Homily for the Baptism of the Lord- January 10, 2010

One horrific night seventy years ago, Nazi thugs desecrated and set fire to the synagogue in a small German village. The small Jewish community rushed to save their synagogue, but it was too late. The heart of their community was destroyed.
Many synagogues across Germany were destroyed that November night in 1938 – the infamous ‘Kristallnacht’ or “Night of Broken Glass” during which thousands of Jews were murdered, arrested, and deported. The message was clear: ‘get out’.
A few weeks after the fire, a young Jewish couple in the village heard a knock on their door. It was the local policeman. The couple was terrified. “Don’t be afraid,” the policeman said softly. “I won’t hurt you. I have something to give you.” The wife backed away, but the husband said, “What is it?”
“A Torah,” the policeman said. “A what?”
The policeman explained that he had seen the Torah lying in the street as the synagogue burned and thought that it was not right for a holy book to be treated so badly. So he took the heavy scroll home and buried it in his garden. When he heard that the young couple, who lives a few houses from his, was packing to leave, he hoped they might take it with them.
The wife suspected a trick, but the husband had known the policeman since he was a boy and knew him to be a decent, honorable man. He agreed to take the Torah. The next night the policeman brought the sacred scrolls wrapped a blanket, like a child. The following day the Torah was rolled in a living room carpet and placed in a huge crate the couple was shipping by boat to Haifa.
The rescued Torah is now in an Israeli synagogue build by German Jews, including the couple, who settled here during the war. The Torah’s edges are soiled and slightly charred, but it Five Books of Moses are there for all to read, thank to one honorable policeman. (America magazine, November 10 issue)
As at Jesus baptism, the Spirit of God descends upon us “like a dove” transforming our simplest acts of compassion and generosity into manifestations of Emmanuel—‘God with us.” Baptism is more than a ritual of anointing with water---we are baptized in the Spirit of God, the Spirit that enables us to experience the holy in every moment of our lives and realize God’s hand in every element of creation. That Spirit emboldened a German policeman to put aside his own fear of the consequences of his being discovered to do the work of Christ-like justice, a work that has resounded through history. The same Spirit of peace and compassion that resided within Jesus resides within us, as it resided in that policeman, making even our simplest works of compassion and justice revelations of God’s presence in our world.
I would like to share with you a poem entitled “What Do I Believe?” The poem reads:
“The world tells me I am only a spark, but Jesus says I can be a fire. The world tells me I am only a string, but Jesus says I can be a lyre. The world tells me I am only an anthill, but Jesus says I can be a mountain. The world tells me I am only a feather, but Jesus says I can be a wing. The world tells me I am only a beggar, but Jesus says I can be a king.”
And as we pray on this feast of the Baptism of the Lord, I would like to close with the final sentence of John F. Kenney’s Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961. “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own”. This is what our baptism is all about.