But, does God just back off after baptism? Are you all alone in this ministry?”
 I was watching our congregation carefully during the Acts reading today, I wondered if there might be some squirming in the pews. Know what I’m talking about? Did you hear that craziness about the Holy Spirit and, yes! — the laying on of hands.

I bet some of you thought, “Hey, we’re Presbyterians, get that baptist reading out of here.” But there it was in the Bible. Peter and John were sent to baptize a new group of believers and they prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. And they laid their hands on them and the Spirit came! We don’t know what happened then, but I bet it wasn’t quite, as our PC(USA) Book of Order puts it, “decent and in order.”

Prayer is like that. You never quite know what is going to come of it. A friend told me about his colleague who worked as chaplain at a hospital. The staff of chaplains there is an interfaith group, but they dropped in and visited anyone who needed care. One day the Jewish chaplain met with a very agitated patient. The patient was angry and bitter and his wife was really worried about his attitude and his health and after visiting for a while, this Jewish chaplain prayed with the couple.

Well, the next day the Christian chaplain was making his rounds and the patients’ wife from the day before tracked him down. She had to tell him the great news. “You have to tell that chaplain yesterday” she said, “how grateful we are for his visit. After he left, my husband was peaceful and calm again. And, after many years of backsliding, he finally rededicated his heart to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Prayer is something common to almost all faiths, but especially to the three Abrahamic faiths — Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Through prayer, we commune with God. Through prayer, we can be reenergized for service, renewed by the Holy Spirit to work in the world.

Particular to the Christian faith is our belief in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is directly connected to baptism, and is all over today’s readings.

The Holy Spirit may be thought of as the person of the Trinity who enacts, who makes good the promises of God. In the Acts passage, the receiving of the Holy Spirit makes the baptisms conducted by Peter and John real. In Luke 3, the Holy Spirit descends after Jesus’ baptism marking the occasion as monumental. And the Holy Spirit isn’t done. At every baptism today, at every ordination and communion, at every worship service we ask that Spirit to act again and share God’s will for the world.

In a few moments the new class of elders and deacons will gather up front by the font. They will declare their intention to serve God in the position to which they are called, and then we pray.

That prayer is sort of a summing up of what today is about. Listen carefully, and pray your heart out. Listen as we acknowledge baptism as the source of our ministry. Pray that the Holy Spirit come once again and enliven us here for service. But don’t stop there. Keep praying. Keep praying that these elders and deacons will lead us in new ways of service, honoring the past and taking us into a new decade of work and worship as Presbyterians in Hallock. Pray that they have the skills and the courage, the wisdom and the faith to lead us on our journey. Pray that we support them in their duties, point the direction of the Spirit, and trust God to lead us.

That’s what we’re about after all, called into ministry through our baptism (some to be Deacons and Elders) and our ministry is empowered by prayer and the Holy Spirit.