Century Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)

1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor:  Rev. Jim Westmoreland

Have You Been Affirmed Lately?
Matthew 3:13-17
by Jim Westmoreland

In this season of Epiphany we look again at what God might reveal to us. Today, our text is the baptism of Jesus by John. Here we have two men with vastly different temperaments and styles.

There is not a clash, but there is an intersection of contrasts in this meeting of Jesus and John. Jesus comes from Galilee with its agrarian life of farmers and fishermen and its vibrant Sea of Galilee.. John comes from the desert with its barrenness, its caves, its ascetics and its Dead Sea. John's message has been repentance and judgment. Jesus message becomes repentance and forgiveness.

In v. 17 Matthew reads "And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." It is in the third person. Mark and Luke make this much more personal by using the second person. "You are my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." They become a warm affirmation as Jesus is about to begin his ministry. What a way to begin a new stage in one's life, a new ministry, a new job! What a way to start a new year! What a thing to know before undertaking a special mission!

Like Jesus, through our Baptism, God blesses us with His love and affirmation. Before Jesus had even begun his ministry, God affirmed Him. He has done the same with us so that we might live our lives as a ministry to others sharing with them the power of God's loving affirmation, acceptance and forgiveness.

Claude Steiner, a clinical psychologist and author of Emotional Literacy, The Warm Fuzzy Tale and Scripts People Live⁽¹⁾, tells this story, Once upon a time, a long time ago there lived two very happy people called Tim and Maggi with their two children, John and Lucy.

To understand how happy they were you have to understand how things were in those days. You see, in those happy days everyone was given, at birth, a small soft Fuzzy Bag. Anytime a person reached into this bag he was able to pull out a Warm Fuzzy.

Warm Fuzzies were very much in demand because whenever somebody was given a Warm Fuzzy it made him feel warm and fuzzy all over. People who didn't get Warm Fuzzies regularly were in danger of getting sick and shriveling up and dying.

In those days it was very easy to get Warm Fuzzies. Anytime that somebody felt like it, he might walk up to you and say, "I'd like to have a Warm Fuzzy." You would then reach into your bag and pull out a Fuzzy the size of a little girl's hand.

As soon as the Fuzzy saw the light of day it would smile and blossom into a large shaggy Warm Fuzzy. You then would lay it on the person's shoulder or head or lap and it would snuggle up and melt right against their skin and make them feel good all over.

People were always asking each other for Warm Fuzzies, and since they were always given freely, getting enough of them was never a problem.

There were always plenty to go around, and as a consequence everyone was happy and felt warm and fuzzy most of the time.

But, one day a bad witch became angry because everyone was so happy and no one was buying potions and salves. The witch was very clever and devised a very wicked plan.

One morning, the witch crept up to Tim while Maggi was playing with their daughter and whispered in his ear, "See here, Tim, look at all the Fuzzies that Maggi is giving to Lucy. You know, if she keeps it up, eventually she is going to run out and then there won't be any left for you."

Tim was astonished and said, "Do you mean to tell me that there isn't a Warm Fuzzy in our bag every time we reach into it?" And the witch said, "No, absolutely not, and once you run out, that's it. You don't have any more."

Tim began to hoard his warm fuzzies, and he convinced Maggi to do the same. It wasn't long before John and Lucy were doing that same as their parents. It spread through school to all the families in the town. Very few warm fuzzies were given anymore.

Soon people began to notice the lack of Warm Fuzzies, and they began to feel less warm and less fuzzy. They began to shrivel up, and, occasionally, people would die from lack of Warm Fuzzies.

More and more people went to the witch to buy potions and salves even though they didn't seem to work. The bad witch didn't really want the people to die (since dead people couldn't buy salves and potions) so she devised a new plan. Everyone was given a bag that was cold while the Fuzzy Bag was warm. Inside were Cold Pricklies. These Cold Pricklies did not make people feel warm and fuzzy, but they made them feel cold and prickly instead.

But, they did prevent people from shriveling up and dying. So, from then on, every time somebody said, "I want a Warm Fuzzy," people who were worried about depleting their supply would say, "I can't give you a Warm Fuzzy, but, here, have a Cold Prickly instead." So while very few people were dying, a lot of people were still unhappy and feeling very Cold and Prickly.

So the situation got really bad, and it all started because of the coming of the witch who made people believe that some day, when least expected, they might reach into their Warm Fuzzy Bag and find no more. Their power to bless others had been lost to worrying about themselves and losing the warm fuzzies that they had.

After a while, a large, grandmotherly looking woman with a happy smile came to this unhappy land. She seemed not to have heard about the witch and was not worried about running out of Warm Fuzzies. She gave them out freely, even when not asked. So, some people didn't like her for that. But, the children liked her very much because they felt good around her. And it wasn't long before they, too, began to give out Warm Fuzzies whenever they felt like it.

The grownups became concerned and decided to pass a law to protect the children from using up their supplies of Warm Fuzzies. The law made it a criminal offense to give out Warm Fuzzies in a reckless manner, without a license.

Many children, however, seemed not to know or care, and in spite of the law they continued to give each other Warm Fuzzies whenever they felt like it and always when asked.

Because there were many, many children...almost as many as grownups...it began to look as if maybe the children would have their way. Will the forces of law and order stop the children? Or will they continue to bless others by sharing their warm fuzzies?

The struggle spread all over the land, even to right here where we live. If you want to, and I hope you do, you can make a difference by giving and asking for Warm Fuzzies and by being as loving and healthy as you can.

What happens when we in the church hear, feel and are empowered by God's affirmation of our identity, mission and purpose for existing in its community and in the world?

God's voice of affirmation is not the "it could be you" of a lot of lottery ads, but, rather it is the "it is you" of God's commissioning. It's the voice Moses heard in the burning bush, the voice Samuel heard as a young boy, the voice Isaiah heard in the Temple, the voice Jeremiah heard though he thought he was too young, the voice Paul heard on the road to Damascus. It is the voice of God calling.

"It's not often a loud voice, but it is usually persistent; it is not often the voice we are expecting to hear, but it is always the voice we need to hear. It is a quiet voice, though, easily drowned out, easily shrugged off, easily missed."⁽²⁾

This morning, it is time that we heard God's affirmation of us. It will change our lives, and it will change the world!

Endnotes:

1. From Claude Steiner's website, http://www.emotional-literacy.com/