Sermon Notes jan. 8 Gen. 1:1-5, Mk. 1:1-16

At the start of the new calendar year, it is fitting that the readings look toward creation and beginnings., of Creation and new creation
The background of Gen. 1 is against the combat story of Babylon where creation is the result of battle between gods and human beings were created as slaves for the gods.No instead we are made in the image and likeness to go to tend and take care of this god earth.Creation’s careful order is a cosmic temple for God to dwell (shakan), a natural order that would serve as the model for the mini world of Solomon’s temple. While it took seven years for that temple to be built, God made the world in six days, plus the holy day of rest. that world is planned; it has a form v. void, the emptiness of a world without God’s touch. fullness not emptiness-this is a god of order, harmony, and development. All of this planning and labor is oriented toward life, L’chaim. Life leads to the sabbath as the temple lead to the holy of holies- Creation grants both freedom of agency and co-operative environments structured for life.
God is a priest, a cosmic priest, but also a cosmic architect and cosmic biologist. In creation we encounter God sharing self. God does create by a word, command. Could it be that language creates a world here in the view of the Priestly account?

Baptism is new creation. It combines the word with a sign from the natural world.. It works with natural elements.Baptism has Jesus coming to a fork in the road. It does seem clear that the baptism is not only a significant cosmic event but that it seems to be the initiation of the public work of Jesus. Baptism promises us new life as well. This sanctuary seeks to create a worship world as Solomon's temple did. Here the cross is central, as is the word, font and table. The windows seek to honor our reformed tradition in holding the two testaments of the Bible together. it is the womb of a new spiritual creation. It is the dining hall of the spiritual banquet of communion. take some time with the baptismal window here and let it speak to you.

Know this. When we were baptized the heavens opened and that same voice said this is my beloved in whom I am well-pleased. The god of all creation loves you, knows you in all of the age and size of the universe. You, you matter to God. God continues to work from the inside out in each one of us. At the same time, as the late Donald Juel said, in the baptism of Jesus, god is on the loose.” God is on the prowl. Our God is no disengaged creator, distant and unconcerned with this creation that divinity itself planned and labored long and hard to continue to evolve over billions of years. As Simone Weil said, in creation God decided not to be everything so we could begin to be really something. Sometimes, I get the sense from some of our Christian sisters and brothers that one says the magic phrase of accepting Christ and being baptized in their approved manner, and that wraps everything up. God has baptized agents of the new creation;people planting seeds, dispensing blessings, offering prayers, giving out compliments. Baptism starts a christian life; it is not its culmination. At this time of year of resolutions made and already failed, we see the sacrament as offering us a new day with god every single day. every day open the doors of baptism to Christian action and new depth of Christan understanding.