January 11: the First Sunday after the Epiphany

February 3, 2025

Thinking about the waters of baptism is a bit different after the week we have just had here.  Imagining unquenchable fire is painful as we watch and worry about our families, friends, and neighbors in California. This cold weather brings more hardship to our North Carolina neighbors who were devastated by Hurricane Helene and still are living day to day wondering if they will have a warm place to stay at night. One thing that is abundantly clear to me this week is that I am masterfully adept at forgetting what is important. I had to give myself a talking to after I realized how whiny I was getting over the last week about having to boil water and not having internet.

It’s a good thing for me that today, along with Cole and Ryan, along with you all, I am once again reaffirming my baptismal vows. Maybe you are in the same boat as me and need a course correction, too.

These are the promises we will make together as we commit again to live out the promises made at our own baptisms.

First, we affirm our belief in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Then there is a set of questions we respond to by saying “I will with God’s help.” And I think they get progressively harder as they go along…

  • Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers?
  • Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
  • Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
  • Will you seek and serve Christ in ALL PERSONS, loving your neighbor as yourself?

The promises keep getting harder right? Loving your neighbor as yourself. I want to do this. But all persons? Not just the ones I like, the ones I agree with, the ones who like the things I like, do things the way I do. All persons. The lady in line who yelled at me. The customer-service representative who I know dropped my call on purpose after 45 minutes of being on hold.  The online commenter who said things so vile and hateful that my jaw dropped to the ground. All these persons? How?

The next promise gets right to the heart of it all, tells us how this is to be done.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?

To me the hardest of all the promises is kept for the last. Respecting the dignity of every human being. Recognizing the worth of every person not for what they do, and not for what they have done, not for what they say, not for what they offer to those around them, just as they are, a beloved child of God.

As Frederick Buechner says, God does business with us not because of who we are but because of who GOD IS.  God isn’t interested in us by any effort of our own. Buechner says, God wants you on his side, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.

And seeking justice… Justice isn’t about handing out punishments, it’s about things being brought into right relationship. Being justified with God and with our neighbors. God has already justified you and everyone one else. For us to live respecting the dignity of every human being, that’s us trying to line ourselves up to others the way God would have us do. When we as humans manage to do this, justice can roll down like waters and there can be peace that surpasses our understanding.

Luke says in today’s gospel that Jesus comes with a winnowing fork in his hand ready to separate the grain from the chaff. Chaff being the husk, the shell of the grain that is unusable.

Jesus isn’t picking between who is worthy and who is useless. He’s gathering the grain and setting it free from the husk that is unusable. Jesus is separating us from our own chaff, the husks that keep our hearts bound up tight. We can’t bring our relationships with our neighbors in line, in keeping with God’s love, if we decide that we are or they are somehow chaff, useless to this life, not important, stuff to be cast off.

But I know that I can certainly fall into the trap of thinking I can put my hand on that winnowing fork, deciding that I can determine another’s worth. Dismissing people because I simply cannot understand why they say or do the things they do. And if I turn on any TV, look at my phone, listen to people talking in restaurants, stores, meetings, anywhere, I hear that the world is full of a lot of people that are making the same mistake I am. What would it look like to simply stop it? Just stop it. Even for a few hours.

I heard a story recently that gave me a glimpse of what that might look like. It took the length of a high school football game. It happened many years ago in Grapevine, Texas.

Two teams, Gainesville State School and Grapevine Faith met up on a Friday night for a game.

When the Gainesville State kids arrived, the Grapevine Faith fans met them with a 40-yard spirit line to run through with a banner for them to break through at the end. Half of the Grapevine cheerleaders were on the other side, cheering for Gainesville.

The Grapevine Faith coach had decided to, as I see it, live out that last baptismal promise in a beautiful way and he made a way for his community to join him.

See, Gainesville State is a maximum correctional facility for teenagers with convictions for drug, assault, and robbery.  When the team travels, they go with 12 uniformed cards to get them to the field.

Faith’s coach did get some pushback from his community. Why on earth would they do this? some asked.

To this the coach replied, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.” Maybe Buechner would say, Imagine what it would mean for these players to know that someone was on their side.

The coach said, “Here’s the message I want to send: You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”

The Gainesville kids were astonished by the greeting. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” said one kid named Gerald. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re looking at us like we are criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us!  BY OUR NAME.”

I wonder if Gerald had ever heard these words from Isaiah: Do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine. Says the Lord.

The Gainesville kids scored two touchdowns that night. They didn’t improve their record of 0-9. But winning wasn’t what defined them or their worth that night.

After the game both teams gathered for a prayer together. A Gainesville player named Isaiah prayed. “Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank you. But I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world who cared about us.”

As the Gainesville kids got back on their bus, they each got a bag for the ride – with a burger, French fries, a Coke, and some candy along with a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player. This story is the Good News of Jesus.  It’s almost like a parable… The Kingdom of God is like a football game in Texas…

Isaiah the player’s prayer — Lord I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to thank you — seems like a good prayer for today.

Lord, we don’t know how this has happened. We look at these children and at ourselves and marvel at the wonder of your love. We really don’t know how to adequately thank you, but we promise today to keep trying.

Amen.

Amelia McDaniel