“Spiritual Ties” January 8, 2012

Mark 1:21-28 Stephens City UMC

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I. Unfortunately, some people write off us Christians for not being connected with the real world, and at times that can be true, but today’s scripture makes the makes clear that God intends for His people to be connected to the real world.

A. There’s nothing ethereal in this passage.

1. Mark begins his Gospel in a down to earth sort of way and he grounds his message as the Rev. Elton Brown, a United Methodist pastor in Minnesota writes, in the real, sensual and fleshy world.

2. In just a few sentences Mark makes reference to river water, clothing from camels, an early weight watchers diet of locust and wild honey, along with the tying of shoes, a bird analogy and a spell-binding weather phenomenon.

3. When our worship becomes too abstract and otherworldly, this is a passage that brings us back to earth and to a sinful world in need of redemption and a lot of other help.

4. Into such a world Jesus came.

5. Into such a world the Holy Spirit came.

B. We’re told of the appearance of the Holy Spirit as Jesus presented himself for baptism into his mission and ministry.

1. Most art work portrays the dove which represents the Holy Spirit as descending gently, but again as Rev. Brown has pointed out birds sometimes dive-bomb (for example, to protect their young)!

2. After reading about the heavens being torn apart it would seem that a dive-bombing Holy Spirit might be a more accurate understanding of what occurred on that day.

3. Picture an F-16 fighter jet.

4. Some of us might be a little uncomfortable with that picture as we are at ease singing “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place” with its reference to the “sweet heavenly Dove,” but Mark seems to be describing a “wild-wind/fierce flame Spirit.”

5. Our passage for today reminds us that the sacrament of baptism is not some “cute-see” thing but is a means by which we seek God’s Spirit to literally invade our lives.

6. Governments employ military personnel to prevent invasion but when it comes to being Christian we actually invite the Holy Spirit to invade us and take control.

7. “Bombs away” is our request if we really want the full and complete Christian experience.

C. Now that sounds like a seriously heavy encounter with the divine.

1. I’ve read that C.S. Lewis once told an audience that for Christians “spirit” is not lighter than matter, but heavier.

2. Spirit is the real substance of God and we see that substance at work in creation and in redemption and in reconciling the world as well as all things unto Himself.

3. The Spirit is not seen and yet, as Rev. Brown has written, is seen in material ways such as through real water, real bread, and inexpensive wine.

4. It is this same Spirit that is present in the church and fills our being, but then drives us into the world to serve just as the Spirit drove Jesus from the Jordan River into the wilderness.

5. Like Jesus in the wilderness when we leave worship and the walls of this safe sanctuary we find ourselves in the real world where we have to wrestle with the beasts of temptation and find ourselves praying for the aid of ministering angels … angels heavier than air.

D. The fact is that we need something genuine, not something ethereal. 1. We need something real, something to help us here on earth and

in this real life we live.

2. For Christians that help can be found in remembering our baptism.

3. That is one reason Baptism of the Lord Sunday comes early in the liturgical calendar and early in this the year of our Lord 2012.

4. Granted, the liturgical calendar is meant to help us retrace the life and ministry of Christ and walk with Him anew every year, but this Sunday is to be an experiential remembrance.

5. This is not a history exam where you get credit for responding to the question “Where was Jesus baptized?” with the answer “In the river Jordan.”

6. This is a genuine life changing, life altering, life transforming event because in baptism we become connected to Jesus in his life and death and resurrection which means we are connected to the mission and ministry of His Kingdom.

7. We are also connected to others who are connected to Him which is most specifically the Church and we are connected to the real world that needs served in so many ways.

8. I know that you can see through this water but let me tell you that the waters of your baptism have already connected you in all the ways I just described.

9. And connected you for real.

10. I’m not talking pretend or imagined.

11. This water and the work of the Holy Spirit is like these ties that we use on bags of bread and rolls and in so many other ways.

12. I know that it appears to be a great mystery but just like I can connect these ties to one another, so God has tied you to Himself, to His Son, to one another and to the world through the power of the water and the Spirit.

13. Today, remember your baptism and blest be the tie that binds.