Sermon for the Baptism of our Lord

January 7, 2007

Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Year C
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)


Mission. What's your mission?
Images of a Tom Cruise movie come to mind, where the words come out in dramatic fashion like this, "your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rescue the stolen plans to obliterate the world from the rogue nation Slobadnia. This message will self-destruct in ten seconds."

Companies and families everywhere adopt mission statements.

Disney's mission statement is simply, "to make people happy."

3M's is "to solve unsolved problems innovatively."

In the book, The Path: Creating a Mission Statement for Work and Life by Laurie Beth Jones, these are the bullet points for the key elements of a mission statement.

1. A mission statement should be no more than one sentence long.
2. It should be easily understood by a twelve-year old.
3. It should be able to be recited by memory at gunpoint.

Here is Christ the King's Mission Statement : Our Mission is to inspire, equip, and engage people in local, regional, and global ministries, and to model the compassion that Jesus Christ has shown for all.

CtK's Mission Statement, adopted about four years ago, is no more than one sentence long. I think it may be understood by a twelve-year old. It may even be able to be recited by memory at gunpoint, but I wouldn't venture to prove it.

Rather than arguing for or against a new congregation-wide mission statement, I do want us all to take notice of what is part of our core identity as those who call themselves Christ-followers here. Mission and identity will preoccupy much of the next weeks' and months' cogitation, as your leaders are preparing a spending plan for our 2007 ministry, and as together we plot out the course for that ministry. Mission and identity will preoccupy much of the next weeks' and months' cogitation in worship, as we allow Christ to influence us through the gospel's presentation.

Identity. What's your identity?

Images of a commercial come to mind where a silly-looking old woman is speaking with a young man's voice, with the caption identity theft.

Having an identity, having the proper paperwork, proving you are who you claim to be, citizenship, security, are all buzzwords for our day.

I can't tell you how many times I was asked to show a form of identification when traveling last summer in Palestine/Israel, Jordan, and going between Jerusalem and the West Bank. I had to show that I was a US citizen to a guard. I had to show my passport and my airline ticket in airports.

Drivers' licenses, student id's, passports, birth certificates, citizenship's papers, country of origin, company id's, graduation certificates are all important.

I have earned degrees and have papers that prove I have college and graduate degrees, was ordained, and was born in New York State.

Strip all those away. In the grand scheme of things, they count for nothing. They do not make me better or worse than anyone else.

There is yet one more identity, which is intricately linked to mission, which is deeper and more significant than any others. It is our claim to God, or better yet God's claim on us.

Into the scene of human history, the man Jesus enters the picture. Like us, he had a mother and breathed the same air we do. Like us, he had a particular context and history that he could identify with. In the scene of human history, he encountered one named John who offered a ritual bath for the forgiveness of sins and a new life. Jesus consented to this baptism and in this plunge was shown to be connected to one beyond all human knowing and who seeks to claim all others who live and breathe on this earth.

The Spirit was a part of that man, Jesus. The Spirit was with him at birth, at baptism, when he preached in his hometown synagogue, when he healed the sick, and after he died and rose, that same Spirit was unleashed into Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

It is our core identity that we are baptized children of God. It is our core identity that in baptism we are given that same Spirit to bind up the brokenhearted, to give freedom to those who are bound, to and to heal what is lame.
Our identity as Spirit-born is closely linked with our mission to share good news, to baptize and eat the meal of thanksgiving, to break open the Word, and to bring an end to injustice and oppression.


We give thanks today for Baptism, for how Jesus identified with the human race. We give thanks today for Baptism; that our core identity and mission is to offer this life with God through Christ to all comers. Children like Maia Schneider and Bishops like Margaret Payne. Youth like Morgan Quinlan and Pastors like Terry Bianchi.

We see people like Judy Converse exploring ordained ministry and learning about fair trade coffee this week in Nicaragua.

We know people like Trudy and Jim Rye soon off to Guatemala to offer justice to families through a Habitat trip, building one house at a time.

We see Sunday School teachers like Nancy Wise and Sue Hansen who retell the stories of God's love for children and who believe the prophecy that says "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."

We do not have a multi-million dollar ad campaign. We may not have the perfect congregational mission statement, or high-tech worship. Just by looking at us, you would say we are a fairly average run of the mill cross-section of humanity who lives in the greater Nashua area.

But we do have a regular media of public communication. Week in and week out, people live out their baptismal identities and mission. They make choices about work or purchases or friends based on their identity as children of God. They may even speak with others about the hope that is in them, that they live in the Spirit of the risen Christ, that they find deep and life-giving relationships and purpose because of their faith.

We do have a regular media of public communication. Week in and week out, we proclaim gospel and the share the sacraments, in Thanksgiving and joy for the waters of Baptism and the meal of bread and wine in communion, where God's Spirit moves freely and our human failures and shortcomings are exchanged for what Christ offers, free of charge, grace, forgiveness, and life with God.

Little Maia, child of God, our sister in faith, has her life ahead of her. She will have many hurdles, many things to prove to people, perhaps earning a degree or two. What we give witness to today, what we can tell her about in the years to come, is that on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, January 7, 2007, as we rejoiced at God's Spirit giving Jesus his identity as Son of God, she, Maia also is daughter of God, and welcome her to our mission. With that, with more baptisms to come, more stories of faith, more ways that Christ's life is linked with ours, we are gathered here each week and sent by God's grace, we are all beloved, and God is well pleased!

I.N.I.


The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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