On the Sunday morning she was baptized, Lucy came dressed in a beautiful white dress with large white ribbons in her hair. She didn’t walk tentatively into the church; she danced. Lucy was 4 years old. We practiced briefly with her parents and her godparents. And when the time came in the service for Lucy to step up on a stool and position herself over the baptismal font, her face absolutely beamed. Like most of us, she did not understand the theology of this moment, but she knew one thing for sure—she knew that she was precious and that she was much loved.
How many of you remember your baptism? How many of you have been told stories of the day you were baptized? Many of us have witnessed the baptism of someone we love.
Some of you have witnessed baptisms where an infant or young child has water dripped over their forehead. You may have been present for someone who at an older age was immersed completely in a pool of water or in a river. What has been released in you in these moments?
In our reading this morning from Mark’s gospel, we hear that Mark saw Jesus’ baptism as a seminal moment in the beginning of the good news of the Son of God. Mark does not begin with angels or shepherds, Mary or Joseph. Mark does not have a story of the infancy of Jesus.
Mark begins with Jesus as an adult when he comes to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. We are told that everyone from the Judean countryside and Jerusalem were coming to be baptized by John. They confessed their sins and received forgiveness in baptism.
But John tells them, that there is one who is coming after him who is more powerful and who will baptize them not only with water, but with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus steps into this narrative. We are told in the sparseness of Mark’s gospel that when Jesus comes up out of the water following his baptism, the heavens are torn apart, that the Spirit of God descends like a dove on him, and he hears a voice from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”
Baptisms are often times of joy. I remember clearly the baptisms of my children and my grandchildren. The one being baptized is often dressed in a beautiful outfit—perhaps one that is a family treasure.
Many people who love you gather and the service is one of celebration. Food is served and perhaps you even have a cake with your name on it. It is a time of joy and hope. If you are baptized as an infant, there may be pictures or stories that will be shared with you at a later time. If you were baptized as an older child or an adult, it is often a time when you have a moment to experience what it means to be fully seen and accepted as you are—to be loved completely.
It is on this Sunday, the first Sunday after Epiphany, that we are invited to remember the love that inspires our own baptism. The text from Mark and the day itself offers us an opportunity to think more deeply, and claim more fully, the promises God made to each of us at our own baptism. In our service today we will renew our baptismal covenant.
The story of Jesus’ baptism is a story of intimacy. Jesus comes to the river where John is baptizing many people. But it appears in the story that Jesus hears a voice from heaven that only he can hear—a voice that tells him he is beloved, that God is pleased with him. Often when we think of God’s actions in the world, we imagine grand, epic events—like the story of the parting of the Red Sea or the great story of creation where God separates light from dark creating a space for a beginning. But God’s dance with creation seems to happen at the individual level—where one life is changed, one relationship is redeemed, one act of justice, one act of mercy turns a small piece of the world to glory.
In every baptism, I believe that we are invited to hear, “You are my beloved.” The act of baptism calls us to open our hearts so that we can feel the calling of the Spirit.
Baptisms in the church are an effort to try and make visible what is already true: that each one of us is a beloved and cherished child of God—each one of us is a vessel to contain the holy. In baptism we are reminded of the fullness of our humanity. To be baptized is to be restored to what God intends for us—that we should grow into such love for God and such confidence in God that we become fully members of God’s family–God’s sons and daughters.
In our reading from Genesis we hear the story of God’s Spirit or a wind from God (ruach) moving across the face of creation. From the dark formless void God begins to create, bringing being and order out of chaos. God calls creation good. Our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters heard this story reflected in Jesus’ baptism.
Their icons show Jesus standing in the water up to his neck, while below sitting under the waves, are the river gods of the old world, representing the chaos that is being overcome.
So from the earliest beginnings of Christian tradition, baptism is depicted with very powerful symbols—water and new creation—rebirth as a son or daughter of God as Jesus himself is a son; chaos moving into order as the wind of God blows upon it.
Although we are the much beloved children of God, chaos will never be far from our lives. As human beings we know intimately that baptism will not shield us from pain. We will stumble, we will lose control of things, life will trip us up and deal us harsh realities. As Jesus enters into the waters of the river, he enters into this part of our world.
Jesus’ submission to baptism reminds us that he is not only our Lord, but that he freely chooses to enter into our humanity. Jesus lived his life serving and being among those most at risk, those most disordered and needy. Jesus pitches his tent in the midst of human confusion and suffering. In his ministry he will take the words he heard at his baptism, “You are my beloved son / daughter, sharing them with all he meets reminding them that God will hold each of us as we reach out from the depths of chaos. As in Jesus’ baptism, God will tear the heavens to be with us. Nothing will separate us from God’s love.
And while baptism is an intimate engagement and a personal connection with God, baptism is more than an individual action. In baptism we become a part of a people. In baptism we enter into a community. We can trust that we are not alone. The Apostle Paul emphasizes how we “were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). In our baptism we are brought into a closeness not only with God, but with all those other people who are invited into God’s love. Baptism brings you into the community of other baptized people and as we know at Grace Church, baptized people seek to be together in fellowship.
The baptized community is a gift, because it is in this community that we receive life from others’ prayers and love and we give prayers and love to others in need. We are caught up in God’s economy of sharing and receiving. Our lives are interwoven. What affects one person in God’s community—affects all. It means that the darkness or the lightness of the baptized life is never ours alone. It is always to be shared. How this sharing works is a mystery. But everyone who has experienced it knows that it is true.
I was baptized at 10 years of age. All my family was present. I had been prepared in a class led by my minister. We were instructed about the ritual—what our responses would be to certain questions, where we would line up, and how we would behave when the minister immersed us in the baptismal pool.
I remember on that day the nervousness of being led to the front of the congregation and being securely held by my minister as I was lowered into the water. Afterward I received many hugs and congratulations.
I do not remember feeling changed in any great way. But over time I have realized that on that day I entered in not only to a deeper commitment to a faith that has given me life, but also into a group of faithful people who have walked with me in times of great joy and held me in times of deep pain. They invited my questions, introduced me to serving others, and provided a place for me to experience God’s limitless love. Though I have moved several times from my childhood church community, it is in the community of the baptized that I have felt most welcome.
As baptized people, we are constantly rediscovering and being drawn into God’s embrace of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. As baptized people we live right in the middle of the love and delight of God in Jesus Christ and the chaos of human existence. As baptized people how we live courageously, faithfully, and compassionately begins with the words we hear whispered to us at our baptism, “You are my beloved.” As baptized people we enter into a community who in faith follow Jesus in offering ourselves in love and service so that together we can support and comfort and challenge each other as we make our way from the river into the world.