Church #2 - Remembering Our Baptism 1/12/20 Baptism of the Lord -A

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L.  Kiser

Church #2 - Remembering Our Baptism

1/12/20   Baptism of the Lord A

            Last week we talked about the confusing ways we use the word ‘Church’ to mean several things: to refer to our building, and to refer to our gathered group here, which is the real meaning of the Greek word ecclesia,;and a local part of the whole Capital-C Church universal.  As we are beginning to look towards our future, our purpose and our mission as Jamesville Community Church, I asked us to pay attention to which of these meanings we meant, when we used the word ‘church,’ and seek to direct our pondering to the Biblical meaning of the word ie the gathering group of called-out Christ-followers. In other words, wherever we, this group, meets, whatever building or non-building, we are the church.  I want there to be no confusion when we talk further about our vision for the church and the mission of the church, that we are talking about a called-out and gathered people, and not buildings, as significant to our mission and ministry as that building may be.  I want us to be clear that when we speak of the overall purpose of church in Scripture, we are talking of all congregations that profess to follow Jesus Christ, and that we people here at Jamesville are an arm of that larger church, living out our following of Jesus Christ in this specific locale, and under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.  

            This Sunday, today, we’ve remembered our own baptism on the traditional Baptism of Jesus Sunday.  I’m hoping we will indeed remember that we are baptized & what that means in our current life. Remembering our baptism is a good way to begin a new year and a new decade. Now we have both a Star Word from last week, Epiphany, & a water drop from today to set ourselves on a faith journey this year! 

            So let’s talk about baptism for few minutes. How many here were baptized at an age where you actually remember it?  As an older child, or at Confirmation, or as an adult? OK.  For many of us, baptism is the way we formally entered the church: we professed our faith, we took a stand with the message of Jesus Christ, and declared ourselves to be a Christ-follower, promising to turn FROM evil and turn TO God.  We also became a member of the church.  

      Who here were baptized as infants or toddlers, & don’t actually have a personal memory of the day? OK.  For  those of us baptised as young children, our parents promised to raise us to know and love Jesus Christ and be his disciple, and we confirmed our baptisms at Confirmation, claiming for ourselves that we now identified with the Jesus way, we promised to be Christ’s disciples and to follow what he taught. We joined the Capital-C Church universal, the Body of Christ, and we also became members of a specific local church.  At least in the Presbyterain sacrament of baptism, the questions asked at Confirmation are the exact same questions asked of our parents in infant baptism, and of adults in adult baptism. 

            Like many rituals, this acting out of our profession of faith isn’t necessarily the very moment our hearts say YES to God, or the very moment that faith starts.  Like plants and like human life, faith starts in secret ways, underground or in the dark.  The outward things we do are our public professions or our belief in God, whether for ourselves or for our children. Although we see baptism as a grace and a sacrament, it’s not magic.  More on this later.

            I’ve had people tell me that they don’t much care for the idea of standing in front of a crowd and getting wet.  Maybe it IS a weird ritual; it’s so much a part of my world that it seems normal to me!  There’s a lot of symbolism in the actions of baptism, and a lot of history.  We Protestants generally see baptism more as an outward and visible sign of an inward reality.  I’ll say that again because that’s a line I remember from seminary: an outward and visible sign of an inward reality. The important part is what’s going on inside between us and God: the decision to follow Christ (theologically of course God was already seeking us), to be identified as as a Christ-follower; the public declaration of choosing the faith and gospel taught by Jesus Christ, and believing that he spoke for God. The decisive words include choosing to turn from the ways of sin, and instead choosing to give ourselves to beginning the journey of faith. Its public - we almost always do baptisms in communal worship, or at least with some members of the community present as witness to the promises being made.   

            So in one way, baptism is like an entrance rite, an initiation of sorts.  Yet it’s a lot more than an initiation to just any nice group like a fraternity or sorority, or a civic organization.  It’s about one’s whole life, not just joining a nice group.  It’s about choosing the life & journey of Christian faith.  It’s about coming into this tradition of faith in God that dates back through the centuries, joining the ranks of those who actually risked their lives and their place in their family by declaring their belief in Jesus Christ. 

            The video we saw as we came forward to get our glass water drop showed one way that baptism has been historically done - being immersed in living water, flowing water - water that carries the symbolism of being life-giving and necessary for survival.  Humans can live without food for a lot longer than we can exist without water - maybe 4 days without water before there’s survival issues. We can go without food for a lot longer - water is quickly essential. It was always important for human groups to locate water for our own selves, as well as crops and animals.  Scriptures talk of God’s Spirit as a life-giving fountain of water, springing up in us to new life. 

            Baptism’s water also carries the symbolism of cleansing, washing, taking away the dirt and dust of the world - of reorienting our life, giving up the old ways for the ways of Christ. 

            In an even deeper symbolism, immersion in water carries the symbolism of being buried with Christ, and raised with Christ.  It’s like we die to our old self, and rise to the new life Christ promised.  Death and resurrection to new life is a major and basic part of the Christian faith - in baptism by immersion, we symbolically go under the water, and are raised from it. Of course, many denominations baptise by other ways than immersion, but the symbolism is there, that of identifying with Jesus in his death and resurrection to new life, like the actual waters of birth. 

There are stories in Christianity of saints rising from the water of baptism and singing.  Most of us don’t - most of us have the experience like the young man in the movie Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall, who says he was glad he did it but he didn’t especially feel anything. We might have the experience of conviction or conversion prior to putting ourselves up for baptism; we might just have felt a call to identify with Jesus and make this declaration.  We may have been baptised as infants and raised in a church of called people, knowing the love of Jesus since before we could speak.

(In my Baptist tradition, when you felt the conviction of your sinfulness and need for forgiveness, you went up during the last hymn to pray with the pastor; then your baptism was set up for the next week. So I did this at 7, and was baptised by immersion the next week. The church ladies helped me change into a heavy white robe, & I rehearsed with the pastor before the service.  When the service started, I waded into the baptismal pool and was baptised.  I remember feeling very nervous before it, then really happy I’d done it. I was happy to be a member of the church.)  

            As we continue to ponder who & what church is (instead of a building the church meets in), let’s add to that pondering what our baptism into that “church,” that gathering of called-out people of Christ, means to us today.  What does it mean to us that we have pledged ourselves to follow the way of Jesus?  What does it mean to us that we have identified ourselves with this movement, this way of life, this worldview of faith in God?  What does this joining the Body of Christ call for from us?   Does it make a difference in our life choices that we have turned FROM evil and sin, and turned TO the ways of God?  Does it make a difference in the way we use the money God has given us?  Does it make a difference on how we treat others at school or at work?  Does it make a difference in what we choose to say in social media? Does it make a difference on how we treat family members? Does it make a difference in how we conduct our relationships?  Does it make a difference in our choice of vocation? Does it make a difference in caring for our environment, like recycling or single-use plastics?  Does it make a difference in how we view other races?  Obviously, since I wrote these questions, I think the answer is “Yes.”  So the next part of those questions is, “HOW does faith impact these choices?”  Because it does!

            Although we talk about the grace of baptism and its spiritual meanings, I don’t think of baptism as magic. Our United Methodist and Presbyterian denominations walk a middle road, saying that its the outer symbolizing of the inner reality, yet preserving the mystery that baptism confers a certain grace from God as well.  We also see the church (people) as responsible for providing faith development and Confirmation for the children & adults.  My personal understanding is that the act by itself doesn’t get us “in” with God, which is what a mom told me once (we had to have a talk…); it’s what we are symbolizing as far as our inner life goes. At the same time, I’ll agree that there may well be more going on than I understand. Even those who get baptised as adults can’t claim to totally understand what they’re doing - much like infants! Certainly baptism is more than just to get an ‘in’ with God, as one mom said to me - we had a talk….

Perhaps we understand more about our baptisms as we look back, remembering and pondering our baptisms from a way down the road.  Who knows what our commitment to God in Christ Jesus will lead to in our lives?  Who knows what we will be led to do or to be?  Who knows in what events of life we will be called on to show faith?  Who knows, ahead of time, in what kinds of craziness we may need to live the life of faith?  Especially in these days of threat to the planet’s climate and biological diversity of species, in these days of unstable leaders that have the ability to use nuclear weapons, in these days where hatred and division seem to be on the rise - our witness to God’s love and forgiveness, and generous kindness may seem rather naive or useless - unless we trust the deep faith that undergirds the world. Certainly believers in other times of history have lived their faith in very difficult times. Perhaps believers of the future will look back at these times of affluence as a difficult time when faith lapsed.

So the challenge this week is to ponder our own commitment to God, and what we feel in our hearts and guts about our following of Jesus Christ.  The invitation is to remember the zeal from the beginning, to re-ignite the flame of devotion, rekindle the fire of longing for our spiritual life.  AMEN.