January 11, 2015

Pastor Kate Stulce, Transitional Interim

Pilgrim Congregational Church

400 Glenwood Dr., Chattanooga, TN 37404

LAST WEEK WE SPOKE OF THE CAPTIVES IN RAMAH, AWAITING IN CHAINS

TO BE CARRIED OFF INTO EXILE IN BABYLON.  THIS WEEK WE HEAR A DIFFERENT,

BUT IN A WAY RELATED MESSAGE, FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.  JOHN HAS BEEN

CALLING PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE.  CROWDS HAVE BEEN FLOCKING TO HIM.

  THEY ARE EAGER FOR THE RESURGENCE OF ISRAEL.  HERE IS SOMEONE

PROMISING CHANGE IF THEY WILL BUT REPENT OF THEIR SINS.  

THE WORD ‘REPENTANT’ THAT MEANS BEING SOMETHING MORE THAN

SORRY, REMORSEFUL OR PENITENT, HAD ADDITIONAL MEANINGS IN JESUS’

JUDAISM.  THE WRITER MARCUS BORG TELLS US THAT THE WORD REPENT “WAS

ASSOCIATED WITH RETURN FROM EXILE; TO REPENT IS TO RETURN, TO FOLLOW

‘THE WAY OF THE LORD’ THAT LEADS FROM EXILE TO THE PROMISED LAND.”    

LET US PRAY:   MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATIONS OF OUR HEARTS BE ACCEPTABLE IN YOUR SIGHT, O GOD, OUR ROCK AND OUR REDEEMER. AMEN.”

IN JANUARY 1985, I DETERMINED THAT I WOULD LIKE TO BE BAPTIZED.  I HAD BEEN BAPTIZED AS A CHILD IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH BUT I FELT I WAS OF A MUCH DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF BAPTISM AND WOULD LIKE TO BE BAPTIZED AS AN ADULT.  I WAS A MEMBER OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN GULFPORT, MS, AT THAT TIME.  NOT UNLIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST WHO DIDN’T WANT TO BAPTIZE JESUS, BUT OBVIOUSLY FOR DIFFERENT REASONS, MY PASTOR WAS A LITTLE RELUCTANT.  HE SUGGESTED BAPTISM WAS NOT SOMETHING THAT NEEDED TO BE REPEATED BUT HE AGREED TO DO IT.  

I FORGET NOW WHAT CAUSED THIS SNAFU, BUT WHEN HE AND I STEPPED INTO THE BAPTISTRY, THE WATER FELT LIKE IT WAS ABOUT 900 DEGREES.  I EVER AFTER REFERRED TO IT AS MY BAPTISM BY FIRE!  I REMEMBER THINKING:  “CAN I DO THIS? CAN I STEP INTO THIS WATER?”

I WONDER IF JOHN THE BAPTIST OR JESUS HESITATED WITH JUST SUCH A THOUGHT:  “CAN I DO THIS?”    I’D BE SURPRISED IF THERE WERE ANYONE HERE TODAY WHO HASN’T FACED SOME MOMENT IN WHICH YOU ASKED YOURSELF THAT.       

WE HAVE TENDED TO “PRETTY UP” THIS BAPTISMAL SCENARIO OF JOHN AND JESUS………THE HEAVENS SERENELY PART AND A LOVELY DOVE DESCENDS.  

BUT LISTEN AGAIN:  THE BETTER TRANSLATION OF THIS IS THAT THE HEAVENS WERE RENT ASUNDER……RENT ASUNDER!  TORN OPEN!  THE ONLY OTHER TIME THIS SAME VERB IS USED,  IT IS TO DESCRIBE THE CURTAIN OF THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE TEMPLE BEING RENT ASUNDER WHEN JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED.  

THIS ECHOES ISAIAH WHO PRAYED “O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”    THIS IS NOT AN IDYLLIC SCENE.  IT SPEAKS TO RADICAL ACTION, TO CHANGE, TO A GOD WHO ENTERS OUR LIVES IN DYNAMIC WAYS.  

WE BEGIN TO GRASP THAT SOMETHING DIFFERENT IS IN THE WORKS WHEN A RATHER WILD LOOKING CHARACTER WHO HAS BEEN HANGING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, WEARING CAMEL’S HAIR GARMENTS---- THE ROUGH CLOTHING OF A NOMAD---- SUBSISTING ON LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY,  IS THE  MAN TO WHOM JESUS COMES ASKING BAPTISM.  AND WHAT A PUZZLING REQUEST!  JOHN IS CONFUSED.  HE HAS BEEN QUITE CONSISTENT IN TELLING THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW HIM THAT ONE IS COMING “MIGHTIER THAN I, THE THONG OF WHOSE SANDALS I AM NOT WORTHY TO STOOP DOWN AND UNTIE.”  THIS WAS A REFERENCE TO THE COMMON RESPONSIBILITY OF A SLAVE TO REMOVE THE SANDALS OF PEOPLE ENTERING A HOME.    AND HERE IS THIS MAN BEFORE HIM, THE VERY MAN WHOSE SANDALS HE IS NOT WORTHY TO UNTIE----ASKING, OF ALL THINGS, TO BE BAPTIZED BY HIM!  

WE, PERHAPS WITH THE INTERVENING CENTURIES, HAVE LOST THE SENSE OF HOW RADICAL JOHN WAS.  HE WAS AN OUTSIDER, A FRINGE PROPHET.  HE HAD NO “AUTHORITY” TO BE CALLING PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE, NO BUSINESS OFFERING FORGIVENESS OF SINS!  “THE ESTABLISHMENT HAD THAT COVERED,” ON COMMENTATOR WROTE.  “IT WAS THEIR WORK, THEIR RIGHT, THEIR RESPONSIBILITY.”

SO JOHN , THIS COUNTER CULTURE CHARACTER, HAS A DEFINING MOMENT……HE BAPTIZES THE MAN HE FEELS SO UNWORTHY OF……AND SO DOES JESUS ALSO HAVE A DEFINING MOMENT AS HE INITIATES HIS OWN RADICAL MINISTRY BY ASSOCIATING HIMSELF WITH THIS MAN WHO IS SO OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM….

JUST WHAT MIGHT WE LEARN FROM THIS ABOUT OUR OWN DEFINING MOMENTS?   

CONSIDER THAT THESE MOMENTS MAY WELL HAVE SOME ELEMENT OF QUESTIONING ONESELF:  “CAN I DO THIS?  CAN I STEP INTO THIS WATER?” THEY MAY COME OUT OF SOME UNLIKELY PLACE…….SOME WILDERNESS YOU HAVE WANDERED IN ……OR AN ENCOUNTER WITH SOME UNLIKELY PERSON…..PROPHETS CAN COME IN  AMAZING VARIETY,  THE STANDARD IMAGE WE HOLD OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS NOTWITHSTANDING. WE MAY BE FACING A SITUATION THAT SEEMS DAUNTING, PERHAPS INSURMOUNTABLE, PERHAPS SUGGESTING FAILURE IS QUITE POSSIBLY A RISK.  

WE MAY FEEL CONFOUNDED……. RESISTANT …….AND YET FEEL STRANGELY  COMPELLED.  OUR SCRIPTURE TELLS US JESUS WAS “DRIVEN INTO THE WILDERNESS.”    I HEAR THAT AS:  JESUS WAS COMPELLED.  HE WAS COMPELLED INTO THE WILDERNESS, AS JOHN HAD BEEN BEFORE HIM.  

THE MESSAGE WE HAVE HERE IS OF SOMETHING RADICAL, ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT EVEN.  IT POINTS US TOWARD EXAMINING NOT ONLY OUR PERSONAL MOMENTS THAT DEFINE US, BUT EXAMINING OUR COLLECTIVE DEFINING MOMENTS.  “ARE WE ON ‘THE INSIDE’ OF THE STRUCTURES OF POLITICAL POWER AND ECONOMIC PRIVILEGE? “……. ONE AUTHOR WROTE.  “IF SO, JOHN AND JESUS CALL US TO ‘REPENT’ (TO TURN AROUND) AND TO LOOK FOR GOD’S PRESENCE AND PURPOSE ON THE MARGINS OF OUR COMMUNITIES.  ‘COME OUT TO THE WILDERNESS,’ JOHN AND JESUS PROCLAIM,   ‘SEE WHAT FAITH LOOKS LIKE FROM OUT HERE!’ “

I WILL TELL YOU ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE AND RADICAL BAPTISMAL STORIES I EVER HEARD.    IT WAS TOLD BY THE REV. JANET WOLFE, PASTOR AT THE TIME I HEARD HER SPEAK OF A METHODIST CHURCH IN NASHVILLE.   A MAN WHO HAD BEEN IN THE MAFIA IN NEW YORK BECAME SICK AND TIRED OF THE LIFE HE WAS LIVING.   HE WENT INTO HIDING AND ENDED UP IN NASHVILLE.   HE SOMEHOW GOT CONNECTED TO REV. WOLFE’S CHURCH AND EVENTUALLY WAS BAPTIZED.   BUT THE MAFIA TRACKED HIM DOWN.  HE WAS TOLD THEY WERE TAKING HIM BACK.  HE SAID “YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO…….BUT I CAN’T GO BACK TO THAT LIFE….I HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED. “

A MOMENTARY DIGRESSION MAY HELP EXPLAIN THIS STRANGE RESPONSE OF HIS CAPTORS.   THERE IS A THERAPIST/AUTHOR WHO MENTIONED IN ONE OF HER BOOKS AN INTERCHANGE WITH HER 3 Y. O. ON A PARTICULARLY WHINY, DIFFICULT DAY.   FOR REASONS SHE NEVER UNDERSTOOD SHE JUST SPONTANEOUSLY SAID TO HIM “ISHKABIBBLE!”   HE WAS SO STARTLED HE FORGOT HE WAS ABOUT TO THROW A TANTRUM AND BECAME COOPERATIVE THE REST OF THE DAY.

 PERHAPS IT WAS AN “ISHKABIBBLE” MOMENT FOR THIS FELLOW’S CAPTORS BECAUSE, WITHOUT HARMING HIM, THEY LEFT MUTTERING IN UTTER CONSTERNATION: “HE’S BEEN BAPTIZED?! BAPTIZED?!”

THAT’S A PRETTY FANTASTIC STORY.  YOU MAY NOT EVEN BELIEVE IT.  I WASN’T THERE…..I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED……BUT I DO KNOW WHEN SOMEONE HAS HAD A MOMENT THAT HAS CALLED THEM OUT OF THE DARK INTO THE LIGHT,  HAS BROUGHT ABOUT SOME  TRANSFORMATION IN THEIR LIVES,   THAT THE CHANGE IS UNMISTAKEABLE.   

I DO NOT MEAN TO IMPLY THAT THE ONLY CHANGES THAT MATTER ARE THE BIG, DRAMATIC, VERY VISIBLE ONES.  WHEN JESUS WADED INTO THE WATERS OF THE RIVER JORDAN, HE HAD BEEN TAKING STEPS IN THAT DIRECTION FOR SOME TIME.  SMALL CHANGES SHAPE US OVER TIME AND HAVE A CUMULATIVE EFFECT.  WHAT I AM SEEKING IS TO POINT US IN THE DIRECTION OF EXAMINING: “WHAT DOES MY FAITH LOOK LIKE FROM WHERE I STAND?   AM I WILLING TO WADE INTO THOSE METAPHORICAL BAPTISMAL WATERS, ALLOW GOD TO TEAR ASUNDER ANYTHING THAT SEPARATES ME FROM LIVING FULLY AS GOD’S PERSON IN THIS WORLD?”   

WHERE IN YOUR LIFE ARE YOU QUESTIONING:  “CAN I DO THIS? CAN I WADE INTO THIS WATER?”  WHERE ARE YOU CONFUSED/PUZZLED?   WHAT CHANGE MIGHT YOU BE RESISTING? (BUT PERHAPS FEEL COMPELLED TO DO AS WELL?)   IS THERE SOMETHING YOU FEEL UNWORTHY OF?  SOMETHING YOU NEED TO TURN AWAY FROM, SOMETHING YOU NEED TO TURN TOWARD?  

GOOD NEWS!  GOD BREAKS INTO OUR WORLD, BREAKS INTO OUR LIVES, OFFERS US THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE WHEREWITHALL TO PUSH THROUGH THE BARRIERS, TO TAKE THE RISK THAT CHANGE IMPLIES.   

THIS APPLIES BOTH TO US AS INDIVIDUALS AND TO US AS A CONGREGATION.  LAST WEEK I SPOKE OF PILGRIM’S BEING ON THE CUSP OF SO MUCH POSSIBILITY.  BUT THAT POSSIBILITY DOES NOT BECOME REALITY UNLESS WE TAKE THE RISK TO WADE INTO THE WATER.  MAYBE IT WON’T FEEL LIKE THE HEAVENS ARE RENT ASUNDER……BUT IT MIGHT!  THE GIFT OF THIS CONGREGATION IS THAT WE SHARE THIS RISK…….AND WE SHARE THE REWARDS…

I READ THIS WEEK THAT “YOU DON’T GET INTO SOMETHING TO TEST THE WATERS.   YOU GET IN TO MAKE WAVES.”   JOHN MADE WAVES.   JESUS MADE WAVES…….IF WE RECOGNIZE THIS DEFINING MOMENT BEFORE US, WE CAN GRAB HOLD OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SOME WAVES AS WELL…..

AND WE CARRY WITH US THIS PROMISE:  “DO NOT FEAR, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU:  I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME, YOU ARE MINE …. WHEN YOU PASS THROUGH THE WATERS, I WILL BE WITH YOU: AND THROUGH THE RIVERS, THEY SHALL NOT OVERWHELM YOU.”

MAY IT BE SO.  AMEN.