PEOPLE'S CHURCH OF DOVER

Genesis 1:1-5; Mark 1:4-11                    Water and Life                        Text

 

        Both of the Lessons this morning are about water.  At the beginning of the creation narrative the Spirit of God "hovers," or "broods" or "moves" over the watery chaos, "the deep"; and from the waters God calls forth light and life.  At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry he went to the empty quarter, the "desert," where John the Baptist was, and John baptized him in the waters of the Jordan River.  At creation God's first word was "Light."  At Jesus' baptism God's first word was "Beloved."  Water and life go together—a deep symbolism that's found not only in the Bible but in almost every human culture. 

        Water and life:  that's the way we experience it, too.  Not only our species but every individual human child emerges from water into life.  Water sustains our planet, and water sustains us—flowing through us day by day.  Too much water, we drown.  Too little water, we waste away and die. 

        So on this First Sunday after the Epiphany every year the church remembers the water baptism of Jesus as the beginning of his public ministry.  Notice that in the way the Gospel of Mark tells the story, John doesn't try to avoid baptizing Jesus—he doesn't say "I should be baptized by you" (as Matthew tells it).  In Mark Jesus' baptism is the beginning of his life of ministry, and the words spoken from heaven are Jesus' calling in life—to be the beloved son of God.  Water and life.

 

        Most of us gathered here today for the worship of God have been baptized, too, like Jesus.  Some of us were baptized as infants or as small children, and some of us were old enough to make our own confession of faith.  Some of us were baptized by immersion in water, but most of us were baptized by water poured or sprinkled on our heads.  A few of us were baptized by immersion as infants—the tradition of the Eastern churches.  Some of us have not received baptism at all. 

We don't think about our baptism very much.  For those baptized as infants, most enter a program of Christian learning at about age twelve and then make their baptism their own in a rite of confirmation.  That may be the last time we really thought about our baptism, even though we have shared this water with Jesus—some even receiving baptism in water brought from the Jordan River itself.  When I baptize a child there is a special liturgy we use, and I have everybody in church stand and take part in that liturgy.  Why?  Because it's not just the minister who baptizes:  it's the church that baptizes, and in the process makes a promise to fulfill Jesus' instructions, "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."  It's not just the parents and sponsors who make baptismal promises:  so do you.  Let's look at this:  please open your hymnal to page 35.  After the parents promise to train their child in the faith, the congregation stands up and I ask you:[1] 

 

"Do you who witness and celebrate this sacrament, promise your love, support and care to the one about to be baptized as they live and grow in Christ?"

 

 

And you make a promise to God and to the child:

 

"We promise our love, support and care."

 

Since baptism is centered in faith, we then affirm the faith:  either we offer the Apostles' Creed together, or I ask the parents and sponsors to affirm the Trinity.  And then as I pour the water into the font, I offer a prayer that is truly amazing.  It begins at the bottom of page 35:

 

 

 

I'm going through this with you because these words, or words very much like them were spoken over you at your baptism.  The promises were made by your parents and your church, the baptismal water was brought forth and all the times of salvation through water in scripture echoed over your own baptism.  

        You could even say that at that moment you received a "water-mark."  You know, the finest paper you can buy, and even the paper used to print money, has a design inside the paper itself—you can hold it up to the light and see the water-mark.  It's always there as long as the paper exists.  It identifies the paper as of the finest quality.  So if your baptism is your water-mark, it identifies you as one who has shared the water of Jesus' baptism into the beloved life to which God has called you.  It's imprinted on your inner self, your soul—who you really are; and it identifies your life, even all these years after your baptism.  Water and life.  

 

        What comes next?  In the baptism of Jesus, Mark says the heavens were torn open and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove, and God spoke.  We don't know how God spoke—whether it was thunder, or something like a human voice (called an "audition"), or whether the meaning of Jesus' baptism simply became absolutely clear to both Jesus and John.  Mark translates the meaning into these words:

 

"You are my beloved son:  in you I am well-pleased."

 

        Has it ever occurred to you that God spoke the same words over you at your baptism?  "You are my beloved child:  I am pleased with you."  That water-mark you received is a word:  "beloved."  As you grew from infancy into a school-aged child—"beloved."  As you struggled through your adolescent years—"beloved."  As you chose a career, as you chose a life partner, as you chose how you would live—"beloved."  As you became a parent—"beloved."  As you faced reverses, traveled through the dark valley of loss, made difficult choices—"beloved."  As you grow older—"beloved."  And on your last day on earth, as you lay you down, in comfort or in pain, you still bear that water-mark of your baptism—"beloved of God."  Water and life:  after the water comes your life with God. 

        For Jesus the meaning burned in his heart:  "You are my beloved son:  in you I am well-pleased."  What might it mean to be the Son of God in the special way Jesus and John heard it on that day?  The only way to find out was to live into it.  The next paragraph in the Gospel of Mark is about the Temptations of Christ—we'll talk about that another time; but the temptations are closely connected to these words God spoke over him at his baptism.  What might it mean to be THE "Son of God"?  Well—it was his life's calling, his vocation, his dance with God and with the devil.  It was the very thing you receive from Jesus in your baptism, signified by your water-mark:  his death and resurrection to life. 

        What might it mean for you to be God's "beloved child"?  The only way to find out is to live into it.  Water and life.  Is there joy here?  Yes.  Is there moral choice?  Absolutely.  Is there the aggravation and the ecstasy of living in and with other people who are Christians in a church that's as human as it is divine?  Oh, yes!  Is there doubt?  There had better be, or your spiritual understanding will never grow.  Is there hope in a world like this one where disease, economics, crime, war, weather and fear are so plentiful—is there hope?  Yes, there is hope. 

 

        People in Martin Luther's parish kept coming to him and asking him, "My mother told me I'm not going to receive God's blessings because of something I did:  am I condemned?"  And "I confess my sins and pray for forgiveness, but I don't feel forgiven:  am I condemned?"  Luther heard this question over and over again, and it resonated with worries that had troubled him deeply as a young man; so he preached a sermon to all these people who were worrying about whether they were good enough, or whether they had made one mistake too many.  Luther said, "When someone taunts your faith, or when your own conscience condemns you, preach the authentic gospel to your heart:  say, 'I am baptized.'" 

        He meant:  you bear the water-mark of God's "beloved child."  You do need to live up to it, but you don't need to spend your life in worry.  For you there is water and life.

AMEN