January 11--A Baptism of Repentance

“John was baptizing people in the desert and preaching a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of sins. All the people from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him. They confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothes made from camel’s hair, had a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. This is what John preached to the people: ‘There is one coming after me who is greater than I; I am not good enough even to kneel down and untie his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. Immediately, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven open. The Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with you’” (Mark 1:4-11).


I really love this translation of the baptism story. It comes from the New Century Version of the Bible . . . one I picked up this summer because I wanted something small and light and easy to carry for travel. I had never heard of this version before.

I like this translation because it gives a full meaning to the Greek word usually translated as “repentance.” So often we equate repentance with badness: I did wrong. I confess. I promise not to do it again. But metanoia is about transformation. A new heart. A new mind. A new life. And it is happening all the time.

A baptism of true repentance can be a powerful, powerful thing. A drug dealer can decide to turn his life around. An addict can seek help in recovery. An abused spouse can leave a toxic relationship. An old cynic can learn to love. God can make a way out of no way. God can transform every part of our lives.


The great debate in biblical and theological scholarship around this baptism story has been about why Jesus needed to be baptized. If he was truly without sin, scholars wonder, what was the point?


But baptism is broader, I think, than the individual sins we do or do not commit and our need for forgiveness from them. Baptism is just as much about the sin committed against us and our need to be healed from it.

Jesus certainly did “take on” the sin of the world . . . and not just as a priestly sacrifice on our behalf. He was betrayed, denied, despised, rejected, beaten, oppressed by an occupying power, spat upon, tortured, killed. Perhaps his baptism was about trusting God to transform the sin committed against him. Perhaps his baptism sustained him as he encountered that sin, as he stared that sin down, as he felt abandoned, as he died.


We who follow Christ have a deep, powerful, transforming message to proclaim through baptism. God will not rest until our hearts and lives have been changed. God will not rest until good comes from evil. God will not rest until resurrection comes from crucifixion.

In baptism we acknowledge that we need to be transformed, every one of us, whether we have done wrong or whether we have had wrong done to us. In baptism we accept our human limitations and admit our need for God’s transforming grace. In baptism, we admit that evil exists in the world, that we are a part of it as perpetrators and as victims, and that we don’t want to be anymore. In baptism we bring every broken part of who we are, offer it to God, and ask to be reborn through the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit. Whether we were baptized as infants or adults, and whether or not we have formally participated in that public ritual of transformation, we can trust God to make us new, to change our hearts and lives.


May we experience this kind of repentance throughout the new year. Amen.


Gusti Linnea Newquist


(additional lectionary texts: Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29:1-11; Acts 19:1-7)

January 4--Waiting for the Light

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” –John 1:5

Sunday was amazing.

Seventy two degrees, a soft wind, and absolutely nothing to do. The perfect ‘winter’ day for short-sleeve -clad torsos to soak in the sunshine . . . for cousins to fly kites at the park down the street . . . for grandmother to join granddaughter in casual conversation about the precious gift of life and the peaceful joy of returning to our master in death.

So much light and love . . . so much warmth and comfort . . . it is hard to believe the shortest day of the New England winter was only a week ago. That ice storms and piles of snow and frigid temperatures defined my life until the morning of Christmas Eve. All that is far away as I linger in bare feet and turn on the ceiling fan for a bit of cool air and prepare for the year to turn in this very different part of the country where I have celebrated Christmas with family.

But I have not forgotten the darkness.

Darkness has defined so much of our lives for so many months that it has seeped into our very bones, especially if we live in New England. Those of us who are not native to this part of the country may resist it at first. (I still remember the shock of that first year of steady but stark decline in daylight hours from late fall to Christmas week.) Eventually, though, it becomes part of the rhythm of our lives year after year . . . something we may even embrace as a comfort at times . . . the deep call of nature to a season of restful hibernation in the midst of the frenetic pace of a culture that never sleeps.

Darkness may actually be a welcome friend for those of us who are sensitive to light, who burn easily, who find too much sunshine and hot weather to be even more stressful than cold, snowy winters.

“All things came into being through the Word, and without the Word not one thing came into being,” John’s gospel tells us in the lectionary text for today. “What has come into being in the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:3-4).

It blows my mind to imagine a God who created all these things that have come into being . . . the darkness, the light, the different kinds of people and animals and plants who need different kinds of climates in order to thrive. It blows my mind to remember the darkness and cold of New England as I rest in the radiant sunshine of the American South. It blows my mind to pray to a good and generous God who created all of it, who loves all of it, who redeems all of it, who knows that we need light in the midst of too much darkness, that we need darkness in the midst of too much light.

I am grateful for the light of this fleeting alternate reality, the warmth of this southern weather, the wisdom of this moment with Grandma, the faithful reminder that these things exist, even as I prepare to return to Boston. The memory of lightness will sustain me through the long, cold winter yet to come.

Which is the mystery of faith.

God has come into our world in just this way this Christmas season . . . an alternate reality, a constant comfort, a wisdom of age mixed with youth . . . one brief moment of spiritual ecstasy before returning to our normal lives. The darkness is still with us; it will not ever go away completely, nor should it. But the memory of this light sustains us through everything that will come in the months and years and lifetimes ahead.

“The Word became flesh and lived among us . . . full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). May this truth be a comfort to us in this season of darkness and light, giving us hope, and filling us with joy, reminding us of the Creator even as it speaks of the Redeemer. God is with us, in all the seasons of our lives. Amen.

Gusti Linnea Newquist

(additional lectionary texts: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14)

December 14--Trusting the One Who Calls

"Rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks for everything--for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Don't stifle the Spirit; don't despise the prophetic gift. But test everything and accept only what is good. Avoid any semblance of evil.

"May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May you be preserved whole and complete--spirit, soul, and body--irreproachable at the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. The One who calls us is trustworthy: God will make sure it comes to pass" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24).


Now that I use a cell phone with caller ID, I screen my calls ruthlessly. An unknown caller will go directly to voice mail. A known caller? Well . . . depends on my mood. You just never know what you'll hear on the other end of the line . . . or if you'll be ready to hear it.

Take today, for example. Three phone calls came in. The first one from my boss. Check. I answered that one right away! The second one from a tutoring client. Could be good news or bad. I answer. Good news! An 'A' on her research paper! Definitely worth picking up.

The third one? Unexpected. We had parted ways angrily over two months ago. I figured I'd never hear from him again. But there it was, his name on the screen. Do I pick up? Yes. And the path to an honest reconciliation begins. Worth it? I think so. We'll see in the weeks and months ahead.


Three different calls. Three different reactions. Three different opportunities to work and celebrate and heal old wounds. Three different opportunities to trust the connection with the person on the other end of the line. Three different opportunities to trust the divine connection linking each one of us to the other.


But it is not always easy to trust the one who calls. The co-worker, the student, the alienated friend . . . the holy mystery we call God. We do not know--we cannot know--the true intentions of the caller. We do not know--and cannot know--exactly how we will respond . . . especially if the call requires us to change our lives, to heal our wounds, to heal the wounds we have caused others.


God's call is dramatic for some of us, like that of the Apostle Paul blinded on the road to Damascus. His call led to a passionate missionary zeal among the community of Christ in first century Thessalonica and other communities all across the Mediterranean. It was not an easy call for Paul, to be sure. He faced torture and imprisonment and a lifestyle resembling the most dysfunctional traveling workaholic. Certainly not the idyllic spiritual sanctuary we aspire to in our own Christian walk!

But God's call is ordinary for most of us, like that of the Thessalonians urged to live holy lives and to love one another. Just when we think we've accomplished that goal, God shows up through an apostle or a prophet to "exhort [us] to even greater progress" (1 Thess 4:9). It is a lifelong journey of seeking--and doing--God's will.


In Advent we hear the call once more, preparing ourselves to respond "in perfect holiness." The One who calls us is trustworthy; the One born among us is faithful; the One dwelling within us is preserving us--in spirit, soul, and body--so that we may participate in the glorious reign of God.

May it be so among us and within us as we look forward to Christmas.

Amen.


Gusti Linnea Newquist

(additional lectionary texts: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126 or Luke 1:47-55; John 1:6-8, 19-28)

November 9--Always a Bridesmaid

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to wait for the bridegroom.” –Mt 25:1


(lectionary focus: Mt 25:1-13)


A well-meaning family member recently gave my older cousin a self-help book: Find a Husband After Thirty-Five (using what I learned at Harvard Business School). We rolled our eyes and groaned when we saw it . . . then of course devoured it cover to cover! A twelve-month plan for the thirty-something singleton to get herself to the altar with the man of her dreams. “Saturation” tips for online dating. Research development for “product improvement.” Culminating in, believe it or not, a full-scale “marketing plan” with an upscale product roll-out, advertising strategy, and “man-agement” training. This has got to be a recession-proof industry if I’ve ever seen one!

Of course, preparing for the Son of Man is something quite different than slogging through the dating scene in search of a mere mortal. We’re talking about an apocalyptic event to usher in a new era of justice and peace, where the last shall be first and the powerful shall be humbled and the oppressed shall be set free. We’re talking about a radical reversal of fortunes that terrifies some and liberates others. We’re talking about an event that most of us say we want but that few of us believe might actually happen in our lifetimes. We’re talking about a serious theological commitment to the power of God to transform the world, not frivolous romantic yearnings exploited by a consumer culture.

But that’s just the point, isn’t it? It’s exactly the point.

Jesus has asked us to seek this coming reign of God with the same intensity and passion and longing with which we seek a life partner. Jesus has asked us to long for this radical re-orienting of the entire cosmos with the same dedication and yearning with which we crave human companionship. And Jesus has demanded that we stop sulking around in our loneliness and despair—to stop waiting for the fantasy of the peaceable kingdom to drop magically out of the sky—and instead get off of our rears and out of the house and actually do something to make the world ready for its arrival.

We do not know when this event will actually take place. We just know that it has been promised, as if a betrothal. And we know that we want it desperately. In the meantime, Jesus has asked us to do whatever it takes to be prepared for this coming reign of God, including using what we can learn from Harvard Business School!

So what might that something be? How might we keep our lamps trimmed and burning? How might we roll out our marketing plan in preparation for God’s eternal reign?

Maybe we can get started by doing some of the other things Jesus asked us to do, like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, and healing the sick. Maybe we can get started by committing ourselves over and over again to a culture of peace and a forgiveness of debts. Maybe we can get started by committing ourselves over and over again to loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Maybe we can get started by taking one small step at a time to love God and to love neighbor.

The wise bridesmaids among us will know that this takes hard work and dedication, that we will need to replenish our oil, that we will need to seek support from our companions on the journey. The foolish among us may think it’s just a romantic getaway, rather than a lifelong commitment through the good times and the bad.

We all get tired as we wait for The One, preparing for a kingdom that is already here but yet to come in fullness. But we can do what it takes to make sure we have enough oil to keep us going after we've fallen asleep. Because the longed-for consummation will finally come, even if it seems so incredibly impossible. And it will be a joyous feast for everyone to share.

“So always be ready, because you do not know the day or the hour the Son of Man will come.” For now, we are all bridesmaids waiting for the groom. But one day soon we will all be brides. Amen.



Gusti Linnea Newquist



(additional lectionary texts: Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)