1 Epiphany

 

Baptism of Our Lord

January 12, 2025

Luke3.15-17, 21-22

+ I know it’s not something we want to hear about today, on thisvery cold, very snowy winter morning.

 

In fact, just thinking about it makes us even colder.

 

But there’s no getting around it.

 

If there’s a theme for this Sunday it’s…

 

Water.

 

And it’s a very good thing to be considering.

 

It is probably the natural element we most take for granted.

 

And yet it is one of our most vital.

 

We depend upon water.

 

It nourishes us.

 

It cleans us.

 

It delights us.

 

In our Western society, we take for granted the fact that ourwater is clean.

 

In other parts of the world, water isn’t so clean.

 

In other parts of the world, water sometimes is a source ofillness.

 

In some parts of the world they have little idea of the luxury ofsomething like cold water—or even ice for that matter.

 

As we’ve known here in this part of the country over the years,water can also be a destructive force when it comes to the matter of floods.

 

Water, as vital as it is, can also destroy.

 

It can destroy property, hopes, dreams and even lives.

 

For us, as Christians, water truly is the source of our spirituallives.

 

Throughout Scripture, we find ourselves nourished by and remindedof the importance of water.

 

The authors of our scriptures, coming as they did from such anarid place as the Middle East, no doubt appreciated water in ways we don’t.

 

And that appreciation certainly affected their spirituality.

 

Certainly, we find the image of water returning again and again inscripture.

 

Each time Scripture references water, it does so as a source oflife, as a source of renewal, as a source of God’s saving grace—even in theinstance of Noah’s flood.

 

Water is important to us as humans.

 

And it is important to us as Christians.

 

In today’s Gospel reading, we find probably the most profoundexpression of how important water is to us as Christians.

 

We find that first great example being set.

 

As Jesus comes out of those waters, as the Spirit, like a dove,descends upon him, he hears the words from God:

 

“You are mySon, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 

Here the standard is set.

 

Here the breakthrough has happened.

 

From now on, this is essentially what has been spoken to each ofus at our own baptisms:

 

“You are mychild, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 

For most of us, we have no doubt taken for granted our baptisms,much as we have taken for granted water itself.

 

We have viewed baptism as no more than a christening service forbabies—a kind of dedication ceremony.

 

Baptism is, obviously, much, much more than that.

 

As you hear me say again and again, baptism is THE defining momentin our lives as Christians.

 

Whether we remember the event or not, it was the moment when ourlives changed.

 

It was the moment we became new.

 

It was, truly, our second birth.

 

When some Christians ask you, “Have you been born again?” you cantell them in no uncertain terms: “Oh, yes I have actually!”

 

You can, “I was reborn in the waters of life and marked asChrist’s own forever on the day of my baptism.”

 

But even that doesn’t truly convey what baptism is for us.

 

What happened to Jesus in those waters, happened to us as well.

 

In the waters of our baptism, we were reborn as children of ourloving and caring God.

 

We became what was Jesus is.

 

We became children of God.

 

We can, from the very moment of our baptism, trace our relationwith God our Parent—the God who recognizes us and loves us and accepts us andembraces us.

 

So, why the importance of this one single event?

 

Well, the bond that is made at baptism is one that truly can neverbe broken.

 

That relationship that was formed with God in those waters iseternal.

 

In baptism, we truly do  become God’s child.   

 

For ever.

 

We become God’s own Beloved.

 

It is a bond that can never be broken.

 

We can try to break it as we please.

 

We can struggle under that bond.

 

We can squirm and resist it.

 

We can try to escape it.

 

But the simple fact is this: we can’t.

 

For ever is for ever.

 

Now, we might not want to have this bond anymore.

 

Some of those babies we have baptized in the font in the narthex whogrow up will make clear later on that they don’t want this bond anymore.

 

But, no matter how much we may turn our backs on God, God neverturns away from us.

 No matter how much we try to turn away from God, to deny God, topick God apart and make God something other than who God is, God never turnsaway from us.

 

God never denies us.

 

Why?

 

Because that bond, formed in those waters, is eternal and binding.

 

And God will never turn away one of God’s children.

 

What Baptism shows us, more than anything else, is that we alwaysbelong to God.

 

It shows us that, no matter what we might do, we will alwaysbelong to God.

 

Always.

 

For ever.

 

In this way, Baptism is truly the great equalizer.

 

In those waters, we are all bathed—no matter who we are and whatwe are.

 

We all emerge from those waters on the same ground—as equals.

 

A bishop or a king or a president is no greater than you or me inthose waters.

 

And, as equals, we are not expected to just sit around, huggingourselves and basking in the glow of  theconfidence that we are God’s own child.

 

As equals, made equal in the waters of baptism, we are thencompelled to go out into the world and treat each other as equals.

 

We are called to go out into the world and make a difference init.

 

And we are called to act like Children of a loving God.

 

That means we have to fight ourselves sometimes.

 

We have to fight to not become negative people.

 

We, as loved children of a loving God, must work hard to not bemanipulative, controlling, gossipy, backbiting, unloving people.

 

We must not be what our critics accuse of us being.

 

We must love and respect each other equally.

 

Our baptism doesn’t set us apart as special people.

 

It forces us out into the world to be a part of the world and, bydoing so, to transform the world.

 

So, in those waters of baptism, something truly incrediblehappened for us.

 

We went into those waters one person, and emerged from thosewaters as someone else completely.

 

It was an incredible moment in our lives, just as it was in thelife of Jesus, who led the way and showed us that Baptism was an incredibleoutpouring of God’s love and light into our lives.

 

So, with this knowledge of how important it is, let us take thetime to meditate and think about your own baptism and the implications it hasin your life.

 

And when we do, let us remember and celebrate the bond that wasformed with our loving God in those waters on that marvelous day we werebaptized.

 

In a few moments, I will come through the nave and will sprinkleyou with water.

 

As that water touches you, remember how God loves you andcherishes you.

 

And when you enter this church, and when you leave it, payattention to the baptismal font in the narthex and the blessed water in it.

 

Touch that water, bless yourselves with it, and when you do, remember itas a reminder of that wonderful event in your life which marked you forever asGod’s very own.

 

Those words spoken to Jesus on the day of his baptism are beingspoked to us again and again.

 

Let us listen to those words.

 

Let us believe those words.

 

And let us celebrate those words that God speaks to each of us—

 

“You are myBeloved; with you I am well pleased.”