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| Dr. Andy Cullen January 13, 2008 Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church Matthew 3: 13-17 |
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13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ 15But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness’ Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,* with whom I am well pleased.’ Matthew 3:13-17
“Matthew’s gospel considers Christ and the church an inseparable unity.”
So the word of affirmation is a word for us this morning: “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”
Listen again to God’s affirming word, “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”
We might find that hard to believe. We might say, “I don’t believe that God is very pleased with me. We are aware that our actions don’t always please God
We know things in life don’t always work out very well: Lawyers can be disbarred, Kings can be de-throned, Clergy can be de-frocked. Electricians can be de-lighted and cowboys can be de-ranged. Dry cleaners can be de-pressed, de-creased or de-pleted. Musicians can be de-noted and songwriters can de-compose.
BUT there has been an inordinate amount of emphasis, almost a gleeful emphasis on the part of some ministers and churches on the depravity and corruption brought on by sin.
I want to emphasize the other side of this, the side that motivates us.. We are created in the image of God. It is CHRIST IN US…the hope of glory Listen to this astounding word in John 17:21-23 “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,* so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
As the New Year begins, there will be many new beginnings for each of us and for RHPC. It is important that we hear and experience that word of divine affirmation: “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”
We know how important it is for a child’s development to receive the love and affirmation of his or her parents. It can literally make all the difference in the world in the way the child views the world and the way the child relates to others. Children soak up affirmation like sponges soak up water. Any child who strives to affirm his or her own identity and self-worth without receiving constant affirmation and encouragement faces intense struggles.
This emphasis on the importance of affirmation is clarified for us by esteemed scholar and writer…Dr. Seuss:
“If you’d never been born, then what would you be? You might be a fish or a toad in the tree. You might be a doorknob or three baked potatoes. Worse than all that, you might be a wasn’t! A wasn’t has no fun at all, no he doesn’t. A wasn’t just isn’t. He just isn’t present. But you…YOU ARE YOU…NOW ISN’T THAT PLEASANT?
Today you are you, and it’s truer than true… That there’s no one alive who is you-er than you! SHOUT LOUD…I AM THANKFUL TO BE WHAT I AM! THANK GOODNESS…I’m NOT JUST A CLAM OR A HAM… OR A DUSTY OLD JAR OF GOOSEBERRY JAM. I AM WHAT I AM, AND IT’S A GREAT THING TO BE. IF I SAY SO MYSELF, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”
It’s not my birthday (July 14 –watch out for subliminal messages in sermons!)—but the point is that each one of us is created in the image of God. We are affirmed in that creation— “There’s no one alive who is you-er than you!”
Listen again to God’s affirming word, “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”
The message that we really need to hear, that I need to hear, is God’s radical yes to who we really are.
A number of us have heard so many “NOs” in our life that we need someone or something that can express to us God’s radical YES to who we really are – people created in God’s image.
As Kaylin Haught writes.. “God Says YES to ME” I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic…and she said yes I asked her if it was okay to be short …and she said it sure is…. I asked her if I could wear nail polish… And she said “HONEY” – she calls me that sometimes… She said you can do exactly what you want to Thanks God I said And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph my letters, Sweetcakes, God said (Who knows where she picked that up!.. WHAT I’M TELLING YOU IS YES, YES, YES!
We are all in need of new beginnings. We know that we stumble and fall at many points in our lives. All of our actions will not be pleasing to God, but God affirms us as members of God’s family. We know that Christ lives in us and through us.
Many persons have a shield around them that prevents them from feeling loved and affirmed by God.
John Shelby Spong notes:
“Jesus gave his life away deliberately. He did so, loving those who took it from him, revealing a love that could embrace all the hostilities of human life and still not cease loving. Jesus demonstrated that nothing we do and nothing we are can finally be unlovable or unforgivable. Even when we kill the giver of life and love we are still loved by him. Such a life could not help but transcend human limits. For this kind of love can never be overwhelmed by hatred; this life can never finally be destroyed by death. All of this was experienced in the person call Jesus of Nazareth.”
We are all in need of affirmation. We are all in need of new beginnings. We can give others the gift of beginning again.
I’ll never forget how excited I was when I got my driver’s license (1964). It was a beginning for a lot of things, the beginning of a whole new world! But one day, not too long after getting my license, I was driving through my neighborhood, several blocks from my home—going slowly, because I was still slightly nervous about driving by myself—when a little dog ran right out in front of my car and I hit it. I was stunned. I stopped the car and got out. There were two little children in the yard. They were yelling at their dog. The dog was dead. I was almost sick to my stomach, my brother and sister and I had a dog. The children started crying. I was so shocked that I could hardly talk.
The mother came running out of the house, told her children to stay in the yard and came over to me where I was kneeling by the dog’s body. I told her the dog ran right out and I couldn’t stop. Without any word of anger or reproach she said, “I was worried this might happen. It’s not your fault, we couldn’t keep the dog in our yard.” Of course I felt horrible, but the mother’s words, said with such kindness to me, gave me a new beginning.
Listen with your heart to the following words:
In my life I am always presented with the choice of running away from Jesus in despair or returning to him in hope.
Despair says, “After so long, I thought I would be better, but I am still the same old me. I am hopeless, even to Jesus. Forget trying. Better I be dead and gone.”
But hope says…in the person of Jesus:
“I love you with a love that has no limits because I love you as I love myself. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice but always. You are my child. Never doubt that I will embrace you again and again and again. I am the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you. It is not true. I love you. You are made in my image—an expression of my most intimate love. Do not reject yourself. Let my love reveal to you your incredible worth. I live my life through you. As I love you, you can love yourself and others.”1
As we begin the New Year, let us live and minister Christ’s life to others with that powerful word of divine affirmation, “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”
We give away what we ourselves have received: new life, new love, new beginnings, affirming the very presence of Christ living in us and through us.
At the beginning of 2008 the wind of God’s Spirit is blowing afresh through this congregation. There is anticipation and expectation: A New Year and a New Beginning.
1 Adapted from Henri Nouwen |
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