Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday January 8, 2015 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Holy God, creator of light and giver of goodness, your voice moves over the waters. Immerse us in your grace, and transform us by your Spirit, that we may follow after your Son, Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen

First Lesson: Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV)
1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 29 (NRSV)
29:1 Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
29:2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.
29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters.
29:4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
29:5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
29:6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
29:7 The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
29:8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
29:9 The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
29:10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
29:11 May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: Acts 19:1-7 (NRSV)
19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.
19:2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
19:3 Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism."
19:4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."
19:5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
19:6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied--
19:7 altogether there were about twelve of them.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: Mark 1:4-11 (NRSV)
1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

I would guess that the great event we celebrate this week
is one the early church would have preferred had never taken place.
The great event of which I speak is the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.
By the time the gospels were being written,
there was a sizeable movement of followers of John the Baptist.
Thre was competition between them and the early Christian church.
Until very recently, there were adherents to that faith still in Iran.
With the very oppressive, religiously conservative, and horribly intolerant government (a theocracy)
in power there these days,
it is possible that none of those followers of John the Baptist have survived in Iran.
That would be a terrible tragedy for the world
and for the spiritual health of our planet.
There are some of the followers of John the Baptist, known as Mandeans, in other parts of the world today.
But for the early church,
those followers of John the Baptist presented quite a challenge.
They were able to say to the Christians,"
"If Jesus was so great, why did John Baptize Him?"
Isn't the one who is baptizing in a position of authority over the one being baptized?
Didn't Jesus actually make Himself a follower of John by being baptized by him?"
It doesn't sound like so much to us,
but for the early church, these questions were difficult to answer.
In fact, the event of the baptism of Jesus by John
is one of the best attested events in the life of our Lord.
It appears in all four gospels and in Acts.
It marks the beginning of the earthly ministry of Christ.
As we will see, it also marks the beginning of His redemptive action for us,
the start of His taking upon Himself the sin of the world.
John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus went to John to submit to precisely that Baptism.
If Jesus was truly the Savior of the world,
why did he go to John to submit to baptism in the first place?
Worse, why did he submit to a baptism of repentance?
What did He have that He needed to repent for?
What sin did He need to have forgiven?
The need to address these questions has the report of the Baptism of Jesus by John
in so many places in the New Testament.
It forms a crucial introduction to the ministry of Jesus,
like the preaching of John the Baptist.
For those of us who look to Jesus as our Savior and Lord,
only a deeper understanding of His Baptism will satisfy.
When he submitted to baptism by John,
above all else,
He did it for us.
He did not need to repent,
but we do.
He did not need to restore His relationship with God,
but we need to.
He did not need to be washed clean from the stain of sin,
but we need the cleansing power of Baptism,
and we receive it first and foremost by believing
and by participation in the Sacrament.
There are many unbaptized believers in Christ all over the world,
and they belong to God's family, too.
So Jesus was baptized to set an example for us,
to call us to repentance and faith.
Even more importantly,
every baptism is an acting out of a spiritual reality.
Immersion baptism is a perfect picture of what is really happening in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
Whether we baptize by immersion or not,
the spiritual reality is -
in Holy Baptism, the old, sinful nature is drowned
and the new life in Christ is born.
When Christ Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan,
he took the first step toward His own death and resurrection for us.
Symbolically, He was buried in the waters of the Jordan,
and symbolically He was raised to new life as He would be when God raised Him from the dead.
Now we are baptized into Him and into His baptism when we ourselves are baptized.
The Baptism of our Lord symbolized His death, burial and resurrection.
Our Baptism is the reality:
We are buried with Him, dying to sin and evil, and we are raised with Him into a new life.
Christians disagree widely over the meaning and method of baptism,
but the spiritual reality is the same whatever we may think about it.
It is obvious in every act of Holy Baptism that we are doing something and God is doing something.
The question is one of emphasis.
If we emphasize what we are doing, then we had better get it right.
We need to know and understand what we are doing,
so there is a tendency for those who emphasize what we are doing
to baptize only believers,
only those who are able to speak for themselves and choose to obey Christ's command to be baptized.
In addition, if we emphasize what we are doing
in the symbolic act of death and rebirth,
then we will act it out fully
in Baptism by immersion.
That is exactly what happens.
Christians who are known as Baptists in fact baptize only believers,
and they do it by immersion.
They are not alone in this, of course.
Other Christian communions that emphasize what we do in obedience to Christ's command also baptize only believers and they do so by immersion.
For those who emphasize what God is doing,
it makes little difference what form is actually used in Baptism.
Whether we baptize by sprinkling water, pouring water, or immersing in water,
God can do what He is going to do for us.
Likewise it makes little difference whether we baptize an infant or an older child or adult who can speak for herself or himself in expressing faith or in asking for Baptism.
God can do the same thing for an adult or for an infant, and I'm sure it's something God wants to do for all of us.
For you see, at its heart, Christian Baptism is an adoption ceremony.
God is claiming each and every person who is baptized as His own son or daughter.
Once again, the Baptism of our Lord is our example.
As soon as Jesus came up out of the waters of His own Baptism,
He saw the Heavens opened, and the Spirit of God came down in the form of a dove.
The voice of God spoke, saying,
"You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
In that moment, God claimed Jesus as His own.
God proclaimed that Jesus is His Son.
Of course, no adoption was necessary.
Jesus is the Son of God from eternity and forever.
Once again, this was done for our benefit and as our example.
Because of sin, our age old rebellion against our creator,
a separation has come between us and God.
To restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father, some sort of adoption is necessary, and that is exactly what Holy Baptism is for us.
When we are baptized, God claims us as His beloved children.
As He said about Jesus our Lord, He says also about us:
"This is my beloved daughter or son."
Because of Jesus, God is well pleased with us.
The waters of our Baptism well up within us all through our lives and to eternity, ever cleansing us from sin and reminding us that God has made us members of His own family.
He will love us forever, no matter what.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships, so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our Lord's Prayer
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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever,
Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +