Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 10am Worship

Audio of Pastor Darren's message on 1/12/25, "It Is Well."

Transcript

It Is Well
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It's been an interesting week. Kind of a heavy week, shall we say. But we, uh, move forward with, uh, our scripture, uh, from the lectionary cycle. Again, you know I like to go lectionary and, and, uh, in this case, we are particularly blessed because our passage really spoke deeply to what we've been going through this week.

In the lectionary journey, we start in Advent. We move to Christ's birth, and then into Epiphany, and then in this season we, uh, kind of initiate Jesus ministry. And the way it gets initiated, Jesus actual ministry, is with baptism. He gets baptized. So. We start off with this really provocative passage of a baptism and all the theological questions that can come from Jesus getting baptized, right?

Well, let's ask ourselves just for a little bit, what does baptism mean to us? What are the different ways we understand baptism? We, we think of commitment to God's family. We think of acceptance into God's family. But do you hear the problem with that being Jesus getting baptized? Isn't he already part of the family?

Isn't he already in? Why does he need this baptism? Some of us see a repenting kind of understanding when we think about Baptists. That he was repenting of all his sins. But don't we understand Jesus as being, you know, pretty good? You know, maybe even sinless? So again, what are we doing with this, this baptism?

It's an interesting passage with so many questions. I think Luke, from whom we are getting this year's story of Jesus being baptized, I think he gives us a little bit of a reveal of how he understands all of this. Did you notice in the way Nancy was reading it? That Luke really de emphasizes the actual ritual of the baptism.

As you're reading it through, you see all the people are gathering, John is preaching. You know, there's some conversation about whether or not he will actually baptize Jesus. And then the next thing you know, he's baptized. Like, if you and I were talking about our, our baptism, especially if it was a baptism we were old enough to remember and experience, that might be the thing we talk about the most.

The actual ritual, you know, especially if it was in a river somewhere flowing through. I've had friends who went out to the Pacific Ocean for their baptism. And there are often pastors who really like to, uh, uh, claim that metaphor and that feeling of actually being reborn. And the way they'll do that is to hold you down in the water a little bit.

Right? So that first breath feels like a first breath, right? Right. So if you're talking about your baptism, it's probably. The ritual is what's going to be unique, the thing that you actually talk about. But Luke doesn't go that way. Luke's got something else on his mind. He thinks what's important here is something different than that ritual.

I like to think it's this part about Jesus getting in line with everybody else. On the shore with everybody else. He gets his baptism. You know why? Cause that's what everybody else does. He wants to be with us. Luke wants to emphasize that part of Jesus that he wants to be with us. He's going to be with us through all of these mountaintop experiences of life.

The births, the baptisms, the weddings. And he's going to be with us through the valleys of life. The floods. And yes. The fires,

did you notice, and I wouldn't be surprised if you did today that John the Baptist uses fire language when he's talking about baptizing. I baptize you with water, but somebody else is coming that's going to baptize you with fire. If you hadn't noticed it before, when you heard this passage, you probably noticed it today.

We are particularly attuned to that word. It's really interesting when we think about fire and water as well. A certain amount is good. Maybe even essential. We need water. Most of our body is water. We need fire, we need heat. You know, for all the different reasons of being able to live in this world, even if it's just to be able to purify and cook our food, we need water, we need fire, but we all know about the dangers of getting too much of either of those things.

When I think about water, I had too much water. I am remembering a couple of missions I took down to New Orleans after the Katrina flooding that they had down there. I remember working at two homes in particular. The first one, it was about 80 yards, give or take, from where the levees broke. It was fascinating and humbling to see what happened to this house.

Its structures had been blown off of its foundation. I remember driving up, and it was a normal suburb, right? House, house, house, house, house. In this case, it went house, house, blank, blank. House, house, house. Your first thought is, oh, I wonder why they didn't build houses there. And then you realize, well, those were the ones that were like this.

Blown away, washed away by the force of the water that came through this broken levee. Literally pulling a house off of its foundation and sending it into the road down below. I remember sitting in that house and seeing where the water levels had gotten. And trying to imagine that being true in my own house, with all that I have, with all that my kids and my wife have.

We had another house we went to, this was in the ninth, uh, ninth ward. And I don't know how much you guys remember about all of that, but that was the bad spot. That was the spot that was lower than any other spot, and when it's lower than any other spot, water, being subject to gravity, goes there. That water had sat there for months, just waiting to evaporate.

And we'd saw where that water line, just right up to the eight foot roots. I was just amazed, I was humbled, at the difficulty there, and at the power of too much water.

You guys here, Conejo Valley, Westlake Village, you guys have recent memories of too much fire. Fire getting into our hearts, into our psyche. There was a little fire out here when I first got to this area, out kind of by the 23 over there. An open area, you guys might remember. I remember coming out and looking, going, okay, you know, fires, I guess they get them up here.

And then I started talking to people. And you could see it in their eyes. How weighty 2018 sits in our hearts. In our souls. And now we have this Palisades fire. We have this Eaton fire. We have all these other fires. All these images. John's talking about Jesus baptizing us by fire. No thank you. I don't need that kind of baptism.

Thank you very much. You know, in the lectionary, there's also an Old Testament reading every week. And this week, we're in Isaiah 43. And, uh, the prophet Isaiah, he tells us a little, there's some wisdom from Isaiah. About how we might understand, uh, some of this reality. He writes in, uh, chapter 43, verse 2, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.

When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. At the very least, we ought to read that and recognize that flood, that fire, they're inevitable. They're part of our lives, but that's not news to anybody in this room, especially today. We all know that these difficulties, these challenges, these tragedies, they exist in our world, but we need to hear the good news in the midst of it.

The floods will not overcome us. The fires will not consume us. Obviously, Isaiah is not talking biologically, he's talking metaphorically, but he's talking about how these challenges, they are not going to take us over because we are with God. God will be with us.

I think part of this process that we're talking about here, Isaiah is talking about, John the Baptist is talking about, it's about this refining that we can go through. When difficulties come in this world. Did you notice John the Baptist talking about the winnowing fork? Y'all know what a winnowing fork is?

Any farmers out there? Right, maybe you aren't a farmer but you've studied your scripture. A winnowing fork, wait a minute, I'm curious. I'm in Westlake Village. Who knows what a winnowing fork is? Okay, some of y'all. Yeah, you moved here from Montana or the winnowing fork, as I understand it, I'm California boy, so I'm just reading the words.

I've not worked one ever, but the winnowing fork was what you would use to separate the wheat from the chaff. As a farmer, you're growing wheat, right? For all the different things we use wheat for, mostly food. Right? And you're growing that wheat, but there's also something that grows along with the wheat, the chaff, the stuff that we can't use as much.

Your winnowing fork would be separating that wheat, the stuff you want, from the chaff, the stuff you don't want. Can you hear that refining metaphor arising, right? Oh, we're going to keep all the good and get rid of the bad. That's the good part about refining. That's the good part about fire. But we don't like that metaphor very much now, do we?

Especially when it starts talking about fire. Are we sure, God, this is how you want to operate this thing? This is how we're going to grow, is that we're going to burn away all the things that aren't good about us? That's a challenging metaphor. That can be overwhelming, and yet, isn't that what kind of happens?

For all of those who find their way through whatever that difficulty is, Find their way through in some emotionally healthy, balanced way. Isn't it true that those are the people who start to learn what is really important? About themselves, about their possessions, about their life. That seems to be the way it goes, as I've experienced it, when that tragedy hits, when that fire hits, all of a sudden, the things that you thought were important are gone, and you're left with all these other things that turn out to be more important.

All the things God's trying to offer, all the things John the Baptist, Isaiah are trying to point to, it's community, it's relationships, it's love amongst each other, it's love with God. All of those things that God is trying to offer to us. Now, I'm probably with most of you, I don't find the belief that God is sending disaster to us to be a helpful theology.

The idea that God wants us to learn and the way we're gonna learn is I'm gonna put this in front of you and you will either sink or swim, you will either survive or be burned away. I don't, that theology is not helpful to me. I don't think that is how God works. But I have seen that it's with God that is our way out of those floods and fires.

God might not send the challenge, but it's with God that we get through it. Some of what Isaiah is talking about, this refining that happens with great, great difficulty. But it happens that we do get refined. We do find what is important. We do get ourselves centered. This is the message I think that Isaiah is trying to deliver.

John the Baptist is trying to deliver. This is the one that should speak to our hearts in these difficult times. But I think there's even more message here.

It's rolled out. It's explained very well, actually, in our own United Methodist materials for this week. I'm going to read it for you because I thought it was just really, really well done. When, not if, but when you go through the water, I'll be with you. When, not if, but when you go through the fire, I'll be there.

It'll be hot. Wet, painful, and you'll think you'll be burnt to a crisp or swept out to sea, but I will be there.

God is telling us in this passage that there will be water in life. There will be floods in life. There will be fire in life. That is inevitable, but I will be with you. That presence. Is the promise. He goes on baptism, and I would argue life as well. Baptism doesn't mean safety or security. Just ask Jesus.

It means presence. It means community. That's our gift. That's the joy for us and for us, and then through us to the world. That's what we have to offer. There are no secret answers, no quick fixes, no easy steps to a better life. There is presence. God's presence with us. God's presence in us to others. To me, it goes back to the way that Luke likes to tell the story of Jesus's baptism.

Remember, I was talking about how he kind of jumps over the ritual of it. He's not focused on the ritual itself. He jumps right over that because clearly he found other parts of the story more important. What's important to Luke is that Jesus decides to be the one you need. The one who stands in line with all the other broken ones.

The one who takes his place among the bruised and the hurting. The one who wades into the mess of the world and buries himself in it. The one who climbs up out of the anxiety of living in this world and falls to his knees. That's the one John is ranting and raving about. It isn't a shovel Jesus carries.

It's a cross. And by that implement, we are all cast into the winds of the spirit to be transformed, to be changed in a way that we are able to navigate the floods, that we are able to survive the fires. I think what Luke found important, the thing he really, really, really wanted to get across with the story of Jesus baptism.

Was that, uh, Jesus was going to be with everyone else. He was going to be with those people there 2,000 years ago. And guess what? He was going to be with us 2,000 years later. And Luke's not even finished there. There's more he wants to get across. Right? God speaks to everyone in that crowd, at least in the Luke version.

You are my son, the beloved, with whom I'm well pleased. Luke wants to show how proud God is of what Jesus has done, how he has aligned himself with all others in that baptism. And now here is this small theological stretch I'm going to invite you to take. Isn't it possible that message from God to Jesus about being proud is supposed to be towards us too?

When we get baptized, when we reaffirm our baptism, when we live and relive the reality of that baptism. Isn't God saying to us, you are my child, my beloved. With you I am well pleased. Isn't that what we're celebrating with a baptism? Some folks think baptism is what allows God to love us. You get baptized, you're in.

Now God can love you. I don't believe that. United Methodists don't believe that. When we get baptized, we're not making God's love for us true. Our baptism doesn't make God love us. When we get baptized, we're affirming the belief that it is true. We're opening ourselves to the reality that it has always been true.

Isn't that something to be celebrating with our baptism? Isn't that something to be celebrating with every single baptism? Isn't that something to be celebrating each and every day?

Friends, we're in the lectionary and they deliver us this passage. And maybe even in the lectionary we can get a God thing happen every now and again. I feel like God is in our message for today with our heavy hearts from a heavy week. God comes to us with this message of baptism. Baptism of water, and yes, even a baptism of fire that allows us to be refined, more wholly who God wants us to be, more wholly able to live amidst the challenges of this world, but also more in touch with the very real, real love that God has for us and God wants us to know about.

We celebrate that today. Amen.