Isaiah | The Irreverent Reverend

Baptism of Christ: Into the Deep

12/1/25
Isaiah 43:1-7
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

In this season of Epiphany (which lasts until the end of January) we will be looking at the epiphany experiences of Jesus and some of the people around him. Epiphany means ‘a moment of great or sudden revelation or realisation.’ I am not sure if you have had an epiphany moment but they are quite extraordinary!

Those moments when some new idea, knowledge or thought blows through your mind and you suddenly and sometimes drastically see the world, people, and a situation in a totally new way. Epiphany moments can cause a fundamental change in one’s life. Epiphany moments are not always dramatic affairs. They can happen in a quiet moment and you know that something has changed in your mind or heart. However they come to us, these moments are significant.

So it feels somewhat awkward to ask you: when was the last time we felt truly insignificant? I heard a great Epiphany sermon from a Lutheran pastor while on a family holiday a few years ago. He started the sermon on this particular Sunday with that question. When was the last time we felt truly insignificant? It kind of took me by surprise.

Earlier in the week I had considered my insignificance while sitting and watching the waves of the Pacific Ocean pound the beach. Over and over again, day in, day out. There was nothing I could do about it. I could not stop it or control it. I did not have the power. I could not even begin to begin to try. Little old me, sitting on a beach (not even considering the number of grains of sand I was sitting on) on a dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean watching water. Insignificant or what?!

Actually I am and I am not. Same for you. We are all significant and insignificant.
How do we know this?

The Lord is addressing all of Israel in chapter 43 as He offers reassurance, ‘He who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’

This was meant for the whole nation of Israel; all twelve tribes. This is also very personal too; ‘I have called you, Sarah, Heather, Peter, etc’. You and I are not insignificant because He has called us by name. The Lord will also be with you; ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.’

Notice the ‘when’ and not ‘if’. Expect the waters, they will rise. Yet we will not be overwhelmed because He is with us. It does not always take a lot of water to be overwhelmed. Something that seems relatively minor can overwhelm us. When this happens we are to go or return to the Lord. He will be with us.

The next sign that we have to disprove our insignificance is found in the baptism of Jesus which is what we are remembering today. For many of us baptised as babies we may not see our baptisms as a moment of epiphany. Yet it is! We can hopefully find that moment in the baptism of Jesus for ourselves.

The crowd who were listening to John the Baptist that day were full of expectation. They questioned whether John was the Messiah. Notice that Luke adds the detail that the questioning came from the heart. There was a deep need for the Messiah to come. People were needing hope and a future; they were hungry. John answers the crowd with the reassurance that one more powerful is coming who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. John had been preaching about repentance; the need to turn around, walk away from the sins that separates us from God.

Jewish law dictated that the people had to perform ritual washing when they had been defiled. This was the religious practice after normal bodily functions, like menstruation and childbirth for women, ejaculation for men or contact with a corpse. Bathing was required to remove various impurities.

John’s baptism of repentance transformed the ritual washing for physical impurities to moral impurity; those things that water cannot wash away. Baptism took place publicly as those who witnessed became responsible for helping the baptised to live the life that baptism signifies.

John had previously referred to his listeners as a brood of vipers. He was not preaching a message of fluff and ‘just be a good person’, or ‘as long as you don’t hurt anyone else’. John was preparing them not for salvation but for repentance, he was preparing them to encounter Jesus, the only one who could bring them salvation.

Picture that scene for a moment: the crowd of people have confessed their sins and go down into the River Jordan to be baptised. Then Jesus comes along and stands with his cousin on the bank. In the next moment Jesus and John are standing in the water too. Jesus is baptised; drenched in the same waters where they had confessed their sins. This is all about symbolism but do you see Jesus almost wearing the sins they had confessed in those waters? In the waters of baptism our sin is washed away through the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is the baptism that Jesus offers us. There is power in the water of baptism. Do we live like there is? What an amazing privilege it is to be baptized. We never have to feel insignificant again. We are called by name into the deep waters of baptism where He is always with us. He took on our sin and paid the price for us.

After Jesus was baptised heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. The voice of God ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ This little glimpse of heaven! Jesus was about to be taken into the wilderness for his 40 days of temptation. I would like to believe that the sound of that voice stayed with him.

In the vastness of space and time, in the brevity of life we are insignificant yet we are called by name. We belong to God. The voice that called down from heaven is the same voice that calls our name. God is with us when we pass through the waters and the rivers and in the deep waters of baptism. We are significant to God and to each other.

May our prayer be to walk into our significance as God’s chosen children. Baptised in love and grace; knowing full-well that we are His beloved and with us He is well pleased.

Christmas Eve Mass

St Nicholas
Christmas Eve Mass
24/12/24

Christmas Eve – Set 3 (Year C)
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
John 1:1-14

God of love and life,
we have glimpsed something of your glory.
Your glory in creation.
Your glory in Jesus.
Your glory in re-creation.
Your glory in us.
We thank you for your unconditional love for us.
For the abundant life that you offer.
Amen.

This is a two part prayer; the second half to follow shortly. It is taped on the wall in my airport office at about eye level and has been there for over a year. Today was the first day that I properly read it. Why today of all days?

Desperation for something to say this evening? My disbelief that it is really Christmas Eve? Lack of planning and time? It was the glory that got me.

It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old from angels bending near the earth… Glorious imagery weaves through our hymns tonight.

We will see his glory. What does glory look like?
How do we know if something is glorious?

John 1:14 tells us that we have seen God’s glory. Really?! Really. It might be just a glimpse of glory but we have seen it. We might have to look for it; orientate ourselves to expect it. It might be in plain sight like a prayer on an office wall.

The essence and glory of Christmas is the greatness of God coming down to meet us and sweep us into the bigger picture of his love and His kingdom. It always has been and always will be.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah is alluding to the beautiful feet of the messenger who announces peace, brings good news and announces salvation to the Israelites in captivity and slavery in Babylon. They had been taken away from their homes, families had been separated and some would never be reunited. Most of the Israelites were desperate to go back home, back to what they knew and how it was.

The Israelites needed to be reminded that better times were ahead. God had not forgotten them; He was making a way for them to be rescued. Theirs was not only physical captivity, but spiritual, emotional and social. They desperately needed the messenger Jesus and his glorious message.

St John begins his Gospel in darkness and mystery, casting us back to the opening of Genesis when in the beginning there was nothing, but God created order out of chaos. Like a human author who creates a new world with words on a page, God speaks a word and things come to be. A burst of light and a new life coming through Jesus.

John proclaims that the light in the midst of darkness is Jesus and this needs to be worked out. These big readings hold grand visions and promises that break into the lives of people who are struggling, who are in need of good news; for those who need to see glory.

‘The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee (Jesus) tonight.

Who’s got some hopes and fears here tonight?

Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

Anyone meek of soul?

God’s glory will be full of grace and truth. That is how we will know it is from God. Jesus is love, grace and truth. God’s glory in creation and Jesus. And God’s glory in re-creation.

Tonight we go back to the beginning, to when the Word became flesh and all things came into being through him and lived among us. We see his glory, the Son full of grace and truth.

We were all created in His image. We all need to be continually re-created in that image. Sometimes our shine wears off and we weary. Anyone else weary on the road tonight? Take a rest and listen for the angels. Watch for their glory to help recreate yours. God’s glory is in each one of us.

You satisfy our deepest longings for living water.
You equip us for service;
to love as you love,
beyond our comfort zones.
In those places, you are with us.
We thank you for your faithfulness
and an invitation to be with you.
We praise and worship you,
the one who delight in us.
Amen.

Christmas Midnight Mass: Light & Life & Love

December 24, 2023

Isaiah 52:7-10

Hebrews 1:1-4

John 1:1-14

Holman Hunt’s Light of the World

This, tonight is the meeting place.

Christmas Prologue from Cloth For The Cradle

This, tonight,

is the meeting place of heaven and earth.

For this, tonight,

is the stable

in which God keeps his appointment

to meet his people.

Not many high are here,

no many holy;

not many innocent children,

not many worldly wise;

not all familiar faces,

not all frequent visitors.

But, if tonights

only strangers met,

that would be enough.

For Bethlehem was not the hub of the universe,

nor was the stable a platform for famous folk.

In an out-of-the-way place

which folk never thought to visit –

there God kept and keeps his promise;

there God sends his son.

This is what we are here to remember and celebrate tonight: God’s keeping of his promise through the sending of his Son.

The Son that has been talked about, anticipated, longed for over centuries arrived as a Baby. We do not hear this part of the story in the readings tonight. We miss out on Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus in the manger, the animals in the stable, angels, shepherds and the wise men. This is the familiar, the comforting part of the Christmas story. I hope you take a moment to appreciate our crib tonight. Baby Jesus has yet to make his appearance but he will!

However, this is only part of the story. Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus move on from the stable and so must we. The Baby grows up and this is where the story picks up in John’s Gospel. John expands the story for us as he forces us to lift up our gaze to see the wider picture.

John’s use of the ‘In the beginning’ is referencing the opening lines of Genesis ‘In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…’ This is to highlight that from the beginning of time Jesus was there.

When my nephew Riley was 5 years old, he and my sister had a bedtime conversation that went like this:

Riley: ‘Mom, how old are Great Grandma and Great Grandpa?’

Sister: ‘they are both 90’

Riley: ‘Mom, when will they go to heaven?’

Sister: ‘I am not sure but Jesus will be waiting to greet them when they go.’

Riley: ‘Mom – how old is Jesus?’

Sister: ‘Well he was born 2000 years ago but Jesus doesn’t age and has always been around.’

Riley: (with all the exasperation of a 5 year old) ‘Mom – Jesus is a baby!’

It is quite easy to take this view whether we are 5 years old or not. Jesus was never meant to be contained to the manger. Nor did Jesus just appear one night in Bethlehem as if out of nowhere. Jesus has always been around ; part of God and the Trinity. He is more than a Baby!

John describes Jesus as The Word. That may feel like a big jump for us to make. The Word is God’s way of communicating himself and making himself known to us. The Word became flesh and lived among us.

I wonder if you remember what your first word was this morning?

Or last Tuesday?

If you are married – what were your first words to your now-spouse the first time you met them?

Do you remember the kindest words that you have ever spoken to another person?

What has been the kindest word or words you have ever received?

What about any unkind or untrue words spoken to another person? Or spoken to you?

Our words matter. Yet we tend not to remember the majority of the words we speak. Words have power. We know that by how they make us feel, think and act. We can watch our words influence other people’s thinking, feelings, and behaviour. We are responsible for our words – “but you said…” “remember when you said…” holds us to that!

We get very excited at the first words of a toddler as they learn to speak. The first coherent utterance of a life is a big deal. Our first word or words often reflect that which is around us; ‘Mama’ or ‘Dada’.

What about the words of Jesus?

We are told in the reading from Isaiah about the words the promised one would bring: He announces peace, good news, salvation and comfort. He sustains all things by his powerful words. The most powerful of Jesus’ words is love.

If you go away from here tonight with one word let it be love.

Jesus is the Word and the love.

Jesus is also the light.

Light shows the shape of things as they really are.

It is here that John the Baptist appears in verse 6 as the witness to the light, ‘so that all might believe through him.’ John the Baptist points to Jesus. We live in a dark world, in a dark society. You don’t need to spend much time looking at the telly or the papers to work that one out. I will spare us all by not expanding on that tonight.

The world needs Jesus and his true light. We need Jesus and his true light to enlighten us. We need a light that shines in the darkness – that cannot be overcome by the world or by our own fallibility and weaknesses. We need the Word to guide and direct out of the darkness and into the Light.

Finally, John’s Gospel makes some huge claims about Jesus and if we establish that Jesus is the Word and the Light there are consequences to follow. Does my life reflect the light and love of Jesus? Do my words reflect the Word?

I want to be able to answer those questions with a resounding yes! But I know I don’t always get it right. But that’s okay. I suspect it is the same for you. As long as we stay in the Word and the Light – we have forgiveness, hope and a chance to do better.

Our words matter. Those spoken in love, in hate, in jest, in seriousness, in passion, in anger, in fear, in sadness. What words would you like to be remembered for? Any word or the Word – that is Jesus?

Tonight of all nights, the word is love. Know that you are loved by God. Beyond our limited vision, despite walking in darkness much of the time, regardless of what we think or believe or think we know. Love is the word.

Advent 2: Make Straight the Paths

Advent 2 – Year B
10/12/23

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-end
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

Lord Jesus, light of the world,
the prophets said you would bring peace
and save your people in trouble.
Give peace in our hearts at Christmas
and show all the world God’s love.
Amen.

I love the season of Advent. I grew up in an evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and we were always big on Advent, big wreaths and candles in the church, special prayers and calendars at home all made for a growing sense of anticipation for Christmas.

Marking Advent goes some way in keeping my cynicism towards the commercialisation of Christmas low. It is very easy to complain about the stuff in the shops too early or how the Christian message gets lost today.

If we do not prepare ourselves and examine again what it all means, then how will we possibly be the Prophets of today who can share the Good News of this season with others? The second Sunday of Advent, over time, has been set aside to remember and reflect on The Prophets of the Old Testament. This focus gives us the opportunity to reflect on the way Jesus’ birth was foretold in the centuries before it actually happened.

The people of Israel that Isaiah is speaking to have been through the mill. The first 39 chapters of the book speak mainly of punishment and the exile of the people of Jerusalem to Babylon. Chapters 40-66 begin to speak of things turning around with messages of comfort and the end of punishment for Jerusalem.

Isaiah’s prophecy is telling the people of Israel to be on the lookout; there is a person coming who will prepare the way of the Lord (John the Baptist). They are to listen for the word of God and watch for the coming of the Lord (Jesus).

John the Baptist came out of the wilderness but not out of nowhere. There are many similarities between John the Baptist and Jesus: their births were both foretold in the prophecies in the Old Testament, their parents were notified by angels and both were surprises. The bible does not give any information about John after his birth until he bursts onto the scene in the opening verses/chapters of all four Gospels from the wilderness. John brings the message of hope for the coming of Jesus the Messiah.

The wilderness, biblically speaking, is often a place of transformation and preparation. Jesus is taken for 40 days into the wilderness at the start of his ministry, the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness before they reached the promised land. The wilderness is also a place of loneliness, isolation and vulnerability. Christians can often speak of having those times in the wilderness when God feels distant, it can be a time of great doubt and despair. All you can do is wait and watch for God as though your life depends on it. This does not sit comfortably in the season of Christmas parties and carol singing.

John’s message is also about spiritual preparations for the coming of Jesus; there are two things, according to John, that we need to do.

Firstly, we need to clear a path for the Lord and secondly that path is to be straight. The original Greek word for paths here means ‘a beaten pathway’; a well-worn path, a path that has seen some use, has been established, walked on.

In a personal way God wants us to prepare a path to him. If you were to picture what your path to God looks like, what do you see? Is it well worn? Lightly tread? Is our path to God straight? I know that mine sometimes is more of a meandering path. I have taken the long way around! I vividly remember a sermon where a rather charismatic preacher suggested we should ‘go to the throne before we go to the phone.’

Have we made a path for Him to come and do a major and powerful work in our lives? I trust that God wants us to make a beaten pathway to Him. We also need to clear that path of debris; this can be anything that stands in the way of God being able to work in our lives fully.

There are ways that we can make a beaten path. Firstly, meditate on the fact that we need a Saviour. We all need Jesus. Our families, your children and grandchildren, need Jesus. Our friends and neighbours need Jesus.

Secondly, engage in sober self-examination. John’s first words when he appeared from the wilderness ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ It is also no coincidence that in Matthew’s Gospel, the first line of Jesus’ first sermon is ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ (4:17).

This does not mean checking how many moles are on your back or how many wrinkles have appeared around your eyes (though there is a time and place for this type of self-examination). Rather, this is a deep internal examination of how we are doing spiritually. The Christian writer John Piper says, ‘Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter’. There should be time for honest self-reflection, where we invite the Holy Spirit in to show us where we need His help and healing the most.’

John’s call to baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is a way of getting our paths clear and straight. I think that many of us would assign this kind of reflection to Lent and not Advent. Yet it is through John we have a gateway to the swaddled baby, fleecy lambs, singing angels and wisemen that we hold so dear at this time of year.

Confession and repentance bring a cleansing and a change of mind and heart can help us turn back to God. It can clear and straighten the path like nothing else can. It is not easy and may not seem to fit in the season of mulled wine and mince pies. They don’t taste as good as a clean heart and mind feel though.

Repentance needs to be taken seriously. It means stopping and turning around. Is there anything you need to stop doing? We can of course ask for forgiveness for the things we do wrong. Yet if we don’t get serious about stopping sin we cheapen forgiveness. It becomes worthless and meaningless. This is what John means in his demand that the Pharisees and Sadducees to ‘bear fruit worthy of repentance.’

It is hard but not impossible. We have the God for whom nothing is impossible. He will help and provide.

In this Advent season my prayer is that you will know the hope of Jesus the Messiah as we celebrate his birth and await his return. I also pray that amidst the turkey and tinsel you find time to deepen your need for the Saviour who loves and cares for you. May you also know his love and forgiveness this season too. As uncomfortable as it might be, some serious self-examination might be in order to. Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement be with you. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Trinity 11: Crumbs

20/8/23
Trinity 11

Isaiah 56:1,6-8
Matthew 15:21-28

How is everyone doing this morning? Let us check in with one another. Are you doing okay? Is anyone bothered by anything or anyone? I will spare you the list of things that could be potential bothers at the moment.

If you are in a state of bother, fear not! You are in good company with our Gospel reading as Jesus seems hot and bothered too. Bothered by travelling around, the Pharisees and scribes are on his case in an attempt to catch him out, the disciples are slow to understand, hungry crowds that keep following him around! And now a Canaanite woman with a sick daughter has turned up and is shouting the place down with her demands.

What is up with everyone?! A question we might be asking ourselves about others these days too. I want to focus on Jesus and the woman for a few minutes. I think that we see Jesus at a point in his ministry where he is trying to test his disciples in their reactions (one explanation for his response to this woman). We also see something of his humanity as Jesus comes to understand his own ministry more deeply as well as the frustrations that being human brings.

The woman is looking for some good news, some help and relief in a deeply troubling time. At the outset, she does not receive the welcome that one might expect from Jesus! Anybody else a little short of love and goodwill these days?
We are living in a world that is hungry for good news, maybe even starving for it. It seems like all the news is bad; wild fires threatening homes and livelihoods in many countries, the economy, the climate, migrants are washing up on our shores, students are struggling with their grades, racism and injustice blight far too many lives. Where is the good news?!

As Christians, we are to be the bearers of, not the hoarders of the good news of a God who loves and cares for us. In every situation, no matter how bad and terrible it seems, we must share the promise that God’s liberating, saving and reconciling power is available for all people, in all places, all the time. This is a hard calling. It is easy to proclaim it theoretically, much harder to live it out in real life, which is the exact place where it is needed most. I think that in this complex and often confusing Gospel reading, we can find some hope in working out the call to share the Good News.

Jesus, like us, seems to be working out his calling. Jesus and the disciples have been sharing the message mainly with the Jewish people. They were God’s chosen people from the beginning, and this does not change in the New Testament. Israel had to hear the message first. Along the way, other people like the Roman Centurion, the Samaritan woman at the well, hear the message of Jesus too. The future is breaking into the present and it seems to take Jesus by surprise.

I wonder how this poor mother heard about Jesus. The news of Jesus was spreading. Who told her about Jesus? Maybe someone who had been at the feeding of the 5000? Or at the Sermon on the Mount had told her and the neighbours about this Jesus? Clearly this woman has heard about Jesus even though she is a Canaanite – a Gentile, an outsider to the good news. Whatever she had heard obviously had made a deep impression and gave her some level of faith.

Jesus’ first response is silence and then when the disciples urged him to send her packing, Jesus refused to help her. She does all the right things, she addresses Jesus by his Messianic or Jewish title – ‘Son of David’ – so she acknowledges his Jewishness. When he finally does answer – it seems harsh. ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’

It helps to remember that Matthew is the most Jewish of the four Gospels and he is trying to get his first readers – Jewish Christians to know and believe that Jesus really is the Messiah they have been waiting for. Jesus is trying to explain that he came for Israel first.

Then the exchange about taking the children’s bread and throwing it to their dogs. The children here mean the Jews and the dogs are the Gentiles. I don’t think that many people would take kindly to being referred to as a dog! This would have been a derogatory remark, suggesting that she and her children were inferior because of class and race.

Yet she presses on and gives a brilliant rebuttal; ‘but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Here she is saying that even if Israel were to be first, the promised people, then the Messiah (Jesus) will ultimately bring blessing to the whole world.

The Isaiah reading: (v6-8) ‘and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to love the name of the Lord, will be accepted on my altar’. This woman is joining herself to the Lord. Jesus’ countenance seems to change in her answer, he sees her faith and grants her request.

What is also so great about this answer: if we think back to the feeding of the 5000. What do the crumbs of Jesus look like? 7 full baskets! This woman wants so badly what she believes Jesus can do, she will take the crumbs off the table to help her daughter. She just wants a few crumbs, not the whole loaf bread. And for a few crumbs she is joining herself to the Lord. This is the faith that she is rewarded for. Back to mustard seeds and pearls, small things that get made large in the hands of Jesus. This is good news!

Sometimes we need reminding that even God’s crumbs can satisfy us completely! Her daughter was healed from that very hour. In our hot and bothered states, we too can lose sight of the bigger picture, the good news that we are meant to share, the promise which we have been given in the great love of God. What do we need to be reminded of today? What do we need a crumb for? Take a few moments to bring those things to the Lord and ask for some bread!

Lord God, we thank you that you hear our prayers and feed us with your bread of life. Thank you for your abundance of love and grace. Help us to have faith in every situation that we face – today and always. Amen.