Who are you? And how do you know who you are?

These are important questions because our lives are shaped by our sense of identity, by who and what, we think we are.

If I were to ask each of you those questions, how would you answer?

Quit often the first response that comes to us involves our employment or livelihood. We’re a musician, a plumber, a teacher, a mechanic, or a retired …….. (fill in the blank). We might go on to tell our marital and family status or give a physical description. I’m tall, I’m blonde, and I wear glasses.

While each of the things we say about ourselves is true (that is, unless we’re discussing weight or height. We never seem to recall those accurately!) – while they may be true, they are descriptions of external and superficial things about us.

Often we buy unthinkingly into identities put upon us by others – we are an employee, worker, consumer, young person, old person, poor, wealthy, middle class, upper class, etc.

Our identity is shaped by the voices we hear, voices that come from many places – parents, teachers, and friends – voices that speak to us throughout our lives.

A parent lacking in good parenting skills may tell a child over and over again, "You’re stupid. You get everything wrong. You’re jut not as smart as your brother, etc." Eventually that child will be convinced that he or she is stupid, gets everything wrong, and isn’t as smart as his or her brother.

Other parents may speak words of encouragement and support and their children will learn self-confidence and respect.

Some voices say, "You are just a cog in the vast economic system of the world, a maker and a spender of money." There are many voices that seek to define us. However, when we listen to those others, we are in danger of becoming the pathetic person in G.K. Chesterton’s famous quip: "He was born a man, but died a grocer."

The voices of history, culture, economics, politics, and society whisper to us and sometimes overwhelm us

But there is one voice and one identity that supercede anything that the world might impose on us. It’s the voice that speaks at our baptism. . It’s God’s voice speaking through the church naming you and claiming you.

On this baptism of Jesus Sunday, we would do well to remember that.

At Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, we are told that the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and that a voice from heaven was heard saying. You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." This was, in a way, Jesus’ commissioning, and the beginning of the public part of his ministry. All he did from that time onward, he was able to do because God had named him and called him God’s own He knew that God loved him. That knowledge informed his ministry, enabling him to leave his home to preach to great crowds of people across the countryside. It gave him the courage to face his trial and condemnation at the hands of Pilate. It took him to the cross to die for us.

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased."

The most important thing that Jesus’ baptism tells us is that God looks upon us, too, as unique and special beings and God says to us, "You are my beloved children."

When we are baptized, we are named. Promises are made – by our parents if we are infants, and by ourselves if we come to baptism as adults. These promises, if kept, will shape us and our future.

The questions asked:

• Do you believe in God and God’s love?
• Do you believe that God has made God’s self known to us in Jesus of Nazareth, who lived and died and lives again?
• Do you believe that God, by the Spirit, is active in the world to direct and strengthen us?

These questions define our faith. If we believe in God and accept God’s love, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again and that the Holy Spirit is present in our lives always to support and guide us, then we must also believe that we are God’s beloved children.

If our parents fulfill their promise to provide a Christian home in which to raise their children, if they encourage active participation in the faith community, then we can hear the voice that calls from the heavens "With you, I am well-pleased".

But other voices are heard at baptism. The members of the faith community must speak words of promise and commitment. They, too, have an obligation to support, encourage and honour the one being baptized, welcoming him or her into the congregation and the church.

Baptism is a time for many voices to ring out in celebration and in promise.

Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his active ministry and our awareness of our baptismal identity is a summons to a life of service to God. If we are following in Christ’s footsteps, our baptism whether we’re two weeks old or eighty-five, marks the instant that we publicly turn ourselves over to God.

We must never forget that. We must never forget who we are because if we do forget, we won’t be able to fulfill our calling.

"You are my beloved; with you I am well-pleased."

Listen to that voice ------- and always try to remember who you are.

A story appeared in The New York Times in early 1986, concerning a middle-aged man from Scarsdale who hade been involved in a minor accident in late December of 1970. He received a blow to the head and was not seriously injured, except for total amnesia. All he could remember was his first name, which was Jim, and so he wandered away from the accident site, not knowing how to go home, or even if he had a home. Days and weeks turned into months and he became a drifter, eventually landing in Philadelphia where he supported himself with odd jobs – short order cook, cleaner, etc.

His wife knew nothing of the accident – no one did – but she made every effort to find him. She hired detectives, but after two years of fruitless searching, they assumed that he must have died, so they had him declared legally dead.

But then in December of 1985 – 15 years later - Jim happened to bang his head in a certain way and the fog lifted. He suddenly knew he had to make his way home to Scarsdale. Fortunately, his wife had not moved, nor had she remarried. What an amazing, shocking, confusing and joyful scene it must have been when, after 15 years of absence, Jim rang her doorbell.

For 15 years, Jim was deprived of relationships and possessions that were rightly his. He couldn’t claim them, because he didn’t know who he was. And by the same token, he was unable to meet all his responsibilities – to his wife, his employers, and his friends. He let them down, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t do the things he should because he didn’t know who he has.

We cannot fulfill our calling and develop into the person we are meant to be, if we don’t remember who and whose we are.

Baptism tells us who we are. If affirms our inherent worthiness in God’s eyes, but baptism also challenges us to live in a way that reflects who and what we are. We must go beyond saying, "I WAS baptized" (as if something has merely been done TO us). We can instead say, "I AM baptized. This is who I am."

Now I’ve spoken this morning as if I’m assuming that every single person here has been baptized and have perhaps sounded as if those who are not baptized are somehow not quite a part of the faith community.

That is not my intention. I know a woman – not in this congregation and not in this community – who carries what she believes is a dark secret. She has never been baptized. Her parents were not church-goers and had no desire or interest in having their daughter baptized. As an adult, she began attending church. For over 50 years she has been a faithful worker in the church, a strong supporter of it, and a deeply spiritual and committed Christian. She is now too embarrassed to ask for baptism because everyone assumes that she is baptized.

To her and any like her I must say: You ARE a part of the community of faith.

God knows and loves you. And choosing baptism as an adult is a public expression of what is already true in your life.

Listen, all of you, to that most powerful and awesome voice calling out to us:

"You ARE my beloved; with you I am well-pleased."

Listen ----------------------and believe. Amen