Sermons in Glass 3 Chosen

Sermons in Glass: 3. Chosen

The Church of the Wayfarer

Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

September 22, 2013

Mark 1:9-11; 10:13-16

          There’s a story about President George H.W. Bush.

          It seems the senior President Bush was touring a nursing home. As he walked down the hall with his entourage of aides and reporters, he came upon one elderly man who was slowly making his way in the opposite direction.

          The president reached out in his friendly way, took the patient’s hand, and asked gently, “Sir, do you know who I am?”

          The man stared back blankly for a moment and then shook his head, “I don’t know who you are. But if you ask the nurses, they can tell you.”

          Our ‘Sermon in Glass’ this morning tells us who we are.

                   The windows tell us that we are chosen children of God.

                   This is not just Jesus who is chosen… it is each one of us.

                   Precious. Beloved.

                   Our true identity.

          This is the third in a series of messages based on the stories in our stained glass windows. Today we look at the third lancet —
          Jesus being baptized

          Jesus and the Children

          John Calvin

          Last week we saw Jesus in the Temple, the Tree of Jesse and St. Boniface.

          Two weeks ago we experienced the stories behind the manger scene, Elijah on Mt. Carmel, Johann Sebastian Bach and St. Augustine.

          Maya Angelou once said,

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.

          All three windows that we are looking at today have a great deal of feeling. They tell us:

          That we are chosen,

          That God knows who we are,

          That we are God’s children.

          The top windows the whole way around tell about the life of Jesus.

          (Picture 1) The top window in this lancet depicts Jesus’ baptism.

          The Bible says that when Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism—

The heavens opened

The spirit like a dove came down

A voice said: “You are my beloved son;

I am well pleased with you.”

          WOW!

          Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear God say that of us?

You are my beloved child.

I am well pleased with you.

          For Jesus this was--

                   1. The Moment of decision—as Lowell says:

“Once to every man and nation

comes the moment to decide

In the strife for Truth with falsehood,

for the good or evil side.”

                   2. The Moment of identification—from this time forward Jesus is           identifying himself with his mission.

                   3. The moment of approval—this was God’s seal of approval.

          The Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. I have been there and I know that the Jordan River is muddy and dirty. None of that mattered this day because a new emotion emerges: joy.

          In this picture the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descends.

          This is the meaning of baptism: Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved. Jesus is now, for us, the Word of God in human form …

the Way, the Truth and the Life … God from God,

Light from Light, true God from true God.

          We don’t have to wonder any longer about who Jesus is. We know his true identity.

          The very same is true for us, as we remember our own baptism. In this sacrament, we are connected to the body of Christ — the universal community of Christians that’s nothing less than the flesh-and-blood physical presence of Jesus in the world today.

          In this sacrament, we become children of God, no less loved and accepted than Jesus Christ himself.

          “If I say, ‘I was married,’ you will likely assume that my wife has died or I am divorced. But if I say, ‘I am married,’ you will assume I have a wife and that on a certain date I was married and still am. Even so we can assert, ‘I am baptized’”

          More than anything else, baptism marks our birth as Christians. It involves a process that is every bit as wet and messy as the physical birth that brought us into this world, but it is also every bit as permanent.

          Through baptism, we are identified as children of God who are both loved and lovable,           chosen by the Lord to be his people in the world.

          “The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now,” wrote the Dutch priest Henri Nouwen,

“Is that I am the chosen child of God,

precious in God’s eyes,

called the Beloved from all eternity

and held safe in an everlasting embrace.”

          The chosen child of God.

This is not just Jesus … it is each one of us.

Precious.

Beloved.

Safe in an everlasting embrace. Our true identity.

          (Picture 2) Jesus and the Children

          Of all the panels in the windows this is one of my favorite ones. Here the children are from all the races of the earth.

          The Bible says: “They brought little children to Jesus that He might touch them. Did you notice that word—touch!

          Who touches children anymore? I don’t—unless they are my own or my grandchildren.

          A pastor friend of mine visited a school recently and a child came running up to him to greet him because he was that child’s pastor. When the child did so the pastor patted him on the head. As a result the principle called my pastor friend into the office and scolded him.

          The disciples scolded the children for troubling Jesus. 

          Jesus said to them:

          “Let the children come to me and don’t try to stop them for of such is the Kingdom of God.”

          “I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will not enter into it.”

          And then Jesus took the children up into the crook of his arm and blessed them.  

          This is what we see in this picture—children of all races in the arms of Jesus. The Christian life is really simple—as simple as a child.

          A few simple words is all we need. For example:

                   I am sorry (three words, 8 letters).
                   Please forgive me (three words, 15 letters).
                   I love you (three words, 8 letters).

          Or, like the little guy who'd just had this huge fight with his childhood girlfriend.

          Then he sends her a text:

                   I want to come back.

          She texts:

                   I need 3 words, 8 letters.

          He texts back:

                   I got food.

          She writes:

                   Get over here now!

          This window tells us a great deal about Jesus.

          It tells us that Jesus was the kind of person who cared for children and for whom children cared.

          It tells us the kind of human, caring person Jesus was.

          (Picture 3) John Calvin (1509-1564)

          Calvin was a French reformer and head of the Reformed Branch of Protestantism. He combined theology with his political leadership in Geneva.

          His Institutes of the Christian Religion established him as a theological leader of the Reformation and is still widely read by theological students today. It vigorously attacked the teachings of Roman Catholicism.  He wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible.

          Calvin was a tireless writer who generated much controversy.

           

          He was influenced by the Augustinian tradition, which led him to expound the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul.

          Predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. To him predestination meant that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others.

          The law of a Christian state, according to Calvin, is the Bible. The task of the clergy is to interpret and teach that law, while the task of the state is to enforce it.

          Under this principle, while the clergy were not civil magistrates, they held enormous authority and the conduct of all citizens of Geneva was examined and regulated by 5 pastors and 12 lay elders.

          They had the right to visit every family annually and search its home;

                    to excommunicate, which meant virtually automatic banishment from      the city by the council;

                    to force attendance at weekly sermons;

                    to prohibit gambling, drunkenness, dancing and immodest dress.

          It was a criminal offense to speak ill of Calvin or the rest of the clergy.

          The press was severely censored.

          Fornication was punishable by exile, and adultery, blasphemy and idolatry by death.

          Education, which Calvin regarded as inseparable from religion, was very carefully regulated.

          Charity was placed under municipal administration to eliminate begging.          Thus the whole life of Geneva was placed under a rigid discipline and a single Church from which no deviation was permitted.

          Needless to say there were some ugly moments in theocratic Geneva.

          The positive side of predestination for me is that I believe that God has a wonderful plan and purpose for each life—but I also believe in free will.

         

          In other words God has a plan but sometimes I mess up!

          The longer I live the more I believe that it is my job to love and God’s job to judge. Thus, God and I get along just fine.

          Like Jesus I believe that we are chosen—the chosen family of God.

                   We are chosen to be Christ’s hands and feet.

                   We are chosen to serve.

                   We are God’s chosen adopted children.

          Linda and I have two adopted children. We chose Nathan and Lori.

          Likewise we are adopted into God’s family. God chose us.

          And Jesus gathers us his children around himself and says:

You are my beloved!