Baptism of Jesus

January 11, 2009
The Rev. Susan J. Latimer

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

These are words from Howard Thurman, the great African-American theologian and preacher.

Our spiritual journey is about coming alive for the world.

Today is the Feast Day of the Baptism of Jesus. One way of looking at this day is that this is the day that Jesus fully came alive – the day that Jesus embraced his true self. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized by John in the Jordan in order to show his humanity. But at the same time, God manifested Godself – as Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove – and in the voice coming from the heavens that blessed Jesus and showed his divinity:
“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus is a model for us of a human being who was completely alive.
Jesus lived in harmony with his deepest self, which was human and divine.
He came to show us a completely new way of life – a way that many people believe we are just now beginning to understand….

John the Baptist prepared the people for Jesus and his ministry. John spoke of baptism as necessary for repentance, for the forgiveness of our sins. He traveled the countryside baptizing large crowds of people. But when John spoke of Jesus and his baptism, it was clear that he understood it to be on a whole different level: “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me… I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

There has been a lot of writing about repentance. For many years I have liked the interpretation that repentance means “turning around” – changing your path. But there is an even more challenging interpretation of what repentance might mean.

Cynthia Bourgeault, in her book, The Wisdom Jesus, (which is the subject of a book discussion group starting this Wednesday at St. John’s ) , gives another way of understanding Jesus’ message of repentance. The word comes from the Greek “metanoia” which as I said, is often translated as “turning around” or “changing direction”.
But a more literal translation of “metanoia” is
“Go beyond the mind” or “Go into the large mind”.

She suggests that this is a call for a radical change in our way of thinking and seeing the world.

At its’ core, this change involves a shift from an “Us” or “Them” mentality to a “We” mentality.
It is a shift from things that separate us from one another and God
to a realization that all things are connected in God.

I had interesting experience this week with connections. Although I appreciate technology, I am hardly the first person to sign up for new things. But one of our parishioners suggested to me last week that St. John’s might benefit from the visibility of having a page on Facebook. If you don’t know what Facebook is – it is basically a web-based program for connecting with people all over the world. So on Monday, I received a notice that the St. John’s page was up – and I took the plunge myself and registered on Facebook. I listed myself as a fan of St. John’s and could instantly see pictures of all the people who were also fans so far. During the week the number of people listed as fans of St. John’s grew and grew, and I imagine it will continue to grow forever.

But soon I began to be confronted with a minor moral dilemma. If you have been using Facebook you may know what I mean. I found some out of state friends and family, and sent requests to be connected to them. But then I began to get “Friend requests” from other people. Some of them were good friends, or people who I remember from High School, and of course I accepted their requests immediately. What a great feeling to get a message that says “You are now friends with … “ ( someone you haven’t seen since high school! ). I was having a lot of fun with this! Soon some St. John’s parishioners requested to be listed as Friends, and so I added them as well. But then I started getting requests from people that I had no earthly idea about. Friends of friends of friends of friends, I suppose – but who are these people? I thought, and why do they want me listed as a friend? I discovered that I had to make a choice about connection. I had to decide whether I was going to say yes to every friend request, or choose who I was willing to connect with on Facebook.

We all make choices, every day, about connection, whether with the click of a mouse, a greeting on the street, or simply making room to think and care and pray about other people. What kinds of people do we make an effort to connect with – and who in our society do we avoid connecting with at all? Do we spend more time thinking “Us” or “Them”, or do we live more often in the Realm of God that focuses on the great “We”…..

There will never be peace in all the world until people make this radical shift of consciousness.

There will never be a lasting peace between Palestine and Israel unless enough of the people of those nations can make that shift – from “Us” or “Them” to “We”.

The Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus at his baptism is alive and well in the world. One of the signs of the Spirit at work is the deepening of connections across our planet.

I believe that the “coming alive” of which Howard Thurman speaks is exactly that – “coming alive” means getting in touch with our deepest selves and God – and following where the Holy Spirit leads us.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive”.

Our spiritual journey is about coming alive for the world.

The Church needs to be in the business of helping people do just that.