I Have Called You by Name; a sermon for the Baptism of Christ

Luke 3.15-17,21,22

¹⁵ The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ. ¹⁶ John replied to them all, “ I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out. ”

²¹ When everyone was being baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit came down on him in bodily form like a dove. And there was a voice from heaven: “ You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness. ”

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditations of my heart

be pleasing to you,

LORD , my rock and my redeemer.

Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are mine.

There are days that I’m really in need of some good news, some comfort. And not every day that I need it do I manage to find it. Do you have that experience?

Faced with the weight of concerns around me, the number of things that need to get done, my inadequacy for the task at hand, I’d say those days happen more often than other days.

And maybe that’s why I try to practice morning prayer.

I started in seminary. I knew I had to get through Atlanta traffic in time to get to orientation at Candler, and I knew I wanted to be early, and I noted that Candler offered a thing called Morning Prayer at 7:30.

So I showed up at 7:20 or so, met my friend Keith Oglesby for the first time, and joined a rather large crowd for a completely new experience.

We read the Psalm responsively, we heard the Gospel, we prayed collects appropriate for the day, we shared our concerns and voiced the concerns of our community and of our world, and we were blessed to go out into the day in God’s presence.

And that beginning time not only introduced me to people who would become life-long friends, but it introduced me to a new way of celebrating time, and it washed me in a peace that I desperately needed between facing Atlanta traffic and the stress of post-graduate work in theology and holy practices.

Washed clean at the beginning of the day. That’s how I like to start the day, anyway. I’m a morning shower person.

Beginning my day that way is a source of comfort. The routine and the cleansing helps me.

And some days, when I say morning prayer, I’m desperate for that comfort. Sometimes it’s in the scripture; sometimes it’s in the prayers or collects of the day; sometimes it’s in the still space when I’m naming off our concerns and listening for God’s voice. And sometimes I’m so distracted that I can’t quite find that comfort.

But it’s almost every day that I need to hear something like Isaiah offers us today:

Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are mine.

Speak those words with me this morning:

Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are mine.

I suspect that when Jesus went to John at the Jordan (Jesus-John-Jordan. That’s fun.), he knew what was in store. I suspect that going to John (Jesus-John-Jordan) wasn’t just a formality. Maybe Jesus needed that washing, that comfort, that reuniting with the First Person of the Godhead, in preparation for the rush of what was to come.

And I think that what Jesus hears, and what the people hear also, after his baptism, is very similar to Isaiah’s proclamation. Maybe not in detail, but in sense.

You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.

Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are mine.

Don’t fear. No matter how busy you get. No matter how overbearing your boss seems. No matter how bad that last fight was. No matter how deep the grief is, don’t fear: I have redeemed you.

I have claimed you. I am bringing you home. I am affirming you. I am telling you, I have created you exactly the way I have created you and I love you exactly that way. I named you. I claim you.

You are mine.

When you pass through the waters, through grief, through fear, through fire, I will be with you. I will heal you. I know the world has set up some awful stuff, and people treat each other like mud. Don’t fear. I am with you.

I have called you by name.

And I love you.

I know your life is in shambles; your family is in disarray; your friends are forsaking you. But I promise you,

From the east I’ll bring your children;

from the west I’ll gather you.

I’ll say to the north, “ Give them back! ”

and to the south, “ Don’t detain them. ”

And I want you to help me. I want to give you the chance to be my hands and feet, my voice of hope and comfort to my children whom I’m gathering back to myself.

I have named you. I have not only named you, but I have called you by name.

I am calling you today.

Lord, call us. Help us hear you. Help us listen. Melt our hearts hardened by bitterness and grief. Break our hearts for your beloved, for your people in every time and place.

Call us today.

Remind us of our baptism. Remind us that you have brought us through the waters for a purpose. For a holy life. For discipleship. For being Christ to the world.

Remind us. Call us. Comfort us. Guide us into holy practices that make a difference not only in our lives, but in the lives of all those we encounter.

Lord, call me by name today. Let me hear you. Let every single person here hear you. Guide us this morning to reaffirm our commitment to you, to hear your call and to choose again to be faithful, to be loving, to be followers of you.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.