Matthew 3:13-17

Here we are, not even three weeks past Christmas, officially 19 days, it feels longer doesn’t it? And in that time, Jesus has grown up. In our scripture passage we just read he is now an adult. After being born in a stable to Mary and Joseph, his family fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod who wanted to destroy him, then when that threat passed, they settled in Nazareth.. And that’s where Jesus grew up, learning the trade of his father, a carpenter, learning how to deal with his younger brothers and sisters, going to the synagogue and as he grew, he increased in wisdom the gospel of Luke tells u and in years, and in divine and human favor.

And now, all grown up, about 30 years of age, Jesus presents himself to be baptized by John, and his work, his ministry is about to begin.

My study bible says that when the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove - Jesus was filled with certainty and self-understanding - he knew, without a doubt who he was. God said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

He was also filled with a divine empowerment - the Holy Spirit - which would help him to do what he was supposed to do.

And that’s what happened at Jesus’ baptism.

And that’s what happened at your baptism and your child’s or your nieces or nephews, or grandchild’s - what’s what happens at any baptism you are a part of or witness. (That’s what happened today at Lily’s baptism).

When we are baptized and the water runs over our foreheads and the words - “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are spoken, and the Holy Spirit miraculously and mysteriously comes down and touches us, two very important things take place (happen)

The first is: in that moment, God claims you as God’s own - like Jesus, you know who you are. In baptism. God says, You are my mine, a child of God, and because you are mine, all these things I give to you - my peace, my grace, my forgiveness, my love and as an extra bonus I give you the Holy Spirit to help you be my child and do the things you’re supposed to do - again, just like Jesus.

And the second thing is this:

When you are baptized you are saying for all the world to hear, “Yes, I want to be a child of God. I want to live like you want me to live God, to know all things you want me to know - your peace, your grace, your forgiveness, your love, to do all the things you want me to do. With your help, I will do my best to walk with you.

And if you’re a parent having your child baptized, you are saying the same thing but for the child until they’re old enough to make those vows on their own. You are saying, Yes, “I want my child to be your child, to live like you want him or her to live, to know all the things you want him to know, to do all the things you want her to do. With your help, I will do my best to see that my child walks with you - that we all walk with you.

And that is what happens during baptism.

Don’t you just love when I take great complex theological doctrines - sacraments that scholars have spent years studying and writing books and papers about, subjects professors teach whole classes on - then sum them up into two simple paragraphs - or better yet - one simple sentence.

To be baptized is to walk with God.

This is what Jesus did. He walked with God his whole life. And when we commit ourselves to following in his footsteps - we try to do the same.

And January is the perfect time to be thinking about this, to be thinking about our walk with God, how we can do it different or better or more faithfully. Are we living like God wants us to live, do we know all the things God wants us to know, and are we doing all the things God wants us to do.

That’s why so many people begin their new year with the desire to do daily devotions - to read scripture or books that will hopefully help us in our walk - like “Walk thru the New Testament” (oh wait - has that book come in yet, Rich?) That’s why so many of you are reading “Bread for the Journey”. Or we join bible studies and book groups, we vow to pray more, to come to church more, we know we need help on our walk with God.

Well last weekend I learned a few things about walking with God that will help me and I learned them walking around NYC with a bunch of 7th & 8th graders.

And in case you don’t get the chance to take a bunch of 7th & 8th graders to NYC, or the idea frightens you, let me share with you some of what not only I, but all of the chaperones on this trip learned.

The first is...when you walk with God, you don’t always know what you’re doing - you may have a goal in sight but you really don’t know how you’re going to get there or what all the stuff in between is going to look like and at some point you just have to trust that God will make it happen.

For example...as we prepared for our trip to New York, I had an idea of what our trip would look like, but nothing concrete - I hadn’t been to St. John the Divine since 1991 and that time there were only 16 of us - and Dan Ramus was our fearless leader - Dan who is 6’4 at least, can be seen above any crowd and knew New York City like the back of his hand. We followed him like ducklings all over the place. It was great.

This time around, I was the expert - which is really not saying much. I’d been a few times before but never with this many people and I just couldn’t picture what our time together would look like - I just couldn’t see it. New York City is so big and confusing and I am directionally challenged. There were so many things that could go wrong.

How would we all get on the subway? What if we all didn’t get off? What if someone got lost? What we if I got lost? What if we got mugged and lost? And just who’s idea was this anyway?

I could see the goal - a good and safe, and hopefully spiritual, experience in NYC, but I couldn’t exactly see how it would all happen and I really wanted to know how it would all happen.

And sometimes in life, we don’t get that. Sometimes all we have is a goal, a place we want or need to be, then we do the best we can, we plan, we study, we pray and ultimately we have to trust....we trust that God will get us to that place where we want to go or need to be.

For our trip last weekend, we had directions from Map Quest, one of our chaperones had a GPS system affectionately named Mabel, we had maps of the subways, maps of mid-town - we had cell phone numbers and red hats. But in the end, we had to let go and trust that God would help us make our way from here to CT, then to New York. That God would with us as we ran around the city on Saturday, then see us through the program at the cathedral at night - into the wee hour of the morning and then see us back home again the next day. And other than running a few red lights in Harlem in the church van -(great scheme of things) everything went great. Thanks be to God.

When you walk with God, there’s a lot of trust involved.

And I learned that when you walk with God you see things other people might not see because you’re looking at them through eyes of faith.

When we first drove into the city on Saturday morning, one of the girls in our van said, “This is New York City? It isn’t at all what I expected.” And she was right - we were in the Bronx on our way to Harlem - it’s not exactly pretty - much of New York City is not exactly pretty. It’s a real city, with real city problems, poverty, run down buildings, people struggling to survive.

But as soon we got to the top of the hill in Harlem...there was the cathedral. It was built on a hill to be a beacon of hope to the communities surrounding it. It’s doors are kept open during the day so all will know they are welcome there- and I wonder how many people driving by see that.

After we parked our vans we got out to use the facilities in the parking garage - and this was your typical parking garage - kind of dismal and gray and as we’re standing around outside waiting....a peacock walked by - a beautiful male peacock, in all it’s glory.

As it turns out there are two peacocks, a male and a female that live on the cathedral grounds in the middle of Harlem. They were brought over years ago - to be a thing of beauty - a symbol of God - in a place, in a community many people don’t think of as beautiful. And I wonder how many people walk by each day and see that.

And then we took the subway to Times Square and the Empire State Building and that’s when the cameras came out and they never went back in - the girls especially. They would walk two steps - take three pictures, walk another two steps - take three more pictures. Meanwhile, all the New Yorkers - who have long since ceased to be awed by the sights and sounds of the city - hurried by. And those girls reminded us to always be awed by the things around us - to never take them for granted. God’s creation is filled with amazing things. Sometimes we forget that - even living here.

And then it was time to go into the Cathedral itself. We went on a tour and then a scavenger hunt - which is not something you get to do everyday in a cathedral - and because we were looking at this amazing space with eyes of faith we saw more than just beautiful architecture and artwork and sculptures.

We saw angels watching over those who enter the cathedral and prophets who stand guard on a pulpit encouraging the preacher each Sunday. We saw lamps illuminating the entrance to the high altar to remind us that God is always there. We saw lambs to remind us that Jesus is the lamb of the world, the Greek letters alpha and omega that tell us that Jesus is the beginning and the end. We saw a huge candle that is lit during baptisms so all those around will know the one being baptized has the light of God inside them.

We saw all of kinds of things - symbols, signs, arches, buttresses, and a few more things I can’t pronounce, but most of all, we saw a church - not just a building - whose mission is the same as ours - to share the love of God and the good news of Christ with it’s community and the world.

When you walk with God you see things other people might not see.

And we all learned that when you walk with God, you have a purpose.

On Saturday night we heard a program about homelessness in New York City. After playing a bunch of games and singing all kinds of songs with the other church groups downstairs in the gym - we sat on folding chairs and waited for our speaker.

An African American woman who was about my age came to the front and began to speak. She spoke softly, she was very nervous - this was her first time speaking to a group of kids she said and she told us that now she works with a ministry that helps homeless people but before that she had been homeless on the streets of New York City for 10 years.

And then she told us her story. She spoke of mental illness in her family, of bad relationships, of bad choices she had made in her life time, and things that had just seemed to happen. She spoke gently and honestly to the kids and to us - telling us about life on the streets and life in prison and then she spoke directly to the kids -telling them that as they get older they will have choices to make and these choices matter, so please make the right choices. And she told us how, with God’s help, and the help of those around her she had managed to get off the streets.

And now, she helps other homeless people - and she goes to church and she thanks God every day for her life. Everyone was moved by her and her story. When she left, we were all reminded again of what we all know deep down - that when you walk with God, everyone is your brother and your sister and we must care for each other - and with God’s help - we can do just that.

When John baptized Jesus and the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove and in that moment he knew who he was and what he was supposed to do - he had a purpose - to heal the sick, to offer forgiveness, to show God’s love to everyone, to give us new life. We have a purpose, too as children of God, filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you’re wondering what it is, just look at our bible verse for the month - what does the Lord require of you but to love kindness, do justice and walk humbly with your God. And the more we walk with God, the better we get at it.

We learned many other things about walking with God of course - like there isn’t a Dunkin Donuts coffee strong enough to cut through the fog of only a few hours sleep - and...that you don’t just walk with God, sometimes you run, you play, you pray, and thankfully sometimes you get to rest, too and then we come together to worship to get what we need to do it all over again the coming week.

To be baptized is to walk with God. As the new year unfolds before you, may your walk with God be filled with trust, eyes of faith to see things others might miss, and purpose. And if you need some 7th & 8th graders to go on an adventure - to help you with your walk - we have a few who are ready and willing. Always remember who you are. You are a child of God, God has claimed you filled you with the Holy Spirit to live like God wants you to live, to know all things God wants you to know, to do all the things God wants you to do. And...enjoy your walk. Let us pray. Be with us O God on our journeys, our walks with you - bless us, encourage us, give us each what we need as we follow Jesus, and may all that we do in word and in deed bring you glory. Amen.