Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3: 15-22
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 10, 2010
Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Kenmore, New York
Two days before Christmas, I received an email from Princeton Theological Seminary. It announced a new website, called, “Ad Fontes: A Primer in Reformed Theology.” My alma mater designed this new site, “to help small groups return ‘to the sources’ and study Reformed theology in a systematic way throughout 2010.”
Now, I may check out this website some time this year. I may even begin a small group to study Reformed theology this year. Yet, I found those two words, “Ad Fontes” fascinating. In Latin, they mean “to the sources.” John Calvin and our Reformed forebears heard a call in those two words. When they set about reforming the church, they went back to Scripture and the Early Church fathers to find the source of the church’s power.
Today, as we reaffirm our baptismal covenant as a congregation, and ordain Marguerite, John, and Charlie and install Jennifer, Delores, Marilyn, David, and Kevin as deacons and elders, I thought it would be worthwhile for us to return to the source. In 2010, we need a reformation of our lives and our life together, which begins by remembering what happens at this font, how God calls us, “My children,” and claims us in love.
We begin this year, “Tossed about, with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without.” Now, I don’t need to rehearse for you all that troubles us from without— the economy, joblessness, terrorism, wars… Nor do I need to review what’s going on within our walls— financial woes, numerical decline, questions about the future… I don’t need to remind you all of it, because you know it all too well. Instead, I need you to hear a word of hope this morning: “Return to the Source!” We need to come home again to the One who love us just as we are.
Now, we need to know the sources of our faith, of course, the Scriptures and the church’s Confessions. We need to study what the Bible teaches and what the church believes. Yet, if we leave it there, as only words upon a page, nothing wonderful will come of it. The words must reveal the Word to us, who came to share our human lot, who stood in line with all the rest of us to receive a baptism he did not really need.
Whenever we ordain officers, we ask them whether they “trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” We ask them if they “accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s Word to you.” These questions are not merely intellectual exercises. They require a movement of the heart, an act of the will. These questions make it clear where the Source of our lives and our life together lies. They remind us to whom we belong in life and in death.
While all of us may not be ordained to an office within the church, God calls each one of us by name. We may not remember when and where, but once upon a time, we were brought to this font or one like it. Our parents held us in their arms; we kneeled before the minister or priest; we waded into the water of a baptistry, river, or lake. We heard these words or ones like them, spoken over us, as water poured over us or we descended beneath it: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then, someone prayed over us, as a loving hand held our head, asking God to give us the gifts of the Spirit. For some of us, precious oil was pressed onto our brow, and someone said our name, with words like these: “Child of the covenant, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.” If we listened carefully, we would hear an echo, a voice from heaven, saying, “You are my child. I love you. I’m very proud of you.”
Listen, people of God, I know how fearful things are. Many voices in church and in culture make us afraid. Some family and friends raise anxious doubts. Yet, we can believe with 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” While friends and family may fail us, we know of one who never will. This one calls us, saying, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine,” and “You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” We can trust this one’s love is sure, because this one came and stood in line with us to receive a baptism he didn’t need, to bear our human failings for us.
On the last day of last year, I read something by Thomas R. Kelly. A Quaker, Kelly lived from 1893 to 1941. He was an educator, missionary, scholar, and speaker. He wrote A Testament of Devotion, one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, in which he said,
- There is a divine Abyss within us all, a holy Infinite Center, a Heart, a Life who speaks in us and through us to the world. We have all heard this holy Whisper at times. At times we have followed the Whisper, and amazing equilibrium of life, amazing effectiveness of life set in. But too many of us have heeded the Voice only at times. Only at times have we submitted to His holy guidance. We have not counted this Holy Thing within us to be the most precious thing in the world.
In 2010, may we plumb the depths of this divine Abyss within us together. May we hear that holy Whisper and heed God’s Voice. May we submit ourselves to His holy guidance. May we discover anew how this Holy Thing within us is the most precious thing in the world. May we return to the Source, to whom we belong in life and in death, who claims us as beloved and well pleasing. May this Source reform us according to God’s Word and Spirit. Amen.
©2010 Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
