Let it Go

Isaiah 42: 1-9
Matthew 3: 13-17

There is nothing more precious than a child. There is something inside most adults that feels the need to nurture and protect little ones when we see them. We instinctively know that our future lies with these children and if we do not raise them properly, then everything that we have built will be for nothing. When God created the world, God created human beings. We are God's children. God considers us precious beyond words.

God loves us so much that we were given the greatest gift; that of God's Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the one who came to save the world and make us the heirs to the Kingdom of God. Jesus was born without sin, and yet the first thing he does before beginning his ministry is to go up to John the Baptist and asked to be baptized. There are several reasons we baptize our children and adults. We are baptizing them to bless them with the Holy Spirit, and upon being blessed they are accepted as God's child. We also baptize them because Jesus Christ asked to be baptized, the one that had no sin believed it was very important to become part of the body of God through the cleansing ritual given by water and Holy Spirit.

And because Jesus did it, we consider it important in the United Church of Christ. It's the reason we also celebrate Communion. Jesus did it, and therefore so do we. There are many things that Jesus did that we should consider important. Jesus' deep love for the sinners of the world and his intense compassion for those whose lives were marred with mistakes are two things we all need to get better at in our efforts to be Christ's disciples.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted murderer and cannibal who cooked and ate his victims. You don’t really get much more heinous than that. He was awarded 16 life sentences. While in prison, Dahmer met with Roy Ratcliff, a minister with the Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. He was baptized in prison, knowing that he would never leave prison alive. He had nothing to gain in this life, but everything to gain in the next. 
We may scoff at jailhouse conversions, but within months of Dahmer’s baptism, people noticed a Christian spirit in him. His father and pen pals noticed the difference, and his father, who had left the church, has since been restored as a faithful member. Dahmer’s younger brother also had a conversion experience of his own. 

Dahmer was killed in prison by a fellow inmate a few months after his baptism. At his memorial service, along with his own family and several Christians, two sisters of one of his victims attended, having grown close to Dahmer’s family after their brother’s death. 

That may have been Dahmer’s last chance for repentance, and he took it. But many of us think he shouldn’t have been given another chance. He didn’t deserve it. And that’s true. He didn’t deserve another chance. But neither do we.

Baptism is a beautiful sacrament that reminds us that despite our sinfulness; despite the constant warring of our flesh and spirit; despite the constant barrage of petty thoughts in our minds that we are still loved by God. As Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit alights upon him in the form of a dove and the voice of God is heard to say, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Every time we baptize a child or adult, the Holy Spirit comes to rest upon them. Every time we baptize a child or adult, God tells that person they are now part of God's family and they are loved.

This is a miracle. That some blessed water and a few words by the pastor can bring a person into the Promised Land. What we waited thousands of years for; what God had promised from the beginning with Adam and Eve and then with Abraham and Sarah and then with Moses and Aaron is that they will be delivered into the Promised Land and that nothing shall ever harm them as they have become God's chosen ones. Baptism proclaims the same exact thing! We are God's chosen ones! WE ARE GOD'S CHOSEN CHILDREN!

The second part of the miracle is up to us. Does this matter to you? Do you care that you are now part of something glorious and amazing and miraculous? Then we need to change. We need to see where we have grown lazy in our lives and in the church and make the changes God would have us make. Every person has something in their life that keeps them from committing fully to God and God's plan for them. We allow fear and the unknown to cause us to worry and stress and so we put up blocks inside of our hearts.

Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus Christ, let us let go of those stumbling blocks. Close your eyes and think for a moment of what holds you back from being more loving. What keeps you from attending those church functions? What prevents you from talking more about Jesus to strangers? What has God been calling you to do that you have been persistently ignoring? Remove the fear from your heart. Remove the worry from your eyes. Remove the pain of the past and accept your future. A future free and clear of all that worry and fear and pain.

Jesus' baptism, our baptism gives us that freedom. We were accepted as God's child. We are clean and whole and perfect in God's eyes. We just need to see ourselves with the same light of love that God has for us. When you see what God sees inside of you, your confidence and your ability to love and forgive will increase exponentially.

We need to know how to love others better. We need to know how to forgive the people that drive us crazy. We need to accept the things we can change and then change them, but we also need to let go of what is unchangeable and move forward. Getting stuck in the past and getting caught up in worry, fear, and pain prevents you from being the baptized and beloved child of God that you are. Let it go. Let.it.go.

And may God's love shine out of you and become a beacon to the ones that are lost and stumbling in the dark. May you find renewed joy in being the baptized and beloved child of God, and through your joy my hope for you is that you can bring others to God's arms. That is what Jesus did for us when he came up out of the water. He brought us into God's arms. May we bless another the way we have been blessed!

Amen.