January 13,
2013
The Baptism
of Our Lord
Isaiah
43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke
3:15-17, 21-22
Please pray with me, may the words of my
mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O
God, our rock and our Redeemer.
Amen.
Pilgrim’s Plunge is the first ride I ever
went down with my hands up in the air.
It’s a water ride at Holiday World/Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana.
It looks like this:
It’s actually the World's Tallest Water Ride. Riders in 10-person boats will first float
calmly through a tunnel before entering an open-sided elevator lift. After swiftly rising to the top of the
135-foot tower, each boat will pause briefly before descending rapidly down the
flume at a 45-degree angle, creating a dramatic splashdown.
Here’s a view from the front:
The maximum speed tops 50 miles an
hour….which makes it even scarier to ride with your arms up in the air.
And as if you needed any more warning before
approaching the plunge, riders see this sign.
As if it wasn’t obvious, right? That you’ve paid admission and you're in a
water park, just in case you didn’t realize it yet, you WILL get wet.
Speaking about getting wet, let me tell you about the baptism of the
Gauls. Dr. Mark Allan Powell shares this
story in his book Giving to God: The Bible's Good News about Living a Generous Life.
"The Gauls were a warlike people who in
ancient times inhabited what is now France and Belgium. They spoke a Celtic
language and were Druids by religion. And by the time that Christians arrive on
the scene, they had been conquered by the Roman Empire and were supposedly
under its control.
Well, a number of Christian
missionaries entered into Gallic territory and, over time, many of the Gauls
became Christians. And so the story goes that whenever a converted warrior was
baptized in a river or a stream, he would hold one arm high in the air as the
missionary dunked him under the water.
This seemed to be a most peculiar
custom and the missionaries were very puzzled until they finally learned the
reason for it. When the next battle or skirmish broke out, the warlike Gaul
could proclaim, “This arm is not baptized!” grab his club or sword and go off
to destroy his enemy in a most un-Christian manner.
No one knows if this story is
authentic. It is probably just an ancient version of what we would call today
an “urban legend.” But the picture is compelling of the way we all try to keep
some part of identity free from the influence of baptism."
But here’s the thing, when it comes to
baptism, you WILL get wet….and try as we might, we need to let go and let the
water completely soak us.
Water, is something we think of as life
giving, necessary for life even, and usually it is not a frightening
thing. That’s not so much the case for
the hearers of our text from Isaiah today.
The book of Isaiah, all 66 chapters of it, is
broken into three sections, First, Second and Third Isaiah. The passage we hear from today is in the
beginning of second Isaiah, also known as Deutero-Isaiah. It is a section of Isaiah that brings words
of comfort promising that God would free the exiles.
In this section, the prophet takes words and
images that were dangerous or scary and turns them into examples of places
where they should no longer be afraid.
The images of water and fire were common
throughout the Old Testament. Waters
signified the threat of chaos. Remember
back in Genesis…and a voice moved over the waters….the waters seemed
uncontrolled and just whirling and swirling.
Passing through the waters also brings back
memories of passing through the Red Sea.
The second exodus as some call it, as the Israelites fled from Pharaoh
and Moses parted the Red Sea. They
passed through the sea, but Pharaoh’s army was washed away by the rushing
waters.
But as we hear about waters today, it is in a
different tone. It is one that comes
with comfort and protection. “When you
pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall
not overwhelm you;”
When you pass through the waters….not if….but
when. It’s as if the prophet is telling,
even warning the people, that their journey will not be smooth sailing. There will be trials and tribulations, but
God will be in the midst of them, with you, through it all.
They will get wet. But God has called them by name…and God will
be with them.
We, too, will get wet. But God has called us by name…and God will be
with us.
We may want to keep part of ourselves from
getting wet….we may not want to give our whole selves up to being plunged into
the water….but all of who we are, all of who we were created to be is God’s
creation….is God’s. And because of that,
we can take comfort knowing that God is with us through it all.
All this talk about water is because today is
the day we remember Jesus’ baptism….and as we hear about it…we are reminded of
our own baptism. A reminder that we have
been baptized, anointed with the Spirit…and that we, like Jesus, will encounter
evil and temptation in the world around us.
Yet in the midst of it, we know that we have
a “beloved” and “well-pleasing” relationship with God. It is a relationship that God created with
us, through the waters of baptism and the work of the Spirit. Try as we might, we cannot sever this
relationship because it began with God loving us.
Being in relationship with God comes with
some responsibility though, doesn’t it.
It doesn’t mean we need to do things to be in God’s good graces, or to
earn God’s love. But out of this deep
and unconditional love that God has for us, we hear and fulfill the mission God
sends before us, to live up to the confidence God has placed on us. No pressure, right?
God created us, knows us and claims us for
who we are. In that we can do our best
to see God’s work done in the world around us.
Because of God’s love for us, we can let the waters completely get us
wet….and give all of ourselves to the work of God in our homes, in our church,
in our community and in our world.
The waters of baptism have washed over us all…we
have been called by name. The challenge
for us is letting people know of our baptism…through our words and actions in
response to a hurting, aching world.
May God continue to bless all of our journeys
as we continue blessed and nourished in this Christian community and may we go
forward, ready to get wet and live out our baptismal promises.
And now may the peace, which passes all
understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s
people say amen.
