It started with a handshake. She was
only allowed to shake hands with her intended targets. There were no if’s,
and’s, or buts about it. That is all that she was limited to was a simple
handshake. Until one day, she made an appointment to see the General. He
admitted that he thought she was making an appointment to complain about his
troops. He was prepared to hear her complaint. When she entered his office she
asked for permission for one thing: She wanted to hug her intended targets. She
wanted to hug the soldiers as they were leaving for deployment at the airport.
She wanted to embrace them and she became known around Ft. Hood, Texas as “The
Hug Lady.”
I think her story has a lot to do
with today’s Gospel reading. I have to admit that I struggled with the reading
because there was so much going on and in between the lines of our readings. I
could spend a lot of time on those missing lines, but as I prayed about it, one
thing stood out quite clearly: It is verse 21; “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus had been
baptized and was praying…”
This verse stands out in my mind
because this is the beginning of a whole new life for all of the people being
baptized! It is important to know how this is a “new beginning,” for the
people. John called them to a life of repentance. It’s not a life of “just
saying, I’m sorry for something,” rather it is a turning away, literally
turning 180 degrees, from that behavior that helps cause the world to be
broken. John is proclaiming to the people that someone is coming to change
lives. Yes, there will be judgment, but the judgement comes from Almighty God;
AND this one that is to come will bring a future kingdom, God’s Kingdom into
the world.
We know who that person is. The
answer is Jesus, but I want you to hear again about that one that has come and
will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit: “Now
when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus had been baptized and was
praying…” Jesus is not separated from the crowd. Jesus is right there in
and among the crowd. His baptism is public for ALL the people to see! His
baptism…his PUBLIC baptism means that he is now in the community. He is a part
of the community. He is not separated from the community, but is now an active
and participating part of the community.
Just as Jesus is part of the
community…this new community, there comes with this community a question of
purpose. What is the purpose of the community? That is not an easy question to
answer. We can look back into our first reading, the reading of Isaiah 43:1-4
to get a sense of what God has done for Israel and does for us. God brought the
people out of exile, formed Israel, refused to overwhelm exiled Israel, promised
to always be with them, and REDEEMED them. It can be said, and I would argue,
that knowing that The Almighty God who did those things for Israel also does
them for the one’s being baptized.
AND
That Jesus is now baptized with and in this community changes their and our
sense of purpose. It changes because God did not have to do those things. God
chose to do those things for the Israelites. God chose to name, protect,
restore, and redeem them. And so their purpose as we see in scripture becomes
to serve God out of the Grace that God had shown them; out of the Grace that
God continued to show, despite their falling short of God’s glory.
IT works the same way with us. When we are
baptized, we are baptized in public. Our lives and bodies are brought to this
community; and it is within this community that we are publicly washed with the
water and God’s Word. We are now part of the community that God has done so
much for: We are named by God and we belong to God. We are protected by God who
brought his children out of captivity, and we are redeemed by a God so full of
love for us that God promises to be with us at all times; despite our falling
short of the glory of God.
IT is not the same ole community
that it once was. Because of Baptism, we are all made knew. We become a new
community each and every time God claims one through the waters of Baptism; and
we are faced with the question of what our communities purpose is now that we
are new, named, and claimed by God who did all these amazing things for us. For
the hug lady, she was a woman of faith and she lived out her understanding of
her purpose as part of God’s community. She gave hugs to about 500,000
soldiers. She let them know how loved they were and that they were a part of a
larger community. Her purpose was to share God’s love and that she did. The
same General who allowed it said, “for some of the soldiers, it was the last
embrace of humanity because they did not make it home.”
She
is not the only one and hers is not the only story of living out serving in God’s
community. We see it here on the local levels of feeding all who are in need.
We do acts of compassion all the time. When disasters strike, more times than
not, we respond in some way shape or form to help our neighbors, whether they
be in Parkville or around the globe. We are all part of God’s community through
our baptism. We realize the importance and gifts that our youth bring to the
community as well as our more experienced participants in God’s community.
The
point is that we are part of God’s community together. We may not always agree
with one another, but we realize God’s call together. We experience God’s love
through all that God has done for us: AND we witness God’s mercy in the
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us…you and me. It is through this gift of
God’s grace and mercy…The sacrifice of Jesus…that we can be strengthened and
confident that God is doing all of this out of God’s love; so that we live,
speak, and act as God’s community with that same love that God has so freely
given to us: AMEN!
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