Note 1: <\/strong>All quotes in the sermon are from the English Standard Version.<\/p>\n Note 2: <\/strong>This initial two paragraphs in italics<\/em> of this sermon might be used as the basis for a Children\u2019s message. If not used that way, one might adapt it as the beginning of the \u201cusual\u201d sermon, or insert part of it later in the sermon\u2026or later in the service.<\/p>\n Good morning. In the Gospel reading today we heard about Jesus\u2019 baptism. I\u2019ll talk more about that in the regular part of the message in a little bit. For now, I ask, \u201cHave you been baptized?\u201d (allow answers) If so, great! Maybe ask your parents to tell you about the day, even if you remember some of it yourself. If you have not been baptized, maybe you could talk to your parents about whether that is something to do in the future. Anyway, a few years ago, I read1<\/sup> about a pastor who had baptized a 2 year old girl. Before the baptism itself, the pastor asked the girl who loved her. She pointed to each of the people who had gathered with her family for the baptism. The pastor asked the girl, \u201cHow do they show that they love you?\u201d The pastor was thinking about things like food, play together and keeping warm. But the girl pressed a finger to her cheek and said, \u201cKiss.\u201d The girl did the same thing again. Thinking on her feet, the pastor said, \u201cBaptism is God giving you a kiss that will last your whole life long.\u201d A year later, the pastor was at a store quite a few miles from home and a little 3 year old girl ran up to her and said, \u201cKiss. God kissed me. I got baptized.\u201d Then the girl\u2019s mother chimed in to say that all year the little girl had been telling everyone how God kissed her because she was baptized. <\/em><\/p>\n I like that. When we are kissed by a parent, or grandparent or a child we often feel it all through our body. Right? I think God\u2019s \u201ckiss\u201d in baptism touches our whole body and soul\u2026even if we don\u2019t feel it in the same way. In baptism services we poured water and say words like these, \u201c______ (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.\u201d We do not repeat those things. However, shortly after the water and those words, we often mark the person\u2019s forehead with the sign of the cross and say, \u201c______ (name), child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen\u201d That part can be repeated anytime. I think today would be a good time. I would offer to mark each of you and say those words. I use an oil that smells good (myrrh), so that you and your parents might remember that when you were baptized God kissed you. OK? If you don\u2019t want me to mark you, that\u2019s OK, I\u2019ll only say the words for you and make the sign in the air. So, here we go! (time to mark each child) Let\u2019s pray: God, thank you for sending your son as a way to show love to all people; thank you for the love you have shown to us in holy baptism; thank you for your kiss through baptism. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen<\/p>\n Lightning cracks; thunder rolls\u2026and you know that the two are related. Lightning and thunder come from the same atmospheric event. You also know that we see lightning first, and hear thunder seconds later because light travels faster than sound. We often see a flash of lightning and then wait for the \u201cboom.\u201d We know it\u2019s coming. This is not to explain the tearing of the heavens at Jesus\u2019 baptism as lightning. It is not to explain the voice from heaven as thunder. Yet the experience of these are similar.<\/p>\n Jesus goes into the River Jordan to be baptized by John. Jesus comes up out of the water and the heavens are torn apart. In telling the same story, gospel writers Matthew and Luke use a word for \u201copened\u201d\u2026the heavens opened. But Mark choses the words \u201ctorn apart.\u201d The verb in Greek is schizomai. <\/em>There is a related words in English \u2013 with the same root. One word is schism \u2013 a division among people. The other is schizophrenia \u2013 a mental health issue when a person seems to have a divided mind.<\/p>\n Tear, schizomai<\/em>, is a visual word \u2013 like lightning across the sky. Also, tear seems permanent. Right? If you open a door, you can close it. But if you tear a sheet of paper it is not going back together easily. You can open a window and close it. But if you tear a cloth it will not go back together. If you tear out carpet or tear out a wall, you don\u2019t expect them to be put back the same at all. We even speak of an \u201copen heart\u201d and that might also become closed. However, if a heart is torn it seems permanent.<\/p>\n A torn heart or a torn person may seem like a sad thing. That\u2019s how pop artist Natalie Imbruglia used the word in a song a number of years ago simply called \u201cTorn.\u201d I\u2019ll share a few of the lyrics \u2013 we are not going to sing it or hear the music, but the poetic words are interesting. The song writers penned these words: \u201cI thought I saw a man brought to life. He was warm, he came around like he was dignified. He showed me what it was to cry. Well you couldn\u2019t be that man\u2026you don\u2019t seem to know, don\u2019t seem to care what your heart is for\u2026That\u2019s what\u2019s going on. Nothing\u2019s fine. I\u2019m torn. I\u2019m all out of faith. This is how I feel. I\u2019m cold and I\u2019m shamed\u2026I\u2019m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn. You\u2019re a little late. I\u2019m already torn.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n However, with our Gospel text, the heavens are torn, so that the Spirit might descend into Jesus. Differently than Natalie\u2019s\u2019 song, when a heart is torn by God it is so that the Spirit might descend into you and me.<\/p>\n In the text, the Spirt, the Wind, the Breath descends\u2026like a dove. I do not know literally what Jesus saw. The Gospel writer simply describes \u201clike a dove.\u201d You know we cannot see the wind, or spirit or breath. We say that we \u201csee our breath\u201d in the cold of winter. What we do see is water vapor in our breath that is quickly freezing into ice crystals. We don\u2019t see the air itself, like we cannot see the wind.<\/p>\n In the text, the Spirit descends like a dove. That is why on many baptismal fonts and baptism banners we see the figure of a dove. The Spirit came to Jesus at his baptism, and the Spirit comes to us in Holy Baptism. Part of Mark\u2019s surprise is this: John the baptizer had said that the one who is mightier would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Yet here the mighty one is baptized by John and the Spirit comes to him.<\/p>\n I recall being in a college choir in the mid 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 We sang for a large congregation in suburban Minneapolis, with a large sanctuary. Just about everything in their worship space was big. The baptismal font was substantial, but not huge. However, above the font, there was a 3 dimensional dove with wings spread as if flying\u2026with a wingspan of about 5 or 6 feet. It hung just high enough so that no one hit their head, and was suspended with thin cables.\u00a0 Visually you could not miss it. Nor could you miss the implication that the Spirit is there at baptisms.<\/p>\n The heavens are torn, the Spirit descends like a dove \u201con\u201d Jesus. Some scholars suggest that \u201con\u201d might be translated \u201cinto.\u201d This would imply that when the Spirit descends into Jesus, from now on Jesus is \u201cpossessed\u201d by the Spirit. Later in Mark Jesus will be accused of being possessed by another spirit…an evil spirit. But, from the beginning of the story, you and I know that Jesus is possessed by the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n A voice comes from heaven. We heard in the 1st<\/sup> reading that when God speaks things happen! God said, \u201cLet there be light,\u201d and there was light. The Psalm said, \u201cThe voice of the LORD is powerful.\u201d Then, there were all those poetic ways of speaking of that powerful voice. The voice \u201cbreaks the cedars\u2026makes Lebanon to\u00a0skip like a calf\u2026flashes forth flames of fire\u2026.shakes the wilderness\u2026strips the forests bare\u2026\u201d I would say that God\u2019s voice is powerful\u2026but not because it is loud like thunder. God\u2019s voice is powerful because of what it does<\/u>. God\u2019s voice is just as powerful with a whisper as it is with a shout. God\u2019s voice does what God says.<\/p>\n What does the voice do? \u201cMy Son\u2026Beloved\u2026Pleased.\u201d All this is said of Jesus before<\/u> Jesus does any ministry. Named God\u2019s child, named as Beloved, One with whom God is pleased\u2026before any ministry. Yet this Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for temptation, and then his ministry begins. This is also true for us! In baptism you are named as God\u2019s child, Beloved, one with whom God is pleased\u2026before we \u201cdo\u201d anything as service to others! Paul puts it this way in the letter to the Romans (5:8), \u201cbut\u00a0God shows his love for us in that\u00a0while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d Elsewhere Paul says with almost cosmic words, \u201che [God] chose us in him [Christ] before\u00a0the\u00a0foundation\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0world.\u201d (Ephesians 1:4)<\/p>\n Mark begins the story of Jesus with his baptism and the things that happen at the Jordan River. Like a \u201cbookend\u201d there are 3 or more echoes of this story at the end of Mark\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n First, at Jesus\u2019 death, the veil of the temple is torn in two from top to bottom<\/u>\u2026a descending tear. This was probably the veil at the entry to the temple complex. The veil was described by the ancient historian Josephus as an 80 foot tapestry. It was, he writes, a \u201ctapestry, with embroidery of blue and fine linen, of scarlet also and purple, wrought with marvelous skill…Portrayed on this tapestry was\u00a0a panorama of the entire heavens.\u201d3<\/sup> At Jesus\u2019 baptism, the heavens are torn; at his death the tapestry of the heavens is torn.<\/p>\n Also, you know that the Spirit descended upon or into Jesus at baptism. When Jesus died, he cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last\u2026the breath, the Spirit was gone out of him.<\/p>\n Finally, you know that a voice from heaven called Jesus \u201cson\u201d at his baptism. Right after Jesus breathed his last, a voice of a soldier, a human voice says, \u201cTruly this man was the son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n All of this \u2013 torn heavens, Spirit, voice \u2013 all of this so that God might embrace anew all of God\u2019s children. All of this so that you and I might be kissed by God now and forever.<\/p>\n Because of Jesus\u2019 baptism, because of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, Jesus stands with us in our baptism. When you were baptized, the heavens were torn apart\u2026and I would add our hearts were torn open\u2026and the Spirit descended like a dove into each one of you. A pastor said ______ (name) ________ (name) ______ (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, son and Spirit. At the same time, God spoke. God said, \u201cYou are my child. You are my beloved. I am pleased with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, all because of Jesus, hearts are torn by God so that Spirit may descend anew into you. Hearts are torn by God so that a voice might speak anew into every chamber of your heart, \u201cchild, loved, pleased.\u201d Today, you are kissed anew by God.<\/p>\n You are one kissed by god. You are one with Holy Spirit in you. You are one with heavens and heart torn apart. You are one called \u201cchild, beloved and one with whom God is pleased.\u201d May you go from this place, from this time together to serve your neighbors so that they may experience the same God in Christ.<\/p>\n Amen.<\/p>\n Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Pr. Luther H. Thoresen, ELCA, STS, retired\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 thoresenluther54@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n 1<\/sup> This anecdote was shared (with a few more details) by Pastor Ann Larson as a \u201ccomment\u201d that was part of a conversation about baptism on the ELCA Clergy Facebook page, January 8, 2015.<\/p>\n 2<\/sup> For a complete set of lyrics see https:\/\/www.lyricsfreak.com\/n\/natalie+imbruglia\/torn_20098240.html<\/a> (my source) or other online lyrics sites.<\/p>\n