From the Pulpit:

 
What is Baptism?

So, I guess you’ve heard.  We’re having some Baptisms today.  We’ve just participated in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Today, we welcome those about to be baptized into the fullness of that participation.

What is Baptism?

Let’s start with what Baptism is not.  Baptism is not a “spiritual bath.” Baptism has a very loose affiliation with what was once a rite of purification for the ancient Jews.  After all, that was John’s ministry and why Jesus went to him to be baptized. Just as Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it; so Jesus, by instituting Baptism, with the authority of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms it from a rite of purification to a sacrament.

Baptism is a sacrament.

There are two partners in a sacrament – the outward and visible sign and the inward and spiritual grace.  And, there are two partners in Baptism – the waters and the Trinity.  

So, here we are.  Our friends and loved ones are about to reach out and touch the Lord.   Once they do, they’ll become one with that body.  Through their Baptisms, just like all the Baptisms that have come before and all that will come after, their own stories will become a part of the story of Israel .  

Water has played an ongoing role in Israel ’s story. And, it’s in this story we come to know just what is happening in Baptism. Water… these very waters today, when breathed upon by God… can be traced back to the beginning of Creation. 

These waters are the deep over which the Spirit moved in Creation.
They are the womb of Eve from which the tribes and nations were born.
They are the flood upon which the ark rescued Creation
They are the Red Sea through which our ancestors fled slavery.
They are the River Jordan in which John baptized Jesus.
They are the waters Jesus changed into wine at the wedding in Cana .
They are the waters in the well at which Jesus and the Samaritan woman met.
They are the waters of the Sea of Galilee stilled at Jesus’ command.
They are the waters into which all those baptized over the centuries have immersed themselves… have died… and have risen. Thanks be to God for water!  

Baptism is a narrative.

An early image in Baptism is that of the font as a womb.  We find this earlier in John’s Gospel (3:3-5):  “³Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ ⁴Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ ⁵Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”  

Baptism is a birth.

Paul, in his Letter to the Romans (6:3-5), offers us other traditional images of Baptism: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Baptism is a death.  

Paul continues, “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism is a resurrection.  

Up to now, we’ve pretty much just talked about the role of water in Baptism.  It’s the presence and the power of the Trinity that makes possible all of what Baptism is.  

Jesus, himself, commissioned his disciples to “baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Name of the almighty, Triune God is spoken over the new creation.  In this Name is the whole of Scripture; the whole of Israel ’s story; of Jesus’ story… and, now, of our stories.  In the power of this Triune Name, we reach out our hand; we touch our Lord; we are, as John puts it, “born from above”; and our new self begins to take shape.  

Baptism is a threshold of new creation.  

We enter into the waters of Baptism and return a new creation.  But, a new creation not yet fully transformed.  The fulfillment of our transformation happens in the other great Sacrament – the Holy Eucharist.  

It’s important for us to understand that the proper way to experience the relationship between Baptism and the Holy Eucharist is not to think of Baptism as a prerequisite for receiving Communion.  Rather, a more fitting way of thinking of this relationship is that it is in the Holy Eucharist that our transformation is fulfilled.  

This is our story – from Creation to this very moment – a story of God’s ever reconciling and redemptive love for God’s creation.  

Thanks be to God for the Risen One!