Traced with Water, Written with Fire

Epiphany 1B; Gen. 1:1-5; Mark 1:4-11 St. Paul’s, 1/7/2018

Jim Melnyk, “Traced with Water, Written with Fire”

 I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never been one to make a list of New Year’s resolutions – much less keep any of them.  Well, from time-to-time I’ll say something like, “I’ll exercise more this year,” or, “I’ll make healthier decisions about my diet,” or such.  Those usually last a few weeks or perhaps only a few days.  Witness all the home-baked cookies and cakes at today’s Epiphany party in just a short while from now.  But since we’re recalling and celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord this morning – and bringing to the waters of Holy baptism Linus Edward Kashtock, perhaps our Baptismal Covenant would be an appropriate New Year’s resolution for all of us.  This year I resolve to live more fully into the promises I reaffirm this morning.  Now that’s a blockbuster of a resolution!

I read somewhere that “The baptized life is the opposite of the undecided life” (citation lost).  In the few brief moments it takes to scoop three handfuls of cool water across each of our foreheads our lives are given away – yielded to God – and God’s call is made clear.  No longer are we to live for self only, but as baptized followers of the One we call Christ, we are called to be God’s people in the world.  Baptism is our new life resolution to follow Christ and to live as Christ for the life of this world.

Washed from our bodies in those few brief moments of claiming and naming is what Scott Peck calls “the freedom of uncommitment.”  In our baptisms we share in Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  The water traces out Christ’s name upon our foreheads as God’s Holy Spirit burns Christ’s name upon our hearts.  The rite seems so simple – so over-and-done with – yet Holy Baptism sweeps us into the tide of God’s purpose and plans for creation, and makes us partners in the life and work of God’s Christ.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Baptism changes God’s people – changes each of us.  Baptism marks us – claims us – and it calls us to new life.  Baptism calls us to the shared life – to life shared with one another – life sharing in the work of Christ in this world – life shared with our Creator God through the presence and power of Holy Spirit in our newborn hearts.  It’s into this new life – into this shared life – into this decided and committed life – that we bring Linus Edward today.

We remember the Baptism of our Lord today because through it, along with Linus, we are called into our own baptisms.  Through it we are called into our own lives of ministry and care.  The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his ministry.  The Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus ends forever any question that he might live his life with the freedom of uncommitment.  In his baptism Jesus yields his life to the purpose and plan of God's salvation, and in our own baptisms we are invited into that same possibility, promise, and responsibility.  Baptism marks the beginning of Linus’ life in Christ – his calling – his ordination into the life of ministry – joining us in this holy calling.

Centuries before Christ Isaiah proclaimed the promise of God to all who claim God’s name: “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from prison those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:6-7).

These words spoken to Israel while struggling with the harsh realities of exile, are words of redemption – of call – of promise and hope.  As Christians – as followers of Christ – we see these words acted out in the life and ministry of Jesus – knowing that like Jesus, and Israel before – these are our words of redemption, call, promise, and hope as well.  God calls us in righteousness – God takes us by the hand – God gives us as a covenant to this world.  God makes us a light to the people of this world, and calls us as a people meant to both proclaim Good News and bring about freedom and hope for all of God’s people.

Five decades ago Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached that he had heard the voice of God say to him: “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness.  Stand up for justice.  Stand up for truth.  And lo, I will be with you, even to the end of the world.”  This is God’s cry to us in baptism!  Our baptismal promises echo the words of Dr. King even as they echo the words of Isaiah and the Good News of God in Christ Jesus.  The words Martin Luther King, Jr. heard should be heard as our baptismal antiphon: “Stand up for righteousness.  Stand up for justice.  Stand up for truth.”  If Linus, and each of us in this place this morning, could find ways to live those words – God, what this world would be like! 

The waters of Baptism churn with anticipation at the lives we might live for God as followers of Christ.  In our baptisms we become Christ’s own, and the ministry of Christ – and of all the saints who have followed – becomes our own as well.

We are new creations – each one of us – and the Spirit of God hovers over us and finds a home within us even as She swept over the waters at the dawn of creation (Gen. 1:1-5).  We need not be conformed to the brokenness of this world – and broken it is, in so many ways.  Instead, each of us, through our baptism, becomes the possibility of Christ’s light to shine in this world – the possibility to bring about a New Community of God. 

The poet Seamus Heaney offers what might be a glimpse into the hopefulness and the promise of the decided life of baptism:

“History says, don’t hope

On this side of the grave.

But then, once in a lifetime the longed-for tidal wave

Of Justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.”  (“Doubletake” by Seamus Heaney)

New life in Christ pushes us to challenge the sinfulness – the brokenness – of the world.  Where people’s lives are broken and destroyed by the power of sin, we are called to stand firm and proclaim God’s forgiveness, freedom, and healing love.  We are called to not only watch and wait for the tidal wave of justice to rise up – but as followers of Jesus we are called to be that tidal wave, so that in and through us, in the power of God’s Holy Spirit given to us in Baptism, we help make hope and history rhyme. 

I can’t tell you what that might look like for Linus, or for each of us, for that matter.  I can’t tell you when and where you should stand up for righteousness, justice or truth and risk your life like Dr. King.  But I do know that we must measure the stands we take – theological, political or social – we must measure the stands we take in light of the teachings and life of Christ – in light of the baptismal vows taken by us and for us – and renewed by us time and time again.  No policy is ever purely social or political and therefore separate from the life of faith.  Where society oppresses, the baptized follower of Christ is called to challenge society’s misunderstanding and misuse of power.  Where the Church proclaims a gospel of separation and fear, as baptized followers of Christ we’re called to proclaim a God whose justice is always tempered with compassion and love.  Where there is sorrow or pain, fear or confusion, we are called to offer comfort and hope, healing and care.

We are on a journey – a journey into the fullness of God’s love.  Three quick handfuls of water traced across our forehead sends us on our way with Christ’s name written with fire upon our souls.  In that moment God calls us to love our neighbor and change the world.

It is not over for us – this journey.  Even for those among us who have traveled long and hard – like Linus’ journey – ours has just begun.  With each breath we take our journey takes on new life.  We have a long way to go and an eternity to get there.  Along the way the world will challenge our commitment – challenge our willingness to follow the One whose name we bear.  We will struggle and sometimes we will fail.  Yet Christ’s name burns deeply within our hearts – to claim us, and give us power, if we will let it.  We are a new creation.  And God working within us will make a difference in this world.