The Feast of The Baptism of the Lord

You would think that this Feast Day would be straightforward.  Jesus goes to the Jordan.  John baptizes him (with or without a lot of dialog, depending on which gospel account you are reading), the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends in (some sort of) bodily form and a voice speaks.  It is the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry.  Celebrate!  Give thanks!  End of story.

And yet, almost from the very beginning there were teachers who were proclaiming Christian baptism in the exact same terms as the baptism offered by John.  Their call was to John’s baptism, not that of Jesus and the church.  There are people within the larger church who do this same thing today.  They use John language to talk about what they call Christian baptism.

But what was John’s proclamation?  “Repent!  Renounce your sins!  Make way for the coming of the Lord.  Prepare yourselves for the Messiah, the Christ, the one who will save you from your sins.”  Let’s be clear: “get ready” is not the same thing as “Have faith.”  There are those who claim that their belief system can trace its lineage all the way back to John the Baptist.  They say that with pride.  I don’t get it.  What has John done for them lately?  John’s baptism?  You can have it I say.  John didn’t save You.  You are not John’s disciple.  Nowhere in scripture do you hear a call to proclaim, “John the Baptist is Lord!”  Why then would you want to embrace John’s baptism?

It is true that the larger church has muddled the significance of this Sacrament through the years.  To this day there is no uniformity of opinion as to what the Rite means.  Some communions see baptism as a literal washing away of the stain of sin.  Others see it as an act of professing faith in making ready to join the church universal or a particular congregation.  This is what is meant by “believer’s baptism.”  Some congregations won't even recognize  the baptism performed by other congregations within their fellowship.  The idea is, "If we haven't baptized you, then no one has baptized you!" 

The United Methodist Church (and others) define baptism as an initiation into the Body of Christ and a claiming of the individual into the family of God.  Again, like many other groups the United Methodist Church practices the baptism of infants, with parents or sponsors taking the vows on behalf of the candidate until such time as the individual can affirm those promises for themselves.

I have a book in my library with the provocative title Baptism: The Water that Divides by Donald Bridge.  The work itself is a bit murky, but what a great title!  That which designs to unite believers is in fact one of the great points of contention within the church.  For something that Christ commanded, and that the church has normatively required from its beginnings, there is no consensus among the major faith groups as to what this means at all.

I won’t enter the discussion about the amount of water that constitutes baptism.  I leave that issue grieving that people will split families and even congregations over what amounts to a measuring cup.

So, owning that this action of the church has no foreseeable resolution, I simply commend the day as an extraordinary one in the life and ministry of The Lord Jesus. It is worthy of our notice and our commemoration.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. –Ephesians 4:4-6

Lord, haste the day…

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Even though we count the Days of Christmas as our twelve-day celebration moves on, the Christian Calendar reminds us that the birth of Christ neither takes place in a vacuum nor does it occur without consequences.  I have heard it said, “One lights a candle, but casts a shadow.”  The story moves on, not letting the baby remain in the manger for long.  There are repercussions for the birth of a Savior.

December 28 is the Feast of the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents, alternately known simply as the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  We read their story in Matthew 2:16–18.  In a nutshell, King Herod instructed the Magi, the Wise Men from the East, to bring word back to Herod once they had located the new born king so that Herod himself could “pay him homage.”  This is undoubtedly Herod’s code for “so that I can kill him.”

The Wise Men found the child, gave him gifts, worshiped him, and “being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.” –Matthew 2:12

But when Herod decided that enough time had passed for the Magi to carry out his orders, the king determined that he had been duped.  In an angry rage, he decreed that all male children under two years of age should be killed so that he could make sure and eliminate his rival.

Joseph, father of Jesus, received his own warning in the form of another dream, and he fled with Mary and Jesus and sought refuge in Egypt.  So, while an undetermined number of baby boys died at the hands of Herod’s minions, the target child was spirited away.

This is a dreadful story.  Yet it is not outside our understanding of Herod’s character.  He brutally killed his wife, brother-in-law, three of his sons, 300 military leaders, and many others, as recorded by firsthand sources (notably the Jewish historian Josephus).

It also recalls the story of the Hebrew children in Exodus1:15—2:4. Pharaoh attempted the murder of newborn Israelite boys, but Moses eluded that fate and obviously became the great leader and law-giver of the people.  Matthew portrays the infant Jesus as being in the same peril and experiencing the same deliverance.

The coming of Jesus into the world can have unforeseen fallout.  Sometimes pure evil, in its efforts to combat or eradicate faith, commits acts of unspeakable depravity.  Beyond that we can never fully explain such occurrences.  But this Feast Day reflects our resolve never to forget. 

The calendar reminds us that the consequences of the appearance of Jesus in the world are many and varied.  Some involve deep intentionality.  Others can appear absolutely random.  But Jesus is not a presence that we can ignore.  For good or ill, the world knows that.

The Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Today the church celebrates the life and ministry of John, brother of James, son of Zebedee.  His name has historically been associated with the Fourth Gospel, the three New Testament epistles that bear his name, and the Book of Revelation.

The Gospel of John never mentions the name of its author.  The term “the disciple whom Jesus loved” that we find there is traditionally understood as John, but he is never explicitly identified.

Tradition holds that “John, Apostle and Evangelist” was one of the leaders of the church at Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus.  He remained in a position of prominence until the fall of Jerusalem in AD 72.  From there John went to minister in a variety of locations (traditionally) and settled in Ephesus, from where, again church custom holds, he did much of his writing.

Christian tradition holds that John was the only one of the twelve apostles who lived to an old age and died of natural causes.  The others, according to church lore, were martyred.   

Yesterday we meditated on St. Stephen, the martyr, who because of his faith died at an early age.  Today we ponder the long and faithful life of a servant of Christ who lived to be full of days.  We can never be fully certain where the life of faith will take us.  The calendar reminds us today that it could be, it could be, that it is possible for the disciple to enjoy a lengthy and abundant life.  It would be a disservice to the Apostle to claim that he was healthy and content every day of his life.  After all, the writer of the Book of Revelation did his composing while he was in exile on the island of Patmos.  But, overall, this life reminds us of the fullness of spirit (if not of years) to which Christ calls us.

The Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

The Badge of St. Mark the Evangelist

Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist.  Although the Second Gospel is anonymous, the church has associated Mark’s name with that work since the early days of Christianity.  Scholars recognize his account as the earliest of the four canonical gospels.  Indeed, history credits Mark with the invention of the gospel genre of literature.  While other biographies had existed since the development of writing, those works were in single-strand narrative form.  Mark takes small vignettes and sayings and weaves them together not so much for historical continuity, but to serve his theological purposes.

Mark’s gospel is the shortest of the four biblical gospels.  It includes no Infancy Narrative.  His work moves at an almost breathless pace, as he introduces individual accounts with the phrase “and immediately” over fifty times.  His Resurrection account (excluding the “longer endings” that were almost assuredly later additions) is inconclusive.

Yet, this work is a foundational source for the other Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke).  There are only a handful of verses in Mark that one or the other (or both) of the Synoptists does not employ.  Some scholars support the tradition that Mark bases his writing on the preaching of Peter.  That view, however, does not meet with universal acceptance.

Be that as it may, the church’s debt to St. Mark is incalculable.  We particularly give thanks for his witness today.

The Annunciation

The Annunciation
by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Today is The Feast of the Annunciation to Mary, the celebration of the announcing to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world.  We find the account in Luke 1:26-38.

Most Christian traditions revere Mary to one degree or another.  Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches call her theotokos – the mother of God.  Protestant churches (for a lot of reasons, some of them a bit convoluted) have not historically elevated her in the same way.  But they look to her as an example of obedience and humility.

Her question, “How can this be?” sums up much of her situation.  In the end she does not understand, but she submits.  This is the essence of faith.

Anglican, Roman and Eastern churches observe the feast on this day.  Some communions choose instead to follow the practice of the ancient Spanish – Mozarabic—calendar and observe the feast on December 28.  The rationale for this is that it removes the feast day from the season of Lent, and it locates the observance nearer to the observation of Christmas.

Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Today is the Feast day of Cyril of Jerusalem.  He was bishop of the church there from C.E. 349 – 386.  We know virtually nothing of his life prior to the beginning of his episcopacy.  He followed Bishop Maximus, who hand-picked Cyril as his successor.  Cyril was deposed and reinstated three times (357, 360, 367) due mostly to the theological attacks of Acacius of Caesarea.  Acacius was the voice of Arianism in those days and was in bitter dispute with both Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria.

Some of the controversy surrounding Cyril was due to his refusal to use the term homoousios in credal statements or in his writings.  He was in no way critical of the concept, but he considered the term itself inadequate within the technical language of his argumentation.

Cyril’s great contribution is his composition of a series of twenty-three pre-baptismal catechetical lectures.  He wrote these early in his episcopacy as instruction for those candidates who were concluding their preparation for baptism at the time of the Easter Vigil.   You can find them here. 

In lecture one he says,

While it rests with (God) to plant and water, it is your part to bring forth fruit.  It rests with God to bestow grace, but with you to accept and cherish it.  Do not despise the grace because it is freely given, but rather cherish it with reverence once you have received it.

Cyril’s lectures make for some insightful Lenten devotional reading.

THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD

Today is the observance of The Transfiguration of Jesus.  That is true for United Methodists and some other Methodist groups; it is also the day on which the several Lutheran groups in the United States mark the event.  American Presbyterians have also included the celebration in their liturgical calendars since their acceptance of the Consultation on Church Union lectionary (now the “New Revised Common Lectionary”) which COCU first published in 1974. In the liturgical calendar of these groups the feast occurs on the last Sunday after The Epiphany.  To put it another way, the Transfiguration takes place on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

Most of the rest of the Christian Church observes The Transfiguration on August 6.  Through the ages the church looked upon this event as a minor feast, when it raised it up at all.

Much of the Eastern Church counts The Transfiguration as a Trinitarian Feast, as it recognizes all three persons of the Holy Trinity as taking part (the Son experiences transfiguration; the Father speaks; and the Holy Spirit is present in the form of the cloud).

The Anglican and Episcopal Churches have had a sort of love/hate relationship with the feast.  At times in the churches’ history these communions omitted the recognition altogether.  Recent Books of Common Prayer include the day and locate it on August 6.

The August 6 date that many worldwide denominations select for this recognition usually marks a relationship to an important occurrence in the secular calendar.  For instance, it was on August 6,1456 that news that the Kingdom of Hungary had repulsed an Ottoman invasion of the Balkans by breaking the Siege of Belgrade. In thanksgiving the Pope declared that the minor observance of The Transfiguration on that date become a major feast.

In placing the feast at the end of the Season After The Epiphany, churches that observe this date bookend Ordinary Time with two theophanies: The Baptism of the Lord and The Transfiguration.  Placing these two events in these spots provides emphasis to the revelatory nature of this season.

Matthias, Apostle

Quick: name the 12 Apostles of Jesus.  Your answer may have an asterisk at the end.  This is because there are two different answers (both correct) to the challenge.  Judas Iscariot was one of the original Twelve.  But after his suicide/death (depending on if you read Matthew 27 or Acts 1), the remaining Eleven put forth two names – Barsabbas and Matthias -- as a replacement.  After prayer and casting lots Matthias became a member of the Twelve.

Today is the (western) feast day of St. Matthias. We never hear of him again in the New Testament following his election as an Apostle.  Tradition holds that he preached in Judea before going into the world to evangelize.  The church at Cappadocia maintains that Matthias founded the church there.  There are also traditions about his apostolic activity in the area of the Caspian Sea.  Christian legend maintains that he died a martyr’s death in that region and that after his crucifixion his killers dismembered his body.

Another tradition reports that St. Helena, who was the Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, transported the relics of Matthias from Jerusalem to Rome.

I have always had an attraction to the Matthias stories because they indicate that there is an equal place in gospel work for relative late-comers.

Saint Matthias is the patron of carpenters, tailors, those with smallpox, and addicts of all kinds & their caregivers.

This is the collect for The Feast of St.Matthias from the Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Candlemas

Today is the Feast of Candlemas.  It is a fixed feast that the church observes on the second of February.  Other designations for the day include The Presentation of the Lord, The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and The Purification of the Virgin Mary.  It marks the event that the Mosaic Law prescribes forty days after the birth of a male child.  Luke 2:23–52 tells the story that describes both this and the participation of Mary and Joseph in the tradition of the redemption of the first-born.

Candlemas refers to the practice of the church in which it blessed the beeswax candles that it would use over the next twelve months.  Sometimes there were extra candles and parishioners would take these blessed candles home for their household use.  Other parishes encouraged people to bring their own candles to the blessing ceremony and then return home with the newly-consecrated candles.

The Lukan passage contains the beautiful poem that the church calls the Nunc Dimittis.  The common English title is The Canticle of Simeon. It reads:

Lord, you now have set your servant free

   to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,

   whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations,

   and the glory of your people Israel.
         

--The Book of Common Prayer

John Wesley had a fondness for the day.  He mentions the feast and his own worship practices for the observance in several places in his Journals and Diaries.

Candlemas is the official end of all Christmas and Epiphany observations across the church.  Some communions have active celebrations up to this day.  Others pack away any last bits of seasonal appointment before sundown.  

If the calendar aligns in a certain fashion, the Candlemas celebration almost immediately precedes the commencement of Lent.  If certain factors fall into place, Ash Wednesday can occur as early as February 4.  So, in that peculiar alignment Candlemas, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday would fall on consecutive days.  Usually, though, there is a bit more space between The Presentation and Ash Wednesday.  (This year, for instance, Ash Wednesday does not come around until March 6.)

Beyond the blessing of candles, I am not aware of any widespread activity that celebrates this day.  But, maybe we can all light a candle and remember the victory of light over darkness.  We remember Jesus’ Presentation on this day.  We can also reflect on the “why” of His coming.

Happy Candlemas.

Further thoughts on Baptism

In meditating on The Sacrament of Baptism and on The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord recently, I confess to one glaring omission.  In the midst of observing on (and lamenting over) the various disputes that arise related to these subjects I skated right past one of the crucial facets of the day.  The second reading for Sunday contained in The New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is instructive.  That reading is Acts 8:14-17:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

The reading reminds us that central to our understanding of Christian Baptism is the concept that it is at the moment of Baptism that the God confers the Holy Spirit on the person(s) being baptized.  This may not be a Pentecost-type moment for some, but it is the understanding of The United Methodist Church and others that this is the moment in which God acts. 

The reading from Acts 8 nods to some of the complexities that surround the church’s dealing with the Samaritan believers.  It is important for us to remember that these are the fledgling days of the Christian Faith.  Doctrine and practice would be worked out and refined as time went along.  But, even allowing for this, the text is careful – even precise – in its language.  Some people in Samaria had come to faith.  That profession had led to their baptisms.  But their baptism was in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Whether this is an irregularity or a misunderstanding on the part of those administering the baptisms, we cannot say.  But, the church even in that day was careful not to re-baptize these believers.

Now, one could make the argument that, since these Samaritans did not receive Triune Baptism – baptism in the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit – that their baptisms were not legitimate.  But Peter and John did not take that position.  Instead, they administered a kind of remedial grace in laying hands on the Samaritans.  In that act, the Holy Spirit came upon them. 

The details of early baptismal practice are a bit murky.  It is legitimate to point out that when the gift of The Holy Spirit initially came upon the church at The Day of Pentecost that baptism was not involved.  Within that context it is probably safe to say that at least some of the inhabitants of the Upper Room on that day had been baptized already.  According to John 4:2 (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized) baptism was an early part of the ministry of Jesus and his disciples.  Yet, we would hardly expect to have a description of those baptisms as being Triune.  Nor would we anticipate that accounts of these acts would include the bestowing of the gift of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit as a gift to believers was not a part of the narrative at that time.  This is to say that the action of baptism in Jesus’ lifetime was worked out in time and experience in the days that immediately followed Christ’s Ascension.

In our day it is the understanding of the church that, in the act of baptism, The Holy Spirit comes to abide in the heart of the individual.  There is no perfect scheme that takes into account all situations.  In John’s Gospel, the 22nd chapter for instance, Jesus imparts The Holy Spirit by breathing on the disciples who assembled in the upper room.  

But, as the church and its members rely on our common experience as an authority in working out our understanding of God, experience teaches us that it is in baptism that God commonly chooses to give this gift.

Perhaps if we accentuated this facet of baptism more, the matters of “how much water” and “when in the life of a person” would fade away, and that the matter of grace would move front-and-center in our understanding.

The Baptism of the Lord -- February 13

You would think that this Feast Day would be straightforward.  Jesus goes to the Jordan.  John baptizes him (with or without a lot of dialog, depending on which gospel account you are reading), the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends in (some sort of) bodily form and a voice speaks.  It is the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry.  Celebrate!  Give thanks!  End of story.

And yet, almost from the very beginning there were teachers who were proclaiming Christian baptism in the exact same terms as the baptism offered by John.  Their call was to John’s baptism, not that of Jesus and the church.  There are people within the larger church who do this same thing today.  They use John language to talk about what they call Christian baptism. 

But what was John’s proclamation?  “Repent!  Renounce your sins!  Make way for the coming of the Lord.  Prepare yourselves for the Messiah, the Christ, the one who will save you from your sins.”  Let’s be clear: “get ready” is not the same thing as “Have faith.”  There are those who claim that their belief system can trace its lineage all the way back to John the Baptist.  They say that with pride.  I don’t get it.  What has John done for them lately?  John’s baptism?  You can have it I say.  John didn’t save You.  You are not John’s disciple.  Nowhere in scripture do you hear a call to proclaim, “John the Baptist is Lord!”  Why then would you want to embrace John’s baptism?

It is true that the larger church has muddled the significance of this Sacrament through the years.  To this day there is no uniformity of opinion as to what the Rite means.  Some communions see baptism as a literal washing away of the stain of sin.  Others see it as an act of professing faith in making ready to join the church universal or a particular congregation.  This is what is meant by “believer’s baptism.”  Some congregations won't even recognize  the baptism performed by other congregations within their fellowship.  The idea is, "If we haven't baptized you, then no one has baptized you!"  

The United Methodist Church (and others) define baptism as an initiation into the Body of Christ and a claiming of the individual into the family of God.  Again, like many other groups the United Methodist Church practices the baptism of infants, with parents or sponsors taking the vows on behalf of the candidate until such time as the individual can affirm those promises for themselves.

I have a book in my library with the provocative title Baptism: The Water that Divides by Donald Bridge.  The work itself is a bit murky, but what a great title!  That which designs to unite believers is in fact one of the great points of contention within the church.  For something that Christ commanded, and that the church has normatively required from its beginnings, there is no consensus among the major faith groups as to what this means at all. 

I won’t enter the discussion about the amount of water that constitutes baptism.  I leave that issue grieving that people will split families and even congregations over what amounts to a measuring cup.

So, owning that this action of the church has no foreseeable resolution, I simply commend the day as an extraordinary one in the life and ministry of The Lord Jesus. It is worthy of our notice and our commemoration.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. –Ephesians 4:4-6

Lord, haste the day…