Today, this first Sunday in a new year, we celebrate new beginnings! Today we celebrate the baptism of
Jesus and the beginning of his ministry here among us! Today we celebrate and remember our own baptisms, our
inaugurations onto our spiritual journeys! On this day of new beginnings we will ordain and install new
elders and deacons into a new service; and after church I meet with the parents
of new Confirmands who will become new church members on Palm Sunday. There are lots of new beginnings
to celebrate!
Spiritual beginnings & 'born again'
(Come down to the font
and pour water) The waters of
baptism are like the waters of birth – they remind us that a new person in
Christ is coming into being. Becoming a
believer, answering God’s call, responding to the Spirit working in us – this
is so dramatic that it’s like being born again.
I know some of our friends at school and neighbors in town throw around
the term 'born again' to mean a specific date when you do and say specific
things and are converted; I was raised in that kind of theology, too. Over time, I grew to see that for most folks,
that 'born again' experience became a end of their journey, a 'proof' that they
were in and others were out, that they had it right and the rest were going to
hell. And it came to me that they had
missed the whole point – being born is only the beginning of a long journey of
life, not the end.
Yes, some people seem to have dramatic conversion stories – but
the truth is, the Holy Spirit of God was calling them a long time before – doing
that inner work of convicting, convincing, beckoning, wooing. Poetically, one author said it was like being
followed by the Hound of Heaven – God wouldn’t leave off calling. And still, when he gave in and submitted to
the call, it was a starting line, not a finish line.
Others of us are raised among the stories and characters of
Scripture, with the story of God seeking people through Israel and then through Christ
swirling around us like good friends. We
know God’s Spirit long before we can name it as the Holy Spirit. We’re more like the child Samuel, already
serving in the Temple until hearing God’s voice is normal – our sense of call
develops and evolves.
And it is no less dramatic, though perhaps the drama is
stretched over some years. Because the
new birth of a soul is something bigger than anything else we will ever do,
with longer lasting repercussions, and with deeper impact on who we, a
transformative event that only can be described as a new birth. It’s not like joining Rotary or Kiwanis; it’s
not like joining the Scouts or a soccer team.
It’s more like becoming a citizen of a new country – the kindom of God,
and taking on all the new values and history and future. It’s more like, in the familiar words of
Amazing Grace, suddenly receiving sight after having been blind. God’s Spirit now births a new life, a new
purpose, a new identity in us – and we know this was who God meant for us to be
all along.
Similes for baptism
Baptism isn’t when that inner changing and being born as a
spiritual person happens – baptism, or our confirmation, whenever we make that
public profession of faith, is just that – a public profession - a public declaration that the change has
begun, and we recognize it, and we affirm it, and we celebrate it.
We get a NEW FAMILY –
we are now among the family of God.
Jesus says some difficult things about who are my mothers and brothers
and sisters – Jesus says his family are those who do the will of God. It doesn't matter any longer if your earthly
family is prominent in town or from the wrong side of the tracks according to
people who just see with human eyes. In
baptism, we are joined to God’s great family, sisters and brothers with Christ,
children of God. And a great family it
is – all colors, all genders, all races, all ages, some from long ago in human
history and some probably not even born yet in the future. A family of people who in human lives are
slaves as well as masters, poor as well as wealthy, educated as well as
illiterate, from the upstairs as well as from the downstairs, from the jungles
as well as from the cities as well as from the farms. Being a Christian is the great egalitarian
family, where nothing of our human estate matters; all that matters is how we
love and serve God.
When we go through the waters of baptism we get a NEW COUNTRY. We are no longer Americans or
Chinese or Russian or Afghani or Mexican – we are citizens of heaven, citizens
of God’s realm. Many of us talk about
how good it is to be home, to return home – when we are citizens of God’s
realm, that’s the home we long for – where God’s will is done on earth as in
heaven.
And it takes at least our whole life.
You know, when we go to school, we go through graduations to new things – there’s an end, at least a marking of some stage being
completed. We graduate from Middle
School,. High School, college, we finish our graduate work or post-graduate
work. I admit that sometimes it FEELS like there’s no
end to schooling…but there are endings along the way.
Actually, it’s a great thing to be a life-long learner, to never lose
that curiosity or joy at new things.
I know of no one in the Christian journey that can honestly
say they've graduated, or 'arrived.' And unfortunately
there really aren't any 'schools' to graduate from in terms of being a follower
of Christ; there are no blue ribbons to mark winners of the race, or world
records of spirituality, no classes at Hogwarts to mark our growing prowess. So there’s
really no objective way to measure how our faith is doing. It’s really all between us and God. Some people do seem to settle for getting just so
far and calling it quits, and want to think they’re 'all that.’ Some people do seem to think that when they
reach a certain age they are entitled to never change again. Some people seem to think there comes a time
when they've done enough, when their prayer life is sufficient, when their
understanding of the Scriptures is completed, when their relationship with God
needs no improvement – yet they've stopped too soon.
Because how can we be a follower of Christ if we aren't seeing
where Christ is going and following? And
how can we be a disciple if we aren't taking on spiritual disciplines? And how can we take Jesus’ yoke and learn of
him if we aren't studying what he said and did?
How can our minds be transformed by the renewing of our faith if we aren't immersed in spiritual things? And
how can we be joining Christ in the reconciling of the world unless we are
working and serving in Christ’s name?
Nothing is lost as we continually live into our baptism.
Everything in our life
from this moment forward is grist for the Holy Spirit. We might memorize the whole Bible and be able
to parrot back any verse – there’s still the living of it to comprehend. We might attend Sunday School faithfully for
25 years and still not have a handle on our mean temper. We might know the words to all the hymns of
the past and still resist following the Spirit into the future. We might have tithed regularly for 40 years
and still be so tempted by power. There’s always something to be revealed, something that needs the light
of Christ and the washing waters of baptism. Though I speak with the voice of angels, and have enough faith to move
mountains, and give my body to be burned, and become a major figure in the
church hierarchy, and write the definitive book on ancient Hebrew, if I have
not love, I am nothing.
I thank God for each and every one here is on that journey of faith, whether we've formally professed our faith or are still seeking at some level. May we each have ears, eyes and hearts open as the Spirit of God calls us along the next steps of our journey. AMEN.
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