Welcome/Call to Worship
Good morning! I’m Pastor Ashley Dargai To those here in the chapel and those joining us online: we are so glad you’re here!
This morning, we will sing songs of worship, pray together, hear from scripture and one another, as we move toward the pinnacle of our service: the table of our Lord, where we will take the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of our most Gracious Host, Jesus. The purpose of our time together each Sunday is to bring our hearts closer to the heart of God, so I invite you to participate in as much or as little in our prepared liturgy as your spirit is willing.
We welcome all sounds and smells from the youngest to the oldest among us. For our young ones, there is a coloring page and crayons for children to participate in worship as well as a designated area with toys in the back for families of little ones who need to move around and play to worship God. We believe that every age offers a unique perspective of the image of God, and we know that the energy and spirit of children can be different than adults and we consider that reality a gift.
There are visitor cards in the pew in front of you—if you arrived during the pandemic or later, of if you have moved and have not updated your info with the church, please fill it out and drop it in the offering plate when it goes by later in worship.
Cabinet members, mark your calendars for Saturday, January 15, for our Cabinet Retreat. The retreat will be from 9 AM to 12 PM on Zoom.
To keep up with all the life we live together here at Azle Christian Church, make sure you follow us on Facebook and subscribe to our weekly e-blast and monthly newsletter. To sign up for the eblast and newsletter, go to our website, azlechristianchurch.org, and subscribe. There is also a live calendar on our website where you can see what we have going on each month. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok, both at @azlechristianchurch.
It is my one year anniversary of serving as your senior minister!
Here are five things I have learned so far:
1. Never underestimate the power of a meal to bring people to church. If you schedule a potluck, people will come out of the woodwork to eat. People I’ve never met before and haven’t seen since.
2. Some of the quietest folks are the most ornery. I’m not telling you who I’m talking about.
3. Just too much about water pipes and sheet rock and mold and insurance claims. I can’t believe how much real estate that takes up in my brain now.
4. You can worship God anywhere. I knew this before theoretically, but after leading worship from a hotel room, a kitchen table, a porch, a courtyard, an old chapel, the portichache, and now back here, I know in my bones that God is everywhere and everything can be an altar.
5. Ministry is not a solitary journey. It is an interwoven web of care and we are all in this together. Truly, this year has been bananas and quite difficult at times, but I have been buoyed by the honor and privilege it is to serve alongside you. So thank you and I love you.
Let’s pray to turn our hearts toward God for this hour.
Spirit of truth, open to us the scriptures, speaking your holy word through song, through the bread and cup, and through offering ourselves, and meet us here today in the living Christ. Amen.
Litany of Faith
One: But now thus says the LORD, the One who created you, O Jacob, the One who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
All: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
One: When you pass over the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
All: When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
One: For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
All: Do not fear, for I am with you.
(Isaiah 43:1-3, 5)
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord be with you.
This morning, we mourn the death of one of our members, Gaye Dekin, who passed away early yesterday morning. Her service details are forthcoming.
Join me in prayer.
(From Calling on God)
Wonderful, comforting Lover of creation and Messenger of new life,
We glimpse you stirring in the wet soil of winter,
Brooding over every bulb and seed,
Whispering quietly to us as we face our future.
For generations, you have called forth faithful people,
Called them each by name
To love, and serve, and care for this reality.
We’ve come because we’ve heard your still, small voice,
Or seen that star,
Or felt an emptiness that only you can fill.
We’re here because we want to be near you
And share this sense of call with one another.
We marvel as the power of your presence,
And bring our thanks for all the places
Where we know the power of your creative love.
Hear us as we lift our hearts to you,
Full of praise and thanks,
Offering our prayers aloud and in the silence of our hearts.
Whenever we come here,
We carry with us hurts and hungers,
Some of them well up from deep within,
And some of them come crashing in upon our consciousness
Like garbage trucks with brakes locked,
Spinning slowly toward us on the clear, fragile ice of our lives.
God of healing wisdom and compassion,
We are so thankful that not only do you call us
To move out beyond the streetlights of our experience,
But that you go there with us,
Promising to keep flood and fire from overwhelming us.
Holy, loving Mystery of life,
We pray that we might know your presence
With us in this hour
As we celebrate Jesus’ baptism,
A sign of your incarnate reality.
We ask it in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray…
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
Sermon
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
We begin a new worship series today! It’s the season of Epiphany, the weird little time between Christmas and Lent where we look for the Most Holy One in the most mundane of things. In rivers, in doves, in voices, in clouds, in hands that lower us into the water. No mater how scared or jaded we are, Epiphany calls us to stand in the ordinary and cling to the possibility of surprise.
If you’re feeling like you have a little whiplash from moving so quickly from baby Jesus to baptized Jesus, you’re not alone. Epiphany begins with the Magi visiting toddler Jesus, bringing impractical gifts fit for a king after seeing a magnificent star in the sky. And then in a matter of a few days, we fast forward to the beginning of Jesus’ short ministry as we propel toward Lent.
You might still have your Christmas tree up or be snacking on leftover Christmas chocolate. If you’re like me, you’ll be finding ornament glitter or gift bows all over the house for a little while more. But there’s no time to waste in Epiphany, the season of revealing! The holy child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, celebrated by the angels, worshiped by the shepherds, and feared by King Herod, grows up and treks into the same muddy water we do, standing in line at the river waiting to be baptized.
The opening verses of today’s text may seem familiar to you. Nicole read them just a few weeks ago in between verses of Johnny Cash’s song, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” On the third Sunday of Advent, we read about the winnowing fork and the refining fire, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, prophesied about by John the Baptizer. He’s coming! John shouts. And all that keeps you from deep-rooted, whole-hearted, light-footed living will be burned away so that you can become more like the one who is coming!
So we held our breath in anticipation of sweet baby Jesus who would hold so much promise for the world.
Our text today ends with word that Jesus has been baptized. In the Gospel of Luke, the baptism takes place off-stage. We only hear that he was in line with everyone else, and he got baptized. Other gospels and Christian tradition tell us that it was John who baptized Jesus, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in Luke’s telling.
You see, the way the lectionary has sliced up this text leaves out a very important piece of information between the winnowing fork and the river baptism: Cousin John has been imprisoned. We know that John is not one for tact, so it should come as no surprised that he called Herod out for his evil deeds, and Herod put him in prison. In the narrative of Luke, that means John’s ministry is finished, and Jesus’ ministry begins, here at the river. So then who baptizes Jesus in this telling? It doesn’t matter, according to Luke.
What matters is that the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, and calls Jesus who he is: God’s Beloved Son, the one with whom God is well pleased.
The text will go on to give Jesus’ genealogy: a list of people, some merely imperfect humans trying their best, and some with truly appalling behavior for being the forebears of God’s Son.
So that Jesus’ baptism is sandwiched between John’s imprisonment and his marred lineage, as if Luke is trying to show that Jesus is both aligned with God’s desire for the world and also unable to escape the tragic structure of the current world. And of course, we know from the Holy Season that will come next that Jesus will indeed be a casualty of the powers and principalities of the world.
But though the details of who baptized Jesus seem irrelevant in Luke, it should never cease to amaze us that Jesus was baptized at all. Because John the Baptizer frames baptism as one of “repentance and forgiveness of sins.” And Jesus, the one who God calls, “my child, the Beloved,” gets in line with the rest of us. The text says, “Jesus also,” which is a beautiful line. “Jesus also” being baptized is an expression of astonishing humility and solidarity. It is truly Emmanuel, God with us, even to the point of a rite of repentance and renewal.
And this baptism calls us to radical solidarity not because we are perfect, but because we are always and already God’s Beloved. God’s nature is to call us into this same belovedness, which is one of the many promises of baptism.
A reflection on Jesus’ baptism is always an invitation to reflect on ours. If you chose your baptism, perhaps you remember the day, whether or not you wore a white robe or got dunked in the creek at camp, what the preacher said or what hymn everyone sang afterward. Maybe you remember the rush of the water on your face or the sting of cold air coming out of the water. Or if you were baptized as a baby, perhaps you have pictures from that day or stories of how you cried or spit up on the pastor or slept through the whole thing.
I was baptized when I was 8 years old. I grew up Southern Baptist, and I remember looking at my mom with tears in my eyes during an altar call, knowing it was time to go down. I don’t remember much about the actual baptism except that the lights were bright and the water was cold. And, I remember the incredible sincerity of the moment.
There was no way that I understood the fullness of baptism at that time in my life or what my Christian life would look like. I could not have predicted how my understanding of God, of the church, of baptism itself would change over the years. I prayed a prayer, I was compelled by the many verses of “Just As I Am” and probably a little scared of the h-e-double hockey sticks my preacher went on and on about.
But I also loved God and that has remained true, even as the shape of God grew and evolved in my heart.
Today, as a seminary graduate and ordained minister who has spent a lot of time thinking about baptism in the abstract, I can wax poetic about this sacrament for hours. It’s a means of grace; it’s a mystery; it’s an initiation into a community that transcends time and space; it’s a promise that God and humans make to each other, though God is the agent of baptism; water is a generative symbol and the baptismal waters represent creation waters, birth waters, and so on.
But none of that replaces the earnestness, the pureness of the particularity of one person’s baptism when the water washes over someone who has said yes to Jesus.
I realize that not all of us have memories of sincerity and autonomy when it comes to baptism. Some of us were pressured or forced into it, some of us got baptized because our friends did it, some of us don’t remember anything about it. Some of us have bad memories associated with our baptism. Some of us had a little sprinkle in a tradition we no longer identify with.
But the beautiful thing about baptism in the abstract is that the water is deep. We do not simply dip our toes in or play in the mud. Baptism requires us to take a deep breath and plunge our whole selves in the water. Over and over again.
For our baptism is not a singular moment in time, frozen in a memory, but rather, it’s a spiraling model that we are caught up in that crosses into our lives over and over at different levels and in different moments, calling to us the promise of God, that we are God’s children, loved and treasured.
And we are not alone. We are all here together. And Jesus also is in line with us, in the same waters of belovedness.
So that what is revealed on this first Sunday of Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord, is that we hold these two truths together: that what matters most in our baptism is the presence of Jesus, and also, we matter infinitely so to God, who calls us beloved.
Hallelujah. Amen.
Stewardship Moment
There are many ways to support and resource the ministries of Azle Christian Church: Venmo, giving online, or the offering plate. I also invite you to bring nonperishable items for our Little Free Pantry. The collection shelves for the pantry are in the Fellowship Hall right outside the kitchen.
The deacons are going to hand these plates over during our final song, starting at the front row and they just to need make their way to the back where a deacon will collect them. You can drop your offering, an “I gave online card,” or an information card.
Invitation
If you’d like to become a member of this faith community, or if you’d like to become a disciple of Jesus, please contact Pastor Ashley or talk to an elder.
Benediction:
Please rise in body or spirit for our benediction, the final song, and the Doxology.
Our benediction this morning comes from the letter to the Philippians:
May we be confident of this:
That the one who began a good work in us will carry it out to completion.
And may our love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may discern what really matters, and may be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ.
May we be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Amen.