Clergy from left, Deacon Amy Schmuck, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired, and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com
By Deacon Amy Schmuck
Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church
In the Lutheran and Episcopal denominations of which the writers of this column serve or have served in rostered ordained ministry, we celebrate this Sunday, Jan. 11, the Feast Day of the Baptism of our Lord. We read from the Gospel how Jesus approached the Jordan River while his prophet cousin John the Baptist was inviting God’s people to repent and return to God and be baptized in the river.
Jesus then receives the same baptism by John. But that’s not all! The Voice of God speaks from above and declares, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased” as the Holy Spirit descended upon the scene in the form of a dove. What an astonishing moment in time to witness the Holy Trinity showing up!
I’m currently wrestling with how to preach on this Gospel text full of powerful holy presence, human frailty, a dirty trickling local river, and the first example of one of our most precious sacraments in the Christian tradition. We in the Lutheran tradition proclaim that in our baptism, we receive God’s grace in our lives, we receive forgiveness of all sin, and we are anointed with holy oil with the seal of the cross of Christ on our heads and chest forever. This sacrament brings trust that we belong to God for the rest of our lives. This sacrament includes promises made to God, promises made to the baptized by the community, as well as a communal denouncement of the devil and his lies.
In the wake of a horrifying news cycle in recent days that included another killing of a citizen by an I.C.E. agent on the streets of Minneapolis, MN, I hold in tension with my grief and outrage the Christian proclamation that she and her killer are both beloved children of God. My sin keeps my eyes clouded, thinking only that one of them deserves this Amazing Grace, but in fact…it’s God’s gift to give and God’s justice to dispense, not mine. The correction in my heart is God’s work alone in me. It’s certainly not something I could come to on my own. I continue to pray for them both through my own despair, anger, and confusion.
It’s also my calling as a baptized follower of Jesus to proclaim the truth in the face of lies and to “call the thing what it is” as Martin Luther and others who hold a Theology of the Cross encourage me. The actions of I.C.E. in our communities, neighborhoods and cities on behalf of the federal government is immoral, illegal, and wrong. They are terrorizing, detaining, and killing our neighbors. We are not being kept safe, we are being subjected to terror and fear by their deployments. This must end.
Christians everywhere must remember that you will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love. This popular phrase is based on ancient scripture from 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Loving our neighbors, ALL our neighbors, also means we are called to hold up truth, and to speak up for what is right.
Dear ones, our baptism calls us in our full humanity into this murky river water with Jesus. We are not just baptized into his glory, we are baptized into his human life, and his human death on a cross at the hands of the Roman Empire. This baptism is a gift of grace, but in the words of Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The Cost of Discipleship 1937
May we continue to seek peace, to seek justice, to seek love, and to continue to return to God just like Jesus showed us how to. Amen.
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy, including The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com); Deacon Amy Schmuck, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (deaconamy@bethluth.com); and ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com).