Sermon for September 9, 2018 
Read Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3:16, 21-38You might be wondering why I decided to choose one of the classically most boring types of scripture for our passage today. Generally speaking whenever the scripture has long lists of names, one after the other, we skip them in church, knowing that they make people's eyes glaze over and lose interest that you might not get back.
Which is true. But they are also important. It's important because on some level we all want to know where are roots are. Who we belong too. And what these genealogies do is allow people to have a reference point for Jesus. Matthew begins his gospel with this genealogy which stretches back through David and through him to Abraham, two of the most important figures in the history of the Israelites. And it also includes foreigners, women, and kings who failed. It says a lot about how anyone can play a part, anyone can make a difference; just from a list of names.
And here in Luke, that list goes back even farther, all the way to Adam. Luke is trying to make it clear that God didn't just intend to save the Jewish people, his chosen people, but instead, God is seeking to save the whole world. His gospel is the one that was written by a gentile for the gentiles and he is trying to include everyone.
There’s a commercial right now for Ancestry.com, that says: "If you knew that your great grandfather build an empire, or that your great grandmother fought one. If you knew they stayed strong in a time of pain, or wild in the face of the law. If you knew how they fled the old world to build a new one, and never let anyone tell them no. If you knew what they did, what would you do?"
There is a resurgence of popularity these days in finding out our roots. The idea is if we know our roots, can touch our heritage it influences who we are today. Sites like Ancestry, or 23 and me are designed to help us touch back to our history and where we come from. And the act of knowing changes how we behave today.
I am not an expert on my own ancestry, but I do know a couple of things. I know that I am scottish, and what clains I am tied to. When I went to Scotland, looking up where my ancestors came from gave me link to the country I didn’t have other places I visited. Having history there somehow meant a little bit more. History does influence us.
I know people who have started studying the cultures they know they are descended from when they found out. I know one man who got so interested in studying the food and recipes of his polish background that he became a pastry chef, and met his wife in culinary school. Learning about his heritage changed his life.
And through our baptism, we are connected to the great and illustrious history of the church. We join this family of God and we can claim this lineage that Luke walks us through. As the apostle Paul said, "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body." This living, vibrant variety-in-oneness body is enriched by each baptism, building the community of faith.
When we look at the history of First Presbyterian, we can see people who went out on a limb for their faith. Who truly put their treasure where their hearts were, building and improving this amazing building, giving to the missions of the church. People who gave their time and skills over the years, establishing our wonderful music program, Christian education and events like the harvest dinner. When we celebrate everyone who built and maintained this community today, we are also celebrating our part within it, and our responsibility to be good stewards of it for the future.
So, through your own baptism you are connected to all of the generations that worked and built the church here from the original sixteen people who started this church in a band. And through them to the Presbyterian church as a whole which grew and spread from the teachings of Calvin, who talked about the amazing power of God's grace that is a gift offered to us. And to Luther who stood up and said that the word needed to be accessible to everyone. To the monks during the dark ages who did their best to keep knowledge alive and helped to care for those during times of sickness. And back to Emperor Constantine, making the church not just allowed, but encouraged. And to the people hiding in the caves at the beginning of Christianity desperate to hear the words of this Teacher from Jerusalem that they would risk their very lives to do so. All the way back to Jesus.
We are connected as part of the family of God. We are God's beloved children. And that comes with an amazing heritage of people who have stood up for others, worked for what is right and served the kingdom the very best they could. As we honor 200 years here at this church, we can celebrate the history that we are a part of.
When we remember our baptism, we are remembering who we belong to. "You are my beloved;" God says that to each of us, bringing us into this community, bringing us into God's family and making us part of that heritage. Through baptism God tells us "I choose you as part of My family. I choose you to possess Divine legacy. I choose to ‘walk with you through the waters, and the rivers shall not overwhelm you ... and to walk with you through the fire, and the flames shall not consume you ... You are precious and honored in my sight, and I love you ... So fear not, for I choose to be with you.’ in all things, in all times, in all places, in all circumstances, now and forever. I choose to love you whether or not you are always lovable." That's the message of Baptism, one which should grip and inspire us: It is a symbol that we are claimed by God and part of that family.
Remembering that can help pull us through even hard times. An ancient Christian catechism describes baptism as a "visible sign of invisible grace." By the grace of God, we are surrounded and upheld every day. The great Protestant Martin Luther was plagued at times by a sense of unworthiness and despair. To drive back those demons, he kept an inscription over his desk that read, "Remember, you have been baptized." Often, he would touch his forehead and remind himself, "Martin, you have been baptized."
Today, we remind ourselves of our own baptisms. We remind ourselves of our heritage. And we celebrate all of those in our church family that have gone before us, making this community possible. Our heritage comes with a calling, and next week we will talk about that.
But for this week, remember: you are God’s beloved child, part of a great family in the faith, and nothing can take that away from you.
