Isaiah 9.1-4; Matthew 4.12-23

One of the important themes of today’s service is that of new beginnings.

Our Gospel reading follows the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, a turning-point in his life. Before the period of forty days he spent in isolation he had as far as we know a pretty normal Jewish life. Other than the birth narratives, his dedication in the temple and the flight to Egypt, the only thing we know about his early life is the story of his parents losing him when he was 12. If there had been other significant things, no doubt there would be some record of them.

The first public event in Jesus’s life appears to have been his baptism, after which he was compelled to spend time in the wilderness.
It was only after that ordeal, in which three times he pushed away the temptation to do other than God desired, that his begins his ministry in public. And today’s Gospel reading is Matthew’s version of that beginning of ministry.

John the Baptist had made it clear that his own ministry was finite, that he was a forerunner to the one who was to come, and we see this happening now in practice. John is in prison, out of the way, unable to carry out any more ministry, and Jesus takes centre stage.

It’s a new beginning. And Jesus goes also to a new place, a place away from the religious centre of Jerusalem, to a much more mixed area where Jews and Gentiles lived. Matthew makes clear, as he so often does in his Gospel, how Jesus’s actions are a fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. And, in this case, we heard the prophecy itself in our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah.
Mollie too is at a beginning. Baptism marks the start of her life as a member of the Church, a part of Christ’s body here on earth. Of course, she is too young to acknowledge that for herself so her parents and godparents are here today to do that for her, but we hope and pray that as she grows, she will come to turn their promises into reality in her life.

Baptism is a sign of turning to Christ, of recognising the need for Christ in one’s life and of our need and dependence on him.

Jesus’s call at the start of his ministry echoed that of John the Baptist - repent. Repentance too is about new beginnings. To repent means to acknowledge our shortcomings and to turn towards Christ, recognising and receiving his grace and forgiveness. We use the wonderful symbol of water to represent God’s forgiveness, a washing away of all that is sinful and a making clean again.

Repentance is about coming before God in humility and being honest about where we’re at, being honest about the areas of our life that are not under his rule. It’s about an acceptance that we need forgiveness, that we need God’s help, if we are to live his way.

All this is represented in the sacrament of baptism. We are saying today that we trust that as Mollie grows, she too will learn the wonder of God’s new beginnings given to us through forgiveness.

Baptism is also a welcome, a welcome to her into the church family, not just the part of that family that worships here in Barkway but right across the world. The Christian community is Christ’s Body here on earth. Jesus’s message of repentance was followed by a proclamation that the kingdom of heaven - the kingdom of God as the other Gospel writers term it - has come near.

Being part of the kingdom of heaven is not about being in a particular physical place, but about acknowledging God’s rule as king. Although God’s kingdom has not yet fully come, in some sense Christians are already a part of that, and we acknowledge that in baptism by welcoming Mollie into God’s family.

Of course, we can’t make decisions for her when she is old enough to do that for herself, but we can hope and trust and pray that she will make the decision to follow Christ. In a few moments we will all promise to welcome and uphold her in her new life in Christ - every time we baptise a child or adult, we as the Christian community become responsible for helping them to grow in faith.

Jesus’s call to Simon and Andrew was “Follow me.” For them, a new beginning, a complete change round in their lives. And that call is a call for each one of us; and it’s that call we hope and pray that Mollie will respond to when the time is right.

But Jesus’s call to those first two disciples had two parts. “Follow me”, and “I will make you fish for people.” Often we forget that our commissioning to Christian service comes with our baptism. Christian service is certainly not something reserved purely for those of us who are ordained. It’s something to which every Christian is called.

Simon and Andrew were given a new task, a new work, when Jesus called them to follow him. And Jesus calls each one of us to take part in God’s work in the world. Some of the tasks to which we are called are specific - those first disciples had a call to be evangelists, to gather people round Jesus.
Some people will have specific calls to work full-time in the church. But others will be rightly working in the secular sphere with all the challenges that that entails.

There are some tasks that are for all of us, and others that are specific to us. But one thing that is a call to each one of us is that we should bear God’s light wherever we go. Jesus brought that light into the world; we are called to share it. At the end of this service we will give Mollie a candle to show that God’s light is something that goes out into the world with us - it’s not stuck inside the four walls of a church building.

Jesus himself is the light; as our light, he will guide us through the path of our lives; but we are called to be lights ourselves, bearing God’s light into the world.

So, let us remind ourselves of all the new beginnings on which we are reflecting this morning.

There’s the beginning of Mollie’s journey of faith. There’s the symbolic representation within baptism of God’s forgiveness, God giving us a clean start, a new beginning, when we separate ourselves from him through our sin. There’s the start of Mollie’s membership of the church, recognising that she is part of Christ’s body, here on earth. And there is inherent in baptism, the commissioning to some form of ministry in Christ’s Church.

In a few moments we will sing a hymn based on Isaiah’s calling, which brings in all those themes of new beginnings - recognising our salvation from sin, being part of God’s people, responding to God’s calling and commissioning to service.

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I pray that Mollie will grow to make that response her own, and that as we move into singing that hymn following her baptism, we will do so reflecting on the words we sing, and on our commitment to Christ, to following him, and, for those who are baptised, recalling the promises made by us or by others on our behalf.

Mollie, may God bless you in all that you do; may you come to know his love and his grace; and may the light of God shine in your life. Amen.