January 12, 2025
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Introduction
Our text for today is the “Baptism of the Lord,” and it presents us with an opportunity to recall the memories of this event—both Jesus’ and ours—and reflect upon the meaning both give, which can help us better understand the significance of what happened to Jesus in the Jordan River at his baptism and what it means to be baptized. But I want to go further than just the meaning of Jesus’ baptism and our baptism. I want us to use today’s baptism text to guide us in a deeper consideration of how our baptism not only reshaped our lives, but how our baptism continues to reshape our lives.
And to get us started I want to ask you a few questions about your baptism, but they’re not going to be questions about the day of your baptism. I’m not interested in when you were baptized, where, by whom, or what (if anything) you remember about that day. I am not interested in an exercise of memory or information gathering. To be clear though, the day of your baptism is certainly important, a memorable one, and something to look back upon with joy and celebration. But the day of our baptism is only a beginning. It was not the end or culmination of our spiritual walk.
So instead of the day of your baptism, what I’m really interested in are all the baptisms that have happened since the day of your baptism. I want us to think about all the baptisms we’ve had— those times when we separated ourselves from that which was no longer life giving or life sustaining, and new life was able to grow and flourish.
Move 1
Now it might sound a bit off to hear me ask a question that implies you have had multiple baptisms. After all, we get baptized once, typically, not over and over again. And many of you have heard me say how we Disciples recognize all baptisms—in whatever form they were administered—and that we would never ask or require anyone to be rebaptized. And while all this is true, I don’t believe baptism is ever a one and done event. I see and experience baptism as an ongoing process—an ever-occurring spiritual sacrament— because I believe baptism doesn’t happen only in the church or only at a font or only in bodies of water. I believe the waters of baptism are everywhere. Our marriage and partnerships are places of baptism. Our parenting, our friendships, all our relationships are baptismal waters. Our work and vocation are baptismal waters. Our passions, dreams, and creativity are waters of baptism. Our concerns and work for justice and human dignity are baptismal waters. Our pain, brokenness, sorrows, and losses are baptismal waters.
We are always going through the waters of baptism, even (and maybe especially) when it’s an experience we don’t want to experience, or a circumstance we don’t want to face. But what makes these times (and others), times of baptism is because baptism is always about newness; always about renewal; always about grasping an identity of ourselves that says a former part of us—a piece we don’t want or need—has been washed away. Baptism happens through our connection to “the one who is more powerful”, the one who brings the Holy Spirit and fire into our lives, guiding us, helping us grow up and become more fully and authentically ourselves. Baptism is ultimately the process of separating our life’s wheat from our life’s chaff.
Move 2
Now a few things need to be said about the process of separating our life’s wheat from our life’s chaff. And the first thing that needs to be understood is that the separation of wheat and chaff is not a judgment between good and bad. It’s the distinction and discernment between what feeds, nourishes, and grows life and what does not. Wheat is edible and digestible, chaff is not. Wheat nourishes and feeds life, chaff does not.
But here’s the thing… the wheat needs the chaff… for a time… until such a time that the wheat no longer needs the chaff. Which means we need to understand, especially in context to today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke, that chaff is not inherently bad or wrong. Chaff serves a purpose. Chaff is the outer husk, or casing, that protects the wheat. Without the chaff the wheat could not successfully grow and survive and become what it is meant to become. But, at some point, the chaff is no longer needed, it no longer serves a purpose. And if the chaff were to remain it would restrict the wheat and get in the way of its growth and purpose. Which is why the wheat, and the chaff must be separated.
*******
Haven’t we all experienced this in our life? Haven’t there been patterns, habits, behaviors, or attitudes that at one time served, protected, or nurtured our life— but now they only diminish or constrict our life and don’t offer anything? They don’t work like they used to. That is the chaff of your life. It served a purpose for a time—but then a time came when it no longer did—and it needed to be separated.
This cycle still happens for all of us. We are all still growing and becoming what we are meant to be. Therefore, there is chaff in our lives that served a purpose, but eventually it’s no longer needed, and therefore must go so it won’t restrict our growing and becoming.
Move 3
Baptism—our baptism and all of our life’s baptisms—are about growing and becoming; they are about separating wheat from chaff. And because this is true, we need to take a winnowing fork to our lives in form of so pointed questions. Questions like…
Is my life growing, expanding, and engaging ever-larger matters? If so, in what ways? And if not, where am I stuck, fearful, or avoiding life?
Am I incarnating and living the fullest possibility of who I can become, or is there an unlived life waiting and wanting to enter the world through me?
Am I discovering and trusting that I am God’s beloved daughter or son, with whom God is well pleased? Or am I at odds with myself, seeking and waiting for another’s permission to live the life I want, feel what I feel, desire what I desire, or become who I want to become?
Am I showing up to and taking responsibility for my life or am I living a “fugitive’s life”—a life that is always on the run from something?
Am I living my life or someone else’s? Whose voice am I listening to? Am I trying to serve, avoid, or fix my past?
In what ways am I connected to the infinite, the something larger and beyond myself? In what ways am I disconnected from the infinite?
*******
These questions are the winnowing fork we can use to separate the wheat from the chaff in our lives. And what needs to be understood by all of us is that the winnowing fork is as much a part of baptism as is the baptistry itself. It’s not as if some people are wheat and others are chaff. No, we all have both in our lives. I have wheat in my life and I have chaff in my life, and you do too. Baptism—remembering our baptism, and going through all of life’s baptisms—is about separating the wheat of our lives—the growing and becoming—from the chaff of our lives—the parts that served us for a time, but now no longer do, and need to be removed.
Move 4
I had a mentor/colleague who spoke to me once about our text for today. He explained how his childhood modus operandi was “Be good, be quiet, stay out of the way.” As a child that was his chaff, his protective husk—and it worked, it served him well. But as an adult it kept him from growing and becoming a source of life— in his marriage, his parenting, his vocation, his hopes and dreams for who he might become. He told me how it took a while, but eventually he discovered what he needed was the winnowing fork of baptism—a sacred act, a sacred reminder, that assured him he was created and loved to be more than he ever saw himself as being.
Sooner or later, this is true for all of us. We all have chaff that gets in the way of our wheat becoming a source of life.
So we need to ask ourselves those hard, pointed questions and begin to distinguish and discern what is the wheat of our life that needs to be gathered? And what is the chaff of our life that needs to be separated and burned? And then we need to ask ourselves… What would it be like… What would it take… to entrust our life to the winnowing fork of Jesus?
Conclusion
Through baptism, we are identified as children of God—which means we are both forgiven and loved, chosen by Christ to be His people in the world.
Dutch priest Henri Nouwen, writes, “The truth, even though I cannot feel it at times, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace.” Baptism confirms to us that we are God’s chosen child, precious in God’s eye, beloved for all eternity, and will be held safe in God’s everlasting embrace.
When we grasp this meaning, when we remember and live forth from this truth, when we use the winnowing fork of baptism in our lives, then new and renewed life always grows and thrives—showing us each time that no matter what, no matter who others say we are, no matter where today’s culture tries to put us—we are beloved, we are never left on our own, and new life is always growing and becoming within us. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, January 12, 2025, Baptism of our Lord
God of grace, of forgiveness, of rebirth, of new life… we are your holy and beloved children; born of water and the Holy Spirit—and for such we give you our thanks and praise.
We give you our thanks and praise because we can recall the meaning of the creative force of your breath, moving over the waters of chaos to bring life and light.
We remember your mercy in saving a remnant through the great flood to give us a new beginning.
We remember your faithfulness to deliver Israel— and all your people— from slavery into freedom.
We remember Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, and through his life he became the source of new and renewed life for all your beloved children.
We remember the water of Christ’s pierced side, for through his death and resurrection we are set free from sin and death.
We remember your promises, O God, extended toward each of us through the water of our own baptisms—whereby your Spirit descending upon us we are redeemed and reborn to live fully and completely as your beloved children—immersed in hope, peace, joy, and love.
So help us, in each new day, to know and embrace the truth of being your beloved children. Help us to permit the winnowing fork of our Savior Jesus to do its work in our lives, separating that which we no longer need from that which longs to grow, and thrive, and become. Take from us all that chokes out life—our fears, our embedded false beliefs about ourselves; take from us all that holds us back—trying to be someone we are not, trying to live up to worldly expectations and not Godly ones—take the chaff that no longer serves us, and free us to be the holy and beloved children you created and called us to be.
Hear now the prayers of our hearts, lifted to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our winnowing fork, our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”