Today is about beginnings – it is about the beginning of the year – and our readings also reflect this sense of beginning. We hear in Genesis how in the beginning God forms the world, and the New Testament Lesson and Gospel speak of new beginnings in baptism. But this morning I would like to focus on the reading from Genesis.
This reading from Genesis is a poetic rendering of the beginning of the world. When I was in confirmation class, I remember the minister telling us to imagine a person, in the middle of a field, looking up at the night sky, who was so overwhelmed with the beauty of the created universe and the love of God that he decided to write a poem about how imagined God created this world. But it is more powerful than that too – it is a description of God’s work – God’s work of ordering. God sorting the light from the dark. God separating the light from the darkness. And that, in a nutshell, is the work of God, the work of Jesus, and our work too.
And as the story of the bible begins, so it continues. The whole story of the bible is one of sorting – of ordering the chaos of the world and our lives. Sorting the good from the bad. The light from the dark. The choosing of virtue over evil.
In a moment William Vallee will be baptized and his godparents and parents will be making promises on his behalf that he will be brought up in the church, and he will following the apostles teaching, and he will be raised to respect the dignity of every human being.
But, before that, in the baptism service we will hear them speaking promises that seem a little out of date. Almost superstitious. They are promises we have inherited from the early days of Christianity, and reflect the baptism of adults who may or may not have led lives that were nefarious. The promises include renouncing Satan, renouncing evil powers, and renouncing sinful desires. And in way they seem so absurd to say on behalf of a young child, but what they helpfully reflect is that when we are baptized we take on that organizing work of God of separating the good from the bad, love from hate, and virtue from sin in our own lives and in the world. We dedicate our lives to this sorting out. Incidentally, the promises end on a more promising note of turning to Christ as your savior, and promising to put our whole trust in Jesus’ grace and truth.
So here we have this theological truth – but the question is how do we engage in this sorting work – and how does God engage in it with us?
I was thinking about it this week as I was reading a really interesting book by Brene Brown called Rising Strong. And in this book she relates many anecdotes where she was confronted with hurt and pain in human relationships. She shares stories about where her ego was hurt, where she felt insecure, where she felt disrespected and taken advantage of. Her examples, although hers, are universal and I would be surprised if we were not be able to relate to them at least on some level.
And what I want to share with you this morning is a process which she calls “rumbling”. And what this process of rumbling entails is taking a moment, rather than reacting, ask yourself what more do I need to learn and understand about the situation? What more do I need to understand about other people in this situation? What more do I need to learn about myself?
And in this pause we may discover all sorts of dark things within ourselves that need to be brought to light so that they have less power over us. Maybe when that person was bossing you around, it brought you back to second grade when you felt powerless in the classroom and playground. Maybe when someone corrected your pronunciation after you gave a presentation, it made you feel insecure about your own intelligence and you felt intense shame. Maybe someone criticizes you for any number of things, and you are brought back to the incessant criticism of your parents of being lazy and not good enough. In all these examples the common thread is that the comment or actions of someone else, tapped into an insecurity and wound that was already present within us. They just brought it to light in a pretty painful way. If their criticism did not tap into something already there, their comment could have been easily dismissed as nonsense.
And this rumbling is hard work. But the good news is that in that pause, it is not just you who is working. In prayer you invited Jesus’ love and grace to enter the story too. And when we pause, and discern, and listen, we can respond in ways that bring more light and healing into our lives and into our world.
And as we bring more light into the world, we can help others do the same.
There is a hymn that was written by a Methodist Choral director, and organ scholar, named Kathleen Thomerson in 1970 called I Want to Walk as a Child of Light. It has a sweet tune called Houston, where it was written (also the hometown of Brene Brown). The hymn sounds almost like a lullaby. Somehow, within 12 years of this hymn being written it landed in the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal. Although the hymn seems on the surface quite simple, it is filled with biblical references to Malachi, Revelation and Isaiah. I would like to conclude my sermon with the singing of this hymn because it speaks to the work and quest of every Christian to move toward the light and away from the darkness.
I want to walk as a child of the Light I want to follow Jesus God set the stars To give light to the world The Star of my life is Jesus.
In Him there is no darkness at all The night and the day are both alike The lamb is the Light of the city of God Shine in my heart Lord Jesus.
I want to see the Brightness of God I want to look at Jesus Clear Son of righteousness shine on my path And show me the way to the Father.
I’m looking for the coming of Christ I want to be with Jesus When we have run, with patience, the race We shall know the joy of Jesus.
–Kathleen Thomerson
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