Sermon: Give a Cup of Water (Jan 12, 2014, Baptism of Jesus)

Sermon: Give a Cup of Water

In our scripture reading today we hear a conversation between Jesus and John the Baptist.

It’s a memorable scene: Jesus asks for baptism from a desert-dwelling prophet, a man who has spurned earthly comforts and calls others to repent their sins. Jesus knows what his request for baptism means;  John is on a dangerous yet holy road and Jesus is not afraid of the man or the path he is on. Jesus himself is taking that kind of road – to proclaim that God’s love and justice is for all, and that everyone is meant to live life abundantly is dangerous statement in an occupied country, in a time of theocratic oppression.

Jesus’ journey to the Jordan river reveals that God’s love is abundant; it comprehensively stretches and covers the whole people and creation of God. The love of God, so evident at the baptism, still ends up leading Jesus to the cross; it will lead us into the path of a cross of our own, if we choose to follow it. Everyone who truly takes the dangerous and holy road to reveal God’s amazing love for all, will arrive at a point where we find our own cross to take. True commitment to our God doesn’t allow us to avoid the cross, yet, when we shoulder that burden it leads us to find a new, meaningful way of life, a new empowerment for life.

I am going to share with you a video clip that comes from the film Love Free or Die. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and since then, it has made a big impact on Christian communities around the world, especially in my home country, Korea. It hit pretty hard in North America as well. It is a documentary film about the courageous journey of Bishop Gene Robinson, the leader of the Episcopal Church in the United States - the first openly gay bishop in the historic tradition of Christendom.

My point of sharing this 5-minute-long video clip is not to advocate for the inclusion and affirmation of Gay and Lesbian people into the church, into ordered ministry, or to advocate for marriage equality, because every year makes it more and more obvious that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people are God’s people, created in God’s image – same as any of us. I think it is wonderful that God’s image is both singular and diverse, like a beam of white light scattered into a rainbow. Our world is asking us, the people in the church, to embrace and celebrate diversity, the endless diversity in unity. What I am hoping to inspire by watching this clip together is that we can re-think and reinvent ourselves to a journey to explore who we are  as a church, how we can reflect the amazing light of diversity, and what the Spirit is leading us to do as God’s holy people.

Church that we call ourselves means in Greek, ecclesia, meaning the people called, the gathered people who have responded to a call. So we are not defined by location or possession of a fixed building, but by who we can be and what we can do to intentionally be a life-giving presence and empower people who need to hear and experience God's grace.   

This is my Facebook page, and you can have a look at this clip one more time or several more times if you’d like, whenever you visit my online home. (showing the piece of the film: Love Free or Die

I chose this film to share because the message that giving a cup of water to those who are next to us and to those who aren’t, to those who are known to us and to those who aren’t, and to those who are accepted by us and those who aren’t is not only a spiritual necessity for us but an empowerment we must provide to others if we are to claim ourselves as people of baptism, people of living water, people who follow the baptized Christ. This is why we are here: to seek and to share the fountain of living water.

I really loved the part when Gene Robinson challenges the people in the church by asking, “They get it. They get the active compassion. My question is, “Do you get it?’. “Do you realize the important things to do by giving a cup of water to those people out there who have been hurt by us.” And I assure you; we have tried hard to do exactly that. We have pushed ourselves very hard to live up to that call, to God’s expectation for us, to give a cup of water to more people in the town and in the world and to ourselves. But please be encouraged, rather than feeling put down, that the same calling does still continue to inspire us, stimulate us and challenge us. Speaking the truth is giving a cup of water. Listening to another’s deep truth is giving a cup of water. Comforting people who grieve is giving a cup of water. Advocating for the oppressed is giving a cup of water. We do, we do, and the good news is that we still continue to be called to God’s empowerment. When we are so frustrated with the situation we are in, we may wish, “Oh, if I had a magic wand, I wish I could start it all over.’ Yet, what today’s Gospel nudges us to believe is that a new beginning doesn’t require a wand - all it takes is a small thing like giving a cup of water to someone with our blessing and receiving an offered cup of water with gratitude. The good news is that that small acts of compassion do change the world around us and the world in us – our heart, our perspective, our capacity to share God’s amazing grace.

(Prop: a cup of water on the table)

As Bishop Robinson says, “This is not about being nice, this is not about being compassionate, this cup of water is about justice.” I hope to add that this cup of water is also radical love that transforms us and radical hospitality that transforms our world.

As we are sent into the world after today’s service, may we keep in our heart that Jesus, whose ministry started with his baptism, is asking us for a cup of water, a cup of living water. And when we give it to him, he gets it. He gets what it means. The question is, “Do we get it?” As Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Amen.