This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached on the Baptism of Our Lord, January 7, 2024. The gospel text was Mark 1:4-11. You can view a video of this sermon here.

Ten years ago, in January 2014, I preached a sermon here that probably had a longer lasting impact than any other sermon I’ve ever preached. Of course, some of you were not part of Prince of Peace back then. A few of you weren’t even born yet!

But for those who were, you might recognize a card like this.

This card says: “I am God’s child. I am an important part of God’s story. And through me God will change the world.” Ten years ago, in January 2014, I handed out these cards as part of a sermon, and they made an impact. A few of you have told me over the past ten years that you still have those cards, and look at them regularly. In fact, I’ve seen these cards in a few of your houses when I’ve visited, perhaps on the refrigerator or on a desk. It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been ten years since I made those cards, ten years since I preached that sermon.

I think today would be a good time to do it again. I’m not going to preach the same sermon again, but today I want you all to have a card with these words on them. These words are so important, and it’s so easy to forget them.

Because ten years is a long time. Think about how much has changed in the past ten years. Think about your families – your family may have changed through a birth, a death, a marriage, a child moving out, and so forth. Think about your health. You may be in a very different place now than you were in 2014. Or perhaps you had a health scare along the way that you were able to overcome. Think about your employment, or your hobbies. How have they changed? 

I look back over the past ten years myself, and I see that my family has grown. Ten years ago, I had one child, who was in preschool. Now I have a teenager and a fourth-grader. During the past ten years, I have spent time in a partial hospitalization program to help me find new ways to cope with and manage my depression. Ten years ago, I had never heard of COVID-19. How that has changed our world, in so many ways. A few of them have even been good. Prior to COVID, it never would have occurred to me that we could worship this way, on video. Over the past ten years, I have grown so much in my understanding of race and gender. During the past ten years, I have published a book about my experience of living with both mental illness and faith.

Think about your own ten years. What has changed for you? What has changed within you?

But I’ll tell you one thing that has not changed. God’s love for you. Well, I shouldn’t say that for sure. The way God loves us might change as we change. It could be that God loves you in a somewhat different way than ten years ago – I don’t know, I don’t know the mind of God. But I can tell you confidently that God’s love does not decrease. Ten years ago, God loved you more than you could ever know. Right now, God loves you now more than you can ever know. And ten years in the future, that will still be true, no matter what else changes.

I’d like to do an exercise with you. This is something called a guided meditation. It will take about five minutes. Sit comfortably. Listen to my words and engage your imagination. Try to see what I describe. It will be different for each of you, and that’s okay. That’s good. Just go where the words lead you.

We’ll begin this meditation with prayer. O Holy Spirit, come to us today as we dream and imagine. Let us see your presence, your love, your peace. Amen.

You are in a small town, on the main street. Buildings surround you. Stores and houses. People are there, shopping, walking, chatting with one another. You begin walking down the street, and you notice that this town represents your life. You continue walking, and turn every now and then to walk on a different street. Each corner has a memory from your life. Each person who walks by is someone you once knew. The porch of each house has items on it that were once important for you. Furniture. Toys. Collections. And so on.

Parked along the streets are every car you’ve driven or ridden in. Every house you’ve lived in is somewhere along one of the streets. Take a minute and walk around, see what there is to see. Smell what there is to smell. Feel the emotions that fill every block.

You reach a new neighborhood, and see that all of your best memories are here – your successes, your joys. The moments when everything felt right. You start to walk faster, a spring in your step, even as a tear comes to your eye.

And then it begins to change. You reach another neighborhood, not so pleasant. These blocks contain your regrets, your suffering, your grief, your difficult and worst times. The sky here becomes darker, gloomier, colder. Your pace slows as you start to feel the air get thick. Everything here is dirty, dusty, broken, old.

You finally reach the end of that neighborhood, and you see that you’re on a hill. From there, you turn back and see the whole town, in all its beauty and all its ugliness. Your life truly is filled with both joys and struggles, with hope and despair, with light and darkness. And then you see it. From the very edge of town, water begins to flow. As though a river is flooding its banks, the water starts to flow into the streets, flowing down as it reaches each one. And as it flows, it cleans. All the bad memories are washed clean until they don’t hurt as much. All the good memories shine with golden sparkles. The water splashes on all the buildings, washing them. It splashes on all the people walking, and they laugh in delight.

It is a flood, but not one of destruction. It is a flood of joy and peace, filling every moment of your life at once. Finally the waters reach you, and you lean back and let yourself float upon the warm, welcoming waves. You begin to rise up, and you continue to rise, dripping with warm water, until you are flying above the town, and you can see the town for what it is: a beautiful crystal island, shining within the deep blue waters flowing around and through it.

You look up and see a sky that is the richest blue you’ve ever seen. And as you watch, the sky begins to shimmer, as though something is trying to break through. A bird appears in the midst of the shimmer, and flies straight toward you. You stretch out your arm, and the bird lands on it painlessly and coos. And you hear a voice, coming from all around you, echoing as the waters continue to drip from your hair. The voice says this:

You are my child. You are an important part of my story. And through you I will change the world.

Stay there for one more minute, soaking in the scene.

Now I invite you to get a piece of paper and something to write with. It can be anything – any paper, any writing instrument.

Now, write on the paper these words:

“I am God’s child. I am an important part of God’s Story. And through me God will change the world.”

Look at this paper and read it every day. Keep it somewhere you will see it regularly. Or make multiple copies and place them in various places. But look at it every day, and remember your baptism. Remember that when you were baptized, your whole life was washed clean and filled with the warm welcoming waves of God’s love. Remember the Holy Spirit alighting on you and telling you that you are loved.

And also, I encourage you to consider telling someone about what you saw in the meditation this morning. Share your image, the town of your life. Let them know what you saw, what it meant to you, what the whole experience meant to you. You could tell a family member, a friend. You could tell me if you like. Talking about this is a way of sharing our faith, and growing in relationship with one another.

And absolutely pray about it. Pray that God would remind you how beloved you are. Pray that God would show you the way God plans to change the world through you. Let’s end this sermon with a prayer for that now.

Let us pray. God, we pray that you would send each one of us a reminder today that we are your children. We thank you for making us part of your story of grace. Guide us, that we might embrace the plan you have to change the world through us. 

Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay