SHOW NOTES -  1/11/2015

Episode 97: First Sunday after Epiphany or Baptism of the Lord

Image: from Jeffery Scism The Great Texola Oklahoma Revival 1927

Dana E Rose cries while his daughter Anna Mae Rose gets baptized, and his son Rual Austin Rose watches him.

For Sunday, January 11, 2015

Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, where two local pastors discuss the lectionary readings for the week. This is episode 97 for Sunday January 11, the first Sunday after Epiphany, Year B or the Baptism of the Lord.

We will start with a quickfire scripture minute on

Acts 18:1-7  Paul baptizes 12.

Then focus on

Mark 1:4-11 John baptizes Jesus.

and

Genesis 1:1-5 Waters of creation

We will also hear from our Psalm Correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan on:

Psalm 29

 

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‚óè      One that is on my to-listen to list is Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller.

 

Introduction and Check-in 

‚óè      Survey Monkey.  We would love have your feedback. Please fill out this short survey.

‚óè      Episode 100 coming. What should we do? #PF100

 

Quickfire Scripture - Acts 18:1-7  Paul baptizes 12

‚óè      Happens to the Ephesians

‚óè      Baptism happens after he has taught them (disciples means students) about Jesus. Is Baptism a rite of hospitality and welcome or a culminating rite of passage?

‚óè      Baptism of John vs the baptism of Jesus

‚óã      John‚Äôs baptism of water prepares one for Jesus

‚óã      Baptism of the Holy Spirit prepares one for ministry

‚óã      We combine both into one

‚óè      The evidence of their baptism was readily apparent: speaking in tongues and prophesying - how would people know you are baptized?

‚óã      Prophecy does not mean telling the future, but testifying to Jesus- we (mainline Christians) seem to have moved away from altar calls and testimony- maybe it is a time for a resurrection of this ancient practice

 

Featured Musician -  The Steel Wheels, ‚ÄúRain in the Valley‚Äù from their album Lay Down Lay Low. Find more of their music at www.thesteelwheels.com. @thesteelwheels

ERIC Primary Scripture - Mark 1:4-11 John baptizes Jesus.

Initial Thoughts

‚óè      Mark- remind folks you are now in year B- focusing on Mark!

‚óã      Oldest Gospel~written around 70 CE (just before or just after the destruction of the Temple)

‚óã      shortest Gospel

‚óã      The ‚Äúimmediate‚Äù Gospel: ‚Äúimmediately‚Äù appears 41 times in Mark and only 10 times in the rest of the NT. Communicates the revelatory, imminent breaking in the God‚Äôs incarnate presence and grace into the world. ‚ÄúIn the Gospel of Mark the teaching, deeds, and life of Jesus reveal the intrusion of the good news into human experience.‚Äù (Paul S Berge, Enter the Bible)

‚óè      How the story begins according to Mark - we have just heard from Matthew, Luke and John

‚óè      Overlap with Advent 2B - Mark 1:1-8, but a different focus

‚óã      Advent the anticipation of Jesus

‚óã      Epiphany/Baptism of Jesus - Jesus‚Äôs ministry among us

‚óã      The First Noel! - the word ‚ÄúNoel‚Äù may derive from the french word Nael which in turn comes from the Latin natalis meaning birth OR it may come from the French word nouvelles which means news. Taking this second etymology this is the story of the first Good News!

‚óè      Epiphany was the second of the traditional days of baptism (leading to the development of Advent as ‚ÄúSt. Martin‚Äôs Lent‚Äù to allow catechumens to prepare for their baptism on Epiphany).

Bible Study

‚óè      John the Baptizer - prepares the way for Jesus

‚óã      How do we prepare for Jesus? Repent: Turn toward God and Believe and accept God‚Äôs Forgiveness

‚óã      See sermon thought 3: Do we need to repent to prepare ourselves for Jesus‚Äô saving message of love and grace?

‚ó蠠     Baptism of Jesus (sinner or not?)

‚óã      The sinless paradox - John proclaims ‚Äúa baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins‚Äù (v.4). If Jesus was sinless (as he is traditionally thought to be) then why would he come to be baptized?

‚óã      Only Gospel that has Jesus directly baptized by John, later Gospels omit the baptism by John (Luke and John) or explain it away (Matthew)

‚óã      Heaven torn open - foreshadows the tearing of the temple in Mark 15

‚ñ†      Chapter 1: God proclaims Jesus is God‚Äôs son, in chapter 15 the centurion will proclaim Jesus is God‚Äôs son.

‚óã      Spirit descends on Jesus - Suffering Servant of Isaiah 42 and Savior of Israel (Isaiah 63)

‚óã      Son of God - Davidic Kingship (Psalm 2:7)

‚óã      Proclamation directly connects with Transfiguration (Coming up on Feb 15)

‚ñ†      Does anyone else hear this proclamation? It seems this is just for Jesus (and us) ‚ÄúYou are my son‚Äù not ‚ÄúThis is my son‚Äù (Matthew 3:17) What will it take for us to make the same proclamation?

‚óè      Baptism in general

‚óã      Not the end, but the beginning. Does salvation consist of one act of devotion to God in Baptism or the choice to begin a journey of faith? Baptism seems to be only the beginning

‚óã      Baptism will not keep the faithful from harm, but more often than not will draw them into it - see sermon thought 1

‚óã      Invitation to a new life or to ministry - see sermon thought 2

‚óã      Is baptism important or necessary? If so- why?

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

‚óè      Baptism calls us into ministry within the world, not away from the world. To be baptized is to be last, to serve or even to be crucified for the sake of love of God, neighbor or even enemy.

‚óè      Repentance and confession can often be met with resistance. Can we reclaim the language of repentance and confession not as an acknowledgment of how lowly and worthless we are, but as an unburdening. New Year‚Äôs is a time when people begin cleaning out, making resolutions to simplify. Confession and repentance is a simplification- remove the clutter of sin from your life and focus on God in Christ. How can we invite people to unburden themselves and simply their lives for ministry?

‚óè      Pheme Perkins states, ‚ÄúFrom the Christian perspective, John the Baptist did not awaken a repentance that heralded God‚Äôs judgment. Rather, repentance and anticipation evoked by John‚Äôs preaching provided a receptive audience for Jesus‚Äô ministry.‚Äù Do you agree with this? Does repentance and the anticipation/hope for/acceptance of God‚Äôs grace prepare us to hear Jesus‚Äô message or is this Jesus‚Äô message?

‚óã      Perhaps we need to repent (message of John) before we can hear the good news. Can we ‚Äúbe saved‚Äù if we do not believe we need to be saved?

 

Psalm Nugget with Richard Bruxvoort Colligan: Psalm 29

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ROBB Secondary scripture -Genesis 1:1-5 Waters of creation

Initial Thoughts

‚óè      Reading just the first day of creation seems odd, but when paired with the baptism of Jesus, it fits much better.

‚óè      United Methodist liturgy includes in the baptism a ‚ÄúThanksgiving over Water,‚Äù which includes the opening line: ‚ÄúWhen nothing existed but chaos, you swept across the dark waters and brought forth light‚Ķ‚Äù It goes on to mention Noah, passing over the Red Sea, and crossing the Jordan.

‚óè      The other place this comes in the lectionary is on Trinity Sunday, Year A. Another Sunday of transition from Eastertide to Ordinary time. Also in the Easter Vigil every year.

Bible Study

‚óè      Primeval understanding of the universe included water both below and above the sky - ‚ÄúThe dome.‚Äù

‚óã      The separation of the waters on day two does not describe the forming of land. It describes the separation of the heavenly realm from the earthly realm.

‚óã      The forming of the land and the sea does not happen until verse 9, or day three.

.

‚óè      Order in the midst of Chaos

‚óè      Context:

‚óè      Babylonian Exile

‚óè      chaotic, unknown future

‚óè      The very rhythms of nature are a promise of God‚Äôs presence

‚óè      Formless void - eternal, chaotic, alone

‚óè      God enters - relationship, order, separation

‚óè      There is not a morality - God creates but does not condemn

‚óè      Day One:

‚óã      Begins with water and formless void.

‚ñ†       ‚ÄúThe earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God‚Äôs wind swept over the waters.‚Äù

‚óã      Ends with light and darkness.

‚ñ†      Day and Night are not given value. Light is called good. Darkness is not called evil. This is not the creation of dualism. No battle between darkness and light.

‚ñ†      God does not create darkness, it is simply the absence of light.

‚óã      ‚ÄúGod‚Äôs great wind,‚Äù is sometimes translated ‚ÄúSpirit.‚Äù Usually this is a Christian attempt to read into the third person of the Trinity.

‚ñ†      According to Common English Study Bible notes: ‚Äúwind translates a Hebrew term whose basic meaning is ‚Äòair.‚Äô Depending on its context, it is usually translated ‚Äòwind,‚Äô or ‚Äòbreath.‚Äô Here both terms may be intended. In some cases, God‚Äôs wind is connected to God‚Äôs activity in creation (Psalm 104:4). Here God‚Äôs breath is connected to God‚Äôs creative activity, since God‚Äôs commands bring everything into being.‚Äù The translation spirit used in some English translations (NIV, KJV, RSV) comes from later Greek ideas. The author of Genesis doesn‚Äôt divide between spirit and matter as did later Greek thought. Nor is the author referring here to the third member of the trinity‚Äù (Common English Study Bible, Theodore Hiebert, editor of notes on Genesis, p. 4)

‚ñ†      Wind = Ruwach. According to Bible Study Tools, it is a feminine noun, and is translated as ‚Äúwind, breath, mind, spirit,‚Äù and is used 346 times in Hebrew Bible

‚óè       Word study of 11 times Ruwach appears in Genesis. Every time in Common English it is either breath or wind in a very literal sense.

‚óè      In other books, such as Isaiah, the word is translated more often as ‚Äúspirit.‚Äù

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

‚óè      People often forget the state of things ‚Äúin the beginning.‚Äù Before God said, ‚ÄúLet there be light,‚Äù there is already something there. God did not create out of nothingness, but instead worked with what was already there. At least as we have it in the creation stories of Genesis, God did not create out of nothingness, but instead out of chaos. While this might be a challenging concept, it can also be reassuring in the lens of baptism. In baptism, God is creating again. God is not using nothingness, but instead is using what is at hand - our lives. God creates out of chaos of our lives a new creation which is given purpose and meaning.

‚óè      Is the wind of Creation the Holy Spirit? The writer of Genesis clearly had no Trinitarian understanding of God. And yet there is a divine ‚Äúus‚Äù that is puzzling. God‚Äôs wind might not be the third person of the Trinity, but the lectionary editors are surely pushing us to see the wind of Creation as the same Spirit that descended upon Jesus, and thus the same Spirit we claim at our own baptism.

‚óã      From Kathryn Schifferdecker in Working Preacher: ‚ÄúHere‚Äôs the thing to remember, as you preach this wild and wonderful text on this Sunday of the Baptism of our Lord: The God who calls forth life from the primordial waters is the same God who calls us to new birth in the waters of baptism. Ephrem the Syrian saw this connection, too, with Genesis 1:

‘Here, then, the Holy Spirit foreshadows the sacrament of holy baptism, prefiguring its arrival, so that the waters made fertile by the hovering of that same divine Spirit might give birth to the children of God.’⁴“

 

Tasty Wafer of the Week!

‚óè      Links of movies with ‚ÄúBaptism Scenes.‚Äù Some obvious, some clearly symbolic, some more of a stretch. Hasn‚Äôt been updated since early 2000‚Äôs, but we‚Äôd love to hear more.

CLOSING

TY listeners:   

‚óè      Advent Run to Bethlehem Continues. We‚Äôve reached over 1300 miles, blowing away all goals.  Click here to submit your run.

Shout Out to

Blog Comment!

‚óè      Catherine Booth said on Episode 95: Great to find y'all online! As a UMC Associate Pastor who doesn't preach as regularly, I feared you might not get to the Isaiah text due your own absence from the pulpit. Yet, grateful for your insight, humor, bent towards justice and inclusion, and overarching exegesis.

Facebook

‚óè      Dwight McCormick, who responded to our New Year‚Äôs Eve status with ‚Äúhappy new year guys! #preachercomicisafan‚Äù

 

Musician:  

‚óè        The Steel Wheels, ‚ÄúRain in the Valley‚Äù from their album Lay Down Lay Low. Find more of their music at www.thesteelwheels.com. @thesteelwheels

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist) Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Second of May” from their album Live at Goose Creek) and Paul and Storm for our closing music, “Oh No”.

 

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