You Are the Beloved - Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday Year C

You Are the Beloved

Baptism of Our Lord C

January 9, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 3.15-17, 21-22

One of the best preachers I’ve heard is a former pastor, Rev. Wollom “Wally” Jensen. Wally preached without notes and I don’t think he ever wrote a sermon except in his head. He rarely preached from the pulpit, if ever.  If you wonder if I’ve modeled myself on him you would be correct. But there was something about his preaching that always puzzled me: he never failed to mention baptism in his sermons, no matter what the scripture text or season of the church year. When I got to seminary, I realized that when he went to seminary it was at the end of the liturgical renewal movement which recovered the significance of baptism for Christian worship. If you look carefully, you can see that significance reflected in the Lutheran Book of Worship, or “green book.”

Now, obviously I went to seminary later than Wally and no doubt have my own idiosyncrasies, but as an homage to Wally and our text about Jesus’ baptism, I’m going to talk about baptism using the mnemonic of the letter B. Being, Belonging, Behaving, and Believing are the four, with a fifth “B” running throughout all of them.

The first B is “Being.: One night my dad took me with him to watch him bowl, which was unusual because my dad bowled on a school night. So, this was a real treat. He was introducing me to a bowling buddy and I’ll never forget how the friend responded. “Oh Carl, I know he’s your son because he walks just like you.” I stood a little taller and my chest swelled a little larger because I was Carl’s son. Baptism affects our very Being, in other words, our identity. In baptism we are claimed as sons and daughters of God. In other words, who we are permanently changes us as we stand in a new relationship to God.

The second B is Belonging. I always meet with parents before baptism to talk about what it means and ask them why we baptize. When I first started 25 years ago, I’d get the “heavenly fire insurance” or “save from hell” answer. They wanted the assurance of their child’s final destiny. But about 10-15 years ago that shifted and parents started talking less about heaven or hell and more about coming into God’s family. Frankly, I think they were more on track as they talked about this second B of Belonging. In baptism, we not only belong to God in a deeper way, but we also belong to each other as we are now brothers and sisters in Christ. As I tell Confirmation students, wherever you go in life and whatever happens to you, there is a church that will always take you in, no matter what.

Now, once your Being changes and you Belong to God and each other, you start Behaving differently. Dan was an older, lifelong member of a congregation I served and when he died I met with his family to plan the funeral. Interestingly, one of his sons remarked that eternal life wasn’t that important to Dan about Christianity. Rather, what was important was how Christianity helped Dan live a better life and by all accounts,  indeed, he did. Being baptized gives us the assurance of eternal life and because we don’t have to worry about our destiny we can focus on living the life God wants for us.

Being, Belonging, and Behaving lead us to Believing and to someone with the opposite situation as Dan. Earl was also a long time member of the congregation. He was in the hospital and as I visited with him his mortality must have been on his mind. He was at the time of life when there wasn’t much of it left. I knew something was troubling him and finally he said, “Pastor, I just hope I’m good enough.” Now, I was a bit saddened because Earl was a lifelong Lutheran and faithfully sat in the pew as I hoped he heard God’s message of grace, love, and mercy, but somehow missed that message. So, I was grateful I was able to reassure him that the God who claimed him in baptism was not about ready to let go of him now.

I have two final things as we wrap up. First, the order I did these in may seem odd to you: Being, Belonging, Behaving, and Believing because historically as a church we have operated the other way. We tend to think we must Believe the right things first and then learn what it means to Behave as a follower of Jesus, which then means we can Belong to the community of faith as our Being changes into what God intends. However, I have come to experience the opposite, that the Gospel and the faith work the other way around. As we accept people for who they already are as God’s children and invite them into community, they understand what it means to follow Jesus and grow in the life of faith.

Finally, the most important B of all, the one that undergirds the others and runs through: Beloved. In baptism, God claims us not only as daughters and sons but Beloved ones at that. You are God’s Beloved (Being), who Belong to God and each other in Beloved Community, following the Beloved Way of Jesus (Behaving) as you grow in Beloving faith (Believing). Cling to your baptisms each and every day, God’s Beloved, and know that God is well pleased. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.