The Baptismal Moment
David C. Myers
January 10, 2010
Renewal of Baptismal Vows
Isaiah 43:1 - 7
Luke 3:15 - 17, 21 - 22
Text: "You are My Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." . . . Luke 3:22b
I hold before you a silver baptismal cup. Ada Berry of the Federated Church in Ayer gave it to me in September of 1980. At the time she was 84 years old. It was the cup that was used at her parent's baptism in England and her own baptism and at her children's baptism. She wanted me to have it and use it when we baptized Nathan. We also used it at Sarah's baptism in December of 1983. I guess that this cup is at least 150 years old, maybe a lot older. The cup is a symbol of how baptism connects a broad spectrum of people across the world.
But what just does baptism mean, and just what happens at the moment that one is baptized?
To get the full meaning of baptism, we need to go back to John the Baptist, and his baptism of Jesus. Luke says that "the word of God came to John in the wilderness, and he went into all of the region preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Having been to the Holy Land I can see that riverbank. And it is not hard to vision John there, kind of like the wild man, dressed in the camel hair that he was. The scriptures tell us that people were coming to him in droves, wading into the water. John takes them in his rough hands and plunges them into the river as a sign of repentance and for the forgiveness of sins.
And there should be no wonder as to why people in those days would want to repent. The conditions of that time were extreme. People were starving and rioting for bread. Taxes, unfair taxes, corrupt taxes, arbitrary taxes, and economic uncertainty. (Can you imagine a world in which middle class families paid twenty, twenty-five, even thirty percent of their income to the government for taxes?) Traditional values were collapsing. Terrorist groups were pillaging communities and inflicting bodily harm.
Well, come to think of it, maybe we can understand why people would flock to someone promising something different.
When baptized as an adult, the act of baptism involves coming to the realization that your life needs to turn around, to change; "I repent. I turn around from the false values and practices of the world, and I no longer let them determine the meaning of my life. Instead, I turn to the living God. I wish no longer to be dominated by the power of sin but I submit to the grace and love of God." When it happens for an infant, it is the parents taking those vows on behalf of their child.
And sure enough, the first thing that happens in baptism is the forgiveness of sin. Now there is an interesting nuance here, because in Greek, the word "forgiveness" can also be translated "to be released from". To be forgiven is to be released from the power of sin and to be set free to live to the praise and glory of God. It's as if a person has been wound around 10,000 times with piano wire and cannot move a muscle, and then someone comes with wire cutters and clips the piano wire loose and the person inside is freed.
Forgiveness is not something I can achieve or you can achieve by ourselves. Forgiveness always comes from the one offended. And ultimately, in our belief, the one offended is God. So forgiveness is a gift of God, and we see this clearly when we go into the water and put ourselves in the hands of someone else, and they place the water upon us. The symbolism is that we die to an old way of living, and having been cleansed, are reborn to another way of life. Life takes on new meaning; we now have different priorities.
There is a wonderful story about when Sam Houston was baptized. He went to a Baptist preacher in Texas (of course), and said he was ready to be baptized. The preacher began instructing him on how it was going to be done and what it meant. The preacher said, "Now Sam, we are going to go wade into the river until it just gets above our waist and I am going to put one hand behind your head and the other to pinch your nose, then lean you back and totally submerge you in the water. After a few seconds, I will lift you up and all your sins will be washed away.
Sam had an inquisitive look on his face, then started laughing. The preacher asked him why he was laughing. Sam said, "I am thinking about all the poor people downstream."
But then the preacher continued. "Sam, you will be totally immersed, so you may want to be careful what you wear and in particular you may want to take your wallet out of your pocket.
Without hesitation Sam replied, "No, preacher, my wallet needs to be baptized and have its sins removed as much as I do!"
Baptism marks a new beginning. The moment of baptism is first of all about the delight of God in the one being baptized. It's not a call to do, but a call that defines. It is an underlining of those beautiful words of Isaiah, (a form of which we will sing in the final hymn, "I Was There to Hear your Borning Cry" - the first and last verse): "I was there to hear your borning cry. I'll be there when you are old, I rejoiced the day you were baptized to see your life unfold." In other words, no matter what happens to you, no matter how you are tested, no matter how far you stray, because of your baptism you still are God's, and God defines who you are.
After my father died in 1978, my mother decided to move into elderly housing. It meant cleaning out her house of 47 years. In her cleaning prior to moving each of her children were given some mementos. I received my baby book. It was a collection of precious trivia, the birth announcement in the local paper, early pictures, when I first spoke and my first words, when I first walked, what my favorite toy was. It also included many pictures of my early years, and all my report cards (which my kids loved to look at!). But it also included descriptive words written by my mother about how she felt about me. When reading this, I discovered that even if she didn't use the exact formula the Spirit spoke at Jesus' baptism "You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased", she none-the-less blessed me with her words of affection and adoration.
As for Jesus, so for us. Our first calling, that baptismal call at our baptismal moment, is one that simply loves and accepts - it is God's claim on our lives: "You are my child. I delight in you." The words embrace us and promise to hold us. This is where it begins, and this is also, we dare claim, the last word, and the word that holds our future. God, like the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to find the one that was lost, will not leave us alone. God, the Good Shepherd will pursue us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives.
My baby book also recorded the day of my baptism as an infant by the Rev. Chauncy Wentworth. I certainly didn't remember it, any more than any of you who were baptized as infants remember yours. But we need to claim and remember our baptism over and over again.
A colleague of mine recently wrote in her Newsletter column about a 4-year-old she had baptized the week before. He was knocking at her door with his father. He had an important question. He asked if he could have more water. He really liked that part of his baptism. My colleague, somewhat taken aback, said to him that no, he couldn't have more water, baptism only happens once, but that he could remember his baptism by touching his forehead and saying the words "I remember my baptism and remember that I belong to Christ." That was what Martin Luther did each day during his years of protesting and reforming the church.
We need to remember that because of our baptism Christ journeys alongside us. We need to claim that moment, and claim the sure and certain promises that accompanied it. It becomes a bright moment in retrospect, no matter how dim the moment in our memory.
Yet in between that beginning and that end, this baptismal call will often become a call to action. It will mean mission and ministry and all kinds of tasks. It is a sign of blessing, but it is also a sign of commissioning.
God commissions us to be a part of the entire Christian community around the entire globe. Our neighbors are as close as Palestine, Africa, Sri Lanka, or Nicaragua. And our neighbors are as far away as the house next door. With God physical distance does not matter - the name of Christ we are all brothers and sisters of One Parent; and we are commissioned to treat each other as a brother or sister.
I now claim my baptismal moment because in that moment God defined the relationship between God and me. Sure, it took me a long time to get to the point, to hear the definition or to affirm it, but God defined our relationship there and then. In the moment of baptism, God promises to be my God and your God, and promises to go with us to the dark and scary and threatening places, to go with us throughout the many losses, the many deaths, the many graves we shall inevitably experience. And God promises to love us, and to cherish us because we have been joined by baptism to Jesus Christ. And so the word addressed to the Lord Jesus is also, in some powerful sense, a word addressed to us as well: "You are My son, (my daughter) . . . You are beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Does it seem hardly possible that God could be well pleased with you? With me? This is nevertheless the promise of our baptism. Having been joined to the beloved Son, Jesus Christ, we are forever after, in God's sight, "well pleasing." This is the promise that has been made in our baptisms. The promise is completely reliable. The promise is inescapable - to use the correct translation of the last sentence of the 23rd Psalm, God "will pursue you with goodness and mercy all the days of your life, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Claim the promise, beloved. May it be your joy, and your consolation.
"You are My son (my daughter). You are beloved; with you I am well pleased."