January 11, 2009
(First Sunday after the Epiphany)
Brooding with Intent
by
The Rev. Canon Susan Sommer
Genesis 1:1-5 • Psalm 29 • Acts 19:1-7
• Mark 1:4-11
(From
The Lectionary Page)
My mother gave me a wonderful gift some years before she died. She wrote a memoir of what it was like to grow up on a small farm in Minnesota during the 1930s. It is, as you can imagine, priceless, not only because Mom entered into greater glory 5 years ago, but because that kind of life is mostly gone. One of her entries detailed the chores she did. As the only daughter in a houseful of sons, she mostly was responsible for indoor chores, but the one outdoor task she had was gathering eggs. In her words: “The henhouse smelled bad, but nowhere near as bad as the pigpen which the boys had to muck out periodically, so I knew better than to complain. I’d take along some feed and scatter it on the floor. Most of the hens would flutter over to it and I’d be able to get the eggs with no problem. Except for that one brooder we had. We raised chicks only during the warm weather months, but if that old brooder had an egg in her nest – fertile or infertile -- she wouldn’t leave no matter what. I’d try to shoo her away but she would just settle down, fluff out her feathers, and stare me down. And if I got up the courage to try to reach under her, she’d peck at my hand and usually draw blood. I didn’t want to be afraid of her, but I was and I think she knew it. One thing was for sure. She was better at her chore than I was at mine.”
I have never seen a brooder hen up close and personal, but I have a vivid image thanks to my mother’s story. And I have to tell you, a fierce old brooder hen, settling down on a clutch of eggs and fluffing out her feathers, is the image I have of the Holy Spirit's descent at baptism. The image to me seems to be one of brooding, just as the Spirit is said to have brooded over the waters of creation in Genesis 1:2 – the spirit of God steadfastly hovering with a purpose, intent upon bringing about a new creation. Oh sure, religious art often shows a stylized dove appearing to descend upon Jesus as he emerges from the waters of the Jordan River. But brooding is what birds do – male penguins in Antarctica, female robins in your backyard oak tree, and in the days before mechanized incubators, brooder hens in a henhouse. They descend bodily and gently upon their eggs, and they remain there steadfastly and protectively in order to bring about a new creation.
Our gospel passage for today is Mark's telling of the Baptism of Jesus. We hear either Matthew, Mark, or Luke's version each year on the first Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany means "manifestation" or "showing forth;" in this case, the showing forth of God through the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. And it all begins with his baptism, which Mark relates in his usual terse fashion. All we know from Mark is that Jesus came from Nazareth – a or 4 day walk – to the wilderness near the Jordan River to be baptized by John. So the very first public showing forth of God through Jesus of Nazareth, at least according to Mark, is not in the temple in Jerusalem, nor to the religious establishment. Mark tells us that the heavens were torn apart and the Spirit of God descended and remained – brooded – upon Jesus. And God spoke to Jesus and said, "You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased." Something new was being brought about, ratified by God for Jesus's ears and for ours as well. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? He is God's beloved Son. Before he proclaimed anything about God, before he performed one miracle, before he did anything, he was God’s beloved Son. That is the context for everything that he will do, including his being handed over to death.
Baptism for each of us means that we share in Christ's own baptism. With us, as with Jesus, we are God's beloved sons and daughters. With us, as with Jesus, we believe that the Holy Spirit also descends and broods over us at baptism, bringing to new birth in each of us that which God would have us be. Whether we were baptized as adults or as infants, as Isaac and Gannon will be in a very few minutes, our life in Christ begins at baptism. This is not to make God love us, but to reveal that God already does, and to establish a context for how we intend to live our lives as God’s beloved sons and daughters. That’s what we mean when we speak of Sacraments as a means of Grace.
Over the years, parishioners in a variety of churches have describe their faith in terms of a sense of warmth and safety, that sense of being nurtured and cared for. Nothing wrong with that at all, especially during times of change or crisis in our lives. But I think it’s important to remember that the Spirit broods over us with a purpose, intent upon bringing forth in us again and again newness and life and growth and response and maturity in ministry. The same bird that broods over her eggs also expects her chicks to fly one day. We forget that piece sometimes, don't we? It's tempting to think of baptism as initiation into a club where, if we're lucky, we can spend our lives with like minded people, cozily enwrapped by the Holy Comforter, where ministry is done by others, where we feel nurtured and cared for but out of which we are sometimes reluctant to respond.
The Holy Spirit is at work with each of us, brooding with intent, bringing to birth within us that which God would have us be and do. How shall we respond? Shall we spend the whole of our lives craving that lovely warmth and doing little with it? Or shall we follow the example of the one who came to the Jordan River, who was baptized, and who set about doing the work of ministry, revealing the love of God in all whose lives he touched?
