“A FONT OVERFLOWING WITH MIRACLES”

By now you know that baptism means a lot to me.  You have gathered that by the way I do baptisms, in the few we are blessed to share in worship.  I enjoy nothing more than to make a big deal of it, and wring every last drop of meaning from it.   I take it personally that they should be done fully and right.  I hope you felt this way last spring as we confirmed the baptismal vows of our 8 young people.  That service meant a lot to me.  But also on the basis of offering today’s service of reaffirmation of baptism for two years now, you know baptism means a lot to me. 

Theologians called ecclesiologists would describe me as having “a high doctrine of baptism”. Frankly, I am guilty as charged. What does a low doctrine of baptism look like? Perhaps you recall the singer Pat Boone. He would have backyard barbecues at his Hollywood home and invite celebrity friends, the beautiful people.

It was quite a spread, the food, the house, the glitterati, the large swimming pool glistening in the sun.  Typically, a moment would come when Pat Boone would invite his guests, “Does anybody here want to be baptized today?” Then, in his trunks, he’d wade into his pool and baptize them. No church community, that’s unnecessary. No ordination, the clergy are no more qualified than I, he claimed. No soulful preparation. No holy vows. No trembling before the mystery of God’s grace. To be fair, more than theology is at stake here, it’s also the difference between California and New England. Still we can call this a low doctrine of baptism.

So why does baptism mean so much to me?  Why do I look forward to this day to reclaim our identity as baptized Christians and carry it with us through the year?

Here’s why.  Baptism is God’s unqualified, unconditional, unequivocal divine ‘yes’ over our lives.  Did you hear the voice from the heavens that spoke over Jesus? “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  Jesus allowed himself to be baptized not because he needed to be washed from sin. He had none.  Jesus allowed himself to be baptized so that each and every last one of us might hear the same words of divine affirmation and approbation over our humble lives. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized so we would overhear that the Gospel meant for him is meant for all of us.  And God’s joy won’t be full until all receive it.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy awe-inspiring boosts every day in my life, especially from only place where approval means everything.  The message is enough to face down a world informing us daily that we are not good enough. How does the world tell us we are not good enough?  In a hundred subtle ways.  By telling us we are not handsome or pretty enough, that we are not rich and successful enough, that we are not smart and influential enough, that we don’t know the right people or get invited to the right parties, that we lack and fall short.

In baptism, we learn that if the world sees us one way, God sees us differently. God doesn’t see us for who we aren’t and for what we lack.    God doesn’t lead with our faults or flaws in assessing who we are.   God knows us as the only one of our kind in the whole world. And not just our fingerprints or voice pattern either. 

God is in love with our giftedness, both our inward and outward giftedness.  God should know.  After all, God made us. Every good gift we have is a gift from God. God sees all of us, through and through, and chooses to attend to our good part and not to let our faults carry the day.  It is what theologians call grace.  As Tony Campolo puts it, “Do you know that God carries a picture of you in his wallet?”

At our Board of Deacons on Tuesday, the question was raised why are we doing this service again. Actually, the response was overwhelmingly positive last year.   Still, that is not why we offer this service.  We offer it because as we remember our baptismal waters, we experience something like pure grace. Unmerited favor. Unqualified blessing.  We don’t have all that many baptisms here, a few per year. And I get thirsty for the water of this font the same way I get hungry for this table.

I’m bold enough to believe we all need to feel its waters flowing upon our lives.   We don’t have to do this service again. We’ll see where we are.  Either way is ok. But the effect unmistakable. Once we get accustomed to experiencing this grace, life without it seems like a mistake. God’s grace makes our life broad and free, no one can own and control us.  Nothing is grander, more joyous, or more liberating. 

 

I saw all of this in your faces last year.  It was powerful for clergy and Deacons.  We blessed you in such simple ways, saying to you the same words Jesus heard over his life,  “_________, did you know that you are beloved in God’s heart?”  “_________, did you know God cherishes you as though you were the only one?” “__________, did you realize that the good news of Christ’s Gospel was meant for your personally?”  “_________, here’s the only thing this world can never, ever take away from you, the only thing—God loves you as God loves life itself.” 

When you are a pastor, you have very little power. We don’t get to command and have people obey like CEOs of corporations, military officers or football coaches.  We get out front of the people, attempt to lead in the direction that we hear God pointing us, and look behind to see if anyone follows. Often they are not.  We go back. We start over.  Sometimes we all get somewhere.  Sometimes we don’t.

But as pastors, we do have this tremendous power to bless other human beings. It’s not a power unique unto us.  It is just that we seize this power more often. Of all the blessings we pronounce, none is greater than the accepting, embracing, transforming, victorious, searching, powerful, personal grace of God. And no where else is that grace more obvious to make a real difference than at baptism.

If baptism truly is God’s divine ‘yes’ resonating through the universe individually over our lives,  we cannot help but want to respond ‘yes’ in turn back to our God. That’s because, as we are given a gift, we instinctively want to give a gift back.  Of course, we say “yes” back to God at Confirmation in a once and for all way.  But increasingly, in this world of trouble and testing, I am convinced that we need to confirm the faith of our baptism not once, but repeatedly.  The confirmation we celebrated last spring with our 8 was but their first, but I pray it won’t be their last.

They negotiate high school, with all of its toils and snares, and must confirm their faith again in quick decisions to be made. They will graduate, and leave their parents to live on their own and they’ll confirm their faith again with more choices.    They will go on for more schooling, we hope, and confirm their faith in how they let God use their gifts and where they let God send them.  They will find a partner and a mate for life perhaps, and will confirm their faith in the values and priorities they embrace.  They will welcome children, and the cycle starts over again.  They will confirm their faith by bringing the child to church, where their faith originated. But even all this only covers one-half of a lifespan. We live on and still have the same needs.  Our reaffirmation today is a reconfirmation of baptismal faith simply by the act of rising, coming forward, and hearing again that voice Jesus heard.

Do I stand alone today as the only one in need of hearing that message along the way of my pilgrimage?  I think not.  For when we know that we enjoy divine favor,  others  can  trash us,  and  it  ultimately  doesn’t  matter.  When we know that we are God’s beloved, we can withstand the hatred of others, and live with grace. That’s the life I want to live; that’s the life I want to share. It all begins with grace. And that grace all begins at this font.  It is a font overflowing with miracles. Amen.

“A FONT OVERFLOWING

WITH MIRACLES”

Text: Matthew 3:13-17

Rev. Dale B. Rosenberger

The Baptism of Jesus

January 13, 2008