The Baptism of Our Lord Year A In the name of Jesus; amen.
At the beginning of time God spoke and when God spoke the world and all that was in it was created.
God only needed to speak and everything humanity needed was made: night and day; things that swim and things that fly; trees and plants; animals and people.
God spoke and we were given everything.
The Psalmist writes: “The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.”
It might make sense then to believe that listening to the voice of God is important.
Scripture, which we call the word of God, teaches us that God walked and talked with the first people in the garden, but when sin entered the world the voice of God became harder to hear.
It became a whisper, a mumble except to some that God chose to speak clearly to: the patriarchs and matriarchs who listened and followed what God’s voice told them, Moses who brought God’s law to the people, and then the prophets who spoke God’s word of righteousness to kings and to paupers.
God’s voice has spoken throughout our faith history, sometimes clearer than others. It has been heard and it has misheard. It has been welcomed and it has been rejected, but God’s voice continues to speak.
In today’s gospel, God speaks clearly and openly as Jesus comes up out of the waters of the Jordan River: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
God speaks and claims Jesus as the Beloved, the one who pleases.
God spoke and everything we needed was created. God speaks and everything that God wants us to know is proclaimed in the person of Jesus Christ whom the gospel writer John tells us is the Word.
God speaks creation into being and then God speaks love and grace into our lives through the person of Jesus, the Beloved, the one who pleases.
Jesus, the one who spoke God’s presence into our world through the cries and coos of a baby; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s justice into our world through the proclamation of God’s impartial grace; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s healing into the world through the laying on of hands of the sick; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s forgiveness into the world from the cross; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s love into the world through the empty tomb, this is the one who pleases God.
God’s pleasure is that we might hear the voice of power and splendor through the person of Jesus who preached peace and wholeness and lived and died so that we might know God.
Do you hear the voice of God because the Word of God, Jesus Christ, lives on through us in our baptism. We are baptized into Christ so that Christ is in us.
It is a strange and wonderful thing that it is the Word of God that changes ordinary water into the waters of baptism that wash us and unite us with Christ and one another. And being united with Christ means that God’s voice speaks to us from heaven as well, “These are my sons and daughters, Beloved, and pleasing to me.”
God speaks and we are recreated into beloved children. The powerful voice of splendor speaks to us that we are loved. This is the word that God wants us to know. Hear it clearly: we are the beloved of God. Jesus came into the world and went down into the waters and was hung up on a cross and rose up from the dead so that we might hear the voice of God in our lives each and every day.
God loves us, we belong to God. Amen.
At the beginning of time God spoke and when God spoke the world and all that was in it was created.
God only needed to speak and everything humanity needed was made: night and day; things that swim and things that fly; trees and plants; animals and people.
God spoke and we were given everything.
The Psalmist writes: “The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.”
It might make sense then to believe that listening to the voice of God is important.
Scripture, which we call the word of God, teaches us that God walked and talked with the first people in the garden, but when sin entered the world the voice of God became harder to hear.
It became a whisper, a mumble except to some that God chose to speak clearly to: the patriarchs and matriarchs who listened and followed what God’s voice told them, Moses who brought God’s law to the people, and then the prophets who spoke God’s word of righteousness to kings and to paupers.
God’s voice has spoken throughout our faith history, sometimes clearer than others. It has been heard and it has misheard. It has been welcomed and it has been rejected, but God’s voice continues to speak.
In today’s gospel, God speaks clearly and openly as Jesus comes up out of the waters of the Jordan River: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
God speaks and claims Jesus as the Beloved, the one who pleases.
God spoke and everything we needed was created. God speaks and everything that God wants us to know is proclaimed in the person of Jesus Christ whom the gospel writer John tells us is the Word.
God speaks creation into being and then God speaks love and grace into our lives through the person of Jesus, the Beloved, the one who pleases.
Jesus, the one who spoke God’s presence into our world through the cries and coos of a baby; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s justice into our world through the proclamation of God’s impartial grace; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s healing into the world through the laying on of hands of the sick; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s forgiveness into the world from the cross; Jesus, the one who spoke God’s love into the world through the empty tomb, this is the one who pleases God.
God’s pleasure is that we might hear the voice of power and splendor through the person of Jesus who preached peace and wholeness and lived and died so that we might know God.
Do you hear the voice of God because the Word of God, Jesus Christ, lives on through us in our baptism. We are baptized into Christ so that Christ is in us.
It is a strange and wonderful thing that it is the Word of God that changes ordinary water into the waters of baptism that wash us and unite us with Christ and one another. And being united with Christ means that God’s voice speaks to us from heaven as well, “These are my sons and daughters, Beloved, and pleasing to me.”
God speaks and we are recreated into beloved children. The powerful voice of splendor speaks to us that we are loved. This is the word that God wants us to know. Hear it clearly: we are the beloved of God. Jesus came into the world and went down into the waters and was hung up on a cross and rose up from the dead so that we might hear the voice of God in our lives each and every day.
God loves us, we belong to God. Amen.
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