ACTS 19:1-7

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’

They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’

So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’

‘’John’s baptism,’ they replied.

Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer…

Today is a special day in the life of the church. Today is Baptism of our Lord Sunday. It is a day where we remember that Jesus’ earthly ministry began. With John’s baptism of him in the river Jordan. It is also a day where we remember our own baptisms. We remember how our vocation as Christians began with our own baptisms.

Baptism of our Lord Sunday is also a day to consider anew how God may be calling us to respond to the call of our baptisms. Today we will consider how might we use the gifts God has given us. To bear witness to God at work in the world.

Today’s Scripture reading is from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts is the second half of the story that began with the gospel of Luke. While Luke focuses on the life and ministry of Jesus. Acts tells the story of the early church. In today’s reading we learn how early Christians were baptized. We learn that there was disagreement on how to baptize believers then. As there is disagreement on how to baptize believers now.

Apollos was a traveling evangelist. He went from city to city baptizing believers into John’s baptism. When Paul travels to Ephesus he realizes that Apollos is not baptizing believers correctly. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. It served to prepare people to receive the baptism of the one who is to come: Jesus Christ. So Paul begins baptizing them in the name of Jesus.

Paul teaches Apollos that baptism is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is what empowers believers for the work of discipleship. The key element of baptism is the living presence of God in the life of believers. This is why we baptize babies in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because baptism marks the beginning of new life in the name of the Triune God. 

It matters little what happens to you on the day of your baptism. For those of us who were baptized as infants. We probably don’t remember the day of our baptisms and that’s okay. Because it matters far more how you respond to the call of your baptism throughout your life.

As the church celebrates Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the church prepares to ordain and install new officers to serve the church in her ordered ministries. Serving the church in her ordered ministries is one-way women and men can respond to the call of their baptisms. This year as I was preparing the liturgy, I was struck by how explicit the church makes ordered ministry a response to one’s baptism.

The liturgy begins with the minister saying:

We are all called into the church of Jesus Christ by baptism, and marked as Christ’s own by the Holy Spirit. This is our common calling, to be disciples and servants of our servant Lord.

Within the community of the church, some are called to particular service as deacons, as elders, and as ministers of the Word and Sacrament.

Ordination is Christ’s gift to the church, assuring that his ministry continues among us, providing for ministries of caring and compassion in the world, ordering the governance of the church, and preaching the Word and administering the sacraments.

The only two requirements for serving the church are that you are a baptized believer. In good standing in your church. The church requires ministers, elders, and deacons to be baptized before they serve the church. Because we believe that service to the church is one way we can respond to the call of our baptisms. The call to serve begins with the Spirit’s prompting. Is confirmed by the body of Christ as she gathers for worship. And is carried out with God’s help.

The liturgy for ordination and installation of officers is really a service of remembering our baptisms. You’ll notice that the church asks church officers to affirm their baptism with the same questions we ask parents to affirm on behalf of their children. Do you trust in Jesus Christ? Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament? Do you receive and adopt the essential tenants of the Reformed faith? We ask these same questions to illustrate how our identity changes in baptism. To illustrate how we are called and claimed as Christ’s own. To illustrate how everything we do with the rest of our lives is a response to the call of our baptisms.

But Pastor, I’m not able to serve the church in her ordered ministries. Does this mean I can’t respond to the call of my baptism?

I’m glad you asked. There are many ways one can respond to the call of ones’ baptism. All responses begin with discernment. Where we spend time in prayer and worship asking God to show us how we might best serve God’s kingdom.

A word of caution, though. I’ve found in my own life that God rarely asks us to do things we feel totally qualified to do. For example, if you’re willing to teach Sunday School. The next thing you know you could be pastoring two congregations and moderating our Presbytery.

But the other thing I’ve learned about responding to the call of my baptism is that God’s plans for us are better than the plans we come up with on our own. Yes, there are certainly times God will give us more than we can handle. But that’s okay. Because God promises to never leave us or forsake us.

Because in our Baptisms, we die to who we thought we were and take on this new identity as children of God. In so doing, God sends God’s Spirit to walk alongside us when we’re scared. When we don’t know what we’re doing. When we’re not sure how to move forward.

The beginning of a new year is an excellent opportunity to reflect anew on how God is inviting us to respond to the call of our baptisms. We’re likely going to be living in this liminal space between the virus and the vaccine for the next several months. Living in between the times is a great time to consider what new things God might be calling us to. As we take the lessons we’ve learned in the previous year and use them to move into the new one. 

To start us off with our discernment, I offer the following two questions: 

What one lesson from 2020 do we want to carry with us into the future?

What one challenge from 2020 do we wish to leave behind?

Friends my hope and my prayer for us as we head into this new year is that we would be open to the movement of the Spirit in our lives and communities. Even with everything going on, we are called to be a people of hope and optimism. One of my goals for 2021 is to stop expecting God to do small things. I worship a God who brings kings to their knees, breathes new life into dry bones, and lifts up the lowly. If God can do that, surely God can help me meet the challenges of 2021 with creativity, imagination, intelligence, and love.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name, Amen.