Water and Spirit (A Baptism Sermon)

Scriptures: Psalm 91, Hebrews 11:29-12:2, Luke 18:15-17

Today we gather for the baptism of Baby Christopher !  What a wonderful day, with a baby being born of water and of the spirit.  As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, chapter 6: 

“How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

The First letter of Peter gives us a different image, that of Noah’s ark:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

And so, in baptism our sinful nature is put to death in the waters of baptism, and we come out of the water with the new life in Christ, filled with the Spirit.   This is the promise.  And then we spend the rest of our lives living into this promise.  And we baptize not only adults, but children, because Jesus welcomed the little children, and in the early church, when the head of the household became a Christian, the whole rest of the household was baptized as well, regardless of age.

When Baby Christopher is baptized, he becomes part of larger family, the family of the faithful of all who have followed God through the ages.  This family of faith extends not only around the globe, but through time as well, past, present, and future.  Our reading from Hebrews reminds us of other members of this family, and what they did:

For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Our reading also reminds us that faithful living can come at a high price:

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

These are our ancestors in the family of faith that Baby Christopher will be joining through his baptism. When we read these words, we might have second thoughts:  This family sounds scary!  Is this a family that we want Baby Christopher to be a part?  Do we really want to go through with this?  And yet, paradoxically, our faith tells us that the safest place we can be is under God’s care.  Our reading from Psalm 91 tells us of God’s care for those who love him:

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,  who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;  my God, in whom I trust.’
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler  and from the deadly pestilence;
he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 
You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

And later on in the Psalm:

Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling-place,
no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.

These are beautiful words.  We read these words, and if we read them only on the surface, we may think that because we are Christians, nothing bad will happen to us.  And yet we know that bad things happen to Christians just as they happen to anyone else.  We know that as Baby Christopher goes through infancy and childhood, makes his way through his teen years, grows into an adult, perhaps starts a family of his own, he will face his own share of troubles.  Christians, as much as anyone else, are victims of crime, are involved in car accidents, have family struggles, deal with physical and mental illness, and die.  Many Christians aren’t given a long life on this earth.  And in addition to these struggles that everyone deals with, living according to the gospel may bring additional opposition, as our reading from Hebrews reminds us. So we read these words, and we may ask – where was God when our ancestors in faith were mocked, and flogged, and put in chains, and imprisoned, and stoned and – good heavens, sawn in two - killed by the sword and all the rest? Where was God’s protection?

We often ask, “Why does God let so many bad things happen?”  But maybe that’s the wrong question.  Our ancestors in the faith knew perfectly well that bad things happened. They took for granted that life involved suffering.  But they trusted that when bad things happened, God was with them, so that they were not suffering alone – and, even more importantly, that God would bring them through their suffering – that even if their path led to death, God would not abandon them even in death.  We know from our experience that it’s one thing to struggle through hard times, and a much more difficult thing to struggle through hard times alone.  We can get through the worst of times if we know our family and friends have our back – we know our family and friends can’t fix everything for us, but just knowing they care means the world.  How much more when God promises to have our back!  The Psalm uses phrases like “you need not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day”  It doesn’t say there will be no terrors or arrows, but rather that we don’t need to fear them.  The Psalmist uses poetic language, and we don’t want to take it literally – in fact, one of the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness was precisely to take literally the language about “angels bearing you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone” by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple.  And this was a temptation Jesus rejected.  Jesus, more than anyone before him or after him, trusted in God’s protection, but Jesus also knew the difference between faith and magical thinking – and Jesus rejected magical thinking. Perhaps the bottom line is near the end of the Psalm, when it says, “Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue and honor them.”   Let me repeat that one phrase:  I will be with them in trouble.  There will be trouble, and I will be with them in the midst of it.  We are assured that though we may face trouble, may face threats, may face really scary times, we don’t face them alone; we’re assured that when we go through troubled times, God is right there with us, that God will never leave us nor forsake us.  And throughout Baby Christopher’s life, though he will surely face his share of the same troubles we all face, God will be with him.  That’s God’s promise, to Baby Christopher and to us all.

So, welcome Baby Christopher into the family of God’s people! Welcome into the family of faith here at our church!  It’s a family that’s been around a long time, but has been waiting all these years just to welcome you.   May God’s spirit be with you and may God’s love surround you all the days of your life.  Amen.