[This post was delivered as a sermon on January 7, 2018 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Wausau, WI. Lectionary readings for the day were Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11]
Well, it’s the New Year—the time of resolutions, the time of change (sometimes big announcements are made…) There is a certain energy to the new year, to turning the page and looking ahead. We have celebrated the coming of the light at the beginning of the church year with Advent and Christmas and now as the calendar turns we look ahead to all the of the life and movement that 2018 will bring. We imagine, we envision, we dream about what will become of this year ahead.
Of course, we almost always greet the new year with freezing cold temperatures here in Wisconsin. And as you know, in the cold, things slow down. The very molecules that make up all mass move more slowly as they cool to a frozen state and we move more slowly too. We hunker down and stay indoors. When we do go out, we take things slowly and carefully, as we should. So we begin the year in tension.
The New Year is latent with possibility, but that possibility is not yet ready to be realized. It is a threshold, it is a time of transition.
We have many of these in our lives, don’t we?
Some are thrust upon us: We lose our job, we get divorced, we lose a loved one, or become limited by injury or age. Suddenly, life looks differently. Other transitions we choose: we change jobs, we move, we go off to school, or retire from our career.
But whether we choose to make change or whether it is put upon us, we will always face this in-between time, a time when things are no longer as they were before but not yet how they are going to be. So, what do we do in these liminal spaces, as they are called—the space between? What can we do?
In the New Year we make resolutions, right? We make up our minds to do things differently. Raise your hand if you’ve tried this before. Now keep your hand up if you’ve ever made a resolution that you failed to keep. Okay and let’s be really honest with each other-- keep your hand up if you’ve made a new year’s resolution and broken that resolution within the very first week of January.
Resolutions aren’t easy. We aren’t always ready for the change, even when it is a change we wish to make. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to try and sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we make a resolution and we find ourselves in the right mindset and with the right circumstances to succeed. You might say that we somehow manage to find the right spirit to enact the change we seek.
Maybe we’ve resolved to do something for years and years without success, but then finally, we get extra motivation and we somehow find ourselves ready to finally get over the hump and actually make the change that we seek. In some instances, it might even feel easy. We’ve somehow captured the spirit necessary for the change we had sought for so long.
Or think of other changes. Some who have changed their lives through recovery will talk about hitting rock bottom. It sounds like this experience is about things getting so bad that there just had to be a change. People might say it was basically, “get clean or die.” I don’t doubt that is the case, but what makes an addict realize this?
In other cases, I’ve been told that it was a combination of circumstances working in them to create a new vision of what life could be--a new vision of hope, and a yearning for more out of life. What causes this vision? What moves people from addiction to hope?
Some accounts of deep depression tell of facing a hopelessness so utterly overwhelming that it leads to a final, internal crack, a breaking of one’s illusions and to finally letting go—letting go of control, letting go of judgment, letting go of the feeling like you have to somehow keep it all together all of the time. It’s in the letting go—in the opening up—that a new spirit enters in.
Now if you’ve dealt with depression or addiction, then you will know that nothing that I can say up here will do justice to the profound journey that you have been through in your life. Please excuse my brief sketch of these subjects. But I can’t help but think that there is a lesson for us all in these dramatic life-changing and life-giving experiences of transition.
Somehow, through what is certainly pain and struggle, a new spirit is born. Where does it come from? How is it captured? It seems to have to do with realizing and admitting one’s brokenness, but it isn’t just that. It’s not just breaking, but a breaking open.
Although not obvious at first glance, I think our readings for today have something to say about this as well. Each reading represents a transition, a significant shift, and each reading involves a particular movement of the Spirit. From Genesis, we have God in the first act of creation.
“In the beginning… the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The word for ‘wind’ here in Hebrew is the same word as breath or spirit, so the line could just as easily read that “a spirit (or The Spirit) of God swept over the face of the waters.” Before change, we have a movement of the Spirit, somehow preparing the way.
In the baptism of Jesus, we of course see the Spirit at work, coming down in the form of a dove, while a voice announces Jesus as the beloved son. Here again, the spirit is at work preparing the way, pointing toward this something new that was about to come into the world with the ministry of Jesus. And in some accounts the Spirit then leads Jesus directly out into the wilderness to be tempted, continuing this time of transition.
And then in our New Testament reading, we have this odd story in Acts 19 where Paul is engaging with some new disciples in Ephesus. Certainly, they are in a time of change along with other members of the nascent Jesus movement. Things aren’t how they were for these disciples—they’ve been changed—but nor are things like they are going to be—they haven’t yet been fully baptized. They haven’t even yet heard of the Holy Spirit. They are in one of these threshold moments. They are in the midst of transition. So Paul asks them, “into what, then, were you baptized?”
And they answered, into John’s baptism…
Remember John preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The word repentance could be literally rendered as to turn around. It has to do with changing directions. But more than that it has more to do with a change of mind—like a paradigm shift.
So these disciples had heard the call to repentance. They knew that they wanted to turn around toward a new way of being, they wanted to have a new mind about them as part of this new movement. But it wasn’t just going to happen. They were a lot like us with our new year’s resolutions. They had an idea of change, but they weren’t quite there yet.
So Paul tells them, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." And with that simple line they are given a bigger vision of what life could be. It’s about this man Jesus, and the way he lived and the things he taught us. It isn’t just about turning around or away or about a paradigm shift it is also about what you are focused on. And in that vision of Jesus, a new spirit is born.
Our text goes on to tell us that “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” And, “when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them…”
With something—or someone—to focus on they were then open to and ready to receive the spirit.
Of course, it doesn’t always happen as simply and quickly as this makes it sound. What changes and transitions await you in the year ahead? We will have change here together at St. John’s obviously, but we will all face many other changes in our lives as well—some big, some small. No doubt, the old adage is true, “the only constant is change.”
Does this mean that we live in fear? Does this mean that we are never settled? I don’t think so, but perhaps it does mean that we hold life a little more loosely, that we recognize it as gift and are aware that we are always becoming, we are always in process, and that life is about continually opening up to the movements of the spirit in our lives, wherever and however they move us.
Remember Jesus said that the spirit moves where it pleases. Like the wind, you can hear its sound, you can see evidence of it, but you do not know from where it comes or to where it will go—where it will lead you. Can we be open to such a spirit? Can we even embrace the in-between times that come with change and transition? Can we heed the words of the book of Isaiah where God says, “Do not hold onto the old ways. For see, I am about to do something new?” Or if the voice of the prophets doesn’t do it for you, perhaps the stark words of the late David Bowie can achieve the same thing: can we “turn and face the strange?” It might be that when we feel most lost or broken that we are finally ready to be led into something new.
So, happy New Year! May the changes that lie ahead for you personally and for this congregation bear much fruit. May we be open to the movements of the spirit, wherever they may blow, and in that gain awareness of how precious our time is here together. Amen!
Well, it’s the New Year—the time of resolutions, the time of change (sometimes big announcements are made…) There is a certain energy to the new year, to turning the page and looking ahead. We have celebrated the coming of the light at the beginning of the church year with Advent and Christmas and now as the calendar turns we look ahead to all the of the life and movement that 2018 will bring. We imagine, we envision, we dream about what will become of this year ahead.
Of course, we almost always greet the new year with freezing cold temperatures here in Wisconsin. And as you know, in the cold, things slow down. The very molecules that make up all mass move more slowly as they cool to a frozen state and we move more slowly too. We hunker down and stay indoors. When we do go out, we take things slowly and carefully, as we should. So we begin the year in tension.
The New Year is latent with possibility, but that possibility is not yet ready to be realized. It is a threshold, it is a time of transition.
We have many of these in our lives, don’t we?
Some are thrust upon us: We lose our job, we get divorced, we lose a loved one, or become limited by injury or age. Suddenly, life looks differently. Other transitions we choose: we change jobs, we move, we go off to school, or retire from our career.
But whether we choose to make change or whether it is put upon us, we will always face this in-between time, a time when things are no longer as they were before but not yet how they are going to be. So, what do we do in these liminal spaces, as they are called—the space between? What can we do?
In the New Year we make resolutions, right? We make up our minds to do things differently. Raise your hand if you’ve tried this before. Now keep your hand up if you’ve ever made a resolution that you failed to keep. Okay and let’s be really honest with each other-- keep your hand up if you’ve made a new year’s resolution and broken that resolution within the very first week of January.
Resolutions aren’t easy. We aren’t always ready for the change, even when it is a change we wish to make. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to try and sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we make a resolution and we find ourselves in the right mindset and with the right circumstances to succeed. You might say that we somehow manage to find the right spirit to enact the change we seek.
Maybe we’ve resolved to do something for years and years without success, but then finally, we get extra motivation and we somehow find ourselves ready to finally get over the hump and actually make the change that we seek. In some instances, it might even feel easy. We’ve somehow captured the spirit necessary for the change we had sought for so long.
Or think of other changes. Some who have changed their lives through recovery will talk about hitting rock bottom. It sounds like this experience is about things getting so bad that there just had to be a change. People might say it was basically, “get clean or die.” I don’t doubt that is the case, but what makes an addict realize this?
In other cases, I’ve been told that it was a combination of circumstances working in them to create a new vision of what life could be--a new vision of hope, and a yearning for more out of life. What causes this vision? What moves people from addiction to hope?
Some accounts of deep depression tell of facing a hopelessness so utterly overwhelming that it leads to a final, internal crack, a breaking of one’s illusions and to finally letting go—letting go of control, letting go of judgment, letting go of the feeling like you have to somehow keep it all together all of the time. It’s in the letting go—in the opening up—that a new spirit enters in.
Now if you’ve dealt with depression or addiction, then you will know that nothing that I can say up here will do justice to the profound journey that you have been through in your life. Please excuse my brief sketch of these subjects. But I can’t help but think that there is a lesson for us all in these dramatic life-changing and life-giving experiences of transition.
Somehow, through what is certainly pain and struggle, a new spirit is born. Where does it come from? How is it captured? It seems to have to do with realizing and admitting one’s brokenness, but it isn’t just that. It’s not just breaking, but a breaking open.
Although not obvious at first glance, I think our readings for today have something to say about this as well. Each reading represents a transition, a significant shift, and each reading involves a particular movement of the Spirit. From Genesis, we have God in the first act of creation.
“In the beginning… the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The word for ‘wind’ here in Hebrew is the same word as breath or spirit, so the line could just as easily read that “a spirit (or The Spirit) of God swept over the face of the waters.” Before change, we have a movement of the Spirit, somehow preparing the way.
In the baptism of Jesus, we of course see the Spirit at work, coming down in the form of a dove, while a voice announces Jesus as the beloved son. Here again, the spirit is at work preparing the way, pointing toward this something new that was about to come into the world with the ministry of Jesus. And in some accounts the Spirit then leads Jesus directly out into the wilderness to be tempted, continuing this time of transition.
And then in our New Testament reading, we have this odd story in Acts 19 where Paul is engaging with some new disciples in Ephesus. Certainly, they are in a time of change along with other members of the nascent Jesus movement. Things aren’t how they were for these disciples—they’ve been changed—but nor are things like they are going to be—they haven’t yet been fully baptized. They haven’t even yet heard of the Holy Spirit. They are in one of these threshold moments. They are in the midst of transition. So Paul asks them, “into what, then, were you baptized?”
And they answered, into John’s baptism…
Remember John preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The word repentance could be literally rendered as to turn around. It has to do with changing directions. But more than that it has more to do with a change of mind—like a paradigm shift.
So these disciples had heard the call to repentance. They knew that they wanted to turn around toward a new way of being, they wanted to have a new mind about them as part of this new movement. But it wasn’t just going to happen. They were a lot like us with our new year’s resolutions. They had an idea of change, but they weren’t quite there yet.
So Paul tells them, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." And with that simple line they are given a bigger vision of what life could be. It’s about this man Jesus, and the way he lived and the things he taught us. It isn’t just about turning around or away or about a paradigm shift it is also about what you are focused on. And in that vision of Jesus, a new spirit is born.
Our text goes on to tell us that “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” And, “when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them…”
With something—or someone—to focus on they were then open to and ready to receive the spirit.
Of course, it doesn’t always happen as simply and quickly as this makes it sound. What changes and transitions await you in the year ahead? We will have change here together at St. John’s obviously, but we will all face many other changes in our lives as well—some big, some small. No doubt, the old adage is true, “the only constant is change.”
Does this mean that we live in fear? Does this mean that we are never settled? I don’t think so, but perhaps it does mean that we hold life a little more loosely, that we recognize it as gift and are aware that we are always becoming, we are always in process, and that life is about continually opening up to the movements of the spirit in our lives, wherever and however they move us.
Remember Jesus said that the spirit moves where it pleases. Like the wind, you can hear its sound, you can see evidence of it, but you do not know from where it comes or to where it will go—where it will lead you. Can we be open to such a spirit? Can we even embrace the in-between times that come with change and transition? Can we heed the words of the book of Isaiah where God says, “Do not hold onto the old ways. For see, I am about to do something new?” Or if the voice of the prophets doesn’t do it for you, perhaps the stark words of the late David Bowie can achieve the same thing: can we “turn and face the strange?” It might be that when we feel most lost or broken that we are finally ready to be led into something new.
So, happy New Year! May the changes that lie ahead for you personally and for this congregation bear much fruit. May we be open to the movements of the spirit, wherever they may blow, and in that gain awareness of how precious our time is here together. Amen!
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