{"id":3220,"date":"2012-01-03T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=3220"},"modified":"2011-12-25T10:30:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-25T15:30:53","slug":"january-8-2012-person-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/january-8-2012-person-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"January 8, 2012&#8211;Person of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Contributed by David Delaney, Salem, VA<\/p>\n<h3>Warm-up Questions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0What kind of people get your attention \u2013 I mean <em>really<\/em> get your attention for a good long period of time, maybe for as long as that person is willing to talk?\u00a0 Can you think of anyone you know \u2013 celebrity, friend, or otherwise \u2013 whom you would be very willing and happy to listen to non-stop for ten minutes, or an hour, or a day?\u00a0 What is it about such a person that makes you pay attention?\u00a0 New ideas?\u00a0 Personal charm?\u00a0 Fantastic stories?\u00a0 Outrageous language?\u00a0\u00a0 Alluring promises? Disaster waiting to happen?<\/li>\n<li>Imagine for a bit what must have gotten people\u2019s attention about John the Baptist.\u00a0 Mark\u2019s Gospel says that people from the whole area (maybe a 20-30 mile radius), including \u201call the people of Jerusalem\u201d were coming to see him.\u00a0 Maybe he was just an oddity for people in need of entertainment.\u00a0 Maybe people heard about him and wanted to know what all the fuss was about.\u00a0 But maybe he was a brave voice saying a new thing to a group of people who had kind of given up because of their situation.\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 What intrigues a group of people who are overtaxed, ruled by an occupying foreign power, feeling abandoned by God, and just in general watching their hopes and dreams fade?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Person of the Year<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/01\/shutterstock_82046311edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3253\" style=\"margin: 5px\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2012\/01\/shutterstock_82046311edit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>At the end of each year, news organizations and publications release their editorial choices for \u201cnewsmaker of the year\u201d or a similar title.\u00a0 For 2011, many names came to the top:\u00a0 Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry, Pope Benedict XVII, Harold Camping (remember him?\u00a0 He was the guy who predicted the end of the world for May), Apple Founder Steve Jobs, and as always, the President.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Time Magazine named as Person of the Year \u201cThe Protestor,\u201d not a specific individual, but anyone &#8211;\u00a0 from the Tea Partiers to the Occupy Movementeers to the Egyptian and Syrian Protestors \u2013 who takes a stand against what they think is unjust power and wealth concentrated in the hands of a few.\u00a0 Recall that the so-called \u201cArab Spring\u201d of protests in northern Africa began in Tunisia not by a great philosopher or statesman, but when an otherwise unknown man named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after claiming he was slapped by a policewoman.\u00a0\u00a0 Many, many important and notable people could have been named to the top news spot for 2011, but in the end it was people whose names had never really been mentioned before.<\/p>\n<p>Notice that in the story of Jesus\u2019 baptism which is our focus this week, Jesus himself is a bit player.\u00a0 Most of the action and all of the dialogue are from John the Baptist and the \u201cvoice from heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Lots of important and notable people &#8211; including John the Baptist \u2013 could have been called by God to be the ones who would deliver the news about the coming Kingdom of God, as Jesus does in verse 15, and then to carry it all through Galilee and on to Jerusalem and the cross.\u00a0\u00a0 But Jesus seems to come out of nowhere, at least in Mark\u2019s gospel.\u00a0 And in some ways, that makes perfect sense.\u00a0 His place of birth (Bethlehem) had some history behind it, but his hometown of Nazareth was a village so small and insignificant that it was not mentioned in any other sources of the day.\u00a0 The other gospels have portions of Jesus\u2019 ministry set there, but Mark doesn\u2019t even mention Nazareth except when he is identifying Jesus.\u00a0 When John announced that one was coming who would be even greater (more popular?) than he was, surely everyone expected Time\u2019s Person of the Year, a great national leader, a great religious figure, someone of fame, power, and stature.\u00a0 Who would have thought that the man that heaven would have identified as God\u2019s beloved and well-pleasing Son would be this uncredentialed person from the middle of nowhere?<\/p>\n<h3>Discussion Questions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Does Jesus ever surprise you, coming out of nowhere to join in the work of your life like he did John\u2019s?<\/li>\n<li>Think back over your past year. Who would have been your personal &#8220;Person of the Year,&#8221; the person most influenced your life for good or ill?<\/li>\n<li>How carefully do we watch for God or listen for a voice from heaven when those who are seemingly small and insignificant cross our paths?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, January 8, 2012 (Baptism of Our Lord)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=191566704\">\u00a0Genesis 1:1-5<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=191566736\">Acts 19:1-7<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=191566771\">Mark 1:4-11<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Text links are to <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/\">Oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Growing-In-Faith\/Worship\/Lectionary.aspx\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\">Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0Gospel Reflection<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s possible that the way we probably imagine the baptism of John &#8211; as people stepping into water, being washed or dipped, and then stepping out again \u2013 may not be the best way to visualize it.\u00a0 Although it is rarely depicted this way, it is just as likely that we should imagine these people standing on the opposite bank of the Jordan from Judea, looking back west in agony over the economic and personal oppression brought by the Roman Empire as well as the deep sense of hurt and resentment at this pagan power having possession of the promised land that was supposed to have belonged to the Jews.\u00a0 As they stood in the same place the original Israelites under Joshua had stood prior to their entry into the promised land, filled with despair and hope that God would finally do something, they would then come across the river again, just as the first Israelites had done, but this time being washed as they went, signifying that here was a people ready to occupy their promised land once again, not by virtue of their fighting or political skill, but by their repentance, that is, their readiness to be the representatives of God\u2019s gracious law and mercy.\u00a0\u00a0 When we are baptized, we too are walking through a little re-creation of the Jordan river, waters that take us from being a people of no homeland to being a people of God\u2019s own land.\u00a0 Only now the <em>land<\/em> is no longer a section of real estate, but is instead our <em>lives<\/em>, remade in the pattern of Christ\u2019s self-giving death and resurrection.\u00a0 As the Israelites crossed the Jordan to a life of freedom and responsibility, and as John\u2019s followers crossed the Jordan to a life of discipleship and witness, so we carry our baptism with us as a reminder, always speaking to us of God\u2019s hopeful declaration of a promised land \u2013 the community of God\u2019s people now and the hope of the life to come.<\/p>\n<h3>Discussion Questions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Sometimes we dream of spending time with celebrities or meeting famous and important people.\u00a0 Would we want to meet John the Baptist?\u00a0 Hang out with him?\u00a0 Follow his fashion example?\u00a0 Share his special diet?\u00a0\u00a0 If John the Baptist came to your town, or even your church, what would the reaction be?<\/li>\n<li>In all of the gospels, John is always the one who \u201cprepares the way\u201d for the coming of Christ.\u00a0 He also prepares people to hear and receive the good news of God\u2019s love and grace.\u00a0 How have people done that for you over the years and who have those people been?\u00a0 And what are some ways you can be that person for others?<\/li>\n<li>Notice that verse one is more of a title than a sentence. We might paraphrase it as a sentence:\u00a0 \u201cGood news begins here!\u00a0 \u2026 with Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God!\u201d\u00a0 except that the very next verse goes back to a passage of good news from hundreds of years earlier, from the prophet Isaiah.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t this also show us that proclaiming the good news doesn\u2019t just start with talking about Jesus, but looking back and seeing how God has been hard at work in the lives of a person or a group of people, preparing them over time to be receptive to Christ once he appears?\u00a0 How do we see God working like that in ourselves or in others or in our schools or in our families or in the society around us?<\/li>\n<li>The Judean wilderness was a rocky desert, watered only by the occasional natural spring, a place where it was easy to become disoriented and dehydrated.\u00a0 In the history of God\u2019s people, the wilderness had always signified two things:\u00a0 death to those who were sent there, and the possibility of new life.\u00a0 When in our own lives do we experience that kind of barrenness?<\/li>\n<li>When we hear \u201ca baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins\u201d we probably think we know what that means because of baptisms we have seen in our churches, and we know what \u201crepentance,\u201d \u201cforgiveness,\u201d and \u201csins\u201d are.\u00a0 So we conclude that in John\u2019s day people with guilty consciences were lined up by the water and by being baptized were no longer guilty for their evil deeds.\u00a0 But we probably do better to reexamine what the Judeans\u2019 experience with those ideas was.\u00a0 \u201cSin\u201d was not just something one did wrong, it was an awareness of a broken relationship with God.\u00a0 \u201cForgiveness\u201d was not only the cancellation of guilt, but the restoration of relationship on the basis of God\u2019s freely-given grace.\u00a0 \u201cRepentance\u201d was an acknowledgement of our responsibility for breaking that relationship in the first place and the desire and willingness to turn in directions that would not disrupt that relationship in the future.\u00a0 What are our own definitions of these words?<\/li>\n<li>When John promises that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit, what does that mean?\u00a0\u00a0 In the Christian tradition, the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity.\u00a0\u00a0 To baptize means to dip or immerse, so John says that Jesus will make it so that you are completely surrounded \u2013 as close as water is to your skin when you are walking through the Jordan \u2013 with the same love that he and his Father share.\u00a0 What does this kind of promise mean to us?\u00a0 Are we drawn to the promise of that kind of intimacy and honesty with God that this would bring?<\/li>\n<li>Students of Mark\u2019s gospel point to the connection between 1:10 \u2013 the heavens being torn open \u2013 and 15:18 \u2013 where the curtain of the temple (which was a tapestry of a vision of heaven) is torn in two.\u00a0 Both images \u2013 the one at the beginning of the gospel and the one at the end \u2013 speak of the complete removal of any obstacle between God and God\u2019s people with the arrival of Jesus.\u00a0 Yet we still often feel like God is absent from our lives or from the tragedies and injustices of the world.\u00a0 What kinds of things still separate us like a curtain from God?\u00a0\u00a0 Can we have closeness with God at the same time as we experience God\u2019s distance, silence, or hiddenness?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Activity Suggestions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Baptism is our adoption into God\u2019s family as God\u2019s child, and God is \u201c<em>very pleased\u201d<\/em> (Mark 1:11) that this is so.\u00a0 As a way of testing how your life would be affected if you always had a reminder of that gracious truth, take an index card and write the words of verse 11, starting with your own first name, \u201c_____, You are my beloved child;\u00a0 with you I am well pleased.\u201d\u00a0 Fold this index card and carry it around with you all week, in a pocket or purse where you will come across it often.\u00a0 Then pay attention to how hearing this word from God \u2013 a reminder of your adoption \u2013 changes the way you think about yourself and the world around you.<\/li>\n<li>Take a look at the John the Baptist story in the other three gospels.\u00a0 If possible, obtain the page from \u201cSynopsis of the Four Gospels\u201d that has all four versions side-by-side or find a column chart of the four versions of the story on the internet.\u00a0 Notice that there are various differences, but also that Jesus\u2019 baptism is one of the stories of Jesus that is in all four gospels and is a very important part of the gospel narrative.\u00a0 What might some of the differences mean in terms of the special emphasis each gospel writer is trying to make?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Closing Prayer<\/h3>\n<p>Almighty God, you have invited people throughout history to be both servants and children.\u00a0 Bring us with the Israelites of old, the disciples of John, and Jesus himself, through the cleansing waters of the Jordan to lives of repentance and joy, so that our lives may be places of your promise and that others may be inspired and invited to join us in your gentle and glorious kingdom.\u00a0 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributed by David Delaney, Salem, VA Warm-up Questions \u00a0What kind of people get your attention \u2013 I mean really get your attention for a good long period of time, maybe for as long as that person is willing to talk?\u00a0 Can you think of anyone you know \u2013 celebrity, friend, or otherwise \u2013 whom you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[190,6031,485,467,414,397,6032,331,418],"class_list":["post-3220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-baptism","tag-fame","tag-holy-spirit","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-obedience","tag-person-of-the-year","tag-witness","tag-witnessing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>January 8, 2012-Person of the Year - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/january-8-2012-person-of-the-year\/\" \/>\n<meta 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